You know your house is messy when...

...the implement you get spanked with is decided by what your husband can get to! Okay, okay, that makes it sound worse than it is. Although it is kind of messy. Sort of. Maybe very. What happened is that I agreed to participate in my friend A's yard sale this coming Saturday. Now that's not a bad thing - it's actually a very, very good thing. It means I'm getting rid of a bunch of clutter and maybe even making a little bit of money. But for now it also means that I have loads of shoes and purses for the sale piled up on the chest at the foot of our bed. The chest with all the paddles in it. And yes, there's some stuff piled up downstairs too, which is why last night Nick ran out of patience with my excuses and decided to just spank me for the mess and get me motivated to get it priced and out the door to at least the garage. But when we finally got some time alone, and he went to reach for a paddle, he found them all, well, out of reach.

So he reached instead for his new leather mechanic's belt. A mechanic's belt does not have a traditional buckle, which can scratch the paint on a car when the mechanic is leaned over the hood. Instead it has two metal prongs that pop into the holes in the belt where a buckle would normally fasten. What this meant for me was that he was able to fasten the prongs so that the belt was held folded completely in half. Normally the belt is one of my favorite implements, but last night it really, really hurt! I lost count of the licks, but I think it was somewhere around 50. Maybe it was because I only had my panties for protection, or maybe it was because I wasn't expecting a spanking right then, but it really had me struggling to stay put. I have to say though, I needed it very much, and it was a relief to get it done.

Let's see, what else? Oh, we got our new phones and they are the best phones E-VAH! Okay, they're not iphones, which we really wanted, but they really are terrific, and we're both really pleased with them.

Oh, Nick and I have started doing a nightly devotional together, which has been wonderful, and I'm so very proud of him for doing it with me. We're reading our way through the Bible, but we're also going through this book, which is a companion to the Fireproof movie we saw on my 30th birthday. We're just a week into it, but so far it's really good.

Anyway, that's our life these days. How are you guys?

Happy (late) Independence Day!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Ours was very nice. We slept in yesterday morning, then went to visit a different church in the evening. My younger brother was called to the ministry a few years ago, and he was the youth pastor for a couple of years for the church we grew up in. He's recently been looked at to become the pastor of the church we visited last night. They've not made a final decision, but they've asked him to act as pastor for the month of July, at the end of which they will vote to bring him on full time or not. Of course we want the outcome to follow God's will, but this would be an amazing opportunity if he gets it - he's only 22 years old. I have to say that he's truly a wonderful preacher, and despite the natural skepticism I started out with listening to my baby brother, he always touches my heart when I hear his sermons. By the way, this is the brother who recently discovered my blog.

Anyway, after church, we went out to eat with a group from the church, including my brother and sister-in-law, as well as Nick's sister and brother-in-law, who were also visiting. After dinner we went to a friend's spectacular fireworks display, then finally headed home and hit the hay. We did, however, manage to squeeze in a few minutes alone time before we went to sleep. :)

This afternoon my parents held a family cookout, and a wonderful time was had by all! Daisy was 9 months old today, and I just can't believe how fast the time has flown!

In other news, we got to order new cell phones today! Nick's poor phone has been on its last leg for a few months now, and mine has been showing signs of following suit. My internet home page has refused to work for months, and my gmail stopped downloading as well. This time we ordered HTC Arias, and I am SO excited about trying the Android platform!

Let's see, what else? Spanking? Nope, none of that lately, but life has been busy, so perhaps that's it. I hope so anyway.

Oh, we get to go to Texas next month to visit Nick's sister and brother-in-law who live there! And guess what - they're flying us in! Hooray! No 2 day car trip with a 10 month old and a 9 year old! We're pretty excited about it. It was a wonderful vacation last year, truly relaxing. The only hard part about it was the drive there and back, so it will be just perfect this year!

Anyway, I hope everyone's having a wonderful summer!