February

This past week was very busy for me and Andrew. Every evening held a new responsibility and or/meeting and I was in the throes of production week for The Bach Chorale's performance of Haydn's "The Seasons." One of my commitments was attending a Leadership meeting as part of my position working on an archival and history project for Windsor Halls. As part of that I won Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University kit and Andrew and I are so excited! We have been working on a budget system and a plan to get out of debt and are excited to see what we can incorporate from Dave's program. Our goal is to get all of our medical bills, credit cards, etc. paid off so that a year from now we can take a trip to Disneyworld with our friends Kristen and Ross. I will try to keep the blog updated with progress that we have made!

How do you pronounce your last name?

"How do you pronounce your last name?" is a question that Andrew and I get on a regular basis. This is usually followed by us pronouncing it, and then the person who posed the question repeating it back incorrectly. We have heard Gardner (there IS NO "N" in our name!), Gooder, Garhder, and Goider, the last being my favorite [insert sarcasm here.] This week though, an impossibly difficult name came in handy.

I had a very busy Saturday and when I returned home from my various master classes and choir rehearsals, Andrew told me a little story. 

No matter what direction you are coming from, you have to drive down Brady Lane to access our cul-de-sac. The road goes from two lanes to one and the speed limit is 30. One of Andrew's favorite things to do is play with the drivers in the left lane. He will freak them out by leading them to believe that we are going to cut in front of them to merge, until we turn right onto Portsmouth Drive at the last moment. 

Apparently, Andrew was doing this and speeding while passing a police officer. [This is the man I married...] The police officer pulled him over basically right in front of our house. (It was so close that he is sure that the neighbors could see the whole thing unfold.) Apparently, the officer took Andrew's license and registration and was taking a while. He comes back and says something to the effect of "With a last name like that, I'm guessing no one ever pronounces it right." To which Andrew answers, "yes." The officer then replies, "That's tough. No one should have to go through that. I am going to let you go with a warning." Andrew then drove 100 feet into our garage and lived to tell the tale. (He may not have if we had to pay a ticket.)

The moral of the story: DON'T speed and mess with other drivers. Also, the next time someone mispronounces my name I will smile and remember that, at times, it can come in handy. ;)

We need new sheets...

This post is coming a little later than Sunday, but we went to a Superbowl shin-dig at our friend's house so I couldn't post. I wasn't really invested in the game, I just wanted to spend time with my "other-other half" Kristen. 

Today, Andrew and I both had to work later than usual and Moses wasn't able to go out for his "afternoon widdle" at his usual time. I find that he tends to "wallow" in the sheets of our bed (especially if we were lazy and just pulled the sheets over instead of fully making the bed) when we are gone for too long. We think that he wants to be close to our scent, but who really knows. We need the dog whisperer for that. ;) 

Today we came home to the bed torn up and the fitted sheet with a large hole in it. So, we followed the internet trend and snapped a "shame" photo. I think he looks a little too happy for it to be a true "dog shame" picture though. 

Luckily, the sheets were pretty old and we were planning on retiring them soon anyway.