R a i s i n g C a n e y . c o m

In case you didn’t know, Tasha and I are inmates (er, students?) at Louisiana Tech University.  We’re up for parole after I graduate this Summer (or so it looks at this point in time).  Louisiana Tech is on a quarter system rather than a semester system.  This means there are Fall, Winter, Spring (these three make up a normal school year), and Summer quarters.  Summer quarter is broken down into two sessions.  Well, Tasha and I just completed the Fall quarter.  Finals are always tough and stressful, but this quarter, Tasha and I had some additional stress influencing our grades.  Monday, Tasha had her Math 101 Final and I had my CIS 323 Final.  Monday night, Tasha and I were playing with our kitten, and I was sitting on the floor.  I went to stand up and *POP*… I fell down.  I winced in pain and held my knee close to my body.  It was a familiar pain.  It felt just like it did when I torn my LCL the first time…  So, we went to LSU Health Science Center in Monroe, La (free for poor folks like us!).  They did X-Rays (which won’t show ligaments), but they concluded that I, at the very least, sprained my LCL, but that I likely tore it at one of the points where the surgery had bolted down the cadaver ligaments.  We finally left the hospital at around 6am.  We got home and in bed by 7.  We both had a Biology 102 final…

…at 10.  I also had an ROTC briefing at 2 and an ROTC final at 3.  Needless to say, we got little studying done that night, and we were both exhausted throughout the day.

Tasha and I both got an 83 on our Biology final.  Before the cheating accusations come out, I should tell you we had different tests!  I’ve gotta admit though, it is a bit suspicious!

Tasha had her Geology final today, and I had a comprehensive final in my CIS class to make up for a test I missed while I was working in Boston.

Anyway, Tasha managed to get an A in Math, a B in Geology, and a B in Biology.  I think that’s pretty awesome for a girl juggling baby appointments, a sick husband (earlier in the quarter), a broken-knee husband (see above), and all sorts of other hindrances that go along with having a husband (named Cyrus Robinson).  I’m proud of her!

I got an A in Biology (89.89% rounded up to an A, thank God), a B in ROTC (yeaaaah, I had an A until the final…), and I am still waiting on the results of the CIS comprehensive final (I needed a 17% for a B and a 71% for an A).  Overall, it was a pretty hectic quarter.

So, there’ve been some special requests for pictures.  There’ll be more to come, but here are a few.

Jon Copeland asked for me to start training Caney to enjoy Cane’s, and to document it.  Soooo, tonight I went to Raising Cane’s to celebrate the end of the quarter!

Mmmmm, Caney with Raising Cane's!

Soooo, Tasha’s Mom also wanted some new side-profile pics of the baby bump.  I agree, and so with no further ado:

I know, I know... Wal-Mart does not like people to take pictures in the store, but my wife is just so pretty! I could not resist.

Ok, that’s all for tonight.  I promise more pictures soon!  For now, I’m off to Crescent City Coffee to hang out with Rex.

-Cy

Isn’t my wife beautiful?

Caney and Tasha in Class... The guy in the background is taking a nap!

So the first time Tasha got a craving was on our way home from Maryland this summer.  We were on a rather long drive, obviously, and it was about time for us to stop and stretch our legs.  Tasha told me she was hungry, which was fine, but I was shocked when she told me what she wanted to eat…  biscuits and coleslaw.  Initially, I thought this was quite an odd combination, but then it came together.  Trying to figure out where to go for such a request, Tasha was quick to suggest KFC or Popeye’s, so we went to Popeye’s, which serves both coleslaw AND biscuits.  So, what I initially thought an odd request turned out to be normal side orders at most chicken joints.

That having been said, I now understand a bit better how my wife’s cravings (don’t?) work.   Basically, my wife hasn’t had any really extraordinary requests or cravings.  She used to drink a lot of Coke (the general term for carbonated beverages in the South) and caffeinated drinks.  Since she got pregnant she hardly EVER drinks ANY caffeine.  That’s mostly for Caney’s health, but in general, Tasha’s desire for Cokes has mostly gone away.  Now, she drinks almost exclusively…H2O.  Weird, huh?  She craves water…

As for food items, she’s always liked pickles, but I think I’ve actually seen a slight increase in her liking of pickles (but it’s hard to say).  Also, she’s taken to eating plenty of fruits and veggies.  You read right, fruits and vegetables.

I’m starting to think there may have been a rational reason for my wife to have lost weight initially in the pregnancy.  She craves healthy food.  Weirdo!  Actually, there’ve been a couple instances where she’ll get these crazy cravings for candy, and she’ll go buy a MASSIVE bag of candy from Wal-Mart only to discover that she doesn’t really want candy very badly…and the massive bag sits on our coffee table until my friends come over and scavenge like vultures.  Thank God for friends taking the candy, lest I eat it all!

So, you must be wondering what the “Power Tools” part of the title is referring to.  Well, as some of you might already know, my Momma gave us a small unfinished wooden round dining table (that’s a lot of adjectives!).  It looks exactly like this, except this is a dollhouse table:

Like this, only...much bigger.

It’s very nice, but it’s unfinished.  Also, we’ve repeatedly put cups on the table that had created a total of 17 noticable water stain rings.  Tasha let me get a power sander.  I got a Black and Decker Mouse Power Sander that lights up light green if you’re not pressing hard enough, dark green if you’re just right, and red if you’re too hard.  It has several really cool little attachments that are for sanding odd-shaped surfaces, and it has a carrying bag.

This is the sander I got. It's my first power tool! Haha...

This was my first “home improvement” project.  I sanded the table, stained it, and noticed that the water stains were…MORE noticeable.  Sooooo, I re-sanded… much better this time, and I restained it several times.  It took several days of hard work (and trusting that no one would steal it from in front of my apartment where I had it drying).  I put the final satin finish clear coat on it, and it looks wonderful!  I’m very proud of it.  Here are a couple of pics of it now:

Here's Our Table!

Heres another view of our table. Notice the bridal picture frame in the back? Thats new too!

There’s home improvement project 1!  I know, I know, it’s not perfect, but it’s my first project.  I like it .  Wait, there’s more though!  Power Tools is PLURAL.  So there’s MORE!  So, we’ve been talking about/looking for some shelves to put up to give us more horizontal storage space (we have a lot of pictures and such that we like to display).  Also, I’ve been wanting somewhere to hang our backbacks that’s easy to access, looks nice, and helps us clean the clutter a bit.  Soooo, everyone knows that you need a good drill to put up shelves properly and such properly!  Soooo, Tasha let me buy a Black and Decker Drill and some bits for it too!

This is the drill that I got.

When I installed the shelves and the hooks I did it the right way too (using drywall anchors for support)!

Here are some pics of the shelf and the hooks:

This is our shelf! Its hard to see, but the pictures frames (with engagement pics) are new too. Also, notice the manger up front. This is the beginning (a bit early!) of our Christmas decor.

These are the hooks in the bedroom above the shoe rack.

Just to show you some more of our home, here are a couple extra pictures:

This is our bed with a crochet picture that Darla McDonald made us (it's awesome) as a wedding gift.

The crosses are a wedding gift from the awesome Michelle Harper. The black shelf thing is our wedding display. We have a huge poster sized print of one of our wedding pictures being developed to go above it. The square lamp is a wedding gift from my Dads friend, Mr. Dennis Dean.

Tasha (playing Fable 2 on the Xbox 360) and Rex studying (aka watching Tasha playing Fable 2). The 3 pictures frames to the left and the 2 top ones to the right are also new.

So, our cat has a 6 level (including the roof) play house. There are toys scattered throughout it, and the top is basically her throne. She doesn't usually climb through the maze of the inside to get up the levels. She prefers to just leap and use her claws to climb to the top. She's an awesome little ninja.

Sooooo, welcome to our home (and what will be Caney’s first home?), and thanks for enduring my excitement about power tools/home improvement…and cravings!  Let us know what you think!

-Cy