Still yet, More flowers from Chuck!

         Knocking on the door of Memorial Day weekend already!! Never in my life has time went as fast as it has these past three months since Chuck and I have been together. Never in my life do I remember feeling this happy, this alive and this collected all at the same time. So this is what a dream come true feels like? Nice very nice.
      Work blurs by these days. Strong and steady. I get a little irritated at small details, but I realize just how much I like my job and doing what I do and I realize how thankful I am to have a job in this economy. That keeps everything in perspective for me. Besides I finally have a life. Who cares about my job anymore, it's just something I do for the money these days. *winks*
     In day to day life Chuck and I are getting routines down. On the weeknights when I stay at his house he always has dinner ready for me when I get home from work, because he works a 5 am to 1 pm shift. I always like that. On the weekends I cook for him. I love having someone to cook for. We have so much fun together no matter what. I attempted to make a homemade mac and cheese last weekend and we were both drunk while cooking it. Our recipe got really creative and the end result was, well interesting. We are still laughing about that experience. Chuck wanted pancakes so I had fun cooking pancakes for him and French toast for myself sat morning. He is signed up to take his driving class the end of this month and then all he has to do is pay a civil fee and get SR22 insurance and he will have his licsence back, and thus we will live together full time! It's looking like the end of June right now. Finances are the main question. I so can't wait!! Neither can Chuck.
      I got to go to the Iowa Speedway with him for the first race of the season last weekend. I had so much fun!! I can never really keep my attention span watching a race on tv, but to see it in person it is completely different. You can hear it and feel the vibrations. Our seats were in the fourth row. There was one wreck right in front of us, it was great! Then the cars just back up and go again. Kyle Bush won the race. I can't wait to go to more this summer! Chuck told me if I'm going to get into the races I have to choose a NASCAR driver, so I choose Rusty Wallace. I choose him because he designed the Iowa Speedway, and donated the 1st million dollars towards having it built. Thanks Rusty. It was funny though because it was so cold at the race! I had sweatpants under my jeans and I was still cold. The race did not start till 5:30 and by the time the race was going you could actually see your breath! Only in Iowa can you see your breath in the middle of May. lol. It would have been perfect football weather. Last night Chuck surprised me with another bouquet of flowers and he took me out to eat at Red Lobster. It doesn't matter what we are doing though, even if nothing at all, I love every moment with him.
    Not sure exactly what our plans are for this weekend yet. We make it up as we go along. I need to get ready for bed soon, and unpack and then repack for staying with Chuck tomorrow.

Lastly I FINNALY took pics of my apartment. Yay, I love it!

This is my apartment, B.C. (Before Chuck) It will be funny to see how much it changes after he moves in.

My Living Room

The Kitchen

I love all my closet space! ( I have a total of 6 closets in this apartment. This is my utility closet, great for storage.)

And this is a fraction of my shoe closet! My dream come true!

My Main Bathroom. I have a rubber ducky theme.

My Bedroom.

My Master Bathroom. It's really funny Chuck will not use this bathroom at all because he says its too girly.

My Guest room / Office

     I don't have much to blog about. Never thought you would hear me say that, did ya?
      Chuck and I have been busy making plans, down to the last detail.

       Step one, his goal is to get his drivers license back by the end of June. (He had an OWI about a year ago.) Once Chuck gets his liscense back he said he will be willing to commute from Cedar Rapids to his job in Riverside everyday, if it means living with me!! If we can pull it off, he could be moving in with me as soon as next month!! I'm so excited! A little scared, but mostly excited. 2nd goal, Chuck has a really nice truck, but if he is going to drive that commute everyday he is going to look for a small and cheap car that will get really good gas mileage, and still keep the truck of course. Even if the car is old and has problems he has the mechanical knowledge to fix it, so that will save us money. 3rd goal, of course it will take us a handful of months to get on our feet and get ahead financially, but once we do, our longer term goal is to find a house in the Swisher area. That way we would be that much closer to both of our jobs on the daily commute, we would be out of Cedar Rapids away from the crime and crap, yet still close enough to our families, and living in the country we could have the freedom to have bonfires, and dogs running around the yard and loud music, etc, etc, etc. I always thought this would be a complicated thing when my life got to this phase, but everything is falling into place really well, and it just works. I'm so very amazed and so very thankful.
      I discovered if I add Chuck to my Cell phone plan it will save us both $20 a month, or $40 a month as a whole. Thats a no brainer. Chuck and I are working through details now, we decided we want to look at our finances as a couple once we live together and not divide everything up 50/50. We want a relationship, not a roommate situation. That is going to be hard for me to train my mind to stop thinking of my finances as 'mine' or 'his' but rather ours. I'm confident that is the way to handle it, and we both seem to see quite eye to eye on finances so that is a good thing and a very importnat issue. We will both need to learn to make more compromises and sacrifices though in areas we are sloppy in finacially.
     All I can do is laugh when I think of the irony, that i finally got a place that is 100% mine and mine alone. I have everything in this apartment to a tee of just so and the way I like it. Now I'm going to have to sacrifice and figure out how to fit Chucks things in with mine, more things I can part with, etc. I will even be giving up my garage so Chuck can use it as a storage shed. Suddenly this apartment dosen't feel so big anymore. Chuck also needs a lot of help from me as he packs up his place and decides what to keep and what to let go. I'm not sure how many more weeks or months it will be before we reach our goal but we have work cut out for us! *giggles*

     In everyday life, I'm not sure if I'm coming or going these days. Weekends end so fast but I love every moment of them. The rest of the week blurs up in my mind. Last weekend the main highlight was Gina's birthday party. She said she turned 29, but I'm quite sure she turned 29 last year, and is in denial about 30?? This coming weekend Chuck and I are going to the first race of the season at the Newton speedway. I'm super excited!!

Well that's it for now. I have a strange craving to go cook some mac and cheese, at 10:00 at nice. Hearts and Butterflies and stuff...

Flowers from Chuck, he gave me these and sent me to work with them. All my co-workers teased me.

More flowers from Chuck!

Coralie and Gina  - Gina's 29th Birthday, AGAIN!

Chuck and I.

Yeah, I'm a camera whore. Give Chuck beer and he doesn't care. *giggles*

Feeding Chuck a cupcake from G's birthday.

Chuck got the brilliant idea to smear the cupcake all over the birthday girl. Yucky!

Mike and Coralie. Chuck says this would be really great pictures if Mike wasn't in them. Haha.

    This spring is over before it even began. Stranger still is the fact that in the midst of my bliss all of time seems to be standing still and the world seems to have stopped moving and changing. It's all about Chuck and I, I really haven't noticed much else. We have only been together two months but it feels like we have been the best of pals forever. And for however much longer this commute thing is going to last with him in Riverside and I in Cedar Rapids, we are unsure but being apart two days a week is getting harder and harder and the wait feels longer and longer. It is to the point where two nights a week when I wake up in an empty bed, I hate the feeling and despise it.
    Chuck and I talk and talk and talk. We are already figuring out all kinds of details. He said to me the other day, "Out of the blue, would you want to elope?" And then I told him, "Out of the blue, my dream is to get married on a tropical beach and not have to deal with family drama or damn napkin colors for 10 months while your bridesmaids stab you in the back." Chuck was pshyced! Then he added... "We will finish this conversation in one year on my birthday." We figured out between the 2 of us we are paying $940 a month in rent. Imagine the kind of house we could have for ourselves with that kind of money! Or the money we could save in the mean time. We are both chewing on that idea. Even little details we are figuring out. We promised each other we will never sleep in sperate beds just because we are pissed at each other, no matter how mad we are. We promised that we will attempt our best to never go to bed angry at each other. That one's harder but a little effort will help a lot. We have yet to get into a fight. We are both so easy going and we are so compatible there are not many issues.
     In my day to day life... Work has been same old same old. I love my job but get sick of some of my two faced co-workers. I was delivering some product to the Quad Cities one day and one of my co-workers was mad they asked me to go and not her, so she gave me these back road directions and I ended up getting lost in the ghetto of Rock Island. I know she did it on purpose. I was so mad!
    Haven't seen much of my friends, I wonder why... Not that there was much left of them before Chuck came into the picture anyway. Because of Chuck I see Coralie and Gina all the time now, but they just feel like family to me now. And I still REALLY miss Angie. Talked to her on the phone a few times and got a little card from her the other day. Jen had a baby shower this weekend. I haven't seen her since maybe Feb, and she has a huge baby belly now. She looked really cute. I guess she is having a boy. Malachi. I had my family over for a spaghetti dinner in my apartment Friday night and it was a great night. Everyone stuck around for a long time, and everyone really liked Chuck. I was proud of everything. I am FINALLY totally unpacked, and yes I need to take pictures soon.
     Chuck and I are loving life and going for wherever the day takes us. He gave me a beautiful necklace over the weekend. (Picture above) It's not a cheap necklace either, it's real gold. I have never been given a piece of jewelry that nice. I was smitten. So far Chuck and I enjoy spending a lot of time outside and drinking beers. We take walks, we sit around a fire, we BBQ, we drive around old country roads, play with the dogs, ride a bike, throw a frisbee around, we listen to lots of music, we talk non stop... wherever the day takes us. Then when we are tired and want to unwind we snuggle up and watch a movie. And the list goes on and on. I finally found my other half.
      Time is going to fast in the sense that everything we want to get done keeps getting set aside for later, such is life. It has been such a late spring we haven't been able to go mushroom hunting. We need to figure out what weekends we are going to watch the races in Newton and camping situations. We looked into Rock Fest in Wisconsin but it would be really expensive to go and I don't think either one of us could afford it this year... unless we were living together by then? We need to figure out who has what for camping supplies and what we still need to get. He told me the brakes our bad in my car and he will fix them for me. He said it will only cost me $40 for the parts and a case of beer for his labor. It is so great having a handy man boyfriend!
     Guess that's about it for now. Kinda been away from the whole social networking loop lately, but my heart is still with Xanga, I just haven't had time for it. Xanga is my trustworthy friend where I can bear it all. Except now I have Chuck, and I really haven't needed Xanga to talk to and explain myself and try to figure my thoughts out.

I am a Happy girl. I am a Loved girl. I am a Hopeful girl. I am a Blessed girl.... For the first time in a very, very long time. Life is good, and it's all mine! As Chuck would say, "Woohoo!!"

    I'll try and make this a quick blog here. I can't believe we are at the end of the week already.
     One week ago kicked off my four day weekend with Chuck. We had the best time, with absolutely no agenda at all. Chuck's expression he always says is 'Where the day will take you' and that's exactly what we did, just went along for where the day took us. Over the four days we had two days with super good weather so we took a few walks, went to a park, had a bonfire in his Dad's back yard drank a bunch of beer and slept in the camper. Our 1st unofficial camp out of the season. Chuck also helped me clean out my garage (It was a mess when I moved in with all this crap left behind) he vacuumed out the inside of my car, washed my car AND waxed it, just because he wanted to do something outside. I thought that was sweet. He also helped me with a lot of 'honey dos' around my apartment. We went out to eat a few times, we listened to a lot of different music together. We were going to play frisbee golf but the weather got rainy over the weekend so instead we went to Iowa City and he took me around some thrift stores down there. We invited Coralie and Mike over Saturday night for a steak dinner. It was a very fun night. I however, was drunk before Coralie and Mike ever even showed up. I had a lot of beers and a lot of shots of peppermint schnapps. Chuck had to tuck me in before 9:00, and he was laughing the whole time. Then I woke up at 1:00 am and was sobered up, only to find Chuck in the living room, he had all those hours alone and nothing to do but drink, so it became my turn to tuck him in. We are such a team. Four days together went way too fast!
       Chuck also said something over the weekend that I am sooo excited about. He didn't just say it once either, he keeps bringing it up. He told me if we make it one year together from when we first got together. That would be his birthday next year, March 7th, then he will have a very serious question to ask me! We both keep saying we don't foresee any problem making it a year. He also joked around about kids a few times and then he added, 'We will talk about that next year on my birthday.' I'm sort of freaking out, but mostly excited. I never thought all of this would ever happen for me, and so fast... Wish me luck, however I'm convinced destiny is playing a role in this one, no luck needed.
      My apartment is feeling more and more like home. It makes me laugh because Chuck and I keep trading all this stuff back and forth and we know damn well that sooner or later it's all going to end up under the same roof anyway. He decided his fry daddy made more sense to keep at my apartment, so I have the Fry daddy. He added little fish and sea shells to random spots in my apartment, that's his thing fish and shells. He said it makes him feel more at home. The guy is spending every weekend at my place, so I don't mind, let him feel at home. We discovered we both collect the miniature airplane liquor bottles, so I gave him my collection to combine with his, etc, etc. We are having a lot of fun in the process.
       I even told him over the weekend how happy I could see him being in the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri where I'm from. I told him we could live there some day. He said he would love that, no question in his mind, but he is not convinced I would really be happy living there again and he won't do anything unless he knows I would be 100% happy. Where that thought ever came from in the first place I'm not sure, it's scares me to think about going back to those narrow minded people. However I do know the sky rocketing crime in this flood rapped city of Cedar Rapids is really starting to get to me. All of that is a long time away anyway... Just thoughts.
       I'm still getting used to this routine of staying at his place every Tuesday and Thursday night, I like it a lot. It's just a little bit of a pain to pack and repack every other day. I only have Mon and Wed nights alone and we are on the phone the whole time. Chuck has turned my world upside down!! My coworkers have said how happy I am. My mind is mush. I can't think clearly. Nothing else matters to me anymore, the computer, TV, cooking in my new kitchen, selling Avon I don't have time for any of it anymore, and I haven't missed it at all.
      I do miss Angie a lot. I had a melt down over the weekend on Saturday night when we had the first party in my new place, because she wasn't there so I called her and left a drunk voice mail and then I felt better. I hope Georgia and Donnie are treating her well. The last time I talked with her over the phone it was really funny because it was a 4 way conversation, her and Donnie on one end, and Chuck and I on the other end. We do want to plan a road trip to go visit her.
    Anyway, I gotta throw together an over night bag before work and finish getting ready. That's about it for now. Just thought I would update for my whole 2 fans out there. I've been a bad friend too lately, not coming around much. I did get together with Kelsey Monday night and Christina last night, so it's a small effort but it's there.

I'm out.

    I haven't had the internet in 11 days!! That was really hard for me. I snuck a few peeks from work at a few sites but really had to restrain my surfing. When I moved into my apartment I discovered the internet I had did not have a signal, so I had to cancel with that company and sign up with another. I just got it installed tonight. It's only been 11 days, but it feels like 11 years. So much is going on.
     The move into my apartment was so successful. I owe so much to my family. I could not have done it with out them. I couldn't believe everyone that sacrificed their Saturday to help me. Mom was already in town and Dad drove up from Missouri with a U-Haul with the rest of my stuff that had been in storage for 3 years. Jeremy was able to load almost all the boxes of stuff I had packed up into boxes from my Grandma's into one truck load. Dad and Jeremy moved heavy furniture for me all day. Dad helped me assemble my bakers rack for my kitchen and such. Joni was a trooper she was so happy to help move boxes and she was having fun helping with the girly projects like hanging up my clothes and helping me with my shower curtain. Mom's specialty was cleaning and wiping all the grime away. My Grandpa and Grandma just came over to hang out and be a part of the excitement, and there really wasn't much for Grandma Dee to do either, but she didn't miss a moment. Everyone kept teasing me about how much crap I have. It was really funny! My family is rock stars! I have never felt so loved and so much gratitude. I'm a lucky girl. And I'm still trying to figure out how I got lucky enough to have this spacious apartment that I adore all to myself. I did. I had a goal and I did it, I'm living my own dream. Now what? Time for new dreams...
      I was so exhausted by the end of moving day. I made sloppy joes in the crock pot for my family since they helped me out so much. Chuck came over and met my family, and he got the seal of approval. Everyone left for the night, and Chuck stayed with me my first night in the apartment. I was so thankful he was there as well, I was sooo keyed up and he knew it. My Mom looked at him before she left and assigned him to make sure I rested. He poured me a hot bath and we drank wine and relaxed in the candle lit tub, and that did take a load of stress off. He made me go to sleep at an early hour and promise not to touch any boxes until morning. That was really sweet.
     Sunday morning I was up bright and early. I learned a few things about myself from moving, and I learned that I dislike unorder. I become distraught when things are out of order so Sunday morning I was a wreck pacing back and forth from room to room looking at all these boxes. Mix in the fact that I have A.D.D. on top of that and it was not a good combination. My mind was going a million miles a minute and with out order to control my ADD and help me focus in on a task I was getting no where fast. Chuck just watched me and laughed. Then he said to me, "You know, if we ever get all my stuff and all your stuff under one roof, we are going to need a huge place to live in!" It was hilarious, we both are the mother of pack rats. He also said to me, "I promise I won't move you out of the city baby, but you have to let me live far enough away from people that I can have my freedom." I agreed and then I was like, "You mean I have to move again!? My family will kill me, I'm exhausted!" I did end up getting a lot accomplished on Sunday thanks to the help of everyone. Chuck even painted the wall above my fireplace a green color for me and the back wall of my bedroom a soft pink. I was happy.
       My Mom stayed with me through that Tuesday and I had all that time off work with paid personal days. It was great. It went by really fast though. By the time Mom left I had my Living room, kitchen bathrooms, and most of my bedroom unpacked. There are still a few boxes a long the edges of my bed room and the extra bedroom I am picking at. Mostly books and candles and misc stuff. You would never guess I just moved in a week and a half ago.
     The stress of moving has pushed me into a lupus flair up. It doesn't help that I should have had my yearly appointment in September and did not because I was in between insurance and then the doctors blew me off until June. It also doesn't help I took half the dosage of medication I was suppose to since July and ran out completely in January. Thankful Mom raised some cain while she was here and suddenly the doctors were able to fit me in with an assistant tomorrow. I hope they put me back on my medication and I can feel normal again. I am so achy, and tired all the time right now. Last Thursday and Friday I ran a high fever and by Friday afternoon I left work early I was miserable. Chuck took care of me and was really sweet. When my fever finally broke, I broke out in hives all over my body. It was really really horrible, and it scared me, they were bad. Just another joyous side effect of lupus. That has never happened to me before.
     This week has gone by fast. I worked on Easter Sunday and was secretly thankful not to have to deal with all the family drama. Tomorrow I will miss half a day of work because of my doctor appointment. And then Angie was going to move to Gerogia this weekend so I took Thursday and Friday off work to help. She ended up getting in a hurry and moved the same weekend I moved. So now I have 4 days off of work. Chuck's work is really slow and his boss is encouraging them to take anytime off they want with out pay, so Chuck took the opportunity to take those days off as well so the two of us have four days ahead of us with out a care in the world. That sounds refreshing.
     Plan A was a road trip. We were thinking about Chicago. We are both broke. Plan B is anything goes. I do have a honey do list for him of things I need help with around this apartment. I need him to help me hang a curtain in my room, assemble some DVD shelves, hang some other shelves, fix my vacuum, fix my dresser drawer, cut my 50" flatscreen TV box into little pieces so noone will see it in the dumpster, for my protection and show me where the heck my furnace filter is at on my weird ass furnace. He said none of those things will take him very long at all. He really looks out for me. He is a good man. I have never been happier. I never thought it possible but I fall more in love with him everyday. He knows me so well, and I feel like I know him just as well. I can read him like a book. I can tell you what he's thinking and predict his next move. We have a chemistry and a strong connection. We just get each other. We still talk on the phone 4-5 hours a night on the nights we are not together. (He went to sleep early tonight he was tired.) And we are together all the time during every free moment, it doesn't matter what we are doing.
     So there you have it. 11 days of playing catch up, and it feels like 11 years worth of life in between then and now. I will post pictures of my apartment soon, but I want to get all the details down first, and I am still waiting on little things like my bed frame is on back order till middle to late April. (At least I have the mattress and box spring.)

     Whew! What to say?
      Chuck is turning my world upside down in the best possible way. Our 3 hour nightly phone conversations have turned into 5 plus hours. We talk on the phone from the moment I'm off work until I start falling asleep. And we still don't run out of stuff to talk about. Crazy huh? We decided it is too hard to make it through 5 weekdays with out seeing each other that we need more than just the weekends so we decided that on Tuesday and Thursday nights I will drive to his place in Riverside after work. Tuesday night was my first night of that routine it was really great! We ate supper, watched a movie, and had quality time. However we also came to realize on that night that the 50 minute and 60 plus mile drive is simply too far late at night. So from now on I will just crash there on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Chuck doesn't like me driving that far alone on the interstate that late at night, and I get too sleepy. My Mom came into town yesterday, so Chuck and I sacrificed time. But Mom is worth it. And the weekends are a given Chuck and I will be together.
     Last weekend was really fun. Friday night Chuck was painting inside his Grandma's house. I went over there and met his Mom and Grandma and I helped paint too. That was an adventure. Late that night Chuck and I headed back to Riverside. Saturday morning we woke up and decided to venture into Iowa City. We went out for breakfast, and he took me to a few shops he thought I would like. He bought me this stuffed animal penguin that is probley 2 and a half feet tall. It is the coolest thing ever! It was fun. We got back into Riverside and he took me into the one bar in town (OK actually they have 2) for a noon cocktail. The rest of Saturday we just kicked around Riverside. Picked up a pizza and had a lazy day. I named my penguin 'Walter Tipton' that night, the name had nothing to do with the fact that I was completely stoned and had an entire stoner thought process behind the name or anything like that. Ah, the creativity. Sunday I had to work. But then I went back to Chuck's after work and stayed until late at night.
     We had the big 'I love you' moment. I never thought it was possible to fall in love in just a few weeks, and now I know. Chuck topped the 'I love you' moment by asking me if I will spend my life with him. I almost cried I was so happy.
     Enough about Chuck for 5 minutes. Work has been going smooth and steady. I'm thankful for that, and thankful for my job in this tough market. I had my 6 month review last week and my boss told me he had absolutely no constructive criticism for me. I can't think of a much higher complement than that! I have been getting to deliver a lot of product lately too, to the Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and surrounding areas. I love doing that  I get to take the company car and just cruise. I love the variety of my job. No two days are a like and I'm challenged to think and solve puzzles everyday. I'm growing tighter with my co-workers, but they are still a tough crew to win over. oh well, as Chuck would say, "What do you do? Fuck em, if they can't take a joke." We have birthdays coming up next weekend, and they sent out an e-mail trying to plan a food day. They suggested doing a mexican food them. I sarcastically replied to the e-mail asking if I could bring Corona and Margaritas. My boss e-mailed back and said he loved the idea and he would approve of me contributing that to food day. Woohoo! I got an infection in my finger the other day. It was really bad, and really crazy. My co-workers were telling me I should get to a clinic ASAP, so I walked into my bosses office and was like "At the risk of sounding like a 5 year old, my finger really hurts, and I need to see a doctor." he took me serious and let me leave to take care of it. They drained the finger and put me on about 3 different antibiotics. Crazy. They said it was probley caused by a hangnail. Now I have to try to keep my finger clean while I move this weekend. Good luck with that.
     So I am off work today, through Tuesday. 5 days off, yay! Today Mom is going to kick around with me while I run errands and get last minute things taken care of. But I am totally packed for the big move. Tomorrow my Dad will get into town with a u-haul of my remaining stuff from Missouri. I get the keys to my apartment tomorrow, and I can start moving in! Jeremy and Joni told me they will help me move too, and I feel really lucky to have such a great supportive family. I'm tired just thinking about it. My couch, bed and mattress needs to be picked up from the furniture store. My tv is going to be delivered by Best Buy, and I have so many boxes of crap to move! Then the fun part is unpacking it all! Chuck offered to help too, but I told him not to worry about. He is going to stay with me Sat night though, and I'm having my family stick around for supper so he can meet them.
    And Angie leaves for Georgia this weekend too. That is hard for me to deal with, even though I'm so happy for her. I hope I get a chance to tell her good-bye??
    So here I am ready to conquer the day as I close one chapter and bounce into another. I hope I get a good internet signal in my apartment, and I hope I get a good cell phone signal as well. I'll find out tomorrow. You probley won't hear from me for a few days, I will be keeping busy, but know that things are good, I am having fun, and getting a lot done.

I have so much to say and talk about, and no time at all. Life is good! I'm flying high! 4 days until i move into my apartment, i will try to find time to write a blog before this weekend. 

chuck surprised me this weekend and he started playing this song. he told me it is his song to me. i love how romantic he is. this just scratches the surface. chuck truly is my memphis soul song.

Uncle Kracker
Memphis Soul Song

Lookin' back on everything
And all the things that stay
I can count on memories
Cuz they don't go away
Good times were hard to hold
Until she came along
She moves me like a Memphis soul song

I'm not always there I know
But she don't mind at all
As pretty as a picture that hangs on my own wall
She's like Mississippi

When the sun comes up at dawn
She moves me like a Memphis soul song

With an angel on my lefty side and the devil on my right
She's the one who saves me from them dark unholy nights
Of all the ones who've left me it's a wonder she's not gone
She moves me like a Memphis soul song
She moves me like a Memphis soul song

She don't care what the game is
She's always down to play
My world without her seems a million miles away
She don't have to worry
I know where I belong
She moves me like a Memphis soul song

I've been dealt some aces
And I've played them all the same
But she's the only one that keeps me in the game
[ Uncle Kracker Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]
No fame or fortune could ever keep me gone
She moves me like a Memphis soul song

With an angel on my lefty side and the devil on my right
She's the one who saves me from them dark unholy nights
Of all the ones who've left me it's a wonder she's not gone
She moves me like a Memphis soul song
She moves me like a Memphis soul song

[BRIDGE]
There's a magic down in Memphis
That never seems to fade
Even now them voices carry
Like a lonely serenade
It's the memories that still and always will be on my mind
They move me every time

She see's the good in everything there is to see
Sometimes I wonder what she ever see's in me
I'm not always right you know
But she's never led me wrong
She moves me like a Memphis soul song

In all my travels I've never found a way
To find the words that say the things I'd like to say
I've sang some melodies but she's my favorite one
She moves me like a Memphis soul song
With an angel on my lefty side and the devil on my right

She's the one who saves me from them dark unholy nights
Of all the ones who've left me it's a wonder she's not gone
She moves me like a Memphis soul song
She moves me like a Memphis soul song

I just posted about this Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction tour for 250 credits. You can earn free credits too!

     I'm going to attempt a quick AM before work blog here. It seems to be that a certain someone is consuming ALL of my time and blogs in the PM and blogs just are not happening. I'm not complaining.
     Chuck and I keep marveling that it was only 2 weeks ago that kicked everything off for us, and it feels like we have been the best of friends for months. We talk on the phone every night for hours, literally. Our longest phone call was over 4 hours. Our average phone call is right around 3 hours every night. Too bad he lives an hour away from Cedar Rapids, that makes weekdays complicated. I did make an effort to meet up with Christina for a beer and some girl talk on St Patricks Day last week. I also met up with Angie for mexican and girl talk on Thursday night. Keeping strong with the girlfriends is vital. This I have learned.
    One night last week Chuck planned out our entire summer and I am so excited! He is going to teach me how to mushroom hunt in about a month. He has season tickets to the races so we will be going to watch those all the time. We are going to do a ton of camping. We want to take a few road trips. One to my parents place in Missouri and he can crappie fish with my Dad. Another trip to Chicago and we want to see Shed's aquarium. Etc, etc, etc. Our summertime list extends well into the fall, we will be keeping busy for a long time and we just keep thinking of more things. I'm so happy to have finally met a guy who lives life at the same speed I do and wants to do stuff and have fun. He said the same thing about me. Another night we made a plan that someday we will buy a bunch of property and open a petting zoo for little kids and families. Wouldn't that be a fun job!?  It's fun to have someone to daydream with. I love how ready for a relationship Chuck is. Why have guys always had to put me through so much BS before? It's so simple really, you are either in it or your not. I love that Chuck and I are on the same page and we both have a long term relationship in mind, and he's not freaked out by that. Chuck is someone who really commits himself to those he cares about, he is loyal and faithful to the end. I needed that in my life so very, very badly.
     My weekend was the absolute greatest! Friday night I went straight to Chucks after work. We watched a movie, drove to a few nearby towns just to enjoy the evening and then we cracked into the bottle of Crown Royal. Between the 2 of us we drank the entire bottle of Crown that night. We were so drunk. It was quite funny. Saturday morning slowed us down a little bit, but we made it through. The weather was amazing and Chuck took me down to the river and showed me one of his favorite spots at River Junction. It was so peaceful we were the only ones there. We just sat there snuggling for a long time watching and listening to the river. I've never felt more relaxed, or peaceful. We came back into Cedar Rapids later in the day on Saturday and we met up with all of our friends at the bar for Angie's going away/ birthday party. It was a really fun night. A lot of our friends were just putting together that Chuck and I are together now, so we were the talk of the bar. Chuck and I loved the attention. lol. People that know Chuck better keep telling me they have NEVER seen Chuck so happy. And everyone has noticed how very little Chuck has been drinking since I came into the picture. I guess he was just depressed. At one point Chuck was begging Coralie to give us a ride, and Foxy turned to me and said, "Dang Kristen! What did you do to him? It used to be we couldn't get him out of the bar, now we can't keep him in the bar!" Coralie drove us back to her and Chuck's Dad's and Joyces and we all hung out drinking beers and chatting. I actually enjoyed myself with their family, I did not feel out of place or anything. Later in the evening Coralie drove us back to a hotel and Chuck and I had a very, very, very good night. Sunday we made our way back to Chuck's and spent the entire day just loafing around with no agenda. I even went to the laundry mat with him and did not mind one bit. Chuck's ex-step daughter wanted to meet me (Long story. Look for future blog entitled how I became a Redneck 101.) so she invited Chuck and I over for dinner. She was a sweet girl. We played with her kids for a little while. (That's right Chuck is a Grandpa, just not biological. As I stated earlier look for future blog entitled how I became a Redneck 101.) It took me forever to do, but I finally pulled myself away from Chuck Sunday evening and made my way back home.
      I am down to 1 week and 3 days until I get my apartment. I am so excited!! Ever since Chuck came into the picture the days are flying by and I feel like I'm getting nothing accomplished as far as packing and what not. But really I don't have that much left to do. Just packing a few more things, and a few to do's like getting Renter's Insurance set up, and taking my bedspread to the dry cleaners, etc. I could even do that on moving weekend if I need to. So for now, that's it...

Chuck and I at River Junction.

Flowers from Chuck. Aww.

Angie's going away / birthday party.

Foxy, Chuck and I.

Me and Angie, my BFF

Chuck and I.

Angie, Chuck, and Me.

We got each other's backs to the end!

Me, Gina, Coralie and Angie... and where the heck was Kelsey that night??

I-rish I were Drunk!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!