House Pics

Mi casa es su casa. Well, at least you can see the pictures. This is from our bedroom looking down.

Also from our bedroom looking down . . . on the living room.

Ditto.

Looking at our front door.

Our kitchen and you can see upstairs a bit.

Jacuzzi tub in the downstairs bedroom.

That's a look into our place. Just thought you might want to see.

--be

You've Got to Be Kidding Me

Last night, I lay in bed and somewhere around 11:30 p.m., our trash dumpster at the lofts was emptied. That's right--the trash truck came by and banged around and dumped our trash at 11:30 p.m. This is not the first time I have heard this--once, it was well after midnight that I heard such a commotion going on. I was talking with a college student at Univ. of West Georgia, here in town, a few weeks ago. He lives in the dorm-and he said he heard the trash dumpster at his dorm being emptied at like a horribly late hour of the night.

Why? Is there that much trash in Carroll County that it needs to be picked up at 11:30 at night?


--be

The South (Addendum)

And as a friend reminded me . . . the south is all about biscuits. They completely love biscuits--and with good reason--biscuits go good with everything. In fact, in the south, biscuits are a meal in and of itself. From Jack's to Bojangle's, they have all corners covered when it comes to biscuits. I mean there are restaurants that are completely devoted to just biscuit stuff on their menu. It really is pretty cool.


--be

The South

Boiled peanuts . . . pork barbeque (no beef brisket 'round here) . . . trees and hills and the most gorgeous lakes . . . history--civil war stuff, civil rights sites and figures everywhere you look . . . red lights long enough to catch a nap between . . . traffic circles--in the most random places . . . towns everywhere . . . hospitality . . . accents--real southern accents . . . they call it the south--even though it is actually the southeast (just look on a U.S. map) . . . you can get to lots of cool stuff in big cities in a relatively short time . . . we live right off of the same highway i used to be able to see from my front porch in abilene, texas--that's really cool and comforting in a way . . . an affinity for football--not pro football so much but high school and wow, do they love their college football in these parts . . . restaurants that serve food based upon how many meats (normally just one) and how many veggies you want (usually one to three) . . . kentucky fried chicken buffets, breakfast, too . . . waffle houses as far as they eye can see (two on one interstate exit--unbelievable, my friends) . . . a mcdonald's, krystal, waffle house, and hardee's at literally almost every interstate exit . . . they have a few chicken expresses in georgia--just a bit of a drive from here (zaxby's-a chicken chain in these parts ain't too shabby) . . . a publix and ingles grocery store in every town (southern grocery food chains) . . . mountains and beaches a few hours in every direction . . . eastern time zone--something that affects you more than you would think (11:00 p.m. news is a killer) . . . beautiful flowers and landscaping everywhere (it is amazing what a little humidity can do) . . . oh, and a love for people.

--be

Tour Championship

Yeah, that's right. I got to go to the PGA Tour Championship this past weekend-at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. It was quite cool. Tiger came by and chatted with me. Okay, maybe not--but I did get to see him and all of his friends. The greens really were as bad as they said they were--the heat out here must have really cooked them. There were bad spots all over; and they were pretty rough.

The course is in a really interesting neighborhood--you can tell it is an older neighborhood. It was once a pretty rough part of town; but apparently a lot of money has been put into it and it is renovated and really cool. The course is pretty cool. Pretty short. The rough was really short. Makes Colonial look like a long course, or at least the holes I saw.

The crowd was really big for Tiger--I was in a pack about seven or eight deep (I was right behind someone). Other spots around me were about twenty-deep. Good grief. Besides Tiger and Phil's followings, the crowds were not too terribly bad. Saw Ernie Els take 5 strokes to get down from about 100 yards. I guess even the good ones have rough spots--makes me feel better about life.

Lauren is really busy right now--she has like 84 papers and 22 tests today and tomorrow. Okay, so maybe not that bad--but she has a ton going on. I think she will be glad once tomorrow night gets here--she has a big test tomorrow. While I was at the Tour Championship, she was at the school, studying.

My Univ. of Texas Longhorns almost let me down on Saturday--almost got beat by the Univ. of Central Florida. Good grief. I think lots of people here understand and respect our love for Texas football--a number of people said something to me about the Longhorns barely getting by Sunday at church. Lots of the teams around here have been getting beat and upset. But 'Bama is still winning, somehow. I guess it takes $4 million a year and Nick Saban--but they have found a way to win a few games. Go Cowboys--they're still undefeated. More than I can say for the local pro team around here--the Falcons--they just plain stink.


--be

Been a Few Days

Well, it has been a few days since we have posted anything. So, just thought I would let you know that we are still kickin', still living life in this foreign land . . . then again, maybe it is not all that foreign.

We took in our first Carrollton Trojan football game this past Friday. It was crazy--now that reminded us of Texas High School Football. Packed crowd. Even had our first boiled peanuts at the game. Will have to agree with someone who told us that night--why mess with someone that is already good? Can't say I liked it too much--it was a little sweeter than a normal peanut--but it was very wet and weird. We helped root the Carrollton Trojans on to their 2-0 record.

Had me some good barbeque on Friday--went to play golf in Bremen, 10 minutes north of Carrollton. Shot the best round since I have been here, which does not say much, then went and ate pork and beef barbeque at Bilbo's. Man, it was good. That might have been the first beef barbeque I have had seen since I have been here. They definitely miss out on one of God's greatest creations--beef brisket.

I was happy to find the Texas Longhorns playing on TV Saturday night. I rooted them on from Georgia. Then, got to see America's Team win one somehow last night. All in all, a great weekend--all of my teams won, might not have all been pretty, but they won. Found out that we will get at least half of the Cowboys games on TV this year-maybe more-so that is definitely a good thing.


--be

La Iglesia

We have talked for a while about posting some pictures of our church on here. But, I got to thinking today, why not just share our church's website with you, which has most of the pictures we wanted to share with you: www.carrolltonfirstbaptist.com
For a picture of the sanctuary, click on the tab about worship services.


--be

Our Weekend

What do those look like? Purple sausages? Try potatoes. We walked to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning here in Carrollton. I (Lauren) have been looking forward to going for some time but we have not been around on a Saturday until this weekend. The above potatoes are purple skinned fingerlings (AKA peruvians). I have seen them before but did not want to pay the price...well, these babies were only $1/lb from a very nice organic farmer. Amazing price and beautiful, as well. Even the starch was purple, as my white bar towel is now testimony! We roasted them but I would really like to try them in a potato salad with a mustard vinagarette. Next time...

Saturday afternoon, we went to the Atlanta Braves game. We met Krista (L's stepsister), Adam (Krista's husband), Jenna (Adam's sister), and Sharon (Adam's mom) there. A fun time. A bad game, a horrible game (as far as the Braves go)--but a great day.

A view of the skyline from our seats. A ginormous jumbo-tron in centerfield. Behind it is downtown Atlanta. Georgia State is down in the mix of all that--yep, that's the fun Lauren gets to have three-to-four times a week. The gold dome is the state capitol. Directly to the right is the torch from the Olympics. Also, in the middle of the picture is a blue wall--that is the old Fulton County Stadium--and in the middle of the wall is a white dot--that is the Henry Aaron 715 landmark that we have a pic. of from a few weeks ago.

All of those flags are pennants. See how many they have, including one red one--for a World Series Championship? Do you know how many the Rangers have? A few less. Oh well--as you can see from the picture above, I still support my Rangers.

A pre-game radio show going on with Mark Lemke (old second baseman from the Braves playoff runs) and, I think maybe, Chip Caray.

A picture of home plate from centerfield.

The Braves got a grand total of two hits. Probably would have just been better for them to have not gotten any--then we could have seen a no-hitter. But the Mets beat up on them. I am kind of a Met fan--so that's good, I guess. But, the Braves put on a poor showing--much to the chagrin of Adam.

We saw John Smoltz driving his car away from the game in a neighborhood as we were leaving and taking a short-cut back to the interstate.

On the way back to Carrollton, we all ate at Gumbeaux's. We had some shrimp etoufee, red beans and rice, fried crab cakes, and crawfish po boy all around the table. I'm telling you what--if you are in Douglasville, GA and want some cajun food--this place is awesome.

Hope you are enjoying your Labor Day weekend--we sure have.

--b&l

People Talking Out of Their Heads

Why do people get such enjoyment out of telling others news? Lauren and I went to the opening football game for Central High School last night. They got to 2:30 left in the first quarter; and they had to stop the game because lightning was spotted. Once lightning is spotted in Georgia, you must stop the game until 30 minutes from the last spot of lightning (we also heard another interesting tidbit on the radio--if two teams from different classifications are playing each other and it gets to 11:30 p.m., they must stop the game immediately. If the teams are from the same classifications, they can play on indefinitely. Hmm--somebody really thought that one out).

Anyway, we went to our car and waited for an hour to see if they would begin again. At that point, a lady went throughout the parking lot, yelling to everyone that the game would be delayed until 11:30 a.m. the next morning. So, we thought okay, we'll come back in the morning. Well we read the paper this morning--and the game was finished . . . LAST NIGHT. After an hour and a half delay, they finished the game. That lady did not know what she was talking about. She just heard something, most probably a rumor-then got joy from telling others how it is. Thanks, lady. Thanks a lot.

Central wound up losing. But, Carrollton High, the other team here won--they (a 3A team) beat a pretty good 5A team. Ought to be a fun football season. Also, I found out this week that Carrollton High is the 17th most winning football program in the entire nation (for teams having played over 300 games)--how bout that.

We did get to see one of the strangest things ever last night. On the opening kickoff, we kicked to them. One of our kids actually tackled one of his own teammates--they were both running down the field to try to tackle the other team. I am still not sure I understand what happened there. Veyr strange. I hope the poor guy just got confused or something.

I played golf yesterday afternoon and learned why people do not walk playing golf out here--humidity and hills. Oh, wow. I went out to Bowdon, about 10 miles from Carrollton--where I was told I could walk and play for $10. I thought, wow, even if it is a goat ranch, it's just $10. Only problem is it is a Par 3 course--would have been nice to know. I got out there and thought I would go ahead and play it since I drove out to play it. Let's just put it this way--the speed of the greens depended upon how much sand was on them--they were overseeding them. After nine holes, I had had enough of the sand, the hills and humidity, and the slow play (the group in front of me took 20 minutes to play a 151 yard hole)--so I left. Went out to a course here in Carrollton and finished up my 18--much better. Played pretty well, too, for the first time since we have been here.

We're going to the Braves game today.


--be