Spring Break? What's THAT?

So everyone we know is on/ has already been on/ or is going to be on their Spring Break. Remember what that is? A nice long week break from life where you can do whatever you want? Yeah, I almost forgot myself since I've been working this week. Just a plain ol' week. Bummer. Now I really can say "back in the good ol days..."

Last Friday 3 of my friends were back in town from school (remember that Spring Break thing?) and so we all hung out and played games on Friday night. It was really good seeing them again! We've made friends here so far but there's nothing like hanging out with old friends. SO that was fun just playin around that night. Here's where it gets interesting....

My family had gone on vacation (mmhm, spring break) and had left Chad and I in charge of taking care of the millions of animals we have at home. Part of this responsibility included going to the Reptile Show (yes...you read it right) on Saturday to pick up the live mice for the feedings to occur afterwards. So there we were, surrounded by people who were truly the complete opposite of us, wondering what to do. We got the mice and crickets (i held the mice - i actually think they are ok. its the crickets and every other animal in our house i don't like so much ha) and headed to my parents house. We go there and started getting ready to drop the mice in when I heard Chad say "Oh no...". Thats exactly what you want to hear. I turned around to see a cage with the lid that had fallen into it (still not exactly sure how that happened...it may have melted? who knows) and busted part of the light bulb and then the worse part - NO LIZARD in the cage. This lizard is as big as my cat so you get a visual. maybe not as tall but it helps the story. I freak out and back away and Chad is trying to figure out where it is. In the meantime I got a mouse out for Oreo to look at (LOOK at by the way, not eat or anything cruel like that. Its just hilarious to watch her). Anyways of course I ended up dropping the mouse and it ran back behind all the animals into a corner behind this plastic drawer set thing. (great description, right) SO i move the drawers to try and see behind them to get the mouse and what do i see? THIS HUGE LIZARD instead of this furry little mouse. I picked him up and put him back in the cage calmly. haha no I completely freaked out and ran to the kitchen.

This poor little mouse then runs back out towards us and this lizard starts following him which would have been perfect but then he caught the mouse and ran back to his corner. I was trying to think of a way to lure him out there again with another mouse while Chad put gloves on and tried to catch him but then I kept thinking about how that plan could go horribly wrong, especially since I would be the one holding the mouse that he would be running toward -ha.

Chad ended up grabbing a broomstick and took the handle and started pushing him out from the corner. This only made the lizard more upset and he proceeded to hiss and growl at us. Thats right, hiss and growl. He was scary at first and this just made it worse. It was LOUD too - loud and freaky. Anyways seeeeeveral minutes later Chad finally drug him out by his tail and i planted a laundry basket on him and then took the lid off a new tank and chad lifted him into it. Talk about an unexpected afternoon. What an experience - I hate that thing.

So if you know me, you know that i love animals. Any puppy we pass on the side of the road cues an automatic, high-pitched "awww look!! puppy!!". There's no way we'd get one anytime soon BUT i did take 2 of the mice (yes, i know. but they are cute when they barely have their eyes open running into everything) and put them in a cage to bring home with us. It was going to be a few days and then back to the death house BUT....and thats where our story begins
We bring them home and a couple days later Chad woke up in the middle of the night and said "where are the mice?" randomly so I just thought he was talking in his sleep. Should have payed more attention...The next morning we are slowly waking up. Chad looks over to his right and there is a little mouse climbing up to greet him. Talk about bleehhh! So we scramble ALL over the place chasing this stupid thing and then we finally had him trapped under the dresser. We both had bowls and cups out and Chad goes to scare him out but then randomly he pops out of the FRONT of the dresser instead of the back and jumps right onto me and scurries away. I scream, of course, and didn't see where he went. We searched everywhere but couldn't find him at all. We looked in the cage and it looked like he had attacked the other mouse and somehow escaped in the night? Who knows how that happened. So we started to continue on our way and then saw him again, freaked out, cornered him, scared him out and Chad tossed the bowl on him!....and he ran out as it bounced up on the carpet. UGH. This stupid little ball of fur was sending us running and jumping all over our apartment. Looking back it is hilarious how much we were freaking out but at the time, not so funny. I finally saw him under the couch and to make a long, detailed, weird story short- i picked up the swiffer handle, blocked his exit, and made him run along the handle only to find Chad at the end with a bowl thrown on top of him haha. WHEW. And that is the point we laughed. There goes 2 hours of our lovely Saturday morning :)

Besides animals ruining our lives, we've been doing great. I'm SO PROUD to announce that Chad HAS A JOB!!! It's at a country club that is about 15 minutes away from us and he starts tomorrow! The first thing he said when he told me is "WE CAN EAT!" haha which is true! I can actually cook REAL things now! yay! And we can pay bills! That's always a plus, right? But really we are so thankful to God for answering our prayers and this can also open up several more doors for future employment opportunities! Thanks for everyone's prayers :)

Coming up...New job starts tomorrow, this weekend we're going to a concert-thing at church with Kevin's band and one called Act Of Congress with coffee and deserts so that should be fun, We're going to a baseball game end of April! AND once again, hopefully i'll keep up better with this thing...have i said that every single time? :)

RANDOM PICTURE CATCH-UP!

we went to the HUGE Bass Pro Shop that was just built here to check it out...here's us attempting a pictures. attempting being the key word :)
OK so here is the story first. I was baking a pasta casserole and its in a pyrex dish that has one of those lids that you can put on for when you put it in the fridge or keep it warm. Anyways I was cooking it and apparently had placed the lid on one of the burners which apparently is a "warmer" when the oven is on and the range isn't. I have never known this but found it out VERY quickly when Chad found the lid half melted to the eye. Haha now I will always be reminded that one of them is a warmer...

We got SNOW! In Birmingham! Who knew! It was gorgeous with the view we have but by 2 it was gone and over with....we have proof though!

How 'bout a quicky?

So just a simple, quick blog post to keep all you excited readers and frequent blog-checkers excited and frequent, respectively.

Let's give a work update. Cristy is working, bringing home the bread, loving the kids, all that good stuff and I'm very glad she is.

Me-I recently interviewed with LazyBoy Furniture Gallery for a sales job. It was a quick interview, it went well, and the boss said he would go ahead and send my application through to HR and he would call by the end of the week. I can only take that as positive, but I also know how many times I have heard similar comments by potential employers and then been ignored. So wish me luck!

In other news, Cristy is the current Burris family Monopoly Champion. She went to town on me and a "simulated" 3rd player in our new St. Louis Cardinals 2006 World Series Champions Edition of Monopoly. She was cocky, making claims like "I knew I had it all along" and "Nobody tops me, the Monopoly Guru" and "Psh, I'm internationally ranked at this game". I wish I had her Monopoly skill. Actually I wish we had her amount of Monopoly money in real life money. Now that would be nice.

But all kidding aside, we had fun playing Monopoly against each other. Can't you just see us sitting at our table playing Monopoly at night? Awwww how cute.

Well that does it for this miniature blog post. So here is a new rule- if we mention you in any blog post from now on, you are obliged to comment in response. Let's try it out, HI AUNT SANDY! THANKS FOR OUR 6TH MONTH ANNIVERSARY CARD!

Now Aunt Sandy has to reply. :)

-Chad

by the way, this is cristy and i said no such things in playing monopoly. i was extremely humble as i always am and was proud of my husband for trying his best....which just wasn't good enough apparently. so humble.

Snowed In/Atlanta Trip

Who would have thought that Birmingham, AL would have provided nearly 3 inches of snow in March. Global warming, eh? Take that!

So we woke up this morning to the sound of Chad's phone alarm and an almost simultaneous text message from Kyle letting us know "IT SNOWED". Then we found out that nobody was going to church, and while we could have taken a sled down the hill to the church building, we decided to officially declare ourselves "Snowed In". This is our favorite kind of day. We slept late, we made breakfast and coffee, watched a movie in bed, and stayed in our sweatshirts.

Currently, its about 2 o'clock, and the rest of our day looks as follows:
We are about to watch the movie (in bed) American President, which is Mom C's favorite (or one of her favorites) movie. I think it's kind of a chick flick. After the movie, we are thinking of playing a game of Monopoly, the St. Louis Cardinals World Series edition, or maybe an Xbox game, a card game, or something. We aren't tied down to anything. Then dinner, maybe another movie, maybe a tv show. Who knows, but I wish we could get paid for being snowed in, because we are having so much fun we could do this full time.

On to our trip to ATLANTA last week end. It was a blast, so I will give you full details! Friday night we left around 6:00, when we had actually planned to leave around 4:00. There is an interesting story behind all of that, but I shouldn't blab as it might embarrass those involved. Even though I shouldn't blab, I'm going to. Kevin drove Mom C's car to school, and the plan was for him to get out of school, come home quickly and we all leave for Atlanta. BUT....Kevin comes out after school to head home and gets in the car only to have the engine not crank. So he checks the battery. Bad news. Mom C gets an urgent call "Mom, someone stole the battery in your car!" So Mom and Dad head to the school, call the police, begin filing an official report when Kevin and the cop notice that there is a certain battery cover that they conveniently forgot to look at. Well the battery was present and accounted for, the cop made fun of Kevin (rightfully so), and they discovered that the lights had just been left on all day and the battery was drained. So jumper cables were provided, the car was revived and all was well again.

We hit the road. Cristy and I in one car, the rest of the fam in the other. We made the drive, lost an hour due to crossing into the Eastern time zone, and arrived at total strangers' house close to 11 PM. They were nice people, I don't remember their names, and we talked briefly and went to bed. Sleeping in a strange bed was strange, and the morning was very welcome unlike most other mornings. We woke early, and headed to the Georgia Aquarium to start the day's activities. Now some pictures to prove it!

We met the founders, and had a great photo op!

Here is the official sign!

We saw these cool Jelly Fish that Cristy tried to point to.
Cool Reef Shark in a glass tank above us.

This is the one of the coolest things I have ever done. I got chosen out of a group of people to feed the fish. I had never even put on a wetsuit before then!A very cool and gigantic Manta Ray
Cristy being eaten by a HUGE Grouper!
Stupid Flash was on...
Underneath a Sting Ray
Another Huge Grouper!

And the Highlight, a very cool and very large Whale Shark. You cannot see these anywhere else in America! (it's a baby and it's 24 feet long)

Anyways, the aquarium was great. We then went out to eat at a cool Italian place, and soon after made our way to THE Turner Field. We were out to buy one ticket and get one free to see the Atlanta Braves take on our St. Louis Cardinals. But of course, the box office was closed, and we got stuck in crazy traffic and it took forever to get out of there.

We then went to one of our favorite places, IKEA. We hustled through, to catch up with the rest of the family who had been there a while shopping for a new bedroom set for Kyle. He picked out a very cool bunkbed/loft and desk and we cannot wait to see it set up. Then we headed home, and welcomed the comfort of our bed which we dearly missed the previous night.

So I hope you enjoyed yet another blog post. We enjoyed giving it to you together, and the "American President" is a good movie so far. Despite it being a chick flick.

Now, if you enjoyed this post, leave us a comment!

-Chad and Cristy