Adam and Penny Lain Hensley: 2011

Finally Coming Together

9:33 PM by Adam and Penny Lain Hensley

After months of searching for a job within the education field, I finally got a job working as the Administrative Assistant for California Business Property Association. As I discussed in my previous post, this job was due to being a Delta Gamma. I am incredibly blessed to be a Delta Gamma. Years ago, I remember sitting in the DG suite and hearing all the great things DG can do for me. In the back of my mind, I thought there's no way but it sounds like a great group of ladies. I then used those same lines of "DG is for life" and "No matter where you go, DG will be there" during recruitment not truly believing what I was saying. Now years later, I not only believe it, I live it. Delta Gamma is for life and DG will always be there no matter where you go.

Adam is in Knoxville finishing his Executive MBA. I am here finishing up things and will fly out next week to visit my family and friends in Memphis then head to see Adam walk across that stage. This past year has been one heck of a year. We went from being settled in Indiana and content to the point of deciding to start a family to moving across country, me quitting my job, and trying to buy a short sale, which failed miserably. As 2011 is coming to an end, things are finally coming together. We will close on our new house in 2 weeks, Adam will have his EMBA, and I will be anticipating my new amazing job. Despite at times wondering if we would ever make it through all of this, I feel confident in the decisions we have made. There are new opportunities ahead and I look forward to what the future holds.

Amazing Move=Amazing Sisters

10:44 PM by Adam and Penny Lain Hensley

Moving is always difficult. This move began almost worse than the move to Indiana...ok way worse!! We are still living in a house we don't own and we have to move during Christmas. Things don't seem to be going well from that end. Look again! I am so fortunate to be a Delta Gamma. I immediately got in contact with the DGs out here. I began by attending a networking event, joining the board, and now making great friends! I have an interview because of a DG. DGs have invited me to lunch and Mary Kay facial nights to get to know me better and let me meet people in the area. WOW! I feel so blessed at this moment to have joined the greatest fraternity ever. I feel like that decision I made years and years ago was right. I feel like these women and I were destined to meet. It is true that you are a sister for life. If you have not contacted your alumnae chapter, do so...pay your dues...meet some amazing sisters...DO GOOD!!! ITB

Thankful beyond belief

6:21 PM by Adam and Penny Lain Hensley

I have faced some health problems the past week or so. Months ago I found another lump in my breast, the doctor in Evansville said, "It feels the same and there is no reason to do a biopsy." This of course did not please me at all. My number one thing was to get a second opinion. Luckily we did. Dr. Maher of Sutter Medical Group sent me for an ultrasound and biopsy. He said he was pretty sure it was another fibroadenoma but did want to take any risk with my health. We got in the next morning at 7:30 for what we thought was both an ultrasound and a biopsy. The center we went to only performed ultrasounds to our surprise. While I was in the back, Adam was out in the front flirting it up with the nurses to get me in that day for a biopsy at another location. The best he could do was 3 in the afternoon. During that time I was in a dark, cold room half-dressed for my ultrasound. I have been through these many times and have come to know what to look for on the screen. The nurses began whispering and when I asked how large the mass was, they stumbled on their words and quickly turned the screen...at this point I was not feeling so great. After being left alone in this room for what seemed like hours, the radiologist came in to tell me the mass was not smooth rather bumpy...now I'm terrified. As Adam and I get back to the truck so I can tell him the terrifying news, the phone rings from the imaging center to move the biopsy to 10:15 after they received my file. Now we are really terrified as we make those phone calls to our moms. Not 30 minutes later, they called again to tell me to come on in immediately. I took another Xanax at this point and off we went. The Radiological Associates of Sacramento in Roseville was wonderful. The nurses took a ton of extra time to help me with my phobia of needles and calm Adam's fears of me going through the procedure without him by my side. This was the easiest biopsy this far. I had little bleeding, almost no bruising, and very little pain. Thanks to Kim Arvin in Evansville, Indiana for helping me cope with my phobia of needles!! After a weekend of worry and barely being able to sleep, I got a phone call from Dr. Maher...it's NOT cancer!!!!! This year we are thankful for another year free of cancer.

Short sale wasn't so short...

7:20 PM by Adam and Penny Lain Hensley

Months ago, Adam and I put our faith in a short sale. Most of the homes in California are short sale or foreclosures, so we didn't have much choice as "available now" homes are hard to come by. After months of dealing with 3 lien holders on this home and renting it for $1 a month, banks will not approve what the lien holders want to do. Now what to do???

Earlier this week, I looked at a home that was ok and on the bright side was an "available now" home. Adam and I went back and looked at it today. We decided to discuss it over Chili's beer and margaritas. We had to come to the conclusion to make an offer on the ho hum house if the lien holders wouldn't drop their craziness.

Then Adam had a brilliant idea to go look at some new construction, "move in ready" homes not far from our rental house. Come to find out they had put the model homes on the market today. That wasn't the best part. The most amazing thing ever was that they came fully furnished. Yes, every fancy nancy piece of furniture, bedding, window covering, everything was included. I felt like I had stepped into a magazine. After hours of deliberation between the two of us and our realtor, we made an offer on this gorgeous 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2 car garage, with guest suite home. Hopefully by tomorrow we receive a counter offer from the builder. If all goes well on this home, we will be selling all of our current furniture and moving just our clothes, dishes, etc. into this beautiful home by the middle of December!! I feel like finally something is going our way!! Please keep us in your prayers that this works well for us! We miss all of you everyday!! Love y'all <3

Headin' off to the West Coast

5:51 PM by Adam and Penny Lain Hensley

We loaded up the truck with tubs, suitcases, and the boys to head off to the West Coast with tears in our eyes (maybe just mine) as we left my family and home in Memphis. The trip started out hopeful since I had the brilliant idea of using a water bottle to keep the boys in the backseat. The first day and half this worked beautifully. Then day 3 began the jumping in the front seat, moving nonstop, heads on our shoulders, etc. Finally I moved to the backseat and the boys to the front. This was a much better arrangement!

Adam and the boys took a break from riding to play on the Salt Flats!

I couldn't pass up this picture! There was a small puddle of water on the flats. I was able to capture the reflection of the sky along with the mountains.

Once we arrived to our new home, Adam headed off to work and I headed to scrubbing and painting the house. I had 3 days to clean and paint the entire house. Did I mention we bought a home much larger than our last one?!? And also did I mention the home has been empty for 2 years?!? Those of you who know my history of anxiety attacks know that this was an anxiety attack waiting to attack...literally!! After lots of Easy Off Oven Cleaner that I used on most surfaces, I was able to successfully clean the kitchen and bathrooms--YUCK!! Then on to painting the curved edged, textured walls. Luckily after several phone calls from a panicked wife, Adam hired a painter to help me since he couldn't be at the house helping!

Fast forwarding ahead, house is painted and cleaned just in time for the movers to arrive! I used Post-It notes to tell the movers where all furniture should go as well as to tell myself where I would put all my dishes and towels. In addition, I used sidewalk chalk to write in the garage where all boxes should go. Easy...right??? That's what I thought until the movers continued asking me where items went and mixed up where to put the boxes. I wanted to give them a quick reading lesson to refresh their brains on how to read!

Adam is in place ready to start checking boxes in while I begin to unpack!

After broken furniture, mixed up boxes, and trips to IKEA, our house is beginning to look like a home. The garage is still full of miscellaneous boxes and Adam's office is far from being put together. All in all we are adjusting well out here.

Here we are watching the Vols take on LSU and all decked out in our orange!!

Tucker's new favorite thing to do!! We can barely keep him out of the pool. He has finally learned to jump in and is getting pretty good at it!

Here a few pictures around the house:

We finally have a fireplace!

My beautiful china cabinet

My kitchen!!

Anchors!!!!!

Orange quilt and wedding invitation

Packing and Moving Day

8:39 PM by Adam and Penny Lain Hensley

This is how the move began! Adam and Kyle Capin, our very dear friend in Evansville, moving everything from the attic, including a tire. Adam, Kyle, and I drank a few beers and unloaded all of my holiday and wedding items along with empty boxes that my husband insisted on keeping for the 3 years we lived in the house. The night ended with the three of us reminiscing and tears, of course, streaming down my face. We finally called it a night so Adam and I could prepare for Packing Day.

When the father and son team arrived to pack up our home, they began unloading boxes, tape, and paper galore. I was instantly overwhelmed as they started packing my entire life into boxes. At times, I had to hide in other rooms because my "mom instinct" wanted to come out and begin telling them to "be careful" and "use extra paper on my breakables!"

My kitchen all packed up. This was one of the hardest rooms that I watched them pack. I could barely breath as the son packed up my china and my grandmother's china.

Here are all of Adam's empty boxes that he just had to save years ago. I loved hearing the packers say that they don't use those boxes as they prefer to use their own packing supplies!!! Do I hear an "I told you so?"

This is Adam's TV. A second-party company came in and literally built the crate around the TV.

Moving Day has arrived!!! Our last picture in front of the house. Kyle came by before the movers arrived to take our last picture together.

Adam and Kyle taking down our "The Hensleys; Established 2009" sign on our home. Again, I had tears flowing down my face watching them.

The moving truck has arrived!!! It was quite a sight to see. Little did I know that the rest of the day was going to be insanity that would cause an anxiety attack.

The movers took over my home. They didn't just start in one room and move to the next like I would have thought. They were bouncing from one room to the next. There was no escaping them like I could do with the packers. Very quickly I had to go digging through the truck, which was packed to full capacity, to find a Xanax to deal with my anxiety attack that I could feel coming on.

The movers piled boxes upon boxes on the driveway and then moved them to the truck where they would fit best.

Here is my entire life stacked to the ceiling of the truck. They used a ladder to stuff every item I own to make it all fit.

Adam tried to take a few days off during the move so he could be there helping me. Unfortunately that did not work out. He was beyond exhausted and continuing to have to work as well as try to get us moved out of the house.

The house is empty. Kyle, Adam, and I sat in the great room each leaned against a different wall. We began telling the "Do you remember when..." stories and, of course, tears streamed down my face. Finally Adam told me it was time. We walked Kyle out, watched him get in his truck one last time and drive away. I stood in our driveway with tears pouring down my face as I tried to prepared myself to do one final walk through of the house. Adam and I walked from room to room telling stories and crying our eyes out. We finally made it to the truck and cried as we drove away for the last time.

Man's Best Friend?

10:56 PM by Adam and Penny Lain Hensley

People say that dogs are man's best friend. I believe that dogs and wine are a woman's best friend. As I sit here drinking a glass of chardonnay and watching season 2 of Grey's Anatomy, both of my sweet puppies are curled up with me. During this move, I have spent more time away from my husband than I have with him. That is why I have two amazing dogs. I wake up every morning without my husband in bed and fall asleep without him. Throughout all of this, I have Tucker and Otis. They are the ones who wake me up with slobbery kisses and cuddle every night as I struggle to fall asleep alone in a HUGE king size bed. Today I left the house for the first time since Monday morning when I took Adam to the airport. The reason I finally left, well I was out of alcohol. When I arrived to Evansville Sunday afternoon, I had a case of Coors Light in the garage, which I put in the fridge. Well I awoke this morning to realize it was gone. I had no other option but to shower, get dressed, and go out for wine which everyone knows is my drink of choice. Being without your spouse plain sucks! Tucker and Otis have been by my side every step of the way. There are also many people who dislike dogs because they shed and poop and smell. Well to those I say get over it! Dogs are truly your best friend...without my boys I don't know what I'd do. I'm prepared to start this next chapter of my life with my husband AND my two amazing puppies!

CHAOS

10:13 PM by Adam and Penny Lain Hensley

I recently returned from visiting our new home in Roseville, California to spend my second anniversary with my husband. The five days began with such excitement to explore my new home while Adam worked. That quickly turned into an anxiety attack as I found myself wandering the mall completely overwhelmed by the difference in the fashion, the sheer amount of people, and how materialistic these people could be. Finally, I quickly powered-walked my tail end out of there and sat in the rental car trying to recover with some breathing techniques...thanks to months of therapy. I remembered seeing a White House Black Market across the road and decided to try one store at a time instead of this huge mall with fashion I had never seen in the South. As I drove through The Fountains of Roseville (an amazing outdoor shopping center...I later learned), I spotted a Vera Bradley store and quickly spun my car into the first open parking spot I could find and again power-walked, if not ran, straight into the store where I could immediately breath. I could swear the store smelled of the South and I instantly felt at home. As I wandered the store taking in the smells of home, I found myself helping customers choose the perfect Vera product as Vera has recently hit the West coast. Not long after I was approached by the manager and a tiny bottle of water wrapped in the newest Mocha Rouge print, which is adorable might I add. After chatting it up for several minutes, I was offered a sales position in the store. I guess I know waaaayyy too much about Vera Bradley!!

Moving on to the next evening, I encountered my first ever livestock sale at the Grand Champion Sale at the California State Fair. All I can say is WOW! As we arrived to the fair, I spotted LOTS of labs. As we walked a little further, I spotted a huge pool and dogs competing in water jumping contests. I immediately decided with being unemployed I will have plenty of time to train Tucker in our pool so I can enter him in the competition next summer. Soon after, Adam took me through to see all the livestock. Again I immediately made another decision, our children will NOT be showing animals because it is way too expensive plus I am not spending my time grooming animals to get them ready for the shows especially in the Southern heat...ewww gross! We entered the event just in time for cocktail hour. Adam and I ordered a Jack and diet to which we discovered they were not serving Jack Daniels...yes I know we felt the same way. We had to settle for a Crown and diet which might I say is not nearly as good as Jack. I guess this is something I will have to suck it up and deal with it but I will not enjoy one single drop of Crown or whatever else they try to pass off as whiskey! Adam and I walked through the champion animals chatting it up with some of the 4-H kids about their animals...ok Adam chatted them up while I stood there and looked pretty. The animals ranged from rabbits to turkeys to hogs and of course cattle. Once dinner was served we took our tickets up and ate an amazing steak dinner. I was quite surprised they were serving steak to so many people nevertheless I approved of the food which is something I don't do often after walking through all the livestock and the poop during cocktail hour drinking what tasted like water. Maybe if I had Jack it would have been much better. Once the sale started, I was in total confusion. Perhaps the Crown had a slight effect on me. Rabbits went for over a thousand dollars. It was a rabbit for goodness sake! Then this little fourth grade boy came up with a turkey bigger than Tucker and Otis put together. I thought this kid was going to be the first ever child to have stroke due to the sheer mass of animal he was holding. I could swear I saw the poor kid's veins popping out of his neck as he held the bird upside down to show off it's breasts (the caller explained this to the crowd and said this is what we call "flipping the bird"). After that I had enough and begged to leave for a corn dog. I know, I know I just ate an amazing meal but a greasy, fried, fair corn dog sounded oh so grand! We spent the rest of the evening sipping local prize winning wine, riding rides, and wandering the fair arm in arm. It was a magnificent night all in all.

The rest of the trip was nearly as comical. We spent the week lounging by the pool, eating at amazing restaurants, and my favorite sipping wine...ok, ok at times maybe gulping it. Nevertheless I had an amazing visit with my husband for our anniversary. It is hard to believe we have been married for two years and are now on our way to the West Coast.

To keep y'all updated on the status of everything, we sold our home in Indiana. The movers come to pack on August 15 and load on the 16th. I will be moving to Memphis for a month. Adam will head back to Cali and then onto South America for grad school. Once he arrives back in the States, we will make the miserably long trek across the country with two dogs in tow.

Moving to the West Coast

4:44 PM by Adam and Penny Lain Hensley

After much thought, I have decided to start this blogging thing. As you all know Adam and I are being relocated to Roseville, California. There has been so much already that has happened and I know there will be much more that will go on from here. So here goes me attempting to blog!

A glass of wine ago, I dropped Adam off at the airport for good. I do fly out in a few days for our second anniversary but Adam will not be returning back to Evansville until the movers arrive. As we sat on the couch just 45 minutes before I took him to the airport, we both began talking about the memories in this home. When we bought this home 3 years ago, I never dreamed that we would have so many memories nor would I have believed you if you told me I'd be moving to California of all places. Nevertheless I agreed to this crazy adventure a few months ago and it has been nothing but crazy since then! We have made an offer on a short sale home in a very strict subdivision, I have quit my amazing job and thus have been searching for a new career, and we have dropped the price of our home twice hoping someone will make an offer. With all of our traveling, Tucker and Otis have been mixed up and their behavior has been awful! Just today we took them to Pet Smart while there was an open house in our home. Tucker pooped in the entrance while Otis was peeing on poles and shelves in the store. Once we got it cleaned up and walked around the store trying to let the boys pick out a new toy each, Tucker pooped again and Otis began watering the shelves! We were both mortified and left once all was cleaned up...without new toys!! Hopefully things will go better with me on my own!

Adam and Penny Lain Hensley