A Busy Monday and Goodbye to the Doggie

As my loving-wife...stated in the previous post, we're in fact dog-sitting. Lily has been a joy to come home to and a sadness to depart from. All in all it's been a successful dog-sitting experiment (I say that cause it was Brandie and I's first time "watching" anything together, so it was interesting to see how we worked together in that..ultimately a good experience).

Dog Sitting

So Nick and I are babysitting a dog for the next couple of days. Lily (thats her name) is a puggle which is half pug and half beagle. She's cute. It has not been so bad except for Saturday when it was pouring down rain all day and we got soaking wet everytime we took her to the bathroom. Plus we are on the third floor... Right now she is staring at me while I am trying to study, I guess she does not understand that I have a test coming up and cant play with her, oh well.

This Weekend

This weekend seems fun.

- Tonight there is a P A R T Y at Nic's house...which for those of you that don't know...that means I will s'mores this evening.

- (By the way...this picture to the right here...was taken right before Ernesto hit Folly Beach...I was there...I surfed it...and it was AWESOME...the rain and the sand stung your face...and the wind would blow your board away....Seth and Jeremy Pollett almost died...it was a GREAT time!) Tomorrow morning, 9am surfing in hopefully a storm with Jeremy Nuckolls...and that reminds me I need to call Jeremy Pollett. Then shopping with the wife...thanks to everyone for the gift cards!

- Sunday...church! I'm very excited about the songs we're going to attempt this Sunday, as most of them are difficult...or at least, to us.

So this weekend is shaping up nicely. Recently, I've received quite a large amount of bills....all at once... I think other businesses talk to each other and say when they are going to send them out and ask for their money...just like when I was in high-school and I was sure that all the teachers in the school got together and decided when they would have tests.

I'm going to be heading up to Tennessee for the weekend of the 25th with Brandie for work...so Pigeon Forge here we come! That should be fun, though I have to work. Though, the place where I will be working will be a Youth Retreat...so that should be fun as well...hopefully we'll learn some stuff.

Christmas Time/New Year's in Review

Well, Christmas came and went, followed by New Year's...funny how the calendar works that way.

- side note -

Cubicle life is so funny. Jeremy was just talking to me and then his little head went away and I heard him answer the phone. Then he told the lady who he was on the phone with: "Let me just stop you before you go too far, and tell you that I'm not the right person for you"...that's funny.

- end side note -

Being back at work is not that bad. It's nice to see everyone, even if we have a ton of work to do.

Brandie is in Spartanburg still, getting her car fixed. I miss her.

Back to work.

CHRISTMAS TIME!!!

I'm in Boiling Springs, SC with my in-laws (and I love them). It's great! I have basically two weeks to sit around, sleep, eat, get and give presents (I like both), see people I don't get to see alot, and read.

Right now Brandie and Casey (my sister-in-law) are out driving Brandie's (pig-mauled) Honda, because Casey likes to drive and doesn't get to do it that much since she has no car. Casey and I just got finished driving my Scion around a Middle School across the street...I was teaching her how to drive a manual transmission; she did very well. I was horrible the first time I attempted that, and like other people I've seen try to learn it, I got frustrated.

Tonight is Christmas Eve. This evening is my favorite night of all nights. Strange and wodnerful things happen on Christmas Eve: Santa comes by, and presents magically appear around the tree, no one sleeps for that long, and people get up so early to see what happened overnight. I think this Christmas will be a great one!

I already "did" Christmas with my Dad and my step-family. That was a good time, we played "half-rubber"...I think...it's where you hit a half of a rubber ball with a wooden stick..I did ok considering I'm a crippple; though I think my ankle is getting better (however still black, red, and blue).

One of the things that I'm looking forward to most this Christmas is my lunch time with George on the 27th...I haven't seen him in some time...it feels like years, so that will be good. I am also excited about what Brandie may be getting for Christmas...which I can't tell you yet...maybe some other time.

Also, speaking of other posts, I've had such a demand for the "pig pictures" I will put them on here later...after Christmas...and if you have children they may not want to see it..though there isn't any blood or anything...just a dead (hit by a Honda) pig.

I'm almost done with reading Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper (I already finished Spiritual Leadership by Henry Blackaby), and I'm learning alot about Missions and about God's heart for the lost all around the world and what that should mean to us as Christians. It does make me aggravated with some of the things that I see going on around me at CSU, from the Christians and non-Christians alike, though I don't want to promote feelings of discontentment within myself (I suppose).

Missing everyone in Chucktown, wish that all of our families and everyone could share Christmas together, but this is where we are.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BALLENGERS!

Something warm...something cold

It was 26F when I was driving to work this morning; I know this because of two reasons: 1)The water that was ice that melted when I used the defrost this morning, turned back into ice after I turned the defrost off...which is amazing, and 2) Because the thermostat in my car says it was(the picture is deifnitely not from Summerville...if that happens in Summerville, then there's a problem).

So the "wild pig adventures with Brandie" story has officially been told at my work. Most of the people feel bad for Brandie and then they laugh hysterically.

Apparently, Brandie's mom spoke with the insurance company and it'll cost us like $250 to get everything repaired...which is fine; that's not so bad ultimately...could've been a lot worse. So I guess we'll be doing some fixing up of the Honda while we're in GSP.

Anyways, it's my last day at work until January 3rd today, and I'm really looking forward to some time off because...well, because I would prefer not to do anything but eat, sleep and open and give presents. I'm excited about getting the children in our family toys, because I think that was my favorite thing about Christmas was the toys when I was a kid; and I'm still kinda one.

We still haven't done any "real" shopping this year for Christmas yet, but Brandie and I both have scheduled shopping times with our moms, so hopefully we'll be able to knock it out in one day...one exhaustive day.

A Pig...a what? I believe she hit a wild pig....no...no one will ever believe that

So here goes...

My wife and I were driving back from church last night (she was driving about a mile behind me in her car). We have a cut-through road that has just recently been developed and we very much enjoy the large amount of time it cuts off our drive everyday.

As I proceeded through the road, it was very dark, and i turned on my bright lights to see better. When I did that I saw not one, but three large wild pigs (hairy...just really hairy...like some of my friends), and so I slowed down and began to call Brandie on the phone since she was behind me and I wanted to make sure that she saw them ahead of time.

Well, I called her, she answered:

Brandie: Hey.
Nick: Hey, where are you?
Brandie: I'm on the cut-through road....OH MY GOD, I JUST HIT SOMETHING. ::tears::
Nick: Yeah I know...I'll be right there.

Not fun...just not cool. Anyways, apparently one of the three pigs ran out in the middle of the road as she was driving (and these things are dark black), and my wife clipped it with the front driver-side of her car.

So now we pretty much have to get a new bumper, and maybe some other random things, but I'm mostly happy that the airbags didn't go off, cause that would've prolly done some serious damage.

So then we both got home and I proceeded to go back out to my car with our digital camera and take pictures of her car and the dead pig (with a police officer, who couldn't believe what she was looking at). Also, we had another officer (whose daughter goes to CSU) come up to our apartment and write up a police report about it...so my wife has her own police report now.

It's funny, because it's so random, and I'm suprised that my "randomness of tragedy and weirdness" ability transferred to my wife...I mean normally the random weird junk happens to me...like when my toe got cut off by a conch shell....or when I fell of a rope swing 50ft. in the air and didn't die....or falling off a wall of a major american revolution fort while trying to climb it using a belt from wal-mart...that kinda stuff. Though it is funny, and ultimately something that I think we'll laugh at later on, it really didn't make me feel that good to hear all of that over the phone, especially my wife screaming part...not cool.

Anyways, work today, and tomorrow, and then I'm done till January...and that makes me happy.