The Blues

As I try to get back into a routine after being gone for a week and then having company for a few days, I realized that I'm not ready for life to return to normal. I liked the hustle bustle of the holidays and being on a trip and having family here. I decided I have a little bit of the After Christmas Blues. I've been racking my brain to come up with something else that I can devote some of my time to. I'm drawing a blank.

My house is clean. (For the most part.) I don't have any projects in mind that I could complete. (Until I can start working on my office...more on that later.) I'm waiting for the library to have the next book in the series I'm reading but I'm third on the list so that might be awhile. I'm pretty tired of watching t.v. because I did a lot of that while in Atlanta and when we had company.

I think I need to start thinking outside the box.

I will inform you now that this, this unsettledness, is a Nelson thing. This cabin fever/after Christmas blues/whatever you want to call it when you feel the walls closing in on you and you just have to get busy with your hands and DO SOMETHING....it runs in my family.

Take my dad for example. Actually he is an EXCELLENT example. Every winter, you can bet gold on the fact that he will do something new and different. He'll take up a new hobby. He'll plan a trip. He'll buy new things. It's always something different. Every year there will be something to take up the dead time during the slow season.

One winter he decided to get involved in training airport security after Homeland Security revamped the policies in airports. That took him away for a few weeks at a time during the winter. Another year, he bought a semi-truck with the intention of helping my uncle transport cars to and from Denver and making some extra money. Another year he decided to buy the house next door and start working on making that into a lodge for the campground. Those are just a FEW examples. Trust me there's more. This year he bought an old refurbished 1960s or 70s (or some really old year, I don't know) pickup truck and re-energized an old hobby of researching old cars, which, of course, involves going to car shows all over the country. Him and my mom have several trips planned to Phoenix already this winter. I can't wait to see what my dad will come up with for next year.

But you know what? I really like this about my dad. I like that he has tons of interests and, instead of sitting around dreaming about what it would be like to do this, that, and the other, he makes good use of his down time and gets to it! And I like that I have the same desire to not just sit around and do the same ol' thing every single day. Life would really get boring I think. So I guess it's not really a curse to have this itching desire to always be DOING something in the dead of winter when there's not much to be done but rather, more of an opportunity to try something new and to start a new hobby or finish a project or gain more knowledge. I think God made winter, at least for the Nelsons, so we could be motivated to branch out in life.

That's what I've decided. Cabin fever/After Christmas Blues is actually a blessing in disguise. I'm going with that.

Atlanta - Part 2

When I last left you, I was just headed out to explore Atlanta for the first time.

Mission accomplished.


We explored it in and out. We first went to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and saw where Dr. King and his wife are buried. There was also a beautifully done museum and gardens that you could walk through. Obviously the gardens weren't much to look at this time of year but the museum was really well done. I was very impressed and actually got a little teary eyed at some of the exhibits. That is a shameful part of our history but so many great people are immortalized as a result.





We headed over to the Oakland Cemetery to take some pictures as we waited to hear what our dinner plans would be. I had heard the cemetery was beautiful in a cemetery sort of way so I thought it was worth a drive through. We saw some verrrry old headstones and some very ornate ones. It was pretty but we only spent about 10 minutes there with me shouting stop and go whenever I saw things I wanted to take pictures of. It was a lot easier than walking around but I think 10 minutes was about all DJ could take.

Once we heard that there were no definite dinner plans and we were on our own, we set out to find a yummy place to eat.





The only problem was, we had different ideas in mind about what we thought sounded good so we spent a good long time "touring" downtown and everywhere else. We eventually ended up back at our hotel and ate at one of the restaurants there. Isn't that just the way it goes sometimes? Dinner was actually pretty good and I finally got to try some authentic southern foods. I had chicken fried steak, collard greens and a whipped mashed potato concoction. I didn't think I would like the collard greens as much as I did!



We happened across a car on fire during our "tour." That was cool. A cop came flying around us we snapped away on our camera. I felt so touristy. Oh well.

More to come on Atlanta soon!

Atlanta - Part 1

DJ and I arrived in Atlanta on Christmas Day after spending the morning eating Monkey Bread Muffins (which were divine), opening our stockings (which were filled with candy, mind puzzles, UT paraphernalia, makeup and the like...) and packing like fiends (since we chose to wait till the last minute, it was a bit of a frenzy and as DJ stated best, it was the epitome of over packing).

A couple of hours after we arrived, we were treated to a Christmas dinner of roast beef, turkey, tilapia, mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, green beans, rolls and the most wide array of yummy desserts that you can imagine. I can now say that I've had dinner with Lane Kiffin and his wife. Granted we didn't sit at the same table but who cares about the details. Details, shmetails.

DJ had to work the rest of the night and I contemplated what the coming week would hold as I sat in the hotel room surrounded by four walls that were quickly closing in on me, somewhat suffocatingly. I think I was sort of tired and a little delirious after not getting much sleep the two nights before and then not eating anything but sugar all day so I actually considered going home and coming back when DJ's parents arrived but thankfully I realized this was just the delirium talking and DJ convinced me that it would be best to stay.

So far, I'm glad I did.

The next day, I slept in while DJ woke up at the crack of dawn. He's not been getting much sleep since we got here. We go to bed really late (read: 12 or 1 in the morning) and then he has to wake up and get to the training room by about 7 usually. I, on the other hand, have been sleeping till about 10, lazing around, watching movies, reaing my book and finally showering and then investigating the activities around the hotel. I determined before arriving that I would be treating myself to a Starbucks every morning since there is one in the lobby of the hotel. I've gotta have something to motivate me to shower and leave my hotel room!

Today is the first day I've had Internet (unless I wanted to pay $16 at the hotel for one day's worth of internet - ONE DAY. Ummm, no.) and I sit right now in the Starbucks a couple blocks down from the hotel surrounded by loud teenagers enjoying the access to the outside world via the World Wide Web. I love it.

Now, I'm off to meet my husband and go explore Atlanta! I can't wait to explore this historic city - there is so much to see and do!

ANOTHER Maia Adventure

Yesterday I was sitting at work, focusing as much as one could two days before the Christmas vacation would begin, and I get a call from my husband.

Husband: Do we have hydrogen peroxide?
Me: Yes.
Husband: Where is it? (sounding a bit frantic I notice now)
Me: Um, uhhh (I was feeling a little pressure to recall something that I had no idea how to recall) I don't know why what's wrong? **kicking myself mentally and thinking why on earth I didn't know where the stupid hydrogen peroxide was**
Husband: (kind of babbling and not making a whole lot of sense) Maia was whimpering and I think she ate her leash and I came and looked and I need the hydrogen peroxide and where is it?

I proceeded to try and think as hard as I could without hurting myself of where I might have put that stupid brown bottle that was eluding us at the moment. Every place I suggested came up empty. Finally I said that he should call the vet because that was our only option at this point.

Once I got off the phone, I was somewhat smug at first that DJ finally "got" to experience a Maia adventure. Every other time I've had to rush her to the vet, DJ was either thousands of miles away or busy at work and didn't understand the level of hysterics that such an "adventure" can cause. Now he was getting a little taste of it himself. (moowahahaa)

Then I started getting a little tiny bit worried and the amount of worry that I heard in DJ's voice started to get to me. But I quickly squashed it deep down and told myself I was being silly and Maia would be fine. She always is.

Once DJ got Maia to the vet and knew she was being taken care of, he had calmed down a little bit and called me back. That's when he told me that Maia had eaten 3 FEET of her leash. I started getting worried again. What DOG eats her leash? What DOG eats 3 FEET of her leash? WHY Maia? WHY?? She never ceases to baffle me. I just don't understand what goes on in that little squishy wrinkly fuzzy soft head of hers.

They did a couple of x rays (and clipped her nails, took care of some other, ahem, necessities that I will spare you of the details, checked her infection-prone ears, basically gave her a little spa day) and sent DJ and Maia on their way. "The leash will pass," they said. "We injected some saline solution to make it really slick, so the leash should certainly pass." Oh, thank goodness. Once again we have evaded the dreaded "s" word....surgery.

We played with her. She was fine. Normal Maia antics, just fine. We fed her. She gobbled it up, no problem. We took her out to potty. Not a big deal. Everything was fine.

So we were a little surprised when this morning, I woke to the sound of my poor little puppy vomiting. I jumped up, yelled at DJ that Maia threw up and confusedly tried to put on my glasses and walk out into the hall where Maia was and turned on the light.

Yep, not a pretty sight.

She was sick alright...

She had thrown up all OVER her crate. One of the upchucks had produced part of the leash so I was still hopeful at that point. I thought that was probably a good sign since she was just getting rid of the nasty leash. DJ had a different perspective since the vet told him that throwing up was not a good sign. So we decided to watch her and see if she was ok after that.

No good.

She threw up two more times.

So it was back to the vet for DJ and Maia (thankfully, DJ had the day off today) and I headed off to work, quite sure that today Maia would have to endure a surgery. (Or should I say WE would have to endure the surgery BILL.) Sure enough, the vet recommended we do surgery right away since tomorrow and Christmas were holidays and the vet clinic would not be open so of course, we agreed and Maia went under the knife.

Thankfully after the surgery was over and we were debriefed, we found out that Maia is healthy as a horse. (As parents, we are always glad to hear that, of course. It's because we feed her only the BEST dog food, you know.) AND we got a two-fer-one because the vet was able to fix a hernia that Maia apparently had from where her umbilical cord had not completely healed properly so yay! The vet said it wouldn't even cost us extra. God bless you woman. They took out a LOT of leash bits. She had chewed three feet of leash into about 7 or 8 pieces and promptly swallowed them, piece. by. piece. How diligent. (I would have a picture at this point but apparently, DJ thought it was gross, even though I thought it just looked like wet pieces of leash. Whatev.)

So Maia is ok. Thank God. But I miss her to death now. She has to stay at the vet for observation for two days and because they are closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas, we can't see her before we leave for Atlanta. AND because they are also closed on New Year's Day, we can't pick her up until the day after we get back. So that's 11 WHOLE days until I see my baby again. **Tear** We did get to go visit her today but I'm pretty sure she didn't even know we were there. And if she did know it at the time, she won't remember because they had her completely drugged. She had an IV in so they didn't want her to mess with it. It was so sadly sweet. She just laid there and kind of dragged her eyes open every once in awhile to peer up at us with watery glazed over eyes. We petted her and told her we loved her very much and stroked her very soft head and then after just 5 minutes, we left. I mean, we didn't want the doctor vet lady to think we were obsessed or anything. Cause we're not.

So Maia will be kept in the recovery "room" for the next day or two and then she will be taken to the boarding area, where I will imagine them loving on her, and cuddling her and making sure that she doesn't bother her stitches. Basically taking care of her as well as I would. (No one burst my bubble here. I KNOW that they are going to do everything they can to make her feel comfortable and safe and secure and like her parents haven't abandoned her forever.) And they will give her antibiotics and essentially take on all the responsibilities that we would have otherwise had to do ourselves. I feel like I am getting a small glimpse of what Britney Spears must feel like. Just pay people to do all the dirty work for you. I could get used to this.

Christmas at the Martinez's

At last my house feels like a home. I love the feeling of walking in the door and just feeling like you belong, that feeling of family.

Unfortunately I think a lot of it has to do with my Christmas decorations. Which makes me wonder what the sense of hominess is going to do when I take down the Christmas decor. I hope it doesn't decide to leave.

Though I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

In the mean time, share in the hominess with me...

Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men! Luke 2:14



Even Maia feels right at home. (*Big sigh of contentment*)

Thanksgiving Happenings

Yes, I know that we're 8 days from Christmas so I'm way past due talking about Thanksgiving but I gotta get it documented, ya know? But I AM going to do it all in one post and stick to the highlights so here we go!

As you know my parents and brother came down from SD to spend the week with us and we were going, going, going the minute I picked them up from the airport. One of the smaller, but no less important, highlights was waking up each morning and drinking coffee together as we caught up on everything and discussed what we would do for the day. (I was also reminded of the vast amount of coffee that my parents consume on a daily basis. We're talking, at least 3 pots were consumed every morning and Chace and I probably each had one cup each. MAYBE 1.5 cups each. So that leaves the rest of the 2.5 POTS for my mom and dad. I think I have a small inkling of where a lot of my mom's energy comes from...) Not only do I love just sitting around and having a good cup of coffee in the morning but it was great to share the time with my family and just...be.

Another highlight, which we will forever remember for a number of reasons, was going to the Kentucky/Vols football game. In Kentucky. I had told my mom that when they were here we would have to visit another state since we live so close to so many and we did! And this wasn't even a planned excursion initially but when I realized how close it actually was, I knew we had to do it because this would be the only opportunity for my parents to see a game. And I'm so glad we did! The Vols won in overtime and it was the last game of the season so that win clinched us a good bowl game.

Our quarterback Jonathan Crompton

It always cracks me up when the team does its pregame stretches.




Our coach Lane Kiffin - what always cracks me up about him is that it always looks like he's a little boy wearing daddy's clothes. His shirts are always HUGE!

And this would be the hubs.


I love telephoto lenses! It looks like I'm standing right next to him huh?




















It was a little smoky from the Kentucky team's introduction... I think they did that on purpose so we couldn't see our own team enter the stadium.

We ended the night by getting lost on the way back to our car. Not until we were deep in the 'hoods of Lexington did we decide to use the GPS on Chace's phone. Oh yeaaaaah... The GPeeeesssS....

Another highlight of the week was getting a tour of the Vols locker room. It is gorgeous!


Come on in!







It's a tradition to jump up and hit the Tennessee sign before leaving the locker room and running out onto the field.





And then we were able to walk out on the field.

Standing on the 50 yard line. Cool! Standing on the checkerboard end zone. Cool! Running on the field. Thankfully no one got my picture when I ran. Apparently I look like an ostrich on drugs or something, or so I'm told... So those were just a few of the bigger highlights but really the entire time they were here, I knew we were making so many great memories that we would cherish for a lifetime. I was so glad that they all were able to stay in our house and so glad that my mom and I were able to cook Thanksgiving dinner together which by the way, was a HUGE success. (Yaay!! *raising hands in victory*)

This year it'll be...

A Tender Tennessee Christmas for us. This song makes me feel like it should have always been a Tennessee Christmas. It makes me feel like it's even ok that I will most likely not see even a flake of snow.