ABCs of Me

I saw this on Faith's blog and wanted to do it since I haven't posted in over a month.

A - Age: 25
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Cleaning bathrooms
D - Dog's name: Patsy and Jacob
E - Essential start your day item: Food
F - Favorite color: Pink
G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: Silver
H - Height: 4'11"
I - Instruments you play: Flute and Piano (but that was back in High School)
J - Job title: 1st Grade Teacher; Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant
K - Kid(s): None yet
L - Living arrangements: Me, my husband, Patsy, and Jacob
M - Mom's name: Jennie (Mom) and Julie (StepMom)
N - Nicknames: Jess, Jessie, Mrs. Carl (one of my sweet students' name for me)
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: When I had my appendix removed in 9th grade.
P - Pet Peeve: Slow drivers.
Q - Quote from a movie: "I just did my nails." (Remember the Titans) -- Erika says that is so me!
R - Right handed or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: 2 brothers and 2 sisters
T - Time you wake up: 6:15am
U- Underwear: Yes - that's all you need to know
V - Vegetable you dislike: Asparagus
W - Ways you run late: Pushing the snooze button one too many times; Switching outfits
X - X-rays you've had: wrist, teeth, arm
Y - Yummy food you make: Baked Ziti; Roast I make in the crock-pot; Robert E. Lee cake
Z - Zoo favorite: Zebras and Giraffes and Polar Bears (Okay, I like animals).

Well there you go, the ABCs of Me.
There isn't a lot going on to blog about in our little happy family. We have been doing lots of stuff around the house, I've been busy with graduate school and work, and the dogs have been doing what they do best (sleep). We have a busy few weeks coming up and then I'll be on summer vacation (YAY!).

Hope you all are doing well!

Mary Kay Party!

Most of you know that I'm a girly-girl. I love all things that involve pink, makeup, hair, shoes, and purses. Oh, and there is shopping too!

Today, I was invited to a Mary Kay party (thanks Mary and Lianne!) and I was excited since I love makeup. Then, I was even more excited because I found out that the sales lady (Tracey) was a 1st grade teacher before she started her business. Then, I was even more excited when I got there and she had an incredible attitude and energy.

Long story short, we all had a great time and I knew that I had to host my own party! So, next Sunday at 1pm, I am hosting my first ever Mary Kay "Flawless Face" Party. The best part is - it is at her studio so I don't have to clean up my house!!



I didn't know who all to invite but I want to invite EVERYONE - including my bloggy friends. If you don't live here in NoVA, don't worry, you can still order online. If you would like to come, or order online, email me or post a comment and I'll send you the details (sorry, for security issues I'm not posting them for everyone to see). I would love for you to come!!

Finally a Short Update

What? People would like me to update my blog? I can't believe it.
I haven't had much to blog about or the time to blog so blogging just hasn't been a priority.

Around our house...
*Our dogs have started tearing up our furniture. It started when I was in NC for Spring Break and has gotten worse every day. We now have a torn up chair, a chewed on rug, and a couch that is a little chewed on. We think we're just going to have to crate the two of them all day. Too bad for them but we don't want them tearing up the house anymore. Does anyone have experience or advice for handling two dogs that like to ruin things?

*Granny Hams is now at home and recovering. Thanks for the prayers!

*Spring weather is finally coming. I LOVE Spring so I've been waiting for this. Let's just hope all of the cold snaps are gone. Dresses, skirts, and flip flops here I come. (Yes, Jess is the one writing this - not Mat.)

*Nothing fun and exciting is happening. To make up for it, here are some recent pictures. These are actually the only pictures that I took during Spring Break. Aunt Susan told me she loves the slideshows of pictures so I thought I would post another one of those. Sorry that there aren't more pictures.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I'll try to be more diligent about updating (but I think I say that everytime I write a post).

Pray for Granny Hams

There will be a more detailed update of my Spring Break later but now there is something more pressing that needs to be put out there.

Mat's grandmother, Granny Hamilton ("Granny Hams"), isn't doing well. She fell a couple of weeks ago and seemed to have recovered from that. However, since going home last week, things have gone downhill fast. She is now back in the hospital and is having the pressure released from her brain today. As I understand it, there is still lots of bleeding into her brain.

PLEASE keep her and our entire family in your prayers today and over the next few days at least.



I love all of my grandparents dearly and am thankful for them everyday but Granny Hams is different. We share the same name (well our middle names) and have always felt a special bond. She welcomed me into her family with wide open arms and even let Mat and I live with her for a year. She took care of her husband for many years while he was battling Alzheimer's disease. She is one of the greatest women in the whole world. I could go on and on about what she means to me but I must teach today so there just isn't enough time. However, I think you get the point.



I'll try to update later when I hear something.

We really appreciate your thoughts and most importantly your prayers.

P.S.- We might not be as close once she finds out I put her picture up. :) Ha Ha!

A Diagnosis

I finally got a diagnosis from the doctor! I got a call a week ago that she had gotten back tests results and I needed to go back in today. Here is the diagnosis that I have been waiting 4 months for: I have gastroparesis. This is a disorder in which the stomach takes too long to empty its contents. A few weeks ago I had a scan done to see if this was wrong. I was really surprised to see the results today. In a normal scan, after 90 minutes, 50% of the stomach contents would be emptied. In me, only 18% of it was emptied. I think that's a little bit of a difference!

Now, to the treatment. I have to drastically change my eating habits. I need to eat 6 small meals a day instead of 3 larger meals. I can't eat late at night and there is a whole list of things that I should stay away from when possible. To help me with this, I have to go to a nutritionist so that we can work on finding things that I can eat and to plan meals. I also have medicine, Reglan, that I can take when needed. I told her that I didn't want to take a lot of medicine because I would rather not rely on this. She finally decided just to give me a very small dose and I can take it when I know that I'll be going out or having a big meal and when I'm not feeling well.

The doctor is also ordering more blood tests to see if there is an underlying cause for this. She says that usually it is brought on by an autoimmune disease, diabetes, or a thyroid problem. However, it can also come on for no apparent reason.

On another note, please pray for:

*Mat's Granny Hams. She fell over the weekend and is in the hospital for a head injury. Hopefully she'll be coming home in the next couple of days.

*Mat's cousin and his wife (Jamie, Lisa, and Andy). Lisa's mother passed away this morning.

*Me. I have been nauseous the past two days. I actually took today off! I thought that I was feeling much better until I had to go to the doctor. I don't think I have enough sick time to take tomorrow off so I'm going to have to rough it.

I hope your week is going well. Do you have any prayer requests?

Two Dog Adventures

Sorry for no update this past week. Things have been busy around the McCarl household. We're finally getting settled and used to having two dogs. We love them both so much but are really different.

Patsy is so sweet, independent, and sleepy. I think she gets that from her Mommy. She is a complete Daddy's girl.

Jacob is active, cuddly, and curious. He is more like his Daddy. Jacob is definitly already a Mommy's boy.

Together, these two make a wonderful pair. They LOVE to play!! They LOVE treats!! They LOVE each other!!

Here are some things that we've been figuring out about our two two dogs.

*We have discovered that the neighbors have a beautiful white cat. Well, she's beautiful when she's not in our backyard trying to attack the dogs. Jacob was very curious about her but when she hissed and pawed at him, he changed his attitude a little.

*Jacob LOVES to be outside. However, he thinks that anytime the door opens he must go out. Last Tuesday morning, Mommy had to chase him around our neighborhood. I was so upset but finally got some help from above. A man down the street was walking his dog and Jacob went to sniff his dog. Then, the man grabbed Jacob and I was able to get him and carry his 34 lb. self back to our house. I was NOT happy!! We now have a trick for getting out the door. Get to the door, throw a treat across the room, and run out the door.

*Toys are for sharing! Patsy has always loved her "babies" and likes to put them where she wants them. Jacob likes to carry them around everywhere. We have had many little "arguments" about the "babies" and who should have them and where they should be.

*The blue chair belongs to Patsy only. Patsy has always loved her chair but now that Jacob is here, she loves it even more. Jacob may sit on the blue couch with Mat or on the black couch with me. That is unless they both want to cuddle with Daddy on the couch.


*The treat cabinet is not safe. Last night, we had friends over for a movie. Courtney came into the living room and had to tell on Jacob. He was seen opening up the treat cabinet with his nose. Now, he loves to do this all the time. Trash cans and food aren't safe either!!

*Pink dog beds=boy dogs and Blue dog beds=girl dogs. Patsy started here with an old comforter. Then, we bought her a cute blue bed to match our bedroom and then Mat's mom gave her an old one from their dog Molly. Patsy loves her comforter which is in the living room and her pink bed. Well, now that she has to share, she would much rather have the blue bed. A girl's gotta have a nice bed.

*Dog baths are fun - not! Well, Jacob loves the bath but Patsy hates it. Jacob is so cute when he gets out. He tries to dry himself off but rubbing up against the towels and the carpet. Patsy would just much rather be dirty all her life. Too bad we insist on bathing her all the time.

*Jacob has severe separation anxiety. Not only does he want to escape when we leave but he always wants to do his loud beagle bark. I hate leaving him because he crawls up in the window and starts barking as soon as I get the door closed. It is so sad to hear! I always want to go back in and love on him.

*Everyone should have at least one dog. We have truly been blessed by all of the love that these two dogs can give. We joke about how we can't imagine our lives without them. We are so happy to have them!

Introducing...

Jacob B. (Beagle) McCarl!

We are excited to announce that we have a new member of our family.

We just adopted Jacob from the Animal Shelter. We had been thinking about getting another dog since we got Patsy. However, it finally seemed to be the right time and we were financially able to take on another dog. On Sunday, we received a call from the shelter that they had Jacob and would put a hold on him until we could get there. We went Monday and visited him. Then, Tuesday we took Patsy to meet him. Today, we went to pick him up and bring him home!

He was recently given up because his first family was losing their home to foreclosure and they couldn't keep him anymore. We're sad to hear that about his other family but are blessed to have him with us. He and Patsy are having a lot of fun together and Mat and I love him already. He is a great addition to our family!

Enjoy the pictures of our afternoon!

Make a Smilebox slideshow