Illumination Transformations with the Unhandy Husband

Ever since Jackie and I moved into our new house last March, the Unhandy Husband has been able to relax.

Although we've loved our house from the moment we stepped inside, we were not in love with the lighting over our bar and over the dining room. We jokingly referred to them as "Pizza Hut lights."

The Pizza Hut light in all its glory.

One of the baby Pizza Hut pendants

They were awful...and entirely not our taste. So we set out to change them.

Several months ago, Jackie declared, "We're going to Lowe's." We went and finally found some pendant shades that we liked. It was an easy swap out for the Unhandy Husband to undertake.

New pendant shades

You can sort of see the detail on the shade in this picture

Much better than the Pizza Hut lights!

We were really happy with the new pendants. The baby Pizza Hut lights were banished to storage in the garage.

Apparently, the Unhandy Husband went back into hiding after the mini-Pizza Hut swap out because the big light didn't get changed for a while longer. It wasn't until Jackie and I were hosting a Christmas movie marathon for our friends that we agreed it was time for the big light to finally hit the road.

We had taken the light that we'd installed in the trailer with us when we left, and it had been sitting in a laundry basket on top of our spare fridge in the garage since we moved in. Buoyed by my success of illumination transformations in the trailer and the mini-Pizza Hut light swap out, I told her it would take 10 minutes to do.

This is where the Unhandy Husband jinxed himself.

We wanted to use the ceiling mount part (I don't know the real name for this part) so that it would match the pendants. However, that ended up causing us to have to cobble together bits and pieces of both the old and new lights to make it possible to hang the new light. I kinda felt like Dr. Frankenstein mixing and matching parts.

However, about an hour later, we got everything wired up and working.

Here's the new light. So much better!

That part up by the ceiling is what turned a 10 minute job into an hour of frustration. But it looks great!

And we love it! I wish we'd done it months ago!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas!

I can't believe that it is already Christmas Eve! This month has flown by!

Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays, and I'll admit, I love Christmas decorations! (I'm pretty sure I get that from my paternal grandmother. Gran Gran loved decorating for the holidays!)

Anyway, this is our first Christmas in our new house, and Jackie has done such a wonderful job decorating. I thought I'd take a little time to show off her hard work.

Let's start in the yard...

We both love Christmas Vacation, and we certainly tried to channel our inner Griswold when we decorated the house. Unlike Clark Griswold, I have a paralyzing fear of heights. That meant I would only go so far up the ladder, but I still think it turned our great.

To make the little Christmas trees, we borrowed some tomato cages from my Mom. We wrapped 2 strands of lights on each, and staked them into the ground.

We also overestimated how many lights we'd need, so Jackie said, "Let's decorate the ground!"

I was skeptical at first, but I think it turned out great! We are one of the brightest houses in our neighborhood!

We're already coming up with decorating plans for next year, and my friend Keith has said he'll help do the roof. Christmas 2013 will blow your mind!

Moving to the front door, you'll see our snowman face that I saw at Homestead Hollow's October show. I fell in love with it, and was able to convince Jackie that I had to have it for our house. Luckily, she agreed! I also love that the woman at the booth understands the proper use of the apostrophe and knew not to include it.

This is our entryway table. We've collected these decorations at a bunch of different places, and we love it! The Nativity is the most recent addition. We scored it at Hobby Lobby the other day, and it was 50% off! (Of course, most of the store is 50% off at any point in time...not that I'm complaining!)

To display our Christmas cards, Jackie made this Pinterest-inspired card tree out of yard sticks and miniature clothespins. I love it! The only problem is that we underestimated how many cards we'd receive...

So the newest ones are now taped to the bar.

I'm really loving our hearth. Jackie did a fantastic job! We had the Grinch window painted by one of our craft show neighbors. The vine tree and balls were made by our crafting friends Cliff and Elizabeth. The wooden deer was also a Homestead Hollow find. The big Santa hat was a recent find at Hobby Lobby. I loved it at first sight. I'm so glad Jackie let me get it!

Here's a view of our tree, Grinch, and leg lamp! Love it!

 Jackie surprised me with the leg lamp a couple of weeks ago. Watching A Christmas Story has been a Finklea family tradition for years. And who can resist the soft glow of electric sex in the window?

 Our Grinch was made by our craft show friends Bobby and Wanda. Mom had one for several years, and after Jackie and I got married, I wanted to get one of my own. Everyone that has come to the house love it!

 Next up is the tree. I have a thing for Christmas tree ornaments, and many of ours are Hallmark's Star Trek ornaments, but there's also a bunch of Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story ones. There's also a ton of other pop culture ornaments. I absolutely love our tree!

 Here are some of the new additions this year. First up is the house from A Christmas Story. It lights up and talks!

 We got this ornament to ornament when we were in New York back in March. I love this little reminder of a wonderful trip!

 We got this one to commemorate our first Christmas in our new house. This ornament is a reminder of God's faithfulness. The second year of our marriage was very difficult, but the Lord had a plan for us. He blessed us with a beautiful home that has been a wonderful place for us to gather with our loved ones.

Jackie and I also made some Christmas cookies. These are just a few of all of the ones we made. Lesson learned: don't quit my day job to become a cookie decorator.

Jackie and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior! Surround yourself with loved ones, lots of laughter, and good food.

Merry Christmas from the Finkleas!

Fall 2012 Photo Shoot

I'm still trying to get back in the swing of blogging more than just once every few months. I really do want to be a better blogger. Honest.

Anyway, Jackie and I had some pictures taken Sunday. Other than our church directory photos, we haven't had any nice pictures taken of us since our wedding. Jackie's cousin Haley is a great photographer, and we went to the University of Montevallo for the shoot.

For November, it was a warm day, but Jackie was determined to wear her sweater. I also wore my fleece vest, but it certainly wasn't needed. I was just hoping that I didn't break a sweat.

Here are some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy!

Field Trip to FOX 6 WBRC and UM Update

This week I took my TV newscast production class for a tour of FOX 6's station in Birmingham. We have a couple of alums from our program working there, and one of them reached out to me about the opportunity for a tour.

I also invited our video engineering class, which is taught by Dr. John Hoerner, to come along.

Melynda, the alum that contacted me about the tour, works there as a web producer. She gave us a tour of what will be their new newsroom. (It's just a big empty room right now.) We also got to see their temporary digs in the sales department, which is doubling as a newsroom space.

We also got to tour their studio, which was renovated in recent years with the transition to HD. Mickey Ferguson, the morning meteorologist, is also a UM Mass Comm alum. He took time to speak to the students, and he even put us on TV during their noon show!

Mickey Ferguson (far left) posing with our Mass Comm students

Dr. Hoerner was also able to talk with some folks about some internship possibilities for our students in coming semesters. We also got to go out behind the station to look at their news vehicles and stand under the iconic WBRC sign that overlooks downtown Birmingham.

The tour was a lot of fun, and the students really enjoyed getting to see how the professionals do it!

Picture from last year's field trip.

And I must admit, it did feel a little strange to go to FOX 6. As many of you know, I used to work at NBC 13, which is right next door. Kinda made me feel like I was cheating on my 13 family, but to be fair, I did take my class there last year. Remember this -->?

Meanwhile, back on campus... we've been really busy with Falcon Fever and Falcon Weekly. Both shows have really been coming along great this semester. I'm so proud of all of our students. They work so hard, and I hope their hard work is paying off.

Here are some pictures from the studio from the past several weeks.

Kasey and Michael on the set for Falcon Fever.

Bird's eye view of the studio

Coleman and Sarah on set for Falcon Weekly, the campus newscast

Jolyn demonstrating how keywall works.

Highly Illogical

Hit the Road, Fat, and Don't You Come Back!

Jackie and I started going back to the gym week before last. We did really good going and doing cardio every day. Then we went on a church mission trip last week, and now it's hard getting back in the swing of things.

This is the type of running machine I imagine Chuck to be.

I've been wanting to start back jogging/walking (jolking?) since we moved into our new house. A friend of mine, Chuck, posts his runs on Facebook, and I always think to myself, "Man, I wish I had Chuck's dedication." Chuck is a running machine. Well, this morning, I decided that today was the day! It was time to hit the pavement! I got out of bed, put on my jogging clothes...and got back in bed. I know, it was pathetic.

After a few minutes, I asked myself, "What are you doing? Get up! GO! Chuck would run. You should, too!" So I rolled out of bed, did some stretches, and grabbed my iPhone. As I was heading out the door, I opened the Sporty Pal exercise app, which tracks how long and how far you go. "Hit the road, Fat," I thought, " And don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more!"

Our neighborhood forms a ribbon shape, which is 1.25 miles round trip. It's also much higher on the upper part of the ribbon, and that's where our house is. As I started, it's downhill.

This is kinda what our neighborhood looks like.

"This is so easy!" I thought, flying down the hill. Thanks, gravity! I turned at the 1 intersection in the neighborhood and jogged down to the entrance, back up to the intersection, and down the cul-de-sac where the town homes are. Halfway back to the intersection from the cul-de-sac, I had to slow down to walk for a bit. After about 30 seconds I started jogging back to the intersection. I was still feeling good at that point...until I reached the intersection. To get back to the house, it was all uphill--up a steep hill. Stupid gravity.

This is the type of running machine I imagine myself to be. ;)

I caved in. I had to walk back up the hill, huffing and puffing the whole way. I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight for the neighbors.

When I got back to the front door, I looked at my phone to check the Sporty Pal app. That's when I realized that I forgot to hit START. #Fail

At least I know I did 1.25 miles. I am not a running machine.

But my loop around the neighborhood means I lapped everyone still sitting on the couch. #Winning

So... it's been a while. And that's OK!

I'm back!
Well, that kind of makes it sound like I've been off traveling the globe on some grand adventure for many months, but in reality, life in general has been a grand adventure that hasn't left much time for the old blog lately.

Here's a quick recap of what we've been up to:
In March, we went to New York City, celebrated my 27th birthday, bought a house, and moved everything to the new house in about 24 hours. Needless to say, we've been busy.

View of the NYC skyline from the pier where our hotel was in Jersey City.

Jackie and I met Ann Curry on the TODAY Show plaza!

At the Statue of Liberty!

My computer also died during the first part of April and was sent off for the Apple geniuses to tinker with. Turns out the logic board was fried, so they replaced it, the graphics card, the LCD screen, and my bad battery! Finally got it back two weeks later.  Basically, it's a new computer (except for the hard drive, which they said was OK).

We also had a great weekend of Kettle Korn at the Bloomin' Festival in Cullman. 

Kettle Korning in Cullman

Nom nom nom

My semester at UM also wrapped up, and I attended my first graduation as a teacher. I don't think it has sunk in that some of the familiar faces in our building won't be back in the fall. Guess that's just something I'll have to get used to as a teacher...

Me and my Newscast Production class. Great group of students!

Lots has happened with us lately, and I promise to sit and catch up on the blog sometime soon. I just wanted to pop in now to say hello (and alleviate any fears that I may have fallen off the face of the earth).

And I've resolved that I'm not going to apologize for being a bad blogger anymore. I'll blog when I blog, and that's OK.