Meet The Babies

Welcome Gidget and Gadget!

The newest addition to the Barbre/Lawson family.

Born: November 10th at the Holiday Market

Length: Not long, with the exception of their tail

Weight: Not much  

Likes: Food and apples.  

Playing together. 

Their wheel.

Their new cage. 

Opening plastic eggs. 

Anything small and plastic.

Their momma and daddy. :)

Dislikes: Light

Pippy (Wades cat)

Gidget and Gadget are Sugar Gliders. Wade's family and I went to the Holiday Market in Greensboro one Saturday. We were walking down the aisles and looking at the different exhibits when we came across "Pocket Pets". They're a company out of Florida that sells Sugar Gliders. I had never heard of these fascinating creatures. However, once I saw them and listened to the pitch the guy was selling, I was sold. I wanted one right then. 

Fortunately, Wade was aware of what they were and informed me that it'd be a lot of work and time and encouraged me to do my research before I jumped off the cliff and bought one. Also, a lady behind us informed me that she had some and if I was considering getting one, I needed to get two, otherwise one by itself would be extremely lonely and cry at nights and could possibly die from loneliness. So I walked around the Holiday Market doing some research on my phone and both of what they were saying was true. However, I was ready to tackle the situation. 

After a long labor and quite an expensive hospital bill later, we had the babies ready to take home in their carrying pouch. Let me take a minute to explain the pouch...

Sugar Gliders are marsupials. (They are NOT rodents.) Therefore they have pouches like kangaroos and like to be in small, confined places where they can curl up and feel secure. Pocket Pets sell their Sugar Gliders from 8-12 weeks of age so that they will "bond" with their owner. So once the Gliders were ours, they put them in a small, fleece-like, square carrying pouch that hangs around your neck and has a small mesh cut out so they become familiar with your scent. Wade and I walked around the rest of the market with the babies hanging around our necks and then later when we went to eat at Carrabba's and to see a bodybuilding show. 

Once we got them home and had listened to the audio CD about their care and cage set up, we were excited to get them acclimated to their new home. We set up their wheel and heat rock along with their water and food. 

Fast forward a few weeks and we now have a bigger cage (the one pictured above), a travel cage, lots of toys, and two happy babies who are our pride and joy.  

Cali Christmas

Every few years I torture my cat at Christmas time. Here's a few photos from the past. 

And this year is no different. 

 Merry Christmas from Mrs. Claws and myself! 

Also, a few of you may have seen this picture on our Christmas card, (for those of you who didn't receive one, my apologies, this was my first year doing them and I didn't order enough) but for those of you who haven't... 

Merry Christmas from Wade and myself. 

Thanksgiving Curses and Small Towns

If I'm going to get into some kind of car accident, you can usually bet it's going to be around Thanksgiving.
Examples: 1.) Ten years ago or so someone backed into me in the Wal Mart Parking lot a day before Thanksgiving. My first ever "accident" and I cried like a baby. 2.) Black Friday a few years back somehow my passenger side mirror got knocked off in a parking lot.
Those accidents lead to this years Thanksgiving mishap...
After getting off work, I was heading home to get ready for this years holiday festivities. While driving down Highway 64, a little old lady who just wanted a Wendy's burger, pulled out of the Bojangles parking lot right in front of me. I don't know if she didn't see me, or thought she could make the turn in time, or was just really craving that burger, but I slammed on my breaks and laid on the horn. Unfortunately it wasn't good enough and I still hit her car. Thankfully there weren't any cars right behind me like there usually would have been on that crazy road.
So I pulled off the road and called 911 like you're suppose to do after an accident, even though I knew it was just a fender bender and nobody was hurt. The police came and showed up but the lady and I had already resolved it and their help really wasn't needed. She was such a sweet lady and even gave me a hug at the end of the ordeal. By the way, Wendy's was closed and she had to settle for Bojangles.
Now on to the "Small Town" part of my title...
When I called 911, I'm telling the operator what had happened and where we were and so forth. I know I had to have been going 100 miles a minute cause the lady at one point said "ma'am calm down, what's around you?". I was just rambling like she knew exactly where I was and what had happened. After she got all of the information she asked for my name. I replied, "Megan Barbre" to which she said, "Oh, hey Megan! This is Alleson's mom" (My brothers girlfriend). So of course by the time I had gotten home, Alleson and Michael were there and had already heard of my news.


I'm thankful for many things, but this year especially, I'm thankful that God has kept me safe, especially in my car. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

Christmas Wish List

Every year at Christmas I get asked what I want. I hate having to answer this question. There's nothing I NEED, and honestly if I want it, most likely I'll end up getting it myself. With that in mind, this blog is for those of you who may want to know something to get me.

1. FitBit (I would really like one of these. I don't want to pay the $100 for it though. Michael or Elliott this would be something you should consider for me ;) )
2. Toys and Supplies for my children
3. Charger for my MacBook (I REALLY will probably need this. Mine is unraveling at the wires.)
4. A gloved ice scrapper.
5. I could always use protein (Dymatize Brand) and Quest Bars (Apple Pie, Cookies and Cream, or Cookie Dough).
6.  Gas Cards are always useful. Especially since I fill up close to three times a week now.

Thats all I can think of and I've been trying to come up with things for a week  now.

Fifty Fun Facts

My brothers girlfriend, Alleson, did this blog awhile back and so I thought I would also do it since I found hers to be interesting. Here goes:

1. I'm 26 years young.

2. While I was typing the fact above, I forgot my age and started to put 27.

3. I have a twin brother and a younger brother. Both live in the mountains. I would never choose to live in the mountains.

4. I've run three half marathons.

5. For the past five years or so, I've 'adopted' a boy and a girl from the Salvations Angel Tree- I love shopping for others less fortunate and if you can afford to do so, I highly recommend this. 

6. For the past five years or so, we haven't decorated for Christmas. I don't miss it at all. 

7. I try to not wear heels around Wade.

8. I'm always cold. And if I'm not cold, I'm hot. There's no comfortable temperature for me. 

9. Both my grandmothers middle name were Jean (Peggy Jean and Shelby Jean)- therefore that's what I got as my middle name also. 

10. I love surprises. I'd rather be surprised at Christmas than know everything I'm getting. 

11. Cracker Barrels chicken and dumplings are my favorite. 

12. I'm an adventure seeker. I'll do just about anything.

13. When I was in sixth grade, I spilled Nacho cheese on my pants and everyone called me Cheesy Pants. 

14. I am the proud new mother of two sugar bears. I promise to blog about them as soon as I can, just be prepared for cuteness overload. 

15. I totaled my car on black ice and now I refuse to drive in snow. 

16. I can put both feet behind my head. 

17. I can fall asleep anywhere and anytime- some may consider that a gift. 

18. I love to travel. 

19. I don't know how to curl my hair. If it weren't for the Conair Infiniti Pro Curl Secret I got for Christmas, I'd always wear my hair straight.

20. I prefer not to wear makeup.

21. I have worked for Biscuitville since I was 16, so in April I will have been there 11 years. 

22. While I do enjoy working at Biscuitville, sometimes I think people view me as just a fast food worker and want to tell them it's just a side job.

23. I don't like any other color on my toe nails other than a shade of pink. 

24. I try and stay in touch with old friends.

25. I deactivated my facebook account- its been a great decision thus far.  

26. I don't mind shots and giving blood, I just can't watch the needle pierce the skin. 

27. I don't keep record of my bank statements. Every few days I just briefly look at my account to make sure there is still money and that I know what most the purchases are. 

28. I don't make new years resolutions. You can start doing anything you set your mind to at anytime, you don't have to wait til the new year. 

29. I like to collect small shoe figurines and ornaments.

30. Since I was 18 or so, I started collecting things for when I would move out- I'm still living at home. 

31. I have a thing for mermaids, and after watching a documentary on them, feel that they could possibly exist. 

32. I'm addicted to Chapstick.

33. I've been growing out my hair for almost two years now to donate to Locks of Love.

34. I think theres something sexy about a plain white t-shirt on a guy.

35. I love what I went to school for, I love it even more that I was able to do it and graduate debt free. 

36. I despise being cold. 

37. I take my showers in the morning. 

38. I don't like to be late for work. I usually arrive 15 minutes early. I can't say the same for everything else. 

39. This blog has taken me a span of three days to write. Hopefully I finish tonight.

40. I don't like root beer. 

41. My favorite flower is a sunflower or orchid. However, I think it's a waste of money to buy flowers and then they die a week later. With that being said, everyone once in awhile it'd be nice to get a cheap bouqet from the grocery store (cough Wade cough).
42. Math was my favorite subject in school and I was really good at it.
43. I just recently started drinking coffee. It has A LOT of sugar free creamer and splenda in it, but it's coffee. I feel like I'm growing up.
44. I love cheese. I could eat a whole block of it and still want more.
45. Even when it's warm outside, I still like to curl up with a blanket.
46. I am the complete opposite of a germ freak.
47. I like eating raw dough. Cookie dough and biscuit dough. And I like my muffins not all the way cooked.
48. I'm a slow reader. Sometimes I have to read a line two or three times.
49. My dream vacation would be to take at least two weeks and go to New Zealand and Australia.
50. I've been saving my change for over five years and I might cash it in and put it towards a house.

Fingernails Friday?

Lately I have almost accomplished what I literally thought was impossible... I have quit biting my nails, (for the most part.) 

Look! 

My pinky nails are the only ones that I seem to have a problem with. 8 out of 10 isn't bad though, right!? Especially for a nail biting addict of 26 years. I realize they aren't perfect, but they are an improvement. And bless his heart, Wade is CONSTANTLY reminding me of "Fingers!". Translating to: 'get them out of your mouth'. I still have the habit of putting my nails against my teeth even though I don't actually bite them, especially if I'm excited or on the edge of my seat watching The Walking Dead. 

Ever since I was in Kristyn's wedding and got acrylic nails for the event, I've gone through fill ins, replacements, gel nails, you name it, to get to this point. Usually I would chew off acrylics within a matter of days, but for whatever reason, this time I didn't. Hopefully I keep the good work up and get my pinky nails up to par! 

Happy Friday! However, as I'm typing this, it's almost Saturday. 

Lazy Five

This event happened during my non-blogging days, but I thought it was worth sharing, so know this is a back blogging event.

When I was a kid, there was a thing at a local church during the summer, called Kids Ahoy, where they would take the kids on day outings to such places as Emerald Point, putt-putting, The Lazy Five ranch, etc. I couldn't remember if I had gone to the Lazy Five with them or just heard about it, but a lady at work was talking about it one day and knowing how much Wade and his family love animals, I figured it'd be a perfect Saturday event.

If you've never heard of the Lazy Five ranch, here's a little break down of it: Basically it's a 3.5 mile drive thru zoo with over 750 animals from all over the world. It's located in Mooresville, NC. Click here to  visit their website and learn more. You can choose to drive thru in your car or reserve seats on a wagon pulled by horses. You pay for your buckets of feed and can feed the animals as you drive thru. There's also a petting zoo where you can walk around and feed some of those animals.

This is an event that's fun for EVERYONE of all ages. We had such a blast that we plan on going back soon. Here's a couple of things that we're going to do differently this time:
-Bring a picnic lunch. They host birthday parties there all the time and have plenty of tables and what not for you to have lunch.
-Take an old pick up truck. We made the decision last time to drive thru in Cindy's car. Bad choice. The animals literally come running for food and will attack your car. The food got spilled all in the floor and seats. The wagon would have been a smart idea, but seeings how it's usually filled with small children that would most likely aggravate us, we saw a better solution to our problem. There were several old pick up trucks with people sitting in the bed of the truck feeding the animals from there.

There's tons of crazy animals and this was such a fun experience. I highly recommend you take your kids or even yourselves if you don't have kids. Here's a few of the pictures from our trip.

 Photo-Bombed by a Buffalo and Selfie with a Zebra!  

Full Time Baby!

If you've been keeping up with me then you know that I recently accepted a part time position at Alamance Regional Hospital. The day they called and offered me the position, I looked on the internet to see if there was anything else around that was full time and ended up applying to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital. Before actually starting work at ARMC, I had an interview at WF for a full time position. After being out of work for several months now, having one part time position and an interview for a full time position was an overflow of answered prayers at once. 

I started at ARMC for my training and after all that was finished I got word from WF that I got the full time position! Alamance is excited for me and is still going to keep me on the roster in case something were to open up full time there. I'm very excited about this opportunity and THRILLED to get back to work full time and with benefits! Thanks to all who continued to pray! 

Plastic Bag Problems

I was listening to the radio the other morning and they were talking about how California banned the use of plastic bags. They quoted a statistic from the governor of California that blew my mind: "One plastic bag is used for twenty minutes and then lays in a landfill for 1,000 years." WOAH. 

I've seen people that use the recycled bags but never really thought about doing it myself until now. I was all on board about trying to do my part to save the environment that I went out and bought two reusable bags to start off with. Here's where I'm suppose to tell you that I've been doing my part and I love them and will never go back to using plastic.... WRONG. 

I hate to admit this but I'm an environmentalist failure. After purchasing those reusable bags, I have forgotten every time to take them with me inside a store! 

However, I am going to try and better myself and remember. The point of this blog was to make the 5 readers that I have aware of this problem and try to do better themselves. 

Happy Tuesday Folks! 

I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.  -Jeremiah 2:7 

Balloon Festival

Last year my friend Angie informed me of a balloon festival that was in Statesville. I've seen pictures of some hot air balloon festivals before and thought it would be neat to go to, so I dragged Wade and his parents with me. It was a great experience and we had a lot of fun. They had vendors and fried foods kinda like a small festival, but the best part was seeing the balloons. I'd never seen one before and you were able to get up close. For a small fortune you could take a ride in one of the balloons when they took off. On Saturday night, they had a balloon lighting and they would all light up at the same time. 

This year we plan on going back. In fact, it's this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to it! If you've got nothing to do, come out! 

Williams Wedding

There are some people that enter your life and make a lasting impression on you. Matt Williams is one of those people and I'm so grateful to be able to call him a friend. We met at church and over the years our friendship grew. Eventually college and jobs came and we grew distant, but yet we continued to stay in contact. Over the years though, we've done a lot together, things I'll never forget. When I had the crazy idea to go skydiving, Matt was right along side me saying it was a great idea. When I asked if he'd run in my first 5K, he was there. He's always down for whatever and I love that about him. 

When I got an invitation in the mail for his wedding, of course I was going. 

The wedding was absolutely beautiful with an old country feel to it. It was held at their future farm in Matthews, NC. Lots of people were there and the I got to catch up with some few old friends from church. I hate I didn't take many pictures, but I did manage to find some on Instagram to share with you. 

"A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need" -Proverbs 17:17

Poking Hearts

If ya'll haven't seen this video, you MUST. I find myself watching it randomly through out the week and love it more and more with every view. 

Happy Hump Day!

Work Hard, Play Hard

I started my new job two weeks ago and have been very busy, therefore I've neglected blogging. It happens. The good news is I absolutely LOVE my job. That's all there is to it. I love my co-workers, the atmosphere, the fact that we get off early on Fridays, EVERYTHING. I just don't love the fact that I didn't get full time. I've been working the past two weeks, and I'll work on Monday and Tuesday of next week, and then it's back to Biscuitville until they need me again. Unless something changes and I get full time somewhere else, I'll be working every Thursday starting in November and then be full time for three months when one of the therapists goes on maternity leave. 

Before I started work, we made a last minute trip to Florida to get away and have some fun. One of our favorite places to visit is Clearwater, FL. It's just wonderful. Adam and Lily accompanied us and we had a marvelous time. We chilled on the beach and went to the Clearwater Aquarime and saw Winter and Hope from the new movie, Dolphin Tale 2. It was a very relaxing and fun time, other than the fact that I got attacked by seagulls. Literally, attacked. They saw Lily and me eating sandwhiches on the beach and swarmed us. When they got away with half my sandwhich, I went to eating pringles. A stealthy sneaky bird suddenly flew in from behind and grabbed the pringle out of my hand, catching my finger in the process. I was dumbfounded and pissed! 

I got to hold Winters Tale! 

Clearwater Sunsets are the absolute BEST. They never disappoint. 

The last day we were in Clearwater, we rented paddle boards. I've tried one before in the Bahamas and thought that everyone else would like them as well. It was hilarious to watch everyone try to brave standing up and balancing on them, they look easier than they really are. We took Wades camera out in the ocean to get photos. Being that it was an underwater camera and was attached to a floating strap, I thought it'd be fine. Wrong. The camera had a "quick release" button from the floating strap. Somehow in the process of Wade falling down and getting back up on his board, the button got pressed and we were left with an empty floating strap and a lost camera. :(   We were really bummed about the camera and the lost photos from the day. We did at least get a few from my camera. 

A trip to Clearwater isn't complete unless we stop in Weeki Wachee for a day on the way back. We love to kayak this river. It's extremely easy and not to mention EXTREMELY GORGEOUS. Most times you can see manatees swimming in the river, we weren't so lucky this time though- no manatees. 

Can't wait to go back! 

Adventures to the Zoo

Since my mom pretty much stays cooped up inside most of the time, I wanted to take her out and do something she would enjoy. Being that the NC Zoo has had a lot of new additions, I thought that would be a great place to take her. There were six in our group, Momma, Wade, his mother, Cindy, Wades uncle, Jason, Lily, and myself. Recently they had four baby lion cubs (that aren't fully on  exhibit yet but do make special appearances), along with the baby gorillas and cougar cubs. Not to mention that last Saturday was absolutely gorgeous! 

Our good friend, Angie, works at the zoo and reserved momma a motorized wheelchair so that getting around would be easier. The great thing about the zoo is that it's very handicap/stroller friendly. The down side to the zoo on a beautiful Saturday is there are TONS of people and children. Momma did great in the wheelchair, but my nerves were shot the entire time thinking she was going to accidentally run into someone or someone would run into her. Thankfully there were no causalities, well until later...

We had a great time though, I've never see the animals so active. The otters were putting on a show for everyone along with the ocelot and baby gorillas. Did I mention that I could watch the baby gorillas for hours?! Talk about cuteness overload! Saturday was very enjoyable and everyone had a wonderful time. Here's a few photos from the day. 

Now about that causality I was mentioning earlier....

As we were leaving, we took the bus back to the North America side. Here's a little fun fact I learned: The NC Zoo is the largest walking zoo in the world! That's crazy. Being that it's the only zoo I've ever been to, since it's basically in my back yard, I had no idea how it compared to other zoos. I guess we're top notch when it comes to our animals.

Now that I'm through with that tangent..... we had to wait until a handicap bus came so it could load momma. Once we finally got back to the North America side, the bus driver was climbing up the back of the bus to unload her when his foot slipped off the back bumper and his other leg hit the metal door framing on his way down. He was injured pretty badly, so much so he wasn't able to stand and I thought he may have broken it. Other zoo employees came to his rescue minutes later but we did hear that the ambulance came and took him to the hospital. Fortunately it was just bruised very badly, but at least it wasn't broken. 

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.  -Genesis 1:24