Well...

To all you faithful readers...I have not posted anything lately due to the fact that I have nothing to say or talk about that is interesting.

Unless you consider the following interesting:

1) fighting a sinus infection

2) trying to convince your mortgage company that indeed you do have wind coverage, but it is taking the Mississippi wind pool association 12 weeks to mail out the policies

3) biting my nails over American Idol

4) Working

5) Praying about American Idol

6) Trying to come up with reasons why Johnathon should take me out to eat ice cream at marble slab every night of the week

7) TIVO'ing and re-watching American Idol

8) Not cooking dinner for like a straight 14 days (We seriously got down to only liquids and condiments in the fridge)

9) Going to my little Brother's "Bad news bears" baseball games (Let me just insert this little comment: His team is made up of 10-12 year old boys and in all my younger years of GIRLS softball I can count on one hand seeing girls crying in the dug-out and usually because we lost some championship game! NOT SO with little league boys they cry about everything! if they strike-out, get out, or if the coach looks at them funny! I mean COOMMMEEE ON! What ever happened to the good ole saying "THERE IS NO CRYING IN BASEBALL"!?) I can't handle those games.

10) Umm...well...I can't think of anything which is another indication of the lack of excitement in our lives right now, but I couldn't stop at 9 because a list should always end on 10.

"Seacrest-out"

What does the black Angus Cow Say?..."Cha-Ching"

What do you get when you combine the above picture with this picture?

A four day weekend with your parents flying on a private Eurocopter to 4 Angus Cattle Auction sales throughout the state of Georgia.

And your thoughts are "What??"

Let me explain...My father owns/raises Black Angus Cattle for the purpose of improving the breed. During certain times of the year you travel to other Angus breeders auction sales and buy some of their cattle so you can breed yours with theirs and make even better cows. That is the "Angus for Dummies" explanation.

So you know how you can go to a "steak house" restaurant that is more or less a glorified buffet and get a "knock-off-steak" for like $2.50 and then you can go to a real Steak House restaurant and get a "designer steak" for like $40.00, that is not including side dishes, well there is a reason for that. It all goes back to the cow.

Certified Black Angus beef is some of the best beef you can get (i.e. designer, couture). The cattle sales we went to are like a designers runway show for their product. The cattle you are seeing will never see the likes of a slaughter house (just like actual runway clothes will never see a store room rack of clothes). What these designer cows are capable of producing is what will end up on your plate one day after forking out designer prices for that luscious slab-o-beef!

Just ONE cow at one of these sales went for $170,000.00!

Its like a whole other world out there you didn't even know about. So next time you go to an expensive restaurant and order the filet mignon enjoy the guilty pleasure and know you are eating in-style!

Over zealous, maybe?...you tell me.

Have you ever been at a sporting event for children, say under the age of 13, and there is that ONE family that coaches from the bleachers. In the case of little league baseball from behind the fence next to the dug-out in their traveling folding chairs.

You know the kind I'm talking' about the really obnoxious parents/relatives...screaming "come on blue!" every time there is a bad call. Yelling at the players to "get it together!" or "tighten up out there!" or screaming at their own child/relative to get their head in the game, run faster, or every one's favorite...when nothing else works they start threatening their own child/relative. "You better straighten up out there or you're gonna' be sittin' the bench" or "Son, you better get a better attitude and shake it off or I'll pull you outta' the game!" They can even be educated people yet they suddenly lose all grammer skills!

It is no lie that there seems to be ONE family like that for every little league team. In the case of my little brother's 12 and under baseball team that family would be mine!
I don't know what comes over us. It's like this baseball obsessive spirit just possesses us and we can do nothing to control it!

You may be thinking "those poor kids" when actually, you should be thinking "those poor parents of the other players". It's amazing the character flaws you see in yourself when you are screaming and hollering at a bunch of 10-12 year old little boys, and every grown-up in the surrounding area just sits and stares at you. Every once in a while the other parents might say things like "Good try Billy...maybe next time". While you are screaming "Billy, don't swing at that trash...come on get your head in the game!"

So...as you might be thinking you need to pray for us...I would encourage you to rather pray for the other parents considering the season has only begun and this is just league ball its not even all-stars yet!

One word...Busy.

With Lots of white roses, sore feet and many smiling faces they got hitched. I was so busy with other things I never once took my camera out of my purse to even take one picture. I am relying on Kevin and Judy from RI to email me some when they get a chance...please??!

Monday was back to the grind at work and indeed there was some grinding. Wearing big girl panties is sometimes not an easy task, but you have to do it. So to a little hard work and extra hours I say bring it on I'm ready... I'll take a vacation later.

So unfortunately my blogging may not be more than once a week and probably short and sweet until something worth talking about happens other than just work.

Wedding Bells!

Johnathon's brother Jeremy will be wed this weekend to his fiance' Heather. Cute couple, don't you think? So due to the fact that I have been coordinating this grand event my post have been few. Johnathon is also participating in the wedding as "best man" which by-the-way is a wonderful title for him and should be permanent because he is just that wonderful! Our 4 year anniversary is on Thursday so I'm getting a little sweet on him. =)

Anyways...I think everything will go well and this will be a grand event to be remembered.

You know you have arrived when...

Ladies and Gentlemen we are big timers now. How do you know you are moving up in the world as a business?? You have matching office furniture! J. Levens Builders, Inc. has just undergone a major milestone. In October we started building a new office building that would triple our size and we moved in on Monday! This was no easy task; but we did it and we were only down for about 10 hours. Here is my office before (old office):

So you might be thinking "Wow, Ali you must really be at the bottom of the food chain" sad thing is all the offices looked like that. Now for the after picture (New office):

It is a glorious day! Yes, that is a pink hard hat on top of the overhead storage. I may work in the construction industry; but mind you I work it in-style. he he he.

Internet Filter...

My Internet filter decided last night that it no longer was going to allow me to post on my blog. However, I could view it. Go figure!

As promised, but delayed, here are some pics of our trip to Pixabaj, Guatemala. The purpose of our trip was to aid in building Phase 2 of a private, sponsor funded, Christian school. This school is part of a ministry called Outpost Ministry http://www.theoutpostministry.com/




The kids attending this school are unable to afford an education so through sponsorships these kids are able to attend school and not only receive a good education, but also learn about Jesus Christ.

The first pic is of J and I with 8 of the 10 kids my parents sponsor at the school. We had a great team of people who went from our church and some other gentlemen who met up with us in Houston that joined our church team. I happen to be the only female on the team of 13. I was responsible for feeding everyone and making sure they did not contract some horrible parasite from using unclean water. I'll have you know by day 2 I had the whole "boil the water to wash the dishes in" to a perfect science and how to use the water twice to conserve what little we had. It was a lot of hard work and manual labor but it was worth it.

The hardest part of the whole trip was certainly the challenge of drying my hair. Forget the language barrier and parasite invested water. I consider myself a rather resourceful kinda gal when the "going-gets-tough" as can be seen here, I was able to adjust quite nicely.
You might be wondering "From the looks of your surroundings in the last picture you surely had an electrical outlet to plug-in a hair dryer...why the oven?" Well it's simple...you can not take a hair dryer on mission trip to a 3rd world environment and expect the Lord to move in your life fully...and I was trying to impress my husband with my false sense of humility by packing the least amount possible. That's it in a nut shell. I would like to write more to inform you about Zach formerly known as "the boy"; however, I must leave to go have my nails done.