Rambles Soup: January... here and gone!

January has just BLOWN by, right???

Dustin and I just celebrated 11 years of marriage!
Well not celebrated, because he was in Alaska, but we live like we are celebrating something most of the time so it's all good! 11 years! So exciting! Dustin was such a rebellious stud "back in the day" (not that he still isn't, but my point is he was a bit of a risk to fall in love with) that when he asked me to move up to Alaska 16 years ago, there were doubts and fears expressed by several people... I had no choice or room to ponder those risks too much, I had fallen deeply in love with my old high school friend so off we went!! To this day I have to laugh that I married "Dustin Berry" as I would have never guessed he could be husband material, much less MY husband! I am so glad I was less fearful in those days though because he is the best thing that has ever happened in my life!

So obviously New Years was "just another night" seeing as I still don't know anyone around here and my hubby was gone. It might be my age bracket but I feel like this last couple years the trend is to brag about a "quiet night at home". I love it! I am truly a homebody... my home is where my heart is, always has been. I get giggly when I climb into my own bed, I love to get comfy clothes on and snuggle up on the couch with .. well preferably Dustin, but if he's not home, a kid or dog will suffice. With that being said, I hate to miss out on anything, so an uneventful New Years Eve brought me a heaping amount oh relief with an anxious side dish of possible regret. Much to my pleasure though, according to Facebook at least.. haha friends and family bragged about a nice quiet night bringing in New Years at home! I did end up brushing my hair and putting on mascara (this doesn't happen everyday you know.. haha) to walk across the street to our neighbors house for a glass of wine and some appetizers, she had a friend visiting so we made a raging party of 3! I was home before midnight though for a sparkling cider toast with the boys... and then we all promptly went to bed... midnight EASTERN time.. it doesn't get much better than that!

So one good thing about this smaller home is that I was able to get Christmas put away in about a day and half! Of course I only had a fraction of my normal Christmas Wonderland on display, but it was still nice and cozy and a lot less work!

After I got that all wrapped up I decided this was the "rotation" (how I refer to my 3 week increments of lonely time) I would tackle my entryway! The entryway had a textured wallpaper that had been painted a lovely color of tobacco stained almond... no, this was not a smokers house but the running theme of this color reminded me of that. So strip the wallpaper.. sounds easy enough, except it's also the stairway to the basement which is small steepish stairs.... and a tall ceiling above those stairs. I'll just get to it.... I am not good with heights (at least heights on ladders!) I know myself well enough though to know I will find something to fret about so I decided to suck it up and go for it! First off there was this big flower thing that had been screwed to the wall and painted over that had to be removed... "why?" I thought, "would someone screw this metal flower to the wall and then paint it to match the wall!?!? Weird!" Well duh.... there was a huge hole under it! Gotcha! Called Dustin, got Sheetrock patching instructions... move on.... first and second layer of wallpaper came off like a dream! Appeared the 2nd layer was very similar to the 1st but not textured... exciting decorators they were! haha! 3rd layer was awesome! I wish I could have salvaged it! It was a metallic mirrored wallpaper that also came off nice enough... (I was feeling like a rockstar of wallpaper removal about this time because I have encountered some nightmare paper before!) and then there was the pepto-pink flowery wallpaper.. Welcome to HELL!

This layer engulfed about 3 days... not that I worked diligently on it, I walked away from that wallpaper so many times that it inspired me to write a blog post about using my time wisely and staying productive! haha! It's quite possible I have adult ADD. ;) Anyways, finally got it all off, I lost a day of work when I came across some moldy spots under the wallpaper (it is very humid here) and that day I got a headache and my throat hurt, I was pretty sure I was dying of black mold toxins, so of course I turned to Google.... yep! I'm dying, quickly accumulated several more symptoms within minutes so I called Dustin to tell him I loved him and went to bed. The next day I was still alive, so I bleach-scrubbed the moldy area & started to kilz everything, I had to patch the texture on part of the ceiling which I do not think shined my artistry skills.. but whatever at this point, right? Next was texture... I do not prefer most power tools, we have one of those hopper things that shoots texture on the walls, but I prefer to hand trowel. That took forever and a day, but was fun... So I painted the ceiling, painted the trim, then painted the walls. Yesterday I got the hand rails put back on and started cleaning.... Today I am excited to put the finishing touches on it all!

So in other news of this "rotation".... Peyton and I took Black Betty (my Subaru... LOVE it btw) to Knoxville for a day. The things we love about road trips.... chips, candy, comfy clothes and music, so we stopped for snacks, Peyton had his blanket and we chatted and had a sing-along or two. As we drove into Knoxville it started to snow so that was exciting. Winter here has been really mild... awesome... but uneventful. Even when it's freezing temps it's not so bad outside (no wind). So snow was exciting! We had no agenda so we drove through the University of Tennessee, found a beautiful old cemetery to walk through (unfortunately it was FREEZING and had some shady people hanging out so that was a quick stroll), then we had lunch in Market Square and drove by the World Fair Park to get a closer peek at the Sunshpere Tower and aimlessly drove around just to see what we could see, then headed back home!

Nick finally got enough time off work to take his drivers test so he is now a legal driver and all that is left is to get his truck registered (on the agenda for tomorrow).

So yesterday was my mom's B-day.

She is amazing and I admire her very much. Every time I think about getting anxious about turning 40 (where oh where have the years gone!?) I look to her and remember age is only a number, unless I allow it to dictate who I am and what I'm about. She has always been a good source of grounding me in some way or another... so HAPPY BIRTHDAY (again) MOM! Oh wait, I have to throw in a piece of advice my mom has recently taken on and shared with me. I am a worrier... it's a growing problem I am battling and my mom gave me some easy straightforward advice.... Mind your own business. haha! I love her.

Things I am looking forward to... Dustin gets home on Wednesday!!! Woohoo! I've stayed crazy busy so time zipped by but it feels like forever since I've seen my Love! On Friday our friends from Savannah come and visit for the weekend! Ever have those people who you get around and you don't skip a beat? Everything falls into place and you always have fun together? Well that is this couple for us so I am seriously looking forward to their visit! (Update: they didn't get to come due to a health scare in their family.. boohoo) Then our buddy JP gets here and is visiting for a few days, Dustin and him are going to see a concert in Atlanta and after all the guests have gone we will be putting our new garage up! YES!!!

Well that is a wrap on today's ramble I suppose! I hope everyone is having a good start to their new year! 2016... crazy huh? I feel like it was only a couple years ago we were fretting over Y2K and now we are on the downhill slide to 2020! That is some futuristic sounding stuff, right? (ok, technically it is futuristic, but you know what I mean... I hear 2020 and I think of teleporting and flying cars!)

Much love from the Berry Family to you and yours!

More Updates: So since we have had 4 days of Dustin home since I wrote this email, I'll fill you in on our fun real quick. Tennessee gets REAL wimpy in the winter... which with the road options I have in leaving my home... I am grateful! Last Monday.. no school for MLK Day, Tuesday school was delayed 2 hours because of cold temps!?!? The recording said this would allow enough time for maintenance workers to make sure everything at schools were working properly! strange... Then Tuesday night it rained so school was canceled on Wednesday because that rain could have frozen on the streets. Wednesday school was canceled because it was forecast to snow that day... but we only got a tiny bit of sleet and roads stayed clear enough. (This was the day Dustin flew in) Thursday school was canceled because we got that tiny bit of sleet the day before and FINALLY Friday Peyton went to school but they called and closed early because of the storm quickly approaching (he was out at 12:30... it snowed like 11 hours later!) haha! So in all that free time we took the boys to Terminal which is the old train station turned restaurant/brewery, then we got touristy and checked out the Chattanooga ChooChoo! The entry was beautiful!

Then we did some shopping at a resale shop called Refindery (awesome)! Here are a few of my favorite finds there... anybody know what this first picture is???

That.... is some sort of perm machine! Like, you clip those electrical thingies up top to your curls and crank it on! YIKES!

I have NO idea why someone would buy a hornet's nest.... but it intrested me more than anything else in the store! haha! Loved it

beautiful collection of architectural columns

great display by front window

Peyton had a friend come over and they "snowboarded" down the side yard
and finally we have started building a laundry/mudroom down in the basement so I don't have to go full creepy basement to do laundry! Yay!