Busy, Busy, Busy!

Hey blog world! I know it's been a month since the last time I posted. I have been really busy getting the house ready to paint! Yes, paint! I finally talked Andrew into letting me paint the house. So I called my friend Catherine Claire to come over to help me pick out colors. We at first said that we were only going to paint our room and bathroom, living room, and dining room. Once we got started we noticed how bad the rest of the house looked so we decided to paint the whole house!! So, I got busy! I painted our bathroom all by myself but called in help for the rest. Todd, Jake's dad, came over to help me paint our room, living room, and dining room. Then, my dad came over to help the tackle the biggest part of the whole house. We have at least a 25ft ceiling in the entry way. I have say thank you to everyone who helped!! I love the house! It now feels like a home!! Here are before pictures.
I can't get pictures to load. Hopefully one day soon I can get them up.
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Christmas was great! Jaylee got a lot of good things this year. Santa also visited Jaylee at my parents house. Jonathan, my brother-in-law, and I had the best time putting together her kitchen set. Everyone made fun of how long it took us to put it together but hey it got done and it was done right!
Andrew got me some camera accessories like extra batteries, external flash, and a tripod! I was so excited!! He hasn't surprised me in a long time!! I was glad to have a surprise this year! I got him an iPhone 4s and an external hard drive for his computer and on the side business.
I even got the sweetest present from Jake! He gave me a new coffee mug that will keep my coffee hot for hours!! I have used it many times!! I gave him a new Thomas the train and bowl and plate set with Thomas on it!! He is just the sweetest and cutest!! He was so excited to get both!!
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Andrew's cousin Lindsay got married the day before New Years. It was a beautiful wedding and we wish you all the best!!
Speaking of weddings, my really good friend, Christina married her best friend the first weekend of the new year! It was another beautiful wedding. I was so glad that she asked Andrew and I to help with the planning and all the wedding get parties! We wish you guys the best as well!!
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Over the weekend, aunt Jeanna and I hosted Laura's baby shower for Zoey. She got a lot of great gifts. Zoey is due any day now! It was so great seeing family that I haven't seen since Papaw Jim's funeral.
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I started back to school last Monday!! We go to the hospital in March! I'm really glad I listened to God telling me to go to nursing school! I can't imagine doing anything different!!

I know this was a random and short post but don't have much time now especially since school has now started back! I'll do my best to keep up!

Operation Christmas Child Has Come and Gone

I have to say that I love children and love to do anything that I can for them. Our church told us about two weeks ago that we would be doing Operation Christmas Child again this year. I got excited and asked Andrew how many we could do. I love what this stands for and the children that it goes to! Andrew said we could do one of each this year! I got really excited then. So, last Tuesday night we went to eat at Wiseguys' Pizza and went shopping for the boxes. We spent so much time looking for great ideas to put in the boxes. It was so much fun. Andrew was a great help with the boy's box! He became a kid again and enjoyed playing with the stuff. I didn't think to take the camera shopping with us, but I did get pictures of us trying to pack them. It was like playing Tetris trying to get all that stuff in there. We finally made it work though.

I'm glad we bought them a toothbrush and paste due to all that candy that we bought them! Andrew trying to figure out how to close the box!!

Andrew's thinking, "I've got it!!" Casper and Lady thought they should try the candy out first!

As you can tell from the picture above, Lady loved the candy!! No I didn't let them eat it! They got to lick it for as long as I could hold on to it! So, yesterday at church was the day to bring all the boxes in! Our church pulled in 60!! I was so proud!! THe kids will love them!

Please help pray for the boxes and the people are going to help deliver them. I'm so glad God could provide us with the funds to do two this year!

Fall(Spring) Cleaning

I have been for a long time waiting to really clean my house. I wanted to do it over the summer, but since I had to take a class then, I decided to do it this fall. Let me tell you, my house really needed it. I started on it two weeks ago and finally finished on Friday. What I hated the most is the clean up after the cleaning is done. If you don't get that, let me explain. It's like putting the mop bucket up, vacuum cleaner, and placing the chairs back around the kitchen table. I hate that part! I have also pushed the furniture (Thank you Andrew!!) around and shampooed all the carpets, washed the base boards. I've gotten in such a serious cleaning mode that I even moved the washer and dryer and cleaned behind them. Here are the pictures:

I even used the vacuum cleaner hose to put down in the dryer hose to suck out all the lent. That was gross, but at least I know that if there's a house fire that that is not the cause.

This next picture is one of the closets that I wanted to clean out last year, but ran out of time.

I should have gotten a before picture, but I forgot. Take my word for it; it looks so much better and things are not falling out on you when you open the door!

Trips, Trips, and More Trips!!

I know it's been awhile since my last post! I have really enjoyed hanging out at home and spending time with myself so I can me mentally ready for what is coming up for me in the spring. I'm so excited about becoming a nurse and can't wait to finish even more! I know this post is titled Trips so here is where the trips come in. Andrew was asked to do several pageants last year with Lee Greenwood's wife, Kim. Well, this year she gave Andrew's name out to a friend who called Andrew to ask him to come help her with her lighting for her upcoming pageants. I was so excited because I was going to get to go until I got on at the nightclub and didn't want to be off so many weeks so I stayed at home. Three weeks alone was hard but fun. Carlie, my younger sister, came up to stay with me one week, and we did a lot of great shopping for the Taylor Swift concert that we are going to tomorrow night!! During those three weeks, Andrew traveled to Michigan, Tennessee, and Ohio. He loved every minute of it. I enjoyed my time alone, but really missed him! He loved being on the road for those weeks. The summer before we got married he was gone all the time. He enjoyed it but didn't want to do it all the time. He loves working at the casino because he gets to be with me at night; grant it it may be 2 or 3 in the morning sometimes before he gets home, but he's home at night. Over those three weeks, he also met some people that want him to go to Orlando and Nashville next year to help with some more pageants. I hope the one in Orlando is at a time that I can go with him!! A nice working vacation (lol :). We also went to Talladega last weekend for my birthday! We had a great time! We decided that we would camp this year since it has been six years since we have camped. We went down on Wednesday and had a blast. We have enough food to feed an army, and we did. My dad came up on Friday night, and I made chili and shared some with the other fellow campers. On Saturday morning, I put on deer steaks for us and deer tenderloin for breakfast and again shared some with our neighbors. When we got back from the our first truck race, we were swarmed by our Canadian neighbors asking how we cooked the tenderloin and what did our deer here in the South eat. They could not get over how good our deer was compared to theirs. I was in the middle of getting supper ready to put on the grill, and they stayed until it was cooked and eat again with us. They were so excited that we were there. I told them if they left hungry it was their own fault because there was plenty of food. We had a great time fellowshipping with them and family; my cousins that live in Birmingham came over to join us as well. We had the biggest party in the campground. It was a blast and I hope we can do it again next year. We also took Casper with us. He was in heaven because who ever came to eat also shared whatever they were eating with him. He has in return slept all week. Lady stayed with Layla, inlaws' dog, and had a great time. She loved playing with another animal her size and energy level. She too has slept all week. Maybe next year she can go also! The race was great. Andrew and I used this trip as our vacation for the year. We took advantage of what all the track has. We took a tour of the track and the museum. The infield is on 250 acres and 50,000 people watch the race from there. Also, the track was built on an old WW2 air field. In the museum, they had a Dale Earnhart Sr. motor coach. It was nice for the era, but today it's every out dated. I took pictures, and will post them later. We have had a busy great few weeks, and now you are updated with everything that has gone on. Until next time, Ambere

Casper and Lady

People have been asking me what I'm going to do with my spare time this semester. I've been resting and working at the casinos for the most part, but these last few days I have been cleaning pretty much all day after these two! Casper and Lady! I took Lady to the groomer's yesterday to get all beautified but it only lasted for a day! She's driving me crazy! Here is what they got into day and photos from yesterday where Lady went to the groomer's.

Tub after Lady got her second bath in two days!

Tub after Casper! I love them dearly!! Now, they both are asleep on the couch and recliner due to their wild adventure today! (The tub has been cleaned with bleach and Kaboom! No one was harmed in this post!)

Hello world!!

I have to say that I'm truly blessed. I have a great husband who loves me, a wonderful home, and an awesome family. We went home over the weekend to visit because my parents' birthday is coming up. Yep, they both have the same birthday! We got to see Jaylee, who is growing like a weed and walking everywhere and getting into everything!! As I sit back and look at my life in the last 10 years since the 9/11 attacks, I have grown into a woman with a husband and two fur babies to take care of. They all mean the world to me. I also look back thinking wow! I never thought I would be writing a blog about how UC changed my life. UC has really changed my life for the better. I care for my life and health more now than ever. I don't wish this disease on anyone and if someone you know has it pray for them. It is something that no one should ever have to know the hurt, pain, suffering it can causes. My UC took over my joy of life from my first two years of marriage. I know now that I couldn't have made it without Andrew and our families. I know you are thinking why are you bringing this up now, well it is because I do still read a blog of several people that share on a weekly biases about their struggles. I want to share this one with you. Click on this link to watch a video of a girl who was diagnosed at the age of 9 with Crohn's disease. UC and Crohn's patients have a very different life that most cannot even relate to. It is a disease that once you have it you have it for life unless surgery is done. I have told you several times that I have talked to several people about having the surgery done, about my experiences, and how I would do it again. When I say that I would do it again, I really mean it. I talked to a wonderful lady about a week and a half ago about it. She is in her 50's and is not sure that she should have it. I didn't push her, I don't think, but I did try my hardest to tell her how much her life would be better because of it. No more taking pills every day, not having to go to an outpatient clinic for an IV treatment, and no more going to the bathroom over 50 times a day. I'm so glad God pushed me into the nursing field. I know now that UC and Crohn's patients need to have someone in their corner that has gone through what they are going through. My experience may not be the same as theirs, but it will be very similar. I really feel that this is my life calling. I can't wait to start my nursing classes in the Spring. It doesn't seem real to me yet but I know that my life will change again due to the papers and studying that will be coming my way.

Craziness at the Ginn's House

Hello!! I know it's been awhile since my last post. We both have been really busy!! I got a job working at Horseshoe's night club, Push, on Saturday nights. They are also going to use me at Harrah's as well for events. Last week, I had training and it went on for the whole week. I told Andrew that I'm glad I chose a career, nursing, that I don't work every day. I didn't like getting up every day at the same time and getting off at the same time all week. I don't think I could handle a five day a week job. I know I probably shouldn't say that but I do not like it at all.
I started work last Saturday night. I had a blast. I got to dance at my station and talk to the customers. Those two things are not hard for me at all. I even got tips!! It was nice and something that I wasn't expecting. I really do love my job!

I have finished school and started thinking about what to do with my time. I finished with a C in Micro and I'm very proud of that!! I have finished two books. One of them was The Help. I went to see it with some friends. It was a great movie!! We all laughed, cried, and got mad at Hilly (see the movie or read the book to figure her out). I don't want to spoil Hilly for anyone. I loved it. I hope every one gets a chance to read the book or see the movie.

I have also gotten some great sister bonding time over the weekend. My sisters and I went to go see Keith Urban in Tupelo over the weekend. It was so much fun. I love my sisters. I wished we could do it more often!

I know this was random but this is our life and how it works!!