Monday Funday

Things have been so crazy lately that we haven't had a chance to take Jack to the local Splash Pad in Scottsboro. After seeing how much he loved the fountains at Bridge Street in Huntsville, I thought Monday would be a great opportunity to introduce him to the Splash Pad.

 

I hate that Daniel didn't get to be a part of this first experience for Jack, but it was nice to have a local activity to take my mind off of the fact that Daniel is gone for the week. Of course, Jack had an absolute blast. I had to drag him away when it was time to go.

Bittersweet -- The First Goodbye

Over the years I have learned the importance of surrounding yourself with groups of people that will fulfill different needs in your life. For me this includes being a part of a life group (or small group) at a church, participating in group exercise and having a couple of close girlfriends to confide in about life.

When we first moved to Hollywood, Alabama, I really only had one friend. She was the wife of one of Daniel's coworkers. We bonded through working out at the local rec center and we both took our first step towards running – I ran my first 5K with her and then we went on to train for a half marathon together. Sadly, she moved away just over a year ago. 

Working out was one of the few things that kept me sane when I first moved to Hollywood. It kept me from being lonely. It got me out of the house on a daily basis. And it helped me survive my first pregnancy – I even did a 60-minute kickboxing class the day I went into labor.

After Jack came along, I had a hard time getting back into the workout routine. Jack's naptimes and feedings seemed to always fall about the time my workouts would be, so I kind of dropped out of the group workout scene. This made me sad because I had trained with Desiree (of Inspired by Desire) and did Yoga with all of the retired ladies at the rec center for 1.5 years.

After 10 months of trying to jog when it wasn't too hot, I finally made it down to the Core Fitness studio in Scottsboro. Without daytime childcare, I really felt like I could only make it to evening classes when Daniel was available to hang out with Jack (they normally went to the park to walk or ride bikes). For the last 8 months, I have really enjoyed getting pushed to work hard by Betina. She really cares for her students and is not afraid to make you do tough things (which I appreciate). I would rather run two miles than do Zumba so I like it when she does things like make us do 50 burpees in class. I am not afraid to push myself.

One of the things I will be sad to leave (due to our impending move) is my weekly workouts. They are distraction from when life is crazy or for when I just need some time to myself. I know I will join a new gym wherever we move, but I have been really blessed by the women in Scottsboro, Alabama that I have been able to work out with over the last 3 years. Any time I have a "last experience" it always makes me a little sad. I can now check the "first goodbye" off of my list. Tonight was sad, but I have a feeling that when the time comes, the other goodbyes are going to be much harder.

Shriner's Fish Fry

I mentioned before that we are trying to be more active in participating in community events. Sometimes our "community" is Chattanooga {my recent 5K} and sometimes it is Huntsville {where we attend church}. But most of our time is spent in Hollywood or Scottsboro and when we see a sign advertising a local event, we are making efforts to go {like attending the Horse Whisperer back in March}.

This month's cultural local event was the annual Jackson County Shriner's Fish Fry and Car Show. We had intended to go last year, but I think that we were out of town. The event was at City Park in Scottsboro and free to attend. 

There were various booths – mostly local artists/crafters. The cars were a main attraction, though it was a small show. Our favorite was an old red Ford Bronco in pristine condition. There was a '93 Toyota Tacoma that was Daniel's dream car when he was 13 {note the year}. 

Our favorite were the little motorcyles... 

and a corvette that was hauling a small trailer.

We decided that we should set up our own booth because Jack was an attraction on his own... While we were stopped to get shaved ice, everyone that walked by stopped to say hi to our little one. It helps that he grins at ANYONE.

For kids they had the big jumpy things {I am such a great parent that I don't even know what they are called!}. The best part is they are free. You could also fish for free – the city even provided fishing poles for a kid's fishing tournament. We thought that was pretty cool. 

Finally we made it over to the fish fry. For $14 we received two plates of food and cokes and were able to support a good cause. The food was tasty and the people were friendly. One of the volunteers told us that while the Shriner's are known for helping children who have suffered burns, they also help with orthopedic problems and things like cleft palate.

We enjoyed our Saturday morning/afternoon. Thankfully we went earlier in the day because a storm with really heavy rain moved through this afternoon and it would have been miserable to get caught in that kind of downpour with Jack in tow!

Salt International Bistro

Last night after my 9-mile run, I had a huge calorie deficit and was craving protein. I told Daniel I wanted a burger and wished that there was a decent local eatery that served burgers {a la Big Daddy's style}. I thought we were going to have to settle on Ruby Tuesday, but our friend suggested we try a new restaurant called Salt.

I tried looking it up on the internet before we drove to town, but being that we are in rural Alabama, there was nothing online* that mentioned anything about this new little bistro. When we arrived we discovered that it was actually called "Salt International Bistro." I think "International" is a stretch, if not a misnomer.

Anyways, we arrived around 8:00 p.m. and it was pretty slow. The prices for the fare seemed high for Scottsboro and our server was completely inexperienced to the point of making us feel awkward.**

We opted to try the only burger on the menu {also the cheapest entree at $10.50}. It was a good burger and the fries were excellent, but it felt like they skimped on the amount of fries. Besides that, $10.50 for a burger... really???

Upon leaving Salt, the general consensus is that we would rather drive to Huntsville or Chattanooga for a gourmet dinner. However we would consider going back during lunch when the menu had more sandwich offerings and the prices were more reflective of a small town.

*With a bit more research today, I did discover a link to the Salt International Bistro blog... 

**To be fair, they just started their dinner service and I am sure they are still working out the kinks. 

--Update: A little over a year after writing this review, my husband and I decided to give this restaurant a second chance. The night we went, we learned that it had closed its doors the previous night. I guess I wasn't off target when I wrote my review. I hate to see local businesses close, but you have to do it right to succeed.--

Date Night: Geno's and a 3D Movie

Friday night was date night for us. Daniel and I had dinner at Geno's Pizza and Grill and then went to see The Green Hornet at our local movie theater. Normally we don't like to pay full price at the movies, but since there is so little to do in our town, we decided that going to the movies occasionally is a cheaper alternative than always driving to the city to do something.

This was my first time at Geno's and I was pleasantly surprised. Their drinks are served in 32 oz styrofoam cups {much more than I needed, but I didn't have to worry about running out of Dr. Pepper}. We had the equivalent of their supreme pizza. It was thin crust and tasted great. We will definitely add this to our list of regular places to eat in Scottsboro {there are like 4 places on our list}.

The movie was pretty good. At first we were surprised to be the only people watching The Green Hornet, but right before it started a bunch of teenage boys walked in. They were a bit obnoxious but soon they settled down and watched the movie.

This was my first 3D movie to see and it was a bit difficult getting used to wearing glasses that altered my vision. There were a couple of times that the 3D effects made me jump. Overall I liked the movie. Action movies always make me feel like it is worth paying so much.

Project 52 Date Nights: Can't Get Enough

Coming off of the Thanksgiving holiday we have been eating a lot of leftovers. We have also had intermittent company which meant I didn't have a chance to get to the grocery store until Wednesday of last week. By Monday, we were both getting tired of turkey... though I did use some of it to make a pretty good Turkey and Dumpling Stew {incorporating leftover stuffing for the dumplings}.

 {via}

On Monday night we opted to go out for a post-racquetball meal at Buenavista Mexican Restaurant with one of Daniel's co-workers. Daniel and I split the Mex Tex Fajitas {one of our faves}.

Then Tuesday came and we found ourselves headed back to town and into the parking lot of our favorite Mexican restaurant {I guess that we were really sick of turkey}. I had a Shrimp Chimichanga and Daniel tried a Chicken Nacho dish. I'm just thankful that we have at least one restaurant that we truly love in our little town. We just need to make sure we don't wear it out.

Which we may be on the road to doing since we went BACK to Buenavista on Saturday when friends from Murfreesboro came for a visit! Third time's a charm?!?

A Visit From the Taylors

Matt, Zeke, Melissa, Me and Daniel

Now that we are getting settled into our new house, we are finally starting to host company {let us know if you want to come visit, our doors are always open}. Last night, Matt and Melissa and their baby, Zeke, came for a quick overnight stay. Matt was the best man in our wedding and a long-time friend of Daniel's. 

Today we showed them the "sights" of Scottsboro: The Unclaimed Baggage Store and The Catalog Return Store. We also took them to lunch at our favorite Mexican joint. It was fun getting to hang out and I even picked up some books at Unclaimed Baggage.

The Lost City of Z
 The God of Small Things

A Walk in the Woods

Love in the Time of Cholera

City if Thieves
and

Infidel

You had me at 700 sf garage...

with 12-ft high ceilings.

That is all it took to sell Daniel on the house we decided to purchase. That and the fact that it is a 4-minute drive to the Bellefonte plant.

Daniel has always dreamed of owning a house with a garage that he could install a auto lift so that it would be easier to work on our cars. Now he has the space {and ceiling height} to install one. This is not in our immediate future, but he is excited to know that it is possible.

We are pretty excited about our new house. It has a huge covered porch on the front and back.

It has 3 acres with views of the mountains. 

It has the bonus room we wanted and a lot of extra storage. The bedrooms are big. And the master bathroom has a garden tub for soaking.

We are really excited about our new home. As long as inspections go well, we will be closing on October 29.

We will post more pics after we get moved in and decorated with our stuff.

Cash or Check

Over the last ten years checks have become somewhat obsolete to me. As in I write a check about once a year {if that}. I also carry limited amounts of cash {like $20 max}.

It looks like I may have to change my ways... 

Case in point: 

Yesterday I went by the Environmental Office at the County Health Department because Daniel wanted me to look into any permits that may have been pulled regarding septic systems at the house we are considering buying. He also wanted results of any soil tests that may have been run on the property. 

Unfortunately I discovered that the health inspectors are rarely in the office and was told to come back today in hopes of catching them.

I went back this morning and made my request. The secretary told me it would cost $25 to run a search. I asked her what forms of payment they accepted and she said CASH or CHECK. I only had $18 on me and no checks {primarily because a lot of places in the city don't accept checks anymore}.

I told the secretary I would have to go get cash and come back. She asked me if I had a check and looked rather shocked when I told her I didn't carry a checkbook...

We are used to paying a majority of our bills online and we use plastic {that we pay off each month} for most of our purchases. I guess this is just another form of culture shock that we will have to adapt to...

Project 52 Date Nights: Dinner and a House Hunt

This is the week that we {hopefully} make an offer on a house. With that in mind, date night took the shape of meeting our realtor, Amber, on Monday night for the first time. She is the type of person that I immediately felt like I could be friends with {a good trait for a real estate agent}. 

She did a good job of making the idea of moving to a small town bearable. Which is a good thing since Daniel and I have been a bit apprehensive of our pending move to Alabama... it is just so darn rural.

After viewing four houses and asking a moderate amount of questions, Amber dropped us off and we headed to dinner where we proceeded to discuss the houses over nachos and fajita quesadillas.

The first house we flat out disliked – mostly because it needed a lot of work {after spending the last 5 years of our lives renovating a house, we are ready for a break}.

The second house was well decorated, but not to our tastes. It had a nice screened-in porch and a deck, but the bedrooms and closets were small. 

The third house was really cute, but smaller than our last house in Charlotte. It did have a great fenced back yard, but no trees. *No image of the front of the house because it is not actually on the market yet.

The fourth house had a lot that appealed to us – large lot, large covered porches, large everything. The biggest negative was that it is a lot bigger than what we had initially planned on purchasing.

Tonight we went back to house #4 a second time. Afterwards we went to Ruby Tuesdays to try to make up our minds about what we want.

Daniel has been making excel sheets that provide different scenarios of our budget and home costs and what the house is worth. Tomorrow I will have the update on what we officially decide.

Looking for houses is a nice way to date – it gives us opportunities to dream about the future.

House Hunting: Alabama Edition

"Living" in a hotel has its perks... I don't have to cook. Breakfast is free. I have a big screen TV a king-size bed in my bedroom. It is bigger than the camper. But it is also a pain in that there isn't a great place to walk Sophie and trying to get her in and out without disturbing other guests is a bit of a hassle. Plus I miss having a house.

We spent the last two days looking at various houses in the Scottsboro area. It reminds me a lot of Searcy. In the early 90s. Except smaller. And no university. 

Actually it is probably more like Heber Springs. Especially since the Tennessee River and its various lakes border the entire area. The bodies of water that border Scottsboro create various inlets and most neighborhoods are on some type of peninsula and with some type of lake access. But nothing is really connected... as in you have to get back on the highway to get to anywhere. Sometimes you go to look at a house with "lake access" thinking that the house is on the water, but what this really means is that the house is within a quarter mile of the water. 

I drove over 100 miles yesterday looking at various houses we had found on the internet. It is so spread out that a lot of areas feel very rural. And even if it is a 10-mile drive to wherever you are going, it feels much farther because you may be driving through endless farmland. I nixed several houses because they were too rural.

It is beautiful country but it feels very isolated. 

We officially meet with our realtor on Monday. We will be spending most of next week here... in the hotel again. We have a list of several houses we are interested in and hopefully our realtor can give us a better feel for the area. We would love to be on the water, but that costs $$$ and the frugalistas in us would need to come across a good deal to commit to a lake house.

This one is in Hollywood, less than 10 miles from TVA. It has 3 acres and is on the upper end of what we want to spend. A bonus is that one of Daniel's co-workers just made an offer on another house in the neighborhood, so we would know someone...

This house would be a great investment. It is on an island with actual waterfront. It has 5 acres that backs up to a cove. It also has a separate shop and garage and an in-ground pool. There is no water view from the house, but there is a boat house and pier. It is a 30-minute drive from the plant.

This house has water access. The big plus for this one is a 4-car garage (Daniel's dream). Plus a screened in porch with a hot tub. This one is about a 15-minute drive from the plant.

These are our preliminary houses that we plan to look at. We have a few others that made our initial short list. Next week I will have more in-depth updates on what we look at and what we decide about these three properties.

Is Daniel a Hippy?

Tuesday night Daniel and I met several of his co-workers at Buenavista, a local Mexican restaurant in Scottsboro, AL. A few other significant others were along, so it was a good chance for a lot of us to meet for the first time. Dinner was great and I feel like I have made some new friends. It helps to know that there are people we can hang out with if we end up moving to Alabama.

Anyways, yesterday, Daniel's co-worker told him that after we all left the restaurant, his wife asked if Daniel was a hippy – her reasoning was that we drive a Subaru! If you know Daniel, this is a very funny question because he is southern boy who is more redneck than anything else. Daniel and I had a good chuckle over that :)

I did a lot of driving around yesterday to try to get a feel for the area. Scottsboro is rural but more livable than I originally thought {especially if we have friends from Daniel's work that will be living here as well}. There is a Walmart, a Home Depot, a good Mexican restaurant and most of the usual fast food joints as well as a handful of local places.

The neighborhoods we visited were varying. Some were very nice. Others were full of singlewides and run-down homes. We found one house on the lake that was in our price range but it is a 45 minute drive south of Bellefonte and we decided if we are going to live that far away, we might as well live in Chattanooga.

It is somewhat comforting to know that there are other couples that are feeling the same stress of trying to decide where to live and to talk about the pros and cons of the process with people that understand what we are going through.

After driving around last night, we stopped to eat dinner at The Docks at Goose Pond Colony. The view of the lake at sunset was amazing. The service of the restaurant was so so, but it was nice to enjoy the views.

Update: It looks like they will be officially restationing everyone to Bellefonte on October 1 {right now they are stationed out of Chattanooga}. With the restationing will come new moving packages but we can't start any house purchases {or anything of that nature} BEFORE Oct 1.