Heather's Corner

Race for the Cure

2011-10-31T08:40:00.005-05:00

Early Saturday morning, I headed to Tupelo for the annual Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure. I had signed up on a co-worker's sister's team, and so I met up with them at 7:30 for a team photo, and then some of my friends & I set off for the starting line. They had these cute pink wigs and funky sunglasses...I loved them! They brought me some pink feathers to wear so I wasn't left out. :) We've decided next year we should form a team together and wear some fun costumes.

We finished the 5K race in under an hour then went around to some of the booths to see what everyone was giving away. After the winners were announced, we went to the mall for a little shopping and some lunch. We ate The Flat Tire Grille, which was really good, and then Heather & I went to see a movie while everyone else ran errands. I got groceries before heading home. It was a long day, but I had fun!

Random Blog Catching Up & Some Trips

2011-10-27T10:57:00.013-05:00

Wow, I have gone from someone who really loved to blog to someone who can't get motivated enough to write anything down. It's just been a tough year. In fact, I told a good friend recently that I have officially declared 2011 as our worst year ever. From January until now, it's been one thing after another...serious personal issues, the death of Brandon's grandpa (my own grandpa passed away in December), Brandon losing his job, my dad had another heart attack, me wrecking (well, denting) our car...I could go on and on! The latest in a long line of bad news for our family is finding out Brandon's father has cancer. We truly are living in "critical times hard to deal with," and this year it seems like our family has taken hit after hit.

Anyway, I didn't start this post to complain or whine...just wanted to throw that all out there for an excuse, as it were, as to why I've been so quiet on here. I want to do better. I want to enjoy blogging again. I have things to say! I want to share! And I need to focus on the positive things anyway! :) After all, there have been good things that have happened this year too. I want to focus on those!

For instance, just a few weeks ago, we went camping with some of Brandon's family, including his dad, at Fall Creek Falls State Park. We had never been there before, but we definitely want to return. It is a beautiful park, and we really enjoyed ourselves, especially being with family! We love camping, and the weather was perfect for it. It was a little chilly at night, but we had heaters and the dogs to pile in the bed with us, so we made it just fine! Here's a pic of Brandon and his dad on our hike down to the cascades:

This past weekend, we met the majority of Brandon's immediate family (only his dad & step-mom, his older brother & his kids, and our niece & nephew in Kentucky were missing) in Townsend, TN, for a brief getaway in the Smoky Mountains. If I'm counting correctly, there were twenty-six of us, with the majority staying in two different houses, just down the road from each other. The leaves were gorgeous, and even though we were all still reeling from the shock of the news we had just received and wishing their dad were with us, we enjoyed ourselves. There were stressful moments to be sure, but that time together is just what everyone needed. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Early Morning in Cade's Cove

Abby & Brandon with our Nephews, Jayden & Evan

Brandon with His Brother, Tyler, and All 3 Sisters

Another Adorable Nephew, Landon

Us at an Overlook on the Roaring Fork Motor Trail

So there it is...some bad stuff, some good stuff...but it's out there. I hope to do better about staying updated in the future!

Shoppers with No Ethics & No Shame

2011-07-22T09:09:00.004-05:00

I coupon. I clip, organize, match up, and use my coupons. I even have a big dorky binder that I shamelessly carry into Kroger with me on every single trip. And I use it. I take my time and match my coupons to my shopping list, which I usually make while looking at the sales paper. Then I also keep an eye out for closeouts and other good sales on items that we use and I have a coupon on. My total bill usually goes down by about $20, but it has dropped by as much as $40.

I've been doing this for a long time now, long before that "Extreme Couponing" show aired. Have you ever watched that? Those people are nuts, and not a little unethical, in my opinion. Who needs 40 bottles of shampoo? Just because you CAN clip a million coupons and check out multiple times and whatever other loopholes they use, doesn't mean you should. And the bad thing is that since the show aired, all these other people are trying to do the same thing. They are abusing the couponing system and are making things difficult for the rest of us who are only buying what we need and trying to save some money while still playing by the rules. Do you know how many stores are changing their coupon policies because of these people? Not to mention the stigma...because now when I go into the grocery store with my binder of coupons, I don't just look like a dork (which I never really minded before), I appear to be one of "those people."

The ethics doesn't just stop with coupons. Case in point: Yesterday, I was at CVS picking up a few things and got in line behind a woman, coupons in hand, who brazenly placed a bottle of bath wash on the counter and said, "I'd like to return this. This week they're buy one, get one free." Seriously?? Not only was she DOING this, she was shamelessly TELLING the cashier she was doing this. I could tell the cashier was flustered, but what could she do? So, she gave the woman her money back, who then took the bottle and placed it right back in her buggy to purchase again. WOW. Really?

I'm all about stacking coupons, getting freebies, and getting out of the store with the lowest total as possible, but only if I do it without bending the rules and essentially committing coupon fraud, which is really what's going on a lot of times with these obsessed, coupon-crazy cheapos who really only do it for the thrill. What are your thoughts?

Great - Yet Ordinary - Weekend

2011-07-05T08:56:00.018-05:00

I've been lacking in the blogging department lately, and I'm determined to do better. One of the things I love about my blog is being able to look back and read about our life, whether it's a special trip or an every day "moment." I realize not all of my readers (because I know there's just tons of you...LOL) care to read the day-to-day boring "moments" Brandon and I share, but you know what? That's OK.

Don't get me wrong - I love knowing that some people read my blog, and I love comments from you, but I do mainly write for me. The fact that I can use this to look back later and smile about an ordinary, if somewhat boring, day in the life with my husband makes me happy. :) That said, here's an "exciting" play-by-play of our weekend, which was nothing special except for the fact that I spent it with my best friend and loved every minute of it!

Friday afternoon, Brandon & I went to Tupelo for dinner and to do a little shopping. The selection in the town where we live is severely limited (and expensive), so we try to make it to one of the larger towns a few times a month to stock up. Even with the gas we spend, we come out better with the selection and the fact that I can use my coupons, which double at Kroger, our store of choice.

We usually eat dinner somewhere before getting started, and on this trip we decided on sushi at Kyoto. I had the Tupelo Roll, which is filled with crab meat, avocado, and cream cheese, and then topped with spicy crab meat. It's really good! Brandon likes the traditional (read: raw) sushi and so ordered a sashimi appetizer & a salmon roll. We enjoyed our dinner together and then set out for the mall.

Our main purpose for hitting the mall was a trip to GameStop. Our nieces & one of our nephews are spending the weekend with us this coming weekend, and we wanted to see what kind of deals we could find on a new game we could all play. We didn't find what we were looking for but were able to pick up an older racing game for $5, so we were happy with that. While we were there, I had to check out my favorite store: New York & Co. I knew they were having a big sale and wanted to look at their jewelry. Plus, I had a coupon good for clearance items. Boy, did I rack up!! They had a whole selection of jewelry for $2.99/piece. They also had some summer scarves marked down to $4.99. I got two scarves, three necklaces, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings, all for under $22! Here's a photo of my stash after we got home. (As always, click the photo to "bigify," as a fellow blogger always says!)

Next came the "divide & conquer" part of our shopping trip, which is where Brandon drops me off at Kroger and takes care of all the other stops that need to be made, such as PETsMART and Sam's. It seems to work better that way, since I'm a somewhat slow shopper when it comes to couponing at Kroger. This way, he doesn't have to wait on me, and I don't feel rushed. Plus, we get home a lot earlier!

Saturday didn't go as planned, but it turned out really nice! We spent the morning watching a couple of old movies Brandon had recorded earlier: The Muppets Take Manhattan, followed by Jaws. Awesome combo, right? And of course, the babies wanted to cuddle while we watched TV. I'm putting aside all vanity for the sake of Boxer adorableness to share this picture of Duchess & Bogart snuggling on top of me in all my early-morning-no-makeup glory. Let's here it: Awww!!!

After our little movie marathon, it was time to turn the TV off and get some work done. Brandon went to take a nap since he hadn't slept much the previous night, and I started cleaning house. I also got supper started by getting our cilantro chicken into its marinade. (This stuff is SO good - check out the recipe in my older post!) Along with the cilantro chicken, which Brandon grilled, we had Mexican Rice (also in that previous post) and another new recipe: Grilled Avocados. OMG - these were awesomeness and totally complemented the rest of our dinner!! Here's the original recipe, with notes for the few changes we made:

Grilled Avocados

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 large ripe avocados, halved, seeded, and peeled (about 1 lb. total)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup bottled picante sauce (We don't like picante sauce. Instead, we used some drained Rotel tomatoes, kicked up with some diced fresh jalapenos & serranos from our garden.)
1 ounce Monterey Jack or farmer cheese, shredded or crumbled (1/4 cup)
Snipped fresh cilantro
Salad greens (optional)
Bottled picante sauce (optional)
Dairy sour cream (optional)

Stir together olive oil and lime juice. Brush avocados all over with olive oil mixture. Sprinkle cut sides of avocados with salt.

For a charcoal grill, grill avocado halves, cut side down, on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium coals for 5 minutes or until browned. Turn avocado halves, cut side up. Fill centers of avocado halves with the 1/4 cup picante sauce and shredded cheese. Cover grill and grill about 5 minutes more or until cheese begins to melt. (For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Place avocado halves on grill rack over heat. Cover and grill as above.)

Remove avocados from grill. Sprinkle tops of avocado halves with snipped cilantro. If desired, serve on a bed of salad greens with additional picante sauce and sour cream. Makes 4 servings.

We ended our night with yet another old movie - The Man from Snowy River - while we ate dinner. You know, I don't think I had ever watched this movie! If I did, I was too young to remember. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. It's a definite watch-again!

Sunday after the meeting, we went to Subway for lunch and then out to do RVs with another couple from our congregation. Our initial intention was just to stay out for an hour, but we were enjoying ourselves so much and being so productive that we ended up staying out 2 1/2 hours. We didn't get home until nearly 5:00! It felt good to get the month started out that way, though, and we're trying to do more Sunday service. We're going to try to make it a habit.

Yesterday was a holiday, but I needed to work. Rather than going to the office and sit by myself, I took my laptop home and worked there. I can't do that often, as a lot of my job consists of supporting people at work in their jobs. Since the plant was closed, however, it wasn't an issue. It was nice being able to sit in my lounge pants & t-shirt with my pets and Brandon around and get some things done. As you can see, I had a nice little paperweight nearby most of the time! I was able to get up early and get an early start too, so by 2:00 I was done for the day and could hang out with Brandon. I need more days like that!

Shopping at CVS

2011-06-22T14:45:00.008-05:00

I made a trip to CVS during my lunch break today and came back with the items pictured: 2 bottles of Pantene, a new Schick Intuition Razor (which included 2 cartridges), a bottle of Revlon nail polish, a new Colgate 360 Surround toothbrush for Brandon, a tube of Colgate Total, a bag of dark chocolate Hershey's Bliss candies (heavenly!!), and a bag of my current weakness - Sour Patch Kids. After turning over my coupons & $0.99 worth of Extra Bucks I earned on a previous trip, my total came to $33.80. Sound high? Yeah, a little...except for the fact that attached to my receipt were several more Extra Bucks totaling $18.99. That brings my total down to $14.81. Not bad, especially considering how expensive Pantene & Intuition razors are!

Tomorrow, I will go and finish picking up the rest of the items on my list (that I intentionally broke up because I knew I was getting the Extra Bucks), which include the special currently running of five 12-packs of Coke products for $13, as well as one or two other items which are on sale, have Extra Bucks, AND I have coupons for...I should be able to get out of there with all my items for little or no more money out of my pocket, plus some EBs to spend the next time. Yay!

I want to give a shout out to dealseekingmom.com for the sale/coupon combos they list for specific stores every week. Be sure to check them out before your next shopping trip!

Gone Fishin'

2011-06-16T08:06:00.005-05:00

Last Friday when I got home from work, Brandon & I decided to take a spontaneous drive to one of his fishing spots he's been going to lately. I haven't been fishing with him in years - he's just recently taken it back up - and I didn't know where this particular spot was. Let me tell you - it was out in the middle of nowhere, down a non-existent road that I could have sworn we weren't going to make it down in his little pickup! I was told to keep my arms in the truck and we'd be fine. "Mmm hmmm...we'll see," was my thought as the tree limbs surrounded us and we bounced through a dried out creek bed.

The place turned out to be really nice and peaceful once we finally got to it. We sat up our chairs, and he baited his hook and started fishing. I explored a little and then killed time taking photos and playing with the apps on my phone, periodically stopping to look at whatever he was pointing out to me...turtles, fish swimming around his line, etc. It was a nice, quiet evening. I really enjoyed spending time with him outside and away from the TV, which is what a lot of our evenings revolve around. It meant a lot to me that he invited me to go along. :)

Here are a few more pics that I took while we were there. Click them to see a bigger version.

Here we are right after we got there and set our chairs up.

This old chrysalis was on a tree near where Brandon was fishing. I thought it was really neat.

Despite all the large shapes we saw swimming under the surface and the numerous worms that were taken from his hook, this little bluegill was the only thing he caught. Fortunately for the fishy, he was too small to do anything with, so he got thrown back.

Cypress Knees

We took a little walk down the "road" before heading home and found these huge rocks. It was pretty, but it was getting really late in the day and we were out in the middle of NOWHERE so I was glad to head back to the truck afterwards!

Ella's First Pool

2011-06-11T07:24:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago I went to see my niece, Ella. She's such a cutie pie!! It was a really hot day, so my dad blew up the little swimming pool his wife had found for her. He filled it with water, and my sister & I took her out to see what she thought. She loved it!! Here are a few pictures I got that day. Love this little girl!!

Visit to Keith & Shellby's

2011-06-07T06:04:00.015-05:00

A few weeks ago, Brandon, Tyler, and I went to visit Keith & Shellby and their boys at their apartment in Birmingham. We hadn't been there before and were looking forward to spending the weekend with them. Abby & Justin came down from Nashville as well. We were a little pressed for space, but that was OK!

We got there around 8:30 Friday night. Jayden & Evan were waiting for their uncles to arrive! Brandon & Tyler played Guitar Hero with them for a long time. As you can see by the picture, their room is full of Auburn decor. Considering we are Ole Miss fans, I referred to it as being "infested" with Auburn. Evan asked me, "You don't go for Auburn??" in an incredulous tone. "Um, no, not quite." LOL! Anyway, Brandon started calling Evan & Jayden "Little Aublets" and so their band was "Tyler & the Aublets." It was pretty funny.

Saturday was pretty laid back, which was exactly what we needed. Shellby & Tyler cooked us an awesome breakfast of biscuits, sausage gravy, eggs, and smoked sausage. We all ate and then got ready to spend the day at the pool. Abby & I made a quick trip to Publix to pick up some things to throw on the grill for supper, and then we joined everyone else there. Keith had reserved the kitchen next to the pool, so that was handy. We had a place to put our food & drinks and also a gas grill right there where he grilled hamburgers & hot dogs for lunch.

Hanging Out at the Pool

At some point during the afternoon, Brandon took a break & went back to the apartment and got a rack of ribs ready for supper. Here his is with his sisters. They cooked in the oven on low heat all day, and then that evening, he grilled them with BBQ sauce. They were great! After I had my fill of the sun, I went back and seeded, stuffed, and wrapped nearly 30 jalapenos. I had forgotten to pick up rubber gloves at the store, so needless to say my hands were on fire the rest of the weekend. The peppers were awesome though!

Sunday after the meeting, Brandon, Shellby, Tyler, and the boys spent some more time at the pool. I had done pretty well the day before, but even with SPF 30, I absolutely cooked on Sunday. I was miserable the rest of the week!! It was worth it though - we really enjoyed just relaxing and spending time with Jayden & Evan. They are so funny!

We hated to go home but knew we had to get back, so after a few hours at the pool, we loaded up the car and headed back. We were all tired, but we had had a great visit with the family!

Consequences of Blog Failure

2011-05-30T07:52:00.002-05:00

One of the things I've loved about keeping my blog for the last several years is that I when I finally get around to scrapbooking photos, I can look back at my post of that event and use the journaling for my pages. I typically would blog about something we did pretty quickly after we did it, so that the thoughts and memories were fresh in my mind. It might be a year or two before I get around to scrapbooking those photos, though, so having my blog to reference the things I wanted to document was really handy.

This morning, I'm sitting at my scrapbook table trying to get caught up on some photos and journaling and am sad to see that my case of the blogging blahs covered the time frame I'm trying to document. DRAT!!! I guess I'll have to do better from now on!!!

National Scrapbook Day Weekend Crop

2011-05-13T15:24:00.014-05:00

Those of you who are not scrapbookers may not realize that this past Saturday was National Scrapbook Day. My friend Jeannie & I celebrated by attending a weekend crop at our favorite local scrapbook store - Scrapbooks & Supplies From Nanny's Attic. As always, Deborah had lots of nice giveaways (Jeannie & I each won a set of acrylic stamps from Bo Bunny Press), lots of yummy food, and fun games. We had a great time!

Best of all, I was actually productive at this crop!! If you've ever scrapbooked with me, you know how slow I am. It usually takes me hours to complete a layout because I'm just too darn picky about what I put on my pages. I finished (or almost finished) six two-page 12x12 layouts over a couple of days this time, though, and so I was really happy! Some of them still need a few finishing touches, but I wanted to share anyway! (Click the images for a larger version.)

This is a simple layout I did with some pictures I took of Bogart chasing Brandon on the lawnmower a couple of summers ago. The patterned paper & stickers are from the Café Mediterranean line from Die Cuts With a View. I bought the stack a few weeks ago & love it!

This layout still needs some work. Jeannie & I went to see Wicked when it came to The Orpheum in Memphis, and these were really the only photos I got, although we had a great time! The layout is super-simple, but I am proud of my title. I came home and found the image online then cut it out with my Cricut using Sure Cuts a Lot. I dressed it and the photo corners up with some black Stickles. I still need a couple more embellishments & some journalling to call this one complete.

I had tons of pictures from our trip to the water park, so I had a hard time narrowing down which ones to use and putting this layout together. I really like the way it turned out though. I still need some journalling, but it's pretty much complete as is.

This was layout #2 of our trip to the water park, which ended with a stop at the local snow ball stand. It's simple, but I'm happy with it. I especially like the snow cone image I found on one of Deborah's Cricut cartridges!

One of my favorites: A layout about our trip to Disney's Princesses on Ice. I got to use lots of glitter paper and Stickles on this one. And check out the cute glitter transparency frames I found at the store! Fun & girly!

Another simple one, but I love it. I used more of my Café Mediterranean stack, and the paper I chose matches Landon & Logan's yellow shirts perfectly. I thought it came together well!

Tornadoes in the South

2011-05-05T07:24:00.008-05:00

As most people are aware, the South was hit hard by multiple tornadoes on April 27th. One of the first ones to touch down started just a mile from our house around 3:45 am. We knew it was stormy and that we were under a tornado watch, but there was no warning issued, so we were in bed, trying to sleep, oblivious to what was going on just down the road.

By 4:30 (when my alarm goes off for work), I started receiving phone calls & text messages from several co-workers and friends. The gist of most of them were, "Are you OK??? There was a tornado near you!!" Needless to say, when I got ready and left for work that morning - with the power still off at home - I was shocked and sickened to see the devastation and destruction in our little town, and so close to our own home. I literally shook as I drove through town and saw the trees through roofs, some buildings completely destroyed, with trees & power lines scattering the ground.

Later that day, another round of strong storms came through. I was at work, and Brandon was still at home in the dark. He had no way of keeping up with the weather other than me keeping an eye on the warnings & letting him know. Around 10:30, the tornado sirens started going off. A tornado was coming our way from the direction of home. I was so worried about Brandon - especially when I couldn't get him to answer the phone. We all huddled into our storm shelters (which happen to be the restrooms) at work as the sirens wailed & the power flickered. It was really scary. Thankfully, we were all OK and I finally heard back from Brandon, who was fine as well. The only damage at home from that round was his large stainless steel grill being blown off the porch and into the backyard. It broke the handle & the thermometer, but that's about it. We are not complaining; it's nothing compared to our neighbors' damage from earlier that morning!

The day went on, with tornado watches & warnings over and over. It was nerve racking, but thankfully our town wasn't hit again. The nearby towns of Smithville, Phil Campbell, and Hackleburg weren't as fortunate...not to mention Tuscaloosa & Birmingham. We thought our town was in bad shape, but all we had was structural damage...no one was seriously hurt and most buildings hit are repairable. Those towns, particularly the three smaller ones, were devastated. Obliterated would be an appropriate word for some of them. The loss of life and property was tremendous. Many of my coworkers and/or their immediate family members lost everything they had that afternoon. My heart goes out to them and those who lost loved ones!

Brandon and I have been building on our emergency kits for a while now but still need a few items in them. This has been a huge wake-up call that we need them finished ASAP. I have since ordered a NOAA radio which has a built in cell phone charger & flashlight and plan to stock up on more candles, batteries, and non-perishable food this weekend. Disaster can strike in an instant, and then it's too late to out looking to purchase these items. Who knows if you will even have a store left to purchase them at or if there will be anything left on the shelves? If you don't have an emergency kit prepared, do yourself a favor and start working on one today!

Here are some pictures and videos I took while driving around our little town. Click the photos to enlarge.

This is what's left of an old factory which was thankfully no longer in use. I snapped this picture on my way to work. The rest of them were made that evening around 5:30.

This one shows the business next to the factory which was totally destroyed.

Large trees uprooted like this one were all over the town, many on top of homes.

A friend's yard after many of the trees had already been cut up. You couldn't see his house that morning.

This car had a tree on top of it when I went to work that morning. You can't tell from this angle, but it's really smashed up. If I understood correctly, someone was in it when the tree fell, but he was not hurt.

If you look closely (click to enlarge), you can see a mobile home right in the middle of this picture. The person living here was in it when the tornado picked it up and flipped it several times. Thankfully, she walked away with only some cuts.

My drive home from work that afternoon:

Later that evening, Brandon & I drove into town for pizza since our power was still out. Clean-up had already begun:

Happy Anniversary to Us!! (And other stuff)

2011-03-16T07:46:00.012-05:00

OK, so technically our anniversary was on March 8th, the date of my last post. I had intended to post the update that I did and follow up with a separate post about our anniversary. We see how well that worked!!

In any event, we have now passed the 14-year mark in our marriage. We've had some ups & downs, good times & bad...but through it all we have always been there for each other, and I think we're stronger as a couple than we ever have been. Brandon is truly my best friend, and I know I'd be lost without him! Check out the photo I found and scanned last week...What a couple of kids we were!!

So anyway, Brandon had orientation for his new job last Monday & Tuesday, training at his new job Wednesday & Thursday, and worked his last two shifts at his old job Friday & Saturday...Needless to say, there wasn't much time for celebrating. We had a mini-anniversary dinner on Tuesday at home with Greek takeout, a bottle of wine, and "The Event." This Friday, we have reservations for our real anniversary dinner at a restaurant we've both wanted to try for a long time. More on how that goes later! :)

Friday I enjoyed a little girls' night out in Florence with Jeannie & her daughter Madilyn. We hit Hobby Lobby & JoAnn's, really stocking up on the clearance racks. Check out the stash I got, which included 6 new sets of stamps, a gorgeous paper stack, chipboard, and a new Cuttlebug folder, plus a few other things, all for just under $40. Now I just need to make the time to sit at my scrapbook and use it! In addition to the craft stores, we also hit Aldi & Target (two of our favorites) and ate dinner at Crocodile Ed's. It was a fun night!

Saturday evening, my friend Kim came over with a movie. We ordered pizza and watched The Soloist. It wasn't exactly what I had expected, but Jamie Foxx did an awesome job in his role. And I love Robert Downey, Jr. Even if the movie wasn't the greatest, I did enjoy the company...I still owe her an apology for falling asleep though. Sorry, Kim!!

Not the Best Year So Far...

2011-03-08T11:42:00.006-06:00

So, I've not been blogging much lately. It seems 2011 has decided to start out as worst year EV-ER, and thus has dampened my zeal for keeping this thing updated. A lot of personal stuff has been going on that has been super-stressful...things I won't blog about, but have definitely taken their toll on me. Then there are other things that I will at least highlight for the sake of giving an example of what the last two months have been like.

On February 10th, we lost a very dear member of our family. Brandon's grandfather in Seattle passed away at the age of 92. We are so glad that we got to see him in December so that we were able to see him one last time. We made another quick trip up for his memorial service. It was nice seeing all the family, but just wasn't the same in the house without him there. He will be sorely missed, especially by his wife of 65 years. Here's a photo of Brandon & his grandma the day after we arrived.

February 26th was our year-end inventory at work. That's a given every year and wasn't any worse than previous years, but it didn't help my stress levels any. Glad that's over!

Last Thursday, I received a phone call that terrified me - my father had just had a heart attack and was being air-lifted to a larger hospital. Brandon & I beat the helicopter there and waited for what seemed like forever in CCU to hear what was going on. A clot had formed around one of the stints he had put in previously and had caused the heart attack. Thankfully, the staff at the ER acted quickly and gave him the right medication so that it was dissolved by the time the helicopter landed. They kept him overnight, but he was allowed to go home on Friday. I'm so grateful he is OK!

One bit of GOOD news we have gotten this year was that Brandon finally found a full-time job. YAY!! He had orientation yesterday & today and starts his training tomorrow. We're both really excited about his new job because it means we will be able to spend more time together, something that has really been lacking for the past few years due to our almost opposite schedules. I can't wait for us to get into the new routine this is going to provide!

Loss of My Grandfather

2011-01-02T07:48:00.010-06:00

Last Wednesday, my 95-year old grandfather - "Pappaw," as all the grandkids called him - passed away. He had not been doing well and had gone into the hospital Monday night. I went to see him Wednesday and walked into the room literally five minutes too late. I'm so sad that I didn't make it in time!

Here is a picture of him with his wife of 52 years, my "Mammaw," who passed away in 1988. We all still miss her very much!

My grandparents were very special people. You see, when my father & his twin brother were only three months old, their mother died. She was Mammaw's sister. My biological grandfather was unable to take care of two infant babies, so Mammaw & Pappaw took them in. Less than a year later, my grandfather died. After that, Mammaw & Pappaw legally adopted the babies, although they let them keep their last name. Pappaw didn't want them to forget who they were.

"Adopted" is not a word used in our family. My father & his brother were just as much Pappaw's children as his own were. In fact, to hear my aunt talk, I think they got a little more attention than anyone else! I love listening to stories of them all growing up together. Times were hard, but they all loved one another very much. My Pappaw is holding the twins on the far right of this picture. (Click to enlarge.) His he a proud dad or what?

Here is one of the last group pictures of Pappaw with his four remaining children. (Sadly, my father's twin brother passed away in 2002.) It was taken at a family get-together in 2008.

As sad as I am to have lost my last remaining grandparent, I know that one day I will see them all again. And at that time, the Bible promises, "And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away." (Rev. 21:4)

Scrapbook Layout

2010-12-25T21:41:00.004-06:00

Having spent most of 2010 working on a commissioned scrapbook, I haven't done any of my own layouts since February at least. Tonight I decided to do a layout of my own. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. (Click to see a bigger image.)

And for those who read my last post and want an update....Sam had her surgery on Monday. We won't know if the tumor was cancerous for another week or so due to the holiday. The vet did say that he thought things looked good as far as he could tell, though, so heres hoping it was benign!! Sam seems to be still pretty sore, but I'm seeing daily improvements.

Heartbroken

2010-12-16T18:30:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago, I noticed a couple of small knots on my cat, Sam's, belly. We have been so busy that we weren't able to take her to the vet until this evening. I honestly didn't think they would be anything...I expected him to tell me they were probably cysts and not to worry about them. What he told me has me totally devastated - they are more than likely malignant mammary tumors. We won't know for sure until he does the surgery Monday to remove them and gets the lab results back. At fourteen, I know it's not good either way. Even the anesthesia is dangerous.

Brandon gave Sam to me when we were dating. He showed up at my house with this adorable little ball of fur. She's like my child. I'm more attached to her than I have ever been to any pet...and that's saying a lot. The thought of losing her is killing me.

Quick Trip to Seattle

2010-12-15T08:30:00.004-06:00

Last week, Brandon & I went to Seattle for a quick visit with his family. His grandpa's health is failing, and we wanted to go spend some time with him. We were only able to stay four days, but we're both so glad we went.

Wednesday after work, we dropped the dogs off at Mike & Jeannie's house and headed to Memphis. We spent the night with Vanessa before getting up early Thursday morning and going to the airport. We were fortunate to have an early direct flight and were in Seattle at 11:30 local time. Bruce & Deborah had gotten into town the day before, and so Bruce came with Duane to pick us up at the airport. It was so great to be there again!

That evening, Grandma went with Duane to Braeden's school recital, and we stayed in with Grandpa. He told us about their wedding day. They were married August 25, 1945, in Miami after Grandpa returned from being a POW in WWII. (If you would like to read the story of how he was captured and his time as a POW, check out the book that he & his granddaughter Jaime wrote here.) Anyway, here's a clip of the video I got while he was talking about their wedding day. You'll have to turn your volume up if you want to hear it. I recorded it with my phone so the audio isn't great, but I'm so glad I captured it!

The first thing Grandpa said Thursday when we arrived (after telling Brandon how glad he was that we were there) was, "I would like some oyster stew!" The last few times we have visited, Brandon has treated him to oyster stew. He loves it! So that evening, we went to Fred Meyer and bought the ingredients to make it for lunch the next day. Grandpa was a happy man and declared it "delicious" more than once. :)

Friday was a lazy day. We stayed in most of the day, with the exception of another trip to the grocery store that morning. Brandon made Grandpa his oyster stew for lunch, and then I rode to Costco with Duane to pick up a few things. That evening, Brandon's cousin Jaime came over with her family. We cooked a couple of chicken pot pies from Costco and had a nice big salad. After dinner, we looked at some old slides Duane had found in the basement from Grandpa & Grandma's trip to Finland in the 70's.

Saturday afternoon, we drove to Kirkland and met everyone at TechCity Bowl. After having some snacks in the bar, we went in and got a couple of lanes. I hadn't bowled in years and am terrible at it - I got gutter balls my first two tries - but had a lot of fun. I think everyone did. After bowling, we went to Bridle Trails NY Pizza for dinner and then back to Jaime & Dan's house to play Apples to Apples. It was a fun night!

Sunday, we went over to Corey & Clarissa's house to watch the Seahawk's game. Well, some of us watched the football game...the rest of us stayed upstairs and hung out with the kids. Afterwards, we made a quick stop back at the grandparents' house to check on their thermostat, then we went to Des Moines to see Dennis's new place and eat dinner at Anthony's Home Port, a great seafood place on the water. I had the Chinook Salmon, and Brandon had Dungeness Crab Fettuccine. They were both delicious!

After dinner, we went back to Grandma & Grandpa's house. Jaime and her daughter Bailey came back with us. We sat next to Grandpa at the dining table and played Yahtzee for a while. During our game, Grandpa spoke up and told us how special it was for "an old man to have young people visit him" and told us he hoped we would remember him and come back again in the summer. Then he started singing Billie Holiday's, "I'll be Seeing You" to us. Wow...talk about emotional.

Monday morning it was time to head back to the airport. Grandpa got up a little earlier than normal so he could spend some time with us before we left. He told us he loved us and how glad he was that we came. It was tough saying goodbye. :(

Our flight back to Memphis was a pretty good one. We had free WiFi, so were able to occupy ourselves online for a while. We saw some beautiful scenery as well. Once we arrived, we drove over to Vanessa's to pick up some things we had left there and then made a quick stop at Fresh Market before going home. By the time we picked up the dogs and made it back to our house, it was 11:00 at night. It had been a long day and we were exhausted, but it was worth it!

Zumba!

2010-11-29T17:10:00.004-06:00

I've said it, and said it, and said it again...I. Need. To. Exercise. I need to, and I don't. I don't like to exercise. Not that that is an excuse...But it is what it is.

Last week I decided to try something different: Zumba. There aren't any classes around here, and I honestly don't know if I'd do something like Zumba in front of people even if there was a class nearby. That being the case, I opted for Wii's new Zumba Fitness game. I ordered it last week, and it arrived today.

As soon as I got home from work, I changed clothes and started it up. Wow. Not only am I now reminded of how pathetically out of shape I am, but also how totally uncoordinated I am! I made it through a few of the "how-tos" and about 15 minutes of the 20 minute beginner class and had to stop. It's tough!! I'm determined to keep trying though. We'll see if I make any progress in the getting-in-shape department...and if I get some of these moves down!

New Niece!

2010-10-12T07:08:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the world, my beautiful new niece, Ella Brooke! My dad is finally a grandpa and couldn't be happier!!

Camping Trip

2010-10-06T13:56:00.016-05:00

This past weekend, Brandon & I went camping with some of our friends at Buck's Pocket State Park in Groveoak, AL. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and we hadn't been camping in years, so we were really looking forward to it.

I took off work at lunch on Thursday and went home to finish loading the car. Brandon & Mike were loading up the truck at the same time, and then we set off. Madilyn rode with me, and Jace road with Rachel & her kids. We had a little caravan going on. I am still in awe at what all the guys fit into Brandon's little S-10. We looked like the Clampetts driving off toward the park!

A few hours later, we arrived at the park. Well, all of us except the guys did...but they made it eventually! After picking out our site, we ended up having to set up our tents in the dark. At least Mike brought a spotlight, so that helped. Once we had all four tents set up, Mike grilled hamburgers & hot dogs for dinner. It was nice to finally sit down and relax for the night and visit. LeAnn even made it in from Georgia that night, thanks to Jace insisting that she come right after work!

Friday morning we all took our time getting up and around. Once everyone was awake, we made breakfast burritos and sat around the fire with our coffee. Around 10:00, Jeannie made it to our campsite. She had had to work the night before and came straight over after her shift was over. Most of our day Friday consisted of sitting around the campfire and just enjoying the beautiful weather. Jeannie threw together some chili in her slow cooker, so we didn't even have to cook for dinner that night.

Saturday morning, I made chocolate gravy for breakfast while Mike made biscuits and Jeannie cooked bacon. We even had some croissants that LeAnn brought. It was all really good! Saturday was also game day. The guys had it all planned out. Mike brought his DirectTV and set it up so that they could watch all their games that day. And since Ole Miss & Alabama each won their games, everyone was happy!

While the guys were watching the Ole Miss game, Jeannie & I took Bogart & the girls with us up to the park overlook. It was really pretty. I bet when the leaves change, it is gorgeous!

Saturday's supper consisted of Mike's awesome drunk chickens, & mac & cheese with some jalapeno poppers as appetizers earlier in the evening. We even got to taste some fried alligator from the campers down the road who came to watch the Alabama/Florida game with us. (Get it? Fried alligator for the game against the Gators?) It was delicious!

Sunday after a late breakfast, we all packed up to go home. We finally got out of the park around 2:00. On the way home, we stopped at Steak 'n Shake for dinner, which was really good but took a long time. We got home a little after 8:00. It had been a really fun weekend trip, but it was back to the real world on Monday.

New Friends

2010-09-18T06:58:00.006-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, a group from South Carolina (mostly) came to our area to help work some seldom-worked territory near us. Because they got to their house on Saturday, they were at our meeting on Sunday, so after the meeting we had a big lunch and were able to start to get to know each other.

We've had several groups like this come in over the last couple of years, but because they normally only work during the week, I have not been able to go out with them. This group, however, came on Labor Day weekend, which meant I had Monday off and was able to join them on their first day out. It was so great and so encouraging. Brandon & I were in a car group with Susan, Vicky, and Inez and had an awesome time with them all.

On Wednesday night, we again had refreshments after the meeting. We stayed and visited with everyone some more for a long time. Even though we didn't get home until really late that night, it was totally worth being sleepy the next morning to get to spend time with our dear new friends!

Friday night, it was our turn to be guests. Everyone was invited up to their "big yellow house" near the lake for dinner. We weren't allowed to bring any food - just come and enjoy their hospitality. I have to admit that as much as I wanted to go, I was really tired by the time I got home from work that day. I went anyway though and was so happy that I did!

When we arrived, we found our new friends hard at work finishing up a huge spread of delicious-looking food. After eating, we played a little game to help us really get to know one another. Next, we took a group picture (I'd love to have a copy of that!) and then we all sang a song together. Even without music, it was beautiful...very touching, and a great way to end the evening!

Girls' Weekend

2010-08-27T11:17:00.004-05:00

Last weekend I rode to Memphis with Debbie & Treasa for a girls' weekend at Vanessa's. We arrived in town around 11:30 and killed some time before going to Vanessa's since she was out running errands.

After lunch, we headed over to her house and hung out with all the other ladies that were there or arriving, including Vanessa, Gina, Linda, Jessica, and Becky. Around 4:30 we set out in a caravan to Vanessa's friend Malory's house. Once there, we spent the rest of the evening just hanging out and enjoying everyone's company. And of course, we had lots of good food and drinks, including some awesome punch that Gina whipped up. It was a fun evening, and I really enjoyed spending the time with some of my life-long friends.

That night, we headed back over to Vanessa's house. I believe we had 8 women sleeping over there! We all stayed up too late talking, but it was a lot of fun. The next day, we went to IHOP for breakfast and then headed home. Debbie, Treasa, and I made a couple of stops in Corinth for some bargain shopping. I found a few good deals, so I was happy!

Funny Bogart!

2010-08-13T11:30:00.000-05:00

Bogart was totally relaxed on the love seat this morning. He lays like this all the time!

Bathroom Remodel & Work

2010-08-13T05:39:00.003-05:00

I'm going to quit apologizing for falling behind on my blogging and just hope to get on here and post every week or two...if I do better, that's just a bonus! LOL Maybe when things slow down a little, I can get back to more frequent blogging.

Anyhoo...things have been busy around here lately. We're in the middle of a major bathroom remodel. Our friend, Matt, is doing the work, and he is nearly finished with our half bath. He painted and laid tile yesterday. It's looking great!! I've been taking pics every day and will be sure to post before & after shots when it is complete.

Work has been busy as well. For the past two weeks, I have been out on our production line helping to implement a new procedure in SAP. I'm spoiled to my air conditioned office, and so to go out during the hottest two weeks of the year has been torture to say the least. We have been under "Excessive Heat Warnings" almost every day, with temps around and just over 100 degrees and heat indexes reaching anywhere from 108-117. The humidity is brutal! Throw on top of that the fact that I have to wear steel-toed shoes, safety glasses, and ear plugs....no fun! Still, we have gotten a lot accomplished. The lady we are training is awesome and really nice, so that has been a huge plus. I've butted heads with not a few people who aren't pleased with the new processes, but such is life. I might just need to start wearing a hard hat as well. ;o)

New Cards to Share

2010-07-25T19:50:00.007-05:00

My card organizer was getting a little low, so I thought I'd spend some time at my scrapbook table this evening and make a few cards. I have plenty of scraps that need to be used, plus I just got the Paisley cartridge for my Cricut and wanted to play around with it some. Here's what I ended up with. Click on the pictures to see a larger version.

In this batch of cards, I used my Paisley cartridge. I used the Floral Fantasy Cuttlebug embossing folder for the cat card on the far left. I also used Stickles on that one, as well as the ladybug card. The ladybug card was cut using the card function on the Paisley cartridge. The flower is actually a negative cut. The stamps on the "Friend" card are from a Stampin' Up set called "Simple Friendship." The large yellow flower on that card is actually what was left on the mat from cutting the ladybug card.

For this set of cards, I was trying to use up some scraps I had from a Marcella by K paper pad. I used both Stampin' Up (the hearts & label) and Close to My Heart Stamps (the sentiments) on all three cards. I used the coordinating label punch from Stampin' Up to punch out the sentiments on the first two.

Anyway, none of these are anything fancy, but I thought I'd share something crafty since I haven't posted anything of that nature (well not much of anything at all, for that matter) in quite some time. Thanks for looking!

Family Visit, Etc.

2010-07-25T06:43:00.004-05:00

Thursday evening, my cousins from Texas came over for dinner. We don't get to see them often and really enjoyed their company. Brandon grilled burgers & hot dogs, we looked at Rachel's heritage scrapbook, and we took a field trip down to my neighbor's house - formerly our grandparents' home - to reminisce about old times. It was a really great visit. I'm glad they got to spend some time with us while they were in town last week.

I've had a pretty good weekend so far. Friday night I relaxed and watched a movie after Brandon left for work. Yesterday morning, I went out in service for a couple of hours, which was great. When I got home, I had a little lunch and then worked on a scrapbook project I've been hired to do until about 10:00. I've been seriously stressing over that project because it's so overwhelming! It was nice to make some progress. I hope to do more on it after the meeting today.

Water Fun

2010-07-20T11:23:00.009-05:00

Sunday we went out on the boat with Matt & Kayla and a couple of their friends. We met them at the boat launch around 2:00 and stayed out until nearly 6:00. We had a great time! I even tried knee-boarding for the first time ever and was actually able to do it on my 3rd try. I was so proud, and it was a lot of fun. I can't wait to do it again!

Blogging Failure!

2010-07-20T11:18:00.002-05:00

Can I just say that I feel like a total blogging FAILURE?? I used to love to blog and was great about updating daily or at least several times a week. Lately, though, I just can't seem to get into that writing mood...I actually think it's because I've gotten so far behind and my semi-OCD self wants to back up and record every single thing I've missed instead of just picking up and going forward from today. So I get overwhelmed and just don't do either one!

But I miss blogging, and so as much as it pains me to skip all the stuff from the last month or so that I've missed, I'm going to attempt to pick up and go like I never quit. SO...here goes!

Recent Trip to Seattle - Part 5

2010-07-09T16:59:00.009-05:00

On Friday, we decided to spend some time together down at the waterfront. Brandon, Abby, and I loaded up in Dennis's car and followed Bruce, Deborah, Kelley, and Shellby to Seattle. We parked under the interstate and then walked along the piers, just stopping wherever we thought would be interesting.

With Brandon & Abby

Brandon & his dad tried on crazy hats in the sports store.

We had lunch at Ivar's. My clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl was awesome!

There was a sign at the end of the walk that encouraged you to feed the sea gulls but not to feed the pigeons. Poor pigeons!

Later, we had snacks and drinks at Pike Brewery.

I love all the fresh fruits and veggies at Pike Place Market!

The guys at Pike Place Fish let Abby come behind the counter and try to catch a fish.

She caught it!!

That evening, we went back to Grandpa & Grandma's house. Brandon had picked up some fresh oysters at the fish market, so he made Grandpa some oyster stew, as promised. He and Bruce also picked up some fresh sockeye salmon at Fred Meyer. Bruce filleted it and Brandon cooked it on cedar planks in the oven. It was amazingly delicious!! Everyone that hadn't headed to Montana for Devin's graduation came over to eat with us. It was a nice evening with family before we had to leave the next day. I even caught this sweet pic of Brandon's grandparents when they weren't looking. :)

Saturday morning Abby had to go home, and that afternoon it was our turn. Bruce took us to the airport around noon, and we spent the next couple of hours hanging out at a restaurant right in front of our gate. The flight out of Seattle gave us some pretty amazing scenery, including this awesome shot of Mt. Rainier right outside the window. After a short layover in Denver, we were back in Nashville around 10:30, where Abby - bless her heart - met us at the airport and took us back to her house for the night. We were exhausted, but we had had such a great visit!

Recent Trip to Seattle - Part 4

2010-06-19T05:32:00.009-05:00

Wednesday after our official photo shoot, everyone hung around and we took some snapshots and then I went with Brandon, Duane, and Dennis to find a good pizza place for dinner. We found an awesome authentic Italian place and ordered four huge pizzas to take back to Grandma & Grandpa's. While we waited on the pizzas, we enjoyed a free appetizer of some amazing artichoke dip with pita bread.

For dinner Wednesday, we decided to go to the Red Hook Brewery in Woodinville. We got there too late for a tour, but we had a great dinner and enjoyed visiting with Brandon's cousin, Brandy, and her boyfriend. I also got to have my first salmon of the week since I ordered the Coho salmon sandwich. Yum!

That night, we all headed back to The Liquid Lime for more karaoke. We had a great time. No singing for me this time, although I did try. We put our name in for two group songs, but they were so busy that Regina never got around to them. No biggie though - I enjoyed watching everyone else! And once again, we stayed until the place closed down at 2:00!

Thursday afternoon we took the bus to Safeco Field to see the Mariners play the Twins. We got there early enough to go across the street to the beer garden at Pyramid Ale House. We wanted to go inside and eat, but it was just too crowded. They had a limited menu outside, though, so that was fine. We just ate standing up in the beer garden. This was also where we met up with Leah, Josiah, and Leah's husband Daniel. They had our tickets.

The game was fun. It was ladies' night, so we all got cute little tote bags when we went in. Our seats were pretty close to the field, so I actually had a harder time following the actual game than I usually do when we sit up high and can see everything, but that was OK. We were right in front of Ichiro Suzuki, so that was pretty cool. And the Mariners won, so that was even better! They haven't had the greatest season this year, so it was nice that they won when we were there. Here are a few pics from the game.

I rarely wear caps, but they had a special on women's caps at the game, and I got this one. I love it!

Kelley & Abby keeping warm.

It started drizzling, so they closed the roof.

"Mariners Win!"

Recent Trip to Seattle - Part 3 - Family Photos!

2010-06-13T08:42:00.009-05:00

Wednesday was a special day on our trip. Jaime's sister-in-law, Catherine, came over and did a photo shoot for us. She is an awesome photographer! You can see her work here at CALIMA Portraits. I wish the entire family could have been there, but that would've been almost impossible. Several were at work & school, and a few just couldn't make it into town. Anyway, here are some of the many photos she took that day. As usual, you can click on each photo to see a larger image. I'm so proud of them!

Grandma & Grandpa

With all of their Children

Everyone Present

Brandon With His Dad & Sisters

Our Family Minus Joel & Our Brothers-in-Law

Dennis & Brooke

Duane With Jaime, Quinn, and Bailey

Joan's Family

Brandon's Sisters

Our First Professional Photo in Years!

Bruce & Deborah

Grandpa In his POW Hat & Blazer

Sweet Couple!

Recent Trip to Seattle - Part 2

2010-06-13T08:20:00.007-05:00

As I said before, we went to eat dinner at Red Robin after our excursion to Wallace Falls. We were all tired and dirty, and we had made plans with everyone to go to The Liquid Lime for karaoke with Regina, Duane's step-daughter. Unfortunately, there was no time to go back to shower & change, so we went as we were. I was so tired since I was still running on Central time, but after a while I got past it and had a great time. We ended up staying until nearly 2:00 am, and I was even convinced to get up and sing a song with the other girls!

After we left The Liquid Lime, Dennis took us by Grandma & Grandpa's house to get an overnight bag, and then we went home with him. Brandon had some work to do online for his continuing education credits and needed to use the internet the next day, so we just hung around Dennis & Joann's house most of the day while he did that. Before we went back to Gma & Gpa's house, we stopped at The Royal Orchid in Renton for our first Thai food experience. It was great!

Tuesday, Brandon & I started our day off with a sauna - a very Finnish thing to do - and then just hung around the house with family. That afternoon, we went to the grocery store and picked up the ingredients for his shrimp gumbo, which he made for supper. Most of the family dropped by at some point that evening and had some, and then late that night Kelley, Abby, and Shellby finally made it in. Everyone was excited to see them. We stayed up late visiting and finally went to bed around 2:00 or 2:30.

Recent Trip to Seattle - Part 1

2010-06-12T11:09:00.000-05:00

Brandon and I got home Sunday from a week-long visit with family in Seattle. It was great!! I'm going to try to get all the details down here so that when I get ready to scrapbook, my journalling is already done. Maybe I won't bore my readers with all the details!

Our trip started out on Friday, May 28th. When I got off work, we took the dogs over to Mike & Jeannie's house and headed to Nashville. We arrived at Abby & Justin's around 8:30 and hung out for a while with them and a couple who was staying with them doing relief work that weekend. Then it was up bright and early at 4:00 am to get ready and head to the airport. Our flight was at 7:00.

Once on the plane, we saw some beautiful scenery. It never ceases to amaze me when I see all the geometry from the sky. It's so neat...it almost helps my feelings about flying. (Not my favorite thing in the world to do!) Our first flight was short-lived though - thankfully - and we made our first stop in Dallas. We were at that airport for about 3 1/2 hours before our next flight, so we ate lunch at a neat Mexican restaurant called Pappasito's. It was very good! Then it was on to our gate to board our flight to Seattle.

We arrived around 5:00 local time. Bruce & Deborah met us at the airport, which was nice instead of having to take a cab. It was also nice getting in while it was still daylight out. I think that's the first time we've ever gotten there before dark. We were tired, but we still had time to visit. And visit we did! Several members of Brandon's family came over to hang out for the evening. Bruce mixed up some of Grandpa's "Quail Hill Margaritas" that are famous in our family, and we all just enjoyed each other's company. It was great!

The next day, Dennis came over, and we headed to Monroe to meet up with everyone else at Jaime & Dan's house. From there, we started toward Sultan, WA, for a hike to Wallace Falls. We made a pit stop along the way at the State Salmon Hatchery, which was pretty neat.

Next stop, Wallace Falls. The hike was really pretty, although it was also really long - nearly 5 miles round trip. We had no idea what we were getting into for that little excursion, but we made it, and the views were worth the hike. Here are some photos:

Just getting started...

I loved this quote near the trailhead.

Us at an overlook

I wish I had waited a little longer for these folks to leave. This was such a pretty sight!

I loved that all the trees were covered in moss!

"Small Falls"

Braeden says "Be careful!"

This is "Lower Falls." A few from our group made it up to "Middle Falls," but no one climbed all the way to "Upper Falls." I was happy to have made it this far!

Another part of "Lower Falls"

We made it!

All the ferns & moss made the forest look prehistoric to me.

Shy little Bailey gave in and let her cousin carry her part of the way toward the end of our hike.

Pretty Fungus!

By the time we made it back to our cars, we were all exhausted and hungry. Jaime's husband, Dan, had gone to McDonald's and had some chicken nuggets waiting on us, which helped somewhat. As tired and dirty as we were, we wanted some real food, so we all headed to Red Robin after a quick stop back at Jaime & Dan's house.

The Roof is Finished!

2010-06-12T06:25:00.004-05:00

I'm seriously behind in blogging and have been trying to type up some posts about our recent trip to Seattle, but I wanted to also share a photo of our brand new roof. I love it! What do you think? You can't really tell the color from the glare, but it's a milk chocolate color. And this photo was made right after Brandon annihilated our shrubs with his new trimmer. They've grown out a little now. LOL

New Roof Starts Today!

2010-05-26T07:38:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone who offered an opinion on what color we should get for our new metal roof. After much deliberation, we finally decided on "Koko Brown." We were afraid we'd get tired of a color like red or green, and thought we'd be safer with a neutral. Also, I saw a few houses in the area with bricks similar to ours and with brown roofs, and they looked nice.

So...here it is!! My dad & uncle drove to Athens yesterday to pick up the materials, and my uncle will be starting on our new roof today. I can't wait to see the finished product and listen to the rain on our new metal roof!

Home Repairs: Opinions Wanted!

2010-05-18T05:50:00.005-05:00

After discovering a leak in our roof a couple of weeks ago and calling up our insurance agent about it, we we were told that we needed a whole new roof. Even though they are only paying for the cost of a shingled roof, we have decided to go ahead and pay the difference and get a metal one. My uncle will be doing the work for us and hopefully will be able to get to it this week. I'm excited and know that our house will look much nicer once it's finished.

The problem we have now is picking a color. Below is a picture of the front of our house, and below that are some of the colors we have available to us. (Click for bigger images.) Brandon & I have differing opinions on what we think would look the best. I won't post them yet, though, because I'd love to know what everyone else thinks. Please leave a comment or send me a message with your opinion. We have to decide in the next day or two so we can get the metal and get the project rolling.

PS: We wouldn't be opposed to changing the shutters to match the roof if what we pick doesn't look right with green.

In addition to needing a new roof, the leak caused damage to the ceilings and walls in both of our bathrooms. (The leak was going directly between two walls.) Again, insurance is paying to replace the sheetrock, etc, but we have wanted to remodel our bathrooms for quite some time and so are going to go ahead and do it now. Our friend Matt will be doing the work, and we know he will do a great job! We probably won't begin that for a few more weeks, though, so more details on the bathroom project later.

Mini Album

2010-05-16T14:20:00.012-05:00

I've been working on this a little bit at a time for a while now. I wanted a mini album to put on my desk at work, and this is what I came up with. The pages are made from plain coasters I purchased for 10 cents each a few years ago.

I got the inspiration for the woven heart on the cover from a recent Creating Keepsakes magazine. I wove the ribbon into a rough square and then placed the negative from a heart I cut out with my Cricut over that. I punched holes around the perimeter and sewed it with embroidery floss, and then I cut the outside shape around the whole thing. It was time consuming, but I love the results! I would like to come back later and attach a charm or our initials to the heart, but I don't have just the right item in my stash at the moment.

The journaling is actually the lyrics from a song in our new song book. I cried the first time I heard it...It's beautiful! (Click the picture for a bigger image if you'd like to read it.)

For these two pages, I ran plain brown cardstock through my Cuttlebug using the "Floral Fantasy" embossing folder before attaching it to the coasters.

I think this is my favorite page. I love the combo of rub-ons and flowers! The cardstock is shimmery, although that doesn't really show in the photo.

Hearts were cut out of the same glittery cardstock that I used for the covers using the "Home Accents" cartridge and my Cricut.

I might come back and add a little something to the back cover later. For now, it's just glittery!

Weekend with Friends & Evening with the Kids

2010-04-10T06:55:00.010-05:00

I never got around to posting about my fun weekend last weekend, so I thought I would do that now. After all, I plan on having another fun weekend to talk about this weekend!

Brandon had last Friday night off work, so we decided to have some friends over for dinner and games. We don't get to do that much anymore, so we were looking forward to it. He smoked some Boston butts and Matt, Kayla, Kim, Alicia, Greg, Christina, and Adrian came over. It was beautiful weather, so we hung out on the back porch while the pork finished smoking.

After dinner, Matt & Kayla had to leave, but the rest of us played a game of Cranium Wow. I bought that thing last year sometime, but we had yet to even open it. It turned out to be a lot of fun! We all laughed all evening.

Saturday morning was rainy and so I decided to stay home. I worked on a little mini scrapbook I started a while back and thoroughly enjoyed sitting at my craft table all morning. Around 1:00, I started getting ready to go over to Rachel's house for our girls' night in.

Heather, Lila, and I all arrived at Rachel's around 3:30. We caught up for a little while and laughed about Lee & Rachel's huge dogs that think they belong in someone's lap, and then we settled in to watch a movie. I was outnumbered 3 to 1 and we watched something I swore I'd never watch - The Notebook. I knew it was sad and didn't think I would like it. It turned out to be really good though, even though I did cry along with everyone else. LOL After our movie, we had taco salads and talked some more, and then we all left around 9:00. It was a fun evening!

Hannah & Logan have been in Mississippi this week for spring break, and we really wanted to see them before they left. Thursday, Kelley & Tyler brought them to Tupelo and met us at the theater. Their movie choice? Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It definitely wouldn't have been what we chose, but we went to spend time with them and so that's what we watched. It did have some pretty funny parts in it, and they really liked it. After the movie, we went over to CiCi's Pizza for dinner.

March Was a Good Month

2010-04-04T20:23:00.010-05:00

March was a good month. Brandon & I had our 13th wedding anniversary on the 8th. We both really surprised each other with our gifts this year. I bought him tickets to see one of his all-time favorite bands in concert at the end of the month, a concert he hadn't even heard about yet and is SO excited about. He bought me an awesome telescope - something I've always wanted but would've never bought for myself. I'm still learning how to use it but love what a thoughtful gift it was! We officially celebrated our anniversary the following weekend in Natchez, which I posted about previously.

The week after we got back from Natchez, Brandon's brother Tyler came to stay a few days with us during his spring break. He's a senior and will be graduating next month. We had a good visit with him, even though I had to work most of the time he was here. One evening before he went home, we sat outside and played Yahtzee while Brandon grilled steaks.

On Saturday the 20th, Brandon and I went out in service together and then while he napped to get ready for working that night, I got out and cleaned out our flower beds in the front of the house. I'm really not much of a gardener, but I'm trying to do better and learn. I spent four hours that afternoon, weeding, pruning, planting pansies, and mulching. It was a beautiful day to be outside!

On the 22nd, Brandon kept Mike & Jeannie's kids while they were at the hospital with Mike's mother, who was having surgery. He entertained them while I was at work, and when I got home we cooked them supper and played the Wii (Madilyn loved Cow Racing!!) with them around trying to get ready for our meeting. I think the kids had fun...we had fun playing with them, and Shirley came through her surgery fine!

The next day, I took a day off work and Brandon & I met with the group for service. We had the CO's visit that week, and I was really looking forward to going out on a week day. Our little car group had a wonderful morning out. I was so busy at work, but it was totally worth taking the time off. I wish I could do it more often!!

The Memorial fell on the 30th this year, which was a Tuesday night. Here we are with my aunt & uncle. We had a nice turnout and enjoyed the evening very much.

Weekend in Natchez - Part 5: The Rest of our Weekend

2010-04-01T11:47:00.008-05:00

After we left the winery, Brandon dropped me off at the bed & breakfast and went to return a shirt at the mall and then across the river into Vidalia, LA, to pick up some boudin. I grabbed my laptop and camera and settled in on the front porch to download some pictures and enjoy the gorgeous weather. Before long our hostess, Christine, popped her head out the door and offered me a champagne cocktail. Now if that isn't Southern hospitality, I don't know what is!

When Brandon made it back from his errands, he was also given a glass of champagne. Soon the other guests and our hostess joined us on the porch, and we all sat around and talked and sipped on our champagne while Byron, Christine's husband, worked their flower bed. It was a really nice afternoon!

That evening, Brandon and I walked into town. We made our way down Main Street and to the bluffs over the Mississippi River and enjoyed a beautiful sunset, then we went back to Commerce Street to try out Planet Thailand for some sushi. We had to wait a long time for our food, but it was worth it when it finally arrived. After dinner, we called it a night.

Our last breakfast at Bisland House was amazing. Christine made Bananas Foster French Toast. It was delicious!! After breakfast, it was time to pack up and head home. It had been a great weekend, but we were ready to see our puppies again and sleep in our own bed. Travel is great - but going home is too!

Weekend in Natchez - Part 4: Rosalie & Old South Winery

2010-03-26T11:45:00.012-05:00

Saturday morning after another delicious breakfast, Brandon and I drove around the block to Rosalie Mansion for our tour. It was another beautiful day, and I was really looking forward to touring this old house on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Rosalie - Front Gate

The man in the portrait over the fireplace in the library is the original owner.

This is exactly how the double parlor looked before the Civil War began. Everything is original to the house except the rug is reproduction. During the war, a Union general commandeered the home and used it as a base for 2 years. He respected the family who lived there and knew the beautiful furniture would be ruined, so he had it wrapped and stored in the attic. The two mirrors (over the fireplaces) had already been taken down and hidden in a cave between two cotton bales before they arrived, so those were preserved as well.

View of the Mississippi River from the 2nd floor balcony.

Nursery at Rosalie. The small house in the floor was for the children's pet squirrel!

Another upstairs bedroom at Rosalie. The Bible at the foot of the bed was a wedding gift from the husband to his new bride. And notice the lovely chamber pot in the floor!

Rosalie's kitchen was unique because it had a covered walkway all the way to the house. Kitchens back then were usually in separate buildings because of the threat of fire.

Rosalie - Back

The tulip trees were beautiful!

Rosalie - Side

At the end of the tour, we took our time wandering around the grounds and looking at the flowers, and then we set out for lunch. We ended up eating right across the street at Fat Mama's Tamales. It's a neat little place where you place your order at the counter and then sit where you want...like a fast food joint, but with a totally different atmosphere. We split a dozen tamales and some chips and cheese. It was really good!

Next on our agenda was a tour of Old South Winery. As we were leaving Fat Mama's, we found the winery in the Garmin and hit "GO." The closer we got to our destination, the more concerned I was getting. To put it mildly, the winery is not in the best of neighborhoods. The fact that it's in a neighborhood at all and not out in the country is odd to me. It definitely wasn't what we expected, but we did the tour and had our samples and bought some wine, and so it was all good.

Weekend in Natchez - Part 3: Friday Afternoon & Evening

2010-03-23T11:35:00.011-05:00

After touring Longwood, we were ready for some lunch. We drove back to the bed & breakfast to leave our car, and walked a few blocks to downtown Natchez. (That was just so convenient!) We decided on a Greek restaurant called Center City Bistro. They are located in a little alley on Commerce Street.

It was such a beautiful day that we requested a table in the courtyard. We started our meal off with the combination appetizer, which consisted of hummus, baba ganoush (I love saying that!), taramosalata, jajiki, dolmadas, kalamata olives, feta cheese, and warm pita bread. It was all SO GOOD, especially with the Merlot I ordered to go along with it. (Check out their menu if you'd like to know what any of that is.) For our main course, Brandon ordered a gyro, which was amazing, and I got the Greek salad, which was also good. I could have made a meal of the appetizer itself though and didn't even need the salad.

After such a huge lunch and all the walking we had done that morning - not to mention getting in so late the night before - we decided it would be a good time to take a nap, so back to Bisland House we went.

Later that evening, even though we were still pretty full from lunch, we set out for downtown again for dinner. If nothing else, we wanted to get out and hear some music and just hang out. Our first stop was a little place called Biscuits & Blues. Brandon had been there a few years ago while he was in Natchez on a school trip, and he wanted to go back. It was kind of small, but it was a really neat place. We ordered some crab stuffed jalapenos and a couple of drinks and kicked back and listened to the live music for a while.

My margarita at Biscuits & Blues

Here's Brandon enjoying the live music. You can see the lady singing if you look over his left shoulder. She was great!

I would've loved to stay at Biscuits & Blues longer, but I felt bad because there were people waiting for tables and we had finished our food and were just sitting there listening to the music. SO, we set out again. This time we turned down Main Street and headed for the next place Brandon wanted to take me to - Bowie's Tavern.

Bowie's was a neat place, I suppose, for a bar. The bar scene really isn't my thing...maybe with a group of friends sometimes, but not usually. Anyway, we snagged a corner table and just hung out for a while. Eventually a band set up and played. We ordered some Jamaican Jerk wings, which were really good, and listened to a few songs and then decided to go.

Bowie's is at the end of Main Street, right in front of the bluffs that overlook the Mississippi River. We decided to take in the view before calling it a night. It was getting kind of cold, so we didn't stay long, but it was a nice view and very quiet. Finally we headed back to the B&B.

Weekend in Natchez - Part 2: Longwood

2010-03-22T20:13:00.015-05:00

Friday morning after a delicious breakfast at Bisland House, Brandon & I set out for our first day in Natchez. It was a gorgeous day, and we couldn't wait to get out and explore! We knew we wanted to tour at least a couple of the old homes in town, so first on our agenda was a stop at the Natchez Visitor's Center to purchase tickets. Next stop, Longwood.

We arrived at Longwood about twenty minutes before the next scheduled tour, so we took the opportunity to look around the grounds and take in the sunny day. The property that this unique mansion sits on is beautiful. There are huge trees draped in Spanish moss everywhere, not to mention all the spring flowers that were blooming. It was so nice just to sit and enjoy the moment.

Our first real look at Longwood as we came up the drive. Click the photo for a bigger image, and you can see one of the tour guides coming down the steps in her hoop skirt.

Haller Nutt's Oriental Villa

Byzantine-Moorish Dome With its 24-foot Finial

When our tour began, our guide - dressed in a hoop skirt - invited us in and began to tell the story of multi-millionaire Haller Nutt and his wife, Julia, and their dreams of this huge home we were standing inside. She told of why the house was designed the way it was, how the workers from Philadelphia basically dropped their tools and ran north when the war began, and how Dr. Nutt died before the war was over, broke and broken-hearted. She took us through the entire "basement" of Longwood, pointing out many pieces of original furniture that belonged to the Nutt family. It was all so interesting and so beautiful - I wish we had been allowed to take pictures!

Upon leaving the finished portion of the house and going upstairs, we were allowed to take pictures. Here are some of the ones I took:

Unfinished Stairs

Looking Up Into the Dome

This is our guide standing next to a replica of one of the window boxes meant to allow sunlight into the basement. The circles in the floor are spots where more of the boxes would have been.

One of the doorways upstairs with wood blocks laid into the brick so that hinges could be hung later.

Items left behind when the workers fled north.

If you can't tell by my review, we really enjoyed our visit to Longwood. Anyone in the Natchez area should take a couple of hours and tour this interesting and beautiful home!

Weekend in Natchez - Part 1: Bisland House Bed & Breakfast

2010-03-22T11:45:00.013-05:00

I've gotten so behind on my blogging! I guess I just haven't been in the mood to write lately. I'm going to try to do better about updating at least once or twice a week though. I'm not going to try to totally catch up, but I do want to post a detailed run down of our recent anniversary trip to Natchez, MS, because it's easy for me to use my blog for journaling in my scrapbook pages later. Gotta record it while it's fresh in my mind! :)

On March 11th, Brandon and I left our puppies with Mike & Jeannie (thanks again guys!!) and headed south toward Natchez. Our trip got off to bit of a rocky start. First, I caught Brandon's thumb in the trunk while we were loading up to leave. Then we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for dinner and as soon as we got back on the road, Brandon punched a hole through the bottom of his cup, which dumped an entire Diet Coke in his seat. There were a bazillion deer all the way down the Natchez Trace, which made me incredibly nervous. And we were both so sleepy that we had to keep taking turns driving. At 11:00, we finally arrived at Bisland House Bed & Breakfast and were warmly welcomed by our hostess and shown to our room. I felt so bad getting in so late!

I can't say enough good things about this bed & breakfast. The owners, Byron & Christine Tims, went above and beyond what I would expect at a B&B. In addition to the amazing breakfasts we were served each morning, there were home baked brownies and/or cookies set out every day, soft drinks & bottled water stocked in a small refrigerator for our use, and flavor packets for the water, if you so desired. Christine made sure everyone was comfortable, cleaned our room every day, and offered to make reservations for carriage rides or dinner. We were even served champagne one evening while sitting out on the front porch enjoying the beautiful weather!

The house itself is beautiful. It was built around 1904 and sits on Commerce Street, just a few blocks from downtown Natchez. The location was great because we were able to walk almost everywhere we went, and we felt totally safe, even late at night. There are several camellias out front, all of which were blooming while we were there. The inside is full of beautiful antiques. Here are some pictures of the house & our hosts.

Bisland House Sign

I loved the front porch!

Guest Book in Front Entrance

Beautiful Antiques

Entrance - Check out the beautiful stained glass windows!

Treats Out Each Day

Each morning, the table was set for breakfast with fresh fruit, a fire in the fireplace, and classical music playing in the background.

Christine's Amazing Bananas Foster French Toast

Byron & Christine Tims

Each of the three guest rooms at Bisland House is named. We stayed in the only room downstairs, Danielle's Room. Here are some pictures. (Click to enlarge.)

Door to Our Room

Our Beautiful Bed with Super Soft Sheets

Brandon Relaxing After We Finally Arrived

Our Cute Bathroom Vanity

Our Beautiful Sink

Bubble Bath in the Claw Foot Tub!

Beautiful Light Fixture Above Tub

I want to thank Byron & Christine again for being so hospitable and opening up their beautiful home to share with others. I'd highly recommend a stay at their bed & breakfast to anyone visiting Natchez, and we will definitely be back ourselves!

Got Crafty Today!

2010-03-06T22:33:00.003-06:00

It wasn't a huge accomplishment, but I did make a card & envelope for a wedding shower today, and I was really happy with how they turned out.

I used my new Stampin' Up! Vintage Labels stamps and curly label punch on the card. I designed and cut the matching envelope with SCAL...I love that software!

After the shower, I went by to see my dad for a few minutes and then went over to Mary & Jim's to use my anniversary gift from Brandon - a computerized telescope. Lots of learning to do with that thing, but it's really neat! Mary & I enjoyed looking at the stars for a while and then we had some hot tea before I came home. It was a good day. :)

What's This? A Blog Post??

2010-02-28T07:12:00.008-06:00

It's been a while. I keep saying I want to update my blog, but then I have just not been in much of a mood to write. The longer I've put it off, the more my desire to write slips away and the further behind I get on this little chronicle of our lives. I finally figured this morning that I'll just have to jump in and post something and maybe it will start coming back to me! Not to worry...I'm not going to do a play by play of the last two months...I'll just try to hit the high points! ;o)

Yesterday was our big year-end inventory at work. As the SAP Materials Management Functional Analyst (how's that for a title?) in my company's IT department, it was my partially responsibility to make sure everyone was ready to go bright and early Saturday morning. I stressed all week, making lists and trying to make sure I didn't drop the ball on something important that had to happen. Yesterday morning I arrived at 6:00am and set up in the conference room of our main plant, ready to assist where I could with questions and start keying in counts for that building as soon as they started rolling in. Thankfully, others came in to help so I wasn't there alone, but it was still after 6:30 that night when I got to go home. What a day!!

Another big thing that is definitely worth mentioning is our 13th wedding anniversary coming up March 8th. I can't believe it's been that long! To celebrate, we are heading down to Natchez, MS, for their annual spring pilgrimage. We have reservations at a bed & breakfast located in the historic district and plan to do some home tours. Hopefully we won't be too early for the dogwoods and azaleas that are always gorgeous down there. I can't wait!

Let's see...Back in January I officially joined Weight Watchers for the first time. I have followed the plan in the past using information I got from other people, but I figured that I would be more dedicated if I went ahead and did the real thing. We also purchased a Wii console & Wii Fit Plus, which I've been trying to use regularly. (I've been slacking in that area the last couple of weeks but plan to get back at it!) So far I have lost 9 pounds, so I'm pretty proud of myself! Now if I can just keep it up!

Something else going on is a big scrapbooking project I've been hired to do. I normally do not take on scrapbooking for other people, but given who it was that asked me to do it, I felt compelled. LOL Since the end project is to be a surprise gift for someone, I can't really go into details here, but be assured that I will be taking pictures along the way and hopefully one day I can share. I will say that the whole thing is centered around college football, and involves more newspaper & magazine articles than anything else, so this should be interesting!

Speaking of scrapbooking...I have really got to get back into that scrapbooking & crafting zone! (Especially given the project I mentioned above!) I have continued to read scrapbook magazines, look at online galleries, and purchase supplies, but when I actually sit down at my scrapbook table...nothing. I just can't seem to get that creative spark lit lately. Hopefully it will come back soon!! Any other crafters out there have this problem? Got any ideas??

BAD Blogger!!!

2010-01-23T06:15:00.003-06:00

Sorry guys...I just haven't been in much of a writing mood lately. I'll try to post something real soon!

Off Work!!

2009-12-25T06:53:00.004-06:00

It's official: I'm on vacation! I worked a few hours yesterday, but now am off work until January 4th. I'm so excited to have a little break to rest and get some things done!!

When I got off work yesterday, Brandon and I went to Tupelo to get a new futon for our back room. First we went to Kyoto, one of our favorite restaurants, for lunch. Instead of sushi, we decided to get something different this time. He had the hibachi steak lunch special, and I got the bento box lunch special. I was really impressed with the variety I got with that: soup (LOVE their soup!!), steamed rice, teriyaki chicken, tempura shrimp, and California roll...just a little bit of everything and all for $7.50. Can't beat that! Anyway, we enjoyed our little lunch date!

The futon we wanted was at Sam's. Before getting that, we decided to wander around the rest of the store. We rarely go grocery shopping together anymore, so that was fun. We ended up with all kinds of stuff but really didn't spend too much money. After we got someone to come help us load the humongo box that the futon came in, we made our way up to the checkout lines. It really wasn't as busy as I had feared, being Christmas Eve. It didn't take us long to check out and get out of there. Loading and tying down the box was another story. And the WIND yesterday...it nearly blew me over! Needless to say, I was nervous riding home in our little pickup truck. We were pushed around the road all the way home!

I'm really happy with the futon we got. It's still in the box in the living room since Brandon had to go to work last night, but hopefully we'll get it put together this morning when he gets home. We spent a little more on it than I had planned, but it's really comfortable and I think well worth it. Now our company will have somewhere to sleep besides on an air mattress. Brandon's sister, Abby, and her husband are coming down to visit next week, so we found something just in time!!

My goal for today is to get our nasty house spic and span. I'm still in bed drinking my coffee, but will get up and at it pretty soon. Between all the overtime I've been working and being sick as a dog last week, the house has really gone downhill! If I can just get caught up on all the laundry, dishes, and general house cleaning today, then I can enjoy my time off. In the next few days, I want to get some organizing done, lots of scrapbooking, reading, service, and relaxing. First order of business though is the house!

A Dollar Well Spent

2009-12-22T17:32:00.003-06:00

I found the dogs a couple of new toys this afternoon while I was getting some groceries. Bogart practically took this duck out of my hand when I got it out of the bag. I'd say it was $1 well spent!

Disclaimer: Please ignore the napkin Bogart found and shredded when no one was looking!

Sick Sick Sick

2009-12-19T11:41:00.002-06:00

After months of work on our project at work, working toward our inventory and "go-live" yesterday, I had to come down with stomach virus at just the time to knock me out of the whole thing! I came down with it Wednesday night and pretty much wanted to die for the next 24 hours. Yesterday was better, but by no means good. Needless to say, I missed two days of work and an inventory count that I was supposed to be there for. :o(

I'm still recouping...trying to eat and get some strength back. Our house is a disaster. Hopefully I'll feel like cleaning some this afternoon. For now, I'm sacked out on the couch watching Brandon play Mario on the Wii.

Crazy Busy Work Week

2009-12-13T06:36:00.004-06:00

This week has been one of the busiest work weeks I've had in a long time. I have a big project I've been working on for a while now, and my deadline is looming over me. I've already put in about 50 hours this week and will be working from home this evening, trying to finish before Monday's deadline. Hopefully I will get it done!!

I did take a break on Thursday. I left work on time, and Brandon & I went to Tupelo for dinner. We went to one of our new favorite restaurants - Kyoto - and had sushi. (Mine was cooked, of course!) Yum, yum! We also went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and looked around in the kitchen department, and to Kroger. At both places, we picked up a few items for attempting to do sushi rolls on our on at home. All we need now is the nori, which I have to order online. Anyway, should be fun when we have all the ingredients on hand!! (Cheaper too!!)

In the last few weeks, I haven't gone to the grocery store for more than just what we needed for one night at a time, and so our new refrigerator was pretty much empty by this weekend. We were also out of lots of other necessities around the house. As much as I needed to be home working, we do have to eat around here, and so yesterday I headed back to Tupelo to restock on all the things we were out of. I had no idea it would be a mad-house of crazed Christmas shoppers. Traffic was horrible. Horrible!! Not to mention the millions of people inside Sam's. What was I thinking??? Eventually, I did get what I needed and got to go home.

I have to say I was really proud of some of my purchases, especially at Kroger. I had a buggy FULL of food, including a treat for us for dinner one night - snow crab legs - and other fairly expensive items like cat litter, etc., and after allllll my many coupons, our bill was only $120. Yay! It's nice to actually have food in our new fridge! :)

Replacing our Refrigerator

2009-12-03T07:14:00.006-06:00

We made the unfortunate discovery over the weekend that our refrigerator was starting to go out. A visit from a friend who works on them confirmed that it was indeed going out and really not worth the money to fix it, considering it's over 11 years old.

So, Monday Brandon & I headed to Tupelo to shop around for a new refrigerator. We found one we liked at Lowe's that was also within our tight budget, and so we placed an order for one in black. The nice thing about Lowe's is that they have free delivery, setup, and haul away of your old fridge.

This morning I was checking on the status of our order (Do you know how difficult it is to live w/o refrigeration?? We're so spoiled!!) and saw that the price had dropped by $55 since we placed our order!! So typical!! Not really thinking it would do any good, I called customer service, and to my surprise got a credit for the difference. Yay!

Now if the thing would just get here...

Did Some Layouts Today

2009-11-28T20:04:00.005-06:00

I have spent the majority of today at my scrapbook table. I have been trying to put a dent in these cruise albums I've been trying to do for Hannah & Logan since we returned in June. Maybe they'll still remember the cruise by the time I finally finish! LOL

Anyway, I thought I'd share what I finished today. (I started a couple more but don't have them completely assembled yet.) Obviously, the journalling is missing, but I plan to go back and add that after I finish all the layouts for each album. Click each image to see a bigger version.

Logan's Dinner Layouts:

Hannah's Dinner Layouts:

Time Off Work

2009-11-27T16:40:00.007-06:00

I've really been enjoying these last couple of days off work. Yesterday, I got up and cleaned the house and got ready for company. My aunt & uncle came over for dinner, which was really nice. We've been wanting to have them over for a long time now but it's hard to get an evening where we're all free. So anyway, they came over and while we waiting on all the food to be ready, we showed them our new Wii that arrived Tuesday. There have been studies that show playing the Wii helps Parkinson's patients, and so they've been thinking of getting one for Jim. They tried bowling on it and seemed to like it. It was fun playing with them! I think they'll end up getting one. Hopefully it will help him!

Today I've been a total bum as far as housework goes. I cooked breakfast this morning, but beyond that I've been having "me" time. I played around on the Wii a little this morning, and then worked on finishing up my stamp project. After many hours of cutting, stamping, and rearranging, I've finally got my stamps (with exception of two sets) reorganized in CD cases. I moved them out of the plastic drawers on the corner of my table where it was hard to get to them and into one of my Ikea drawers right by my chair. I'm extremely happy with the results! It freed up so much room, plus it's so much easier to see what I have and thus use them!

Now let's see if I can actually produce a scrapbook page or two...

Stamping Goodies

2009-11-22T07:50:00.005-06:00

Friday I got two packages that I had been waiting on: my Stampin' Up workshop products as well as my EZ Mount Foam. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed going through the SU box and seeing what everyone else got. It made me really excited about signing up in January (I'm still pretty sure I will) and getting my starter kit. Woo hoo! Until then, I can play with all the goodies I got Friday.

This weekend I unmounted every one of my wood-mounted rubber stamps, with the exception of a couple of SU alphabets. I ran of out of CD cases, and in fact used a couple of DVD cases from promotional DVDs we had received in the mail. Once I get some more cases, I will unmount the SU alphabets, as well as repackage all of my acrylic sets.

I'm really excited about my new stamp storage. Not only did I free up a lot of room, but now I can better see what I have and more easily pack my stamps up for crops.

Senior Pictures

2009-11-15T17:54:00.003-06:00

Brandon's mom & brother drove up today after the meeting. After lunch, we drove to Tishomingo State Park and took the first round of Tyler's senior pictures. I'm really happy with some of the ones we took. Here are some of my favorites, pre-Photoshop:

Vet Visit and Other Stuff

2009-11-10T07:28:00.010-06:00

Bogart had an appointment for his annual check up and shots yesterday. Duchess got to go along to be weighed since she's supposed to be dieting and losing weight. We also had another Boxer accompanying us: my friend Glenda's new baby, Razzie (pronounced Rah-zee). Glenda saved Razzie from a so-called "breeder...more like a puppy mill if you ask me. :( We took her with us and left her there so she can be spayed this morning. She's SUCH a sweet girl! I took a few pics in the car yesterday. They aren't the greatest, but I still wanted to share!

Bogart got a clean bill of health at the vet's office, but Duchess disappointed us when she stepped on the scales and had gained a pound. Argh! I guess we'll have to cut her food even more. We really need to help her get more exercise too. It wouldn't hurt me to get more exercise as well...

Changing the subject, I have seriously been considering signing up as a Stampin' Up! consultant since my workshop Saturday. I have done the home party thing so many times, and every time I get out of it I say I won't do it again...but Saturday made me really miss it. Plus how cool would it be to get that awesome starter kit and a discount on my stamps?? I'm weighing the pros and cons right now and trying to be realistic with what I will do with it and that I will probably end up spending more than I make. We'll see. If I do sign up, it will be after January 1st. Thoughts?

Speaking of SU, I still haven't closed out my workshop. I'll probably do that tomorrow or Thursday. Anyone want to place an order?

Stamping Weekend

2009-11-08T20:20:00.005-06:00

Saturday I had a Stampin' Up! workshop. It was a lot of fun, and I had a good turnout. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I learned a new technique using baby wipes & ink refills that I can't wait to use again, and I ordered some really cute stamps. My party's still open for a few days, so I'm not sure how much free stuff I earned yet.

Heather spent the night after the workshop was over. Rachel stayed over for a little while and visited with us, and then Heather & I scrapbooked some. Actually, I made cards and worked on straightening up my table while she scrapbooked. It was fun, but I wasn't able to stay up as late as I would've liked. I was just sooo tired!!

Heather got ready here this morning then drove back for her meeting. I waited on Brandon, who took the car and ended up having to work over, but by the time he got home I was feeling really bad. I was achy and getting a bad headache, so I took my temperature and found that I was running a low-grade fever. Nice. I'm pretty sure it's just a reaction from the flu shot I took Friday afternoon, but I stayed home from the meeting just in case.

I laid around all day until just a little bit ago when I was actually feeling a little better, so I got up and worked on a few more cards. I guess I'm in a stamping mood. (I need to get into a scrapbooking mood so I can finish the kids' albums!) I finally called it quits when Sam came in to "supervise" and wouldn't let me finish what I was working on. LOL

Serious Blog Neglect!! Catching Up: Part 2 (Trip to the Mountains)

2009-11-05T11:41:00.018-06:00

This past weekend we went to the Smoky Mountains for a little R&R. Brandon's dad & step-mom were able to meet us for part of the trip. It was really nice to see them and spend some quiet time with them. Since they live 12 hours away, our visits are few & far between!

Here's the little cabin we stayed at in Pigeon Forge. It's called "Pine Ridge" and is owned by Terry Kay Cabin Rentals. It was absolutely perfect for our little group. There was a small living area & kitchen in the middle, complete with a fireplace, and then there was a master suite on either end of the cabin. The back deck had a hot tub and rockers and was enclosed, so it was perfect for the pups to be out on without us worrying about them wandering off. Check their website for more pictures of the cabin.

We couldn't leave until I got off work Thursday, and we didn't make it to the cabin until around 12:30 at night. Bruce & Deborah got there before us and waited up. We settled in and got comfortable and visited with them until 5:00 in the morning!! Needless to say I was sleepy the next day!!

Friday, we all took our time getting up and around. Bruce cooked us breakfast while Deborah & I took our laptops and ran down the hill to a nearby shopping center where we were able to check our e-mail. We were parked right outside this awesome little bakery, where I ran in and purchased a delicious pumpkin roll and some freshly-baked sourdough bread for later. After we ate breakfast, we all got ready and went for a drive on the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. Here are some pictures (Click for a bigger version):

This was taken at the first overlook we got to on the trail...right after we saw a black bear. Unfortunately, said bear lumbered off down the mountain side just as I got my lens cap off and my window down to take his picture. Wouldn't you believe it?

Here we are at the second overlook. Aren't the leaves beautiful?

Father & Son

This is looking down the road from the 2nd overlook. The yellow trees were gorgeous!

Mountain Stream

Hoping we don't fall in!

More Stream Shots:

Waterfalls

On our way back to the cabin, we stopped at the Pigeon Forge location of the Smoky Mountain Brewery. Their pizza is amazing. We split a "Brewmaster", a 4-cheese white pie with roasted chicken, garlic roasted tomatoes, and spinach. SO GOOD!!

Friday night we stayed at the cabin. The men grilled steaks, which we had with sauteed mushrooms, baked potatoes, and grilled shrimp. It was all delicious! Of course, we had to spend some time hanging out in the hot tub as well, and there was a fire burning in the fireplace. It was a great night!

Saturday morning, Deborah & I drove to Sevierville to the Scrapbook Super Store while the men watched football. I love their clearance store. Everything is 50% off the lowest price marked. We went there first and really racked up on some cute scrappy stuff. Next we went into the main store for just a few minutes and got some Stickles. Yay!

When we got back to the cabin, I fixed some jalapeno poppers to snack on during the football game. When it was over, Bruce & Deborah loaded up and headed home. The rest of the evening, we just hung out at the cabin. We watched a couple of movies, including "Up!" which was really good!

Sunday morning, we loaded up the car and left our little cabin. Instead of going straight home like we normally would, we decided to take a little drive though the park. We went through Gatlinburg to get there, and that was nice. It was a beautiful day and so we put the windows down as we went through town. If you've ever been there, you'll know it takes forever to get through Gatlinburg because it's always so crowded. We had a dog hanging out each window, and they were both getting lots of attentions from everyone around!

The park was really pretty. We took the Newfound Gap and came back out at Cherokee, which took several hours. There were lots of gorgeous colors from all the hardwood trees. The only bad thing was that it was really crowded. We had several places were it got backed up. Once it was due to another bear. This one was up in a tree. I didn't get a picture because I didn't see him until it was too late. Here are some pictures from our drive:

Above the clouds near Clingman's Dome:

At a visitor's center with the pups:

There were lakes south of the park that were just gorgeous!

How cool is this picture? There were photographers set up in a few of the curves on Hwy 129 and they snapped everyone's picture as they drove by. Their website was printed on their vehicle, so I looked them up when we got home and purchased this shot. It was totally worth $5.90! :)

We finally made it home around 9:30 Sunday night. We were both tired, but it was such a fun trip!

Serious Blog Neglect!! Catching Up: Part 1 (Gina's Baby Shower)

2009-11-05T11:25:00.005-06:00

Wow, this is shameful. I have to do better with my blogging!! Let's see if I can get caught up at least on the last couple of weekends...

On the 24th, we had a baby shower for a pretty much life-long friend, Gina, and her hubby, Tim. They are expecting their first child in January. Growing up, Gina & her sister Vanessa were either at our house or we were at theirs. It's so strange that she's about to be a mom. I'm really happy for her though and know she and Tim will make awesome parents!!

The shower was a huge success. They had a great turnout and got lots of gifts. It was a lot of fun seeing people I hadn't seen in a long time. And all the decorations turned out great, thanks to everyone that helped us put it all together.

Here are a couple of the projects Vanessa & I did the weekend before at her house (click to biggify):

This was our first ever diaper cake, set on a piece of foam core board covered in adorable fabric. I cut little Emilia's name out with my Cricut & SCAL software.

I saw this stork on the Cricut message board and just had to copy it! I cut him out with my Cricut & SCAL as well, although the original image I believe is on the "New Arrival" cartridge.

And here I am with one of my oldest friends, Vanessa. I love this pic!

Artful Inkables

2009-10-19T20:09:00.004-05:00

Today I received my first ever purchase from Artful Inkables. I've been following their blog, as well as some of their design team members' blogs for a while now, and they have some really cute stamps. Their design team always comes up with adorable designs to use them for too.

I try to be a frugal shopper and usually purchase my stamps from Hobby Lobby and similar stores when they're on sale, but Thursday I decided to place an order from AI. The sets I chose were "Bouquets & Butterflies" and "A Bird's Song", which was just released last week.

I have to say, their prices are really good. And I was really impressed that they arrived so quickly! I'm also impressed with the quality of the stamps. They're made from red rubber and the images are carved really deep. They are then mounted on EZ Mount foam, and so you can use them on your acrylic blocks.

I played around with them a little tonight and wanted to share. Nothing fancy, but I had to do something with my new toys!

Weekend in Memphis

2009-10-19T11:46:00.005-05:00

I spent the weekend with my friend, Vanessa, this weekend. We shopped Saturday morning and picked up the rest of what we needed for Gina's shower, and then we spent the afternoon & evening putting everything together. I was really pleased with how everything came out. I'll be sure to post pictures after the shower...don't want to spoil the surprise in case Gina's reading on here... (Hi there!) :)

Sunday morning, we loaded up my car, and I went to our assembly hall for our one-day assembly. We had over 950 in attendance. It was such a great program! Plus, Brandon had his first-ever part right after lunch where he was interviewed regarding an experience he had. He did great!

Here's a few more pics from yesterday:

Brandon and I during lunch

Brandon's sister, Kelley, with her son, Landon

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Brandon's mom and brother, Tyler

Our friends, Kim & Kaitlyn

Catching Up

2009-10-15T07:32:00.009-05:00

Here I am getting behind again on my blogging! Let's see if I can catch up without a mile-long post...

Last Wednesday, Daddy had to go back to the hospital. Thankfully, he wasn't in as bad shape as we thought and didn't have to stay long. He is back home now, as of Sunday, and is doing really well. He isn't even using his oxygen anymore. In a couple of weeks he has follow-up appointments with his doctors, and so we'll see what they say when he goes to those.

We had our CO visit last week. I love the couple we have right now - they're really great. Elizabeth even got our phone number and called me on Saturday night to check on Daddy. I thought that was very thoughtful of her. She's super-sweet!

Brandon actually had a weekend off this past weekend. He was scheduled to work, but a girl in his department had sick kids and so traded with him for her shift earlier in the week. Since he was off, he wanted to have some friends over to watch the Ole Miss game. We invited Bobby & Tessa and Lee & Rachel. We haven't been able to do much with them and wanted a chance to get to know Tessa - Bobby's fiance - better. We both really like her and think she and Bobby make a great couple. :)

Anyway, we had a really good time with everyone. Brandon smoked a couple of racks of ribs and I fixed some chicken and some snacks. Rachel brought the sides to go with the ribs. Everything was really good. Even though Ole Miss blew the game, we had a lot of fun.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I'm leaving tomorrow after work to spend the weekend with Vanessa. We're going to work on getting all the decorations made for Gina's baby shower next weekend. Then on Sunday we have our one-day assembly, which Brandon will be meeting me up there for. It should be a good weekend!

Crop for a Cure

2009-10-05T06:31:00.005-05:00

Friday afternoon I picked up Rachel at work and we headed to Corinth to Scrapbooks & Supplies From Nanny's Attic for her annual "Crop for a Cure". Last year was so much fun that I couldn't wait to get there this year. Jeannie was able to go earlier in the day and get us all seats together. She was scrapping away when we made it around 5:00.

The crop lasted until midnight on Friday and then from 10:00-10:00 on Saturday. The whole weekend was lots of fun. Deborah gave away tons of awesome prizes. We played bingo, had ticket drawings all day, and on Saturday played "Dirty Scrapper". I came away with a pre-made album, some felt accents, and some awesome ribbons & lace. Of course, I had to make a few purchases as well, including a couple of bottles of Stickles, which I had never used before but am now totally addicted to. Needless to say, most of my pages I did this weekend have their share of bling. (I'll be posting them soon - I need to add journalling first.)

Great News & A Crop

2009-10-02T11:23:00.004-05:00

My dad got to come home from the hospital yesterday! I took the day off work to go and get him. Of course, no one got in any hurry to get his discharge papers to him, so it was 3:00 before we actually go out of there. He was none too pleased, but at least he got home. :)

I'm really excited about tonight and tomorrow. I'm attending the Crop for a Cure at Scrapbooks & Supplies from Nanny's Attic with some friends of mine. Jeannie & I were able to attend last year as well and had a blast, so I can't wait to get there this evening. After the last few weeks I've had, I'm ready to do something fun!

Simon's Cat

2009-09-29T12:35:00.001-05:00

I love "Simon's Cat"! This guy really knows cats and captures their little personalities so well. In this video, his cat reminds me so much of our Beldar. I never get tired of watching it!

They're Glad I'm Home

2009-09-24T18:56:00.004-05:00

Daddy had a good night last night and so I came home from the hospital to get some rest tonight. After a shower and a nap, I am now settled on the couch with a quilt and my furbabies, checking my e-mail and watching the Ole Miss - South Carolina game. Brandon took this picture with his phone just a few minutes ago:

Can you tell my babies have missed me???

Got a Room

2009-09-24T08:47:00.002-05:00

Daddy got moved out of CCU and into a regular room yesterday. I spent the night with him and his wife in here last night. He did really well. He feels much better this morning and is currently taking a breathing treatment while he watches the news. He's still a very sick man, but things are looking up! If he continues to do well, I plan to go home later in the day and get some rest and sleep in a BED, then I'll come back tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts!

More On My Dad

2009-09-22T08:17:00.003-05:00

Daddy seems to be doing better now, but he gave us a bad scare Sunday. Saturday they moved him out into a room, and then Sunday morning he had to come right back to CCU after waking up and not being able to breathe. His BP shot up really high, and it took them a long time to stabilize him. They gave him some Lasix to draw the fluid off from around his lungs and nitroglycerin to relax his heart. Also, his white count shot up to 28,000. Scary stuff...

So anyway I've been camped out in the critical care waiting room forever, it seems. These recliners aren't much to sleep on, but I don't want to go home until Daddy is better. He's having a CT this morning, and his white count had gone down some, so hopefully we'll get some good news this morning.

Still at the Hospital

2009-09-19T10:57:00.002-05:00

My dad is still in the Critical Care Unit at the hospital, but he is really improved. We've been dealing with a bunch of different things, but he's definitely improved. He actually might get to go back out to a regular room today. We're just waiting for the doctor to come around and tell us what's going on.

Update on my Dad

2009-09-17T06:03:00.002-05:00

We spent the day at the hospital with Daddy yesterday. We got to the hospital just before the cardiologist came in. He said Daddy is a really sick man. He has had a heart attack. He has something going on with his lungs, causing him not to be able to get his breath. (He's on oxygen.) It could possibly be a blood clot, but we don't know yet for sure because was having some kidney function problems, which was keeping them from being able to do a contrast to check for pulmonary embolism. Also, he still has a lot of infection, and that is causing a lot of problems and preventing other treatments and diagnostic procedures.

They did ultrasounds on his heart & legs (to check for clots) as well as his echocardiogram. They said the damage to his heart was not as severe as they first had thought, so that is good. Also, kidneys were doing better as of last night, and so they should be able to do the CT now.

Everything seemed to be doing good and so we left around 8:00 for home to get some rest. I had planned to go into work this morning and then go back to the hospital in the afternoon. Out of the blue, though, Daddy had another episode where he couldn't breathe and was shaking. His BP shot up and his oxygen went down. It didn't last long, and they got him stabilized pretty quickly, but they have put him in the ICU now. No one can see him until 8:00 am.

We were going to turn around and go right back when we heard about that, but because they got him stable and won't let anyone see him, we decided to stay and get some sleep and come back with a bag to stay this morning. Hopefully we will know more then. At least with him being in the unit, he will be watched really closely.

Another Night in the Hospital

2009-09-15T16:00:00.003-05:00

No details now because I just don't have the energy, but we spent another horrible night in the hospital with my dad last night. I was up all night and finally left around 10:00 or so this morning so I could come home and get a little sleep. He's stable, but he's not good. They're going to be transferring him to a larger hospital to see a specialist as soon as a bed in their CCU opens up, then I'll be going down there to be with him again. I actually need to go back and try to get a little more sleep before they call me. I just wanted to update for those of you who know us personally... :(

Yard Sale Results

2009-09-14T07:04:00.003-05:00

I was up Saturday morning before 4:00 am and out the door around 4:30, heading to a friend's house to set up my part of our yard sale. I had taken a car load of stuff over the night before, including 3 large folding tables I borrowed, and then had reloaded the car when I got home so all I had to do was jump in and go Saturday morning.

It was amazing how much ~~junk~~ stuff I was taking over there to try to get rid of!!! Our guest room closet has been jam packed for the last couple of years, and I took all of that plus lots more with me. It's mind boggling what you can accumulate in a home after you've been there 11 years!

Anyway, we priced stuff to SELL! We even had a designated spot with boxes full of stuff marked "Free". And it's so funny what people will buy...Some of the stuff I didn't expect to go at all was some of the first stuff to sell. Amazing.

By 2:00, we wrapped it up and started packing what little we had left back into boxes. I couldn't believe how well we did. I only made about $50, but I got rid of tons of stuff! Yay!! I only had four copy paper boxes full of items that I didn't want to take back in my house, and those were donated to a local charity on my way home. I had started with two carloads full and only brought home one tub and one laundry basket of leftovers, most of which are going on eBay soon. I was definitely happy with our day!

Two New Recipes

2009-09-11T05:27:00.008-05:00

Last night I tried a couple of new recipes and loved both of them. We had cilantro chicken, which I have had before, but I don't think this is exactly the same recipe. To go along with it, I found a recipe for Mexican rice on AllRecipes.com that turned out wonderful!

I'll post both recipes the way I made them, as well as a link to the original recipe I started with. Actually, the rice is the only one I altered. I made the chicken per the recipe with the exception of pounding out the chicken, and I meant to do that, but I forgot.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

4 boned, skinned chicken breast halves (2 lb. total)
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness (about 1/2 in.) and place in a shallow baking pan.

In a small bowl, mix lime juice, cilantro, garlic, honey, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour over chicken and turn pieces to coat evenly. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Lay chicken on a grill over medium heat (you can hold your hand over the surface only 4 to 5 seconds) and cook, turning once, until no longer pink in the center, 4 to 6 minutes per side.

Mexican Rice

1 cup long grain white rice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped OR onion powder to taste (Y'all know this was my option!)

1 tomato, seeded and chopped

1 cube chicken bouillon

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of 1/2 lime

In a medium sauce pan, cook rice in oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Stir in onion, jalapeno, and diced tomato. Season with bouillon cube, salt and pepper, cumin, and garlic. Bring to a boil, add lime juice, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes. NO PEAKING!! Stir in cilantro just before serving.

Altered Stuff

2009-09-07T20:52:00.006-05:00

I had intended to spend my day off on Monday working on getting things ready for our upcoming yard sale this weekend. I still have a closet & some cabinets to go through as well as pricing things, etc. I was hit with sudden inspiration, however, and ended up spending almost the entire day at my scrapbook table working on a couple of altered projects I've wanted to do for a while.

The first was an altered cookie tin to sit on our hearth and hold pet treats. The second was a greeting card organizer for myself. For both, I used the same K & Company Wild Saffron paper that I used to create the greeting card organizer I made for my aunt back in May. I used my Cricut Expression & SCAL for the words as well as the circle for the top of the tin, and of course, lots & lots of Mod Podge! :)

Click the images to see a bigger version.

Scary Night

2009-09-07T16:29:00.003-05:00

Yesterday started out pretty good...and seemed like it would end that way as well. Brandon & I went to the meeting and then back home to get ready for the first Ole Miss game. Brandon smoked some chickens, and Robin came over to watch with him. I had the game on in the back room while I worked on some layouts for the kids' cruise scrapbooks. Ole Miss won, the chicken was delicious, and we had a nice visit with Robin. We were both exhausted and went to bed around 8:00.

I was sound asleep when my phone rang around 10:00. It was my aunt calling to tell me that my dad was in the ER with severe stomach pains, nausea, and shortness of breath. They didn't know what was wrong, they were about to transfer him to another hospital so that he could have an ultrasound done. Needless to say, I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, and drove 45 miles to the hospital they were taking him to.

Daddy was in radiology when I got there. I stayed in the waiting room with my family for a while until my dad's wife came out to get us and take us back to his room. Before long, they brought Daddy into the room. He was pretty drugged up but was still in a lot of pain. I felt so bad for him!

Around midnight the doctor finally came in with the results of his ultrasound: gallstones. Thank goodness!! I was so afraid it would be something more serious! Thankfully, there was no infection and so they decided to go ahead and discharge him to go home for the night. It took a while to get his prescriptions and wheelchair to get him to the car. I got home at 1:30 this morning.

Daddy has a doctor's appointment for Tuesday, and I assume they will schedule him for surgery then. Until then, he's on medication for pain & nausea and is taking it easy.

Diet for the Doggie

2009-09-05T06:35:00.004-05:00

Brandon & I took Duchess to the vet Thursday for her annual check-up and vaccinations. (As you can see, Bogart got to go along for the ride.) Everything looked & sounded good except her weight. Much to my dismay, she has gained 3 pounds since last year's visit, bringing her up to a chubby 69 pounds. Our vet wants her to lose 9 pounds and has instructed me to cut her food back 25%, give her more exercise, and bring her in to weigh monthly. I guess she and I will be going to the walking track on a regular basis...I need the exercise too!

Loving This Weather!!!

2009-08-31T17:44:00.003-05:00

The weather the last few days has been wonderful!! I'm actually sitting out on the back porch with my laptop now, enjoying the breeze. It's finally cooled off! College football starts this weekend. Soup & stew weather is right around the corner, along with sweaters, changing leaves, and crisp mornings. I can't wait!!

I posted yesterday about finishing up my scrapbook space, but I didn't mention much else about our weekend. Brandon got back from school Friday evening, and we had a nice dinner of rotisserie chicken & tomato pie before he had to head off to work again. Saturday morning, I went out with my aunt Mary then came home and spent the afternoon with Brandon before he had to work that night. Sunday we went to the meeting then picked up some gyros for lunch and went home to crash. Nothing exciting, but it was a nice weekend!

$250 Shopping Spree!!!

2009-08-31T09:33:00.000-05:00

How would you like to win a $250 shopping spree at the Scrapping Cottage? That's right - the winner will get to choose $250 worth of products at The Scrapping Cottage! Go HERE to sign up!

Reorganized Scrapbook Space

2009-08-30T20:12:00.006-05:00

As of tonight, I think I can pretty much call my scrapbook space finished! I still need to clean off the shelves over the table & desk, but those can wait a bit. As far as my supplies are concerned, they are all reorganized. I didn't take any before pictures because frankly the space was a total disaster. You can get an idea of how it was when it was clean in this post. To see any of the pictures in this post bigger, just click 'em. :)

One of the major changes I made was shifting everything down to the wall on the right. Previously, there was about a 3' space at the end of the table that was basically just a catch-all. When I moved the table down into that space, I was able to fit a shelf at the left end of my table and move most of what had been in my wire cubes into that. The wire cubes are now disassembled (except for one) and awaiting a home in the closet.

Here's a closer look at the shelf at the end of my table. I love that I can put my printer on that and get it off the table. I have a lot more room to work now!

I took what I use most - or plan to use soon - out of my PSB and added it to my Ikea clip up bar over my table. All of my letter stickers & rub-ons went into the basket you see in the foreground. I should be able to see what I have much easier now.

Here's a shot of the right-hand end of my table. You can see the single cube I used in order to keep our bill organizer on the table. (I know it's not scrapbook-related, but there's really nowhere else to put it, and I need that organizer!!) The white basket on top of my stamp drawers holds camera cables, chargers, batteries, etc. Oh, and notice the little basket behind my Cricut...that's one of Beldar's beds. I'm hoping it will help keep him off of whatever I'm working on!

This basket is on the floor near my table. It holds items that I intend to alter at some point. They've been piling up for a while now! And of course, there's Sam. She's checking everything out! :)

Now that everything's neat & tidy, maybe I can actually get some scrapbooking done!

Outing for the Pups

2009-08-26T11:55:00.005-05:00

Yesterday after work, I loaded Duchess & Bogart up in the car and set off to run some errands. They love going for rides, even if we don't go far! I left the car running (locking them in, of course) while I ran into the post office for stamps and the library to donate two crates of magazines (go me!). I drove through City Hall and paid some bills, and through the bank to grab some cash at the ATM. They were loving all of this!

Finally, we met my friend Glenda & her Great Dane Rico at the park for a few minutes. We wanted Rico & Duchess to meet and see how well they got along before our yard sale in a couple of weeks. I plan to take Duchess with me if the weather isn't too hot. Thankfully, they got along great! Poor Bogie wasn't too happy that I had left him in the car, but I wasn't pushing it. I knew I couldn't handle them both. He can meet Rico next time!

After the park, we ran over to Sonic for some half-priced drinks, and then we headed home. The pups really enjoyed their little outing!

Bogie was upset that he couldn't get over to Rico at Sonic and he let everyone there know it!

Vinyl on Walls & An Old Drawing

2009-08-25T20:16:00.004-05:00

Monday after work I had a doctor's appointment, and then I went over to my aunt's house to help her out and put some vinyl up in her kitchen. We attempted this last Wednesday, but my software decided to malfunction and I couldn't get in touch with customer service in time to get it fixed that afternoon. Anyway, we got that straightened out, and so Monday I was able to put this together and hang it in no time. We both loved the result! What do you think?

The font is called Ale & Wenches, for anyone who's interested. I downloaded it for free here. I love that I can cut any true type font with my Sure Cuts a Lot software!!

After we finished with the vinyl, I took my aunt to the grocery store and then went over to my dad's to visit for a few minutes. I ended up eating supper there and then visiting for a while before heading back home with two bags full of "groceries", which included three jars of Betty's homemade tomato juice, a huge bottle of her pepper sauce, and a big bag of okra to put in our freezer. At 8:30, I finally got home to two very happy-to-see-me puppies. I stayed up long enough to feed them and then was sound asleep soon after that!

The old drawing I mentioned...While I was at my aunt's house, she brought out this old pencil sketch I drew for her when I was a kid. I guess I was in high school or maybe junior high? I had totally forgotten about ever doing it, but I remembered it after she brought it out. I think I looked at an artist's coloring book or something of that nature to go by. Anyway, she's planning to frame it and hang it up. I used to draw all the time, but I haven't in ages. I wonder if I still can...

Painting & Grilling

2009-08-23T20:58:00.010-05:00

Saturday afternoon, I went through about four cans of spray paint. I put some fresh black paint on the two wicker pieces I bought off Craigslist a while back and then painted some items I've gathered up from yard sales and around the house to hang in a grouping on our back porch. I think everything turned out great! (The picture doesn't really do it justice.)

Sunday evening, Brandon grilled up a bunch of chicken and pork tenderloin for supper and also to carry me over this week for lunch. It was all really good, and I've got plenty of stuff to eat for my lunches this week! :)

As long as the charcoal was fired up and he was out there grilling anyway, we decided we should fix some stuffed peppers to go with our meal. I picked these jalapeños (and one lonely Anaheim) from our strawbale garden, along with some fresh basil, and fixed up a cheese & basil filling, then Brandon grilled them. They were really good!

Something else I did this weekend was start totally reorganizing my scrapbook space. I'll be posting pictures when I'm finished...hopefully in the next day or two. I can't wait!

Out for Sushi

2009-08-23T20:36:00.005-05:00

Yep...I said SUSHI. I met Brandon and our CO & his wife at Kyoto Friday evening for dinner. The three of them wanted sushi. Just the thought of what sushi usually entails has always bothered me though, and so I declined a sushi menu and instead ordered something off the hibachi grill. Elizabeth was determined that there must be something on the sushi menu that I would like, however, and so she and I picked something (one of the cooked varieties, mind you) for me to at least try. The men went the more traditional route and ordered some of the raw fish. Sorry, but I won't try it raw.

While we waited on our food, Elizabeth gave us both chopstick lessons. (I really think that makes the food taste better!) That was fun. :) Anyway, when our sushi arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I DO in fact like it! Well, I liked what we ordered anyway. I'd definitely get it again. I guess I've been prejudice all this time for no reason! LOL

Dinner was really nice. We had a great visit with them. I really like them both - especially Elizabeth. She's so sweet!

Flower Pics & A Trip to Petsmart

2009-08-17T07:25:00.008-05:00

Saturday Brandon and I were out looking at the butterflies on our huge double Rose of Sharon. We were trying to get a picture, but they were being very camera shy. I got some good pictures of the blooms anyway. I love this bush. The flowers remind me of pink carnations.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

Here's one of the Rose of Sharon in the corner of our yard:

And here's Duchess resting in the shade while we chased the butterflies around:

Yesterday evening, Brandon & I had to go to Tupelo to pick up his book for school this week, so we decided to take the dogs with us and go to Petsmart first. We don't get to take them to Petsmart often because we usually have long stops to make while we're in town and can't leave them in the car. Since yesterday was a short trip, they got to go. They had a blast exploring at Petsmart and then visiting with Betsy & Melinda at the KH while Brandon got his book. :)

Checking out the toy aisle:

Rummaging through the rawhide:

Baby Shower & Fun with Photoshop

2009-08-09T16:57:00.008-05:00

I went a baby shower for a friend of ours yesterday and talked her into doing a few maternity shots outside before it was over. Her hubby had shown up to help her load up all her goodies (she got lots - yay!) and so he got to be in the pictures too. :)

I've been playing around with the techniques I learned in Jessica Sprague's online Photoshop class and thought I'd post some of what I've done so far. What do you think? (Can you tell I'm loving the antiqued look??)

Home Improvements & Friends Having Babies

2009-08-06T07:24:00.005-05:00

This week's been pretty uneventful. I can't even remember what I did after work on Monday. Must've been pretty exciting. LOL

Tuesday, Brandon & Mike went to a home center in Corinth and picked up the rest of our baseboard and door trim. Brandon's going to start painting it this morning, and then Robin's going to come over and install it. Finally - our living room & dining room will look finished!!

While they were in Corinth Tuesday, the guys also went by Lowe's so Brandon could get a new trimmer. Our Weedeater quit on him and really wasn't worth fixing, so we've been waiting until we could afford a new one. In the meantime, our yard had gotten pretty shabby. Now that Brandon has his new Troy-Bilt, though, he has already started working on the yard and it's looking much better. Yay for home improvements!

While Brandon was gone Tuesday evening, I started a new project of decluttering our house. It occurred to me recently that we have many cabinets, drawers, and closets that are just holding spaces for clutter. First on the list was the guest room closet, which looks much better now. I think I'll work on the infamous "junk drawers" this evening.

Tomorrow, Brandon and I are planning a little shopping excursion. Alabama is having a sales tax holiday this weekend, and we both need a few new clothing items, so we're going to take advantage of that. I'm looking forward to going out for shopping and dinner with my hubby. :)

Saturday afternoon I'm going to a baby shower for some friends of ours. Jeff & Jill are expecting their first child, a little boy. I've got to pick up a gift for them tomorrow while we're out. Speaking of new babies, congratulations to one of my oldest friends, Gina, and her husband, Tim. They're expecting their first baby and found out yesterday that they are having a girl. I can't wait to meet her!

My Weekend in Nashville

2009-08-04T13:43:00.015-05:00

This past weekend was my trip to Nashville for the Food Network Southern Food & Wine Festival. I had worked over all week so that I could leave work early on Friday and still have my 40 hours in. Since I had never driven in Nashville before, I really wanted to make it through the city before rush hour!

At 11:00, I left work and ran home to load up the car. I had already packed and left everything by the front door, so that didn't take long at all. I loaded all my stuff up, including my little Duchess, and headed to pick up my aunt and uncle, who had decided to ride along with me and visit a good friend of theirs just outside of Nashville. It was really nice having them along for the ride!

A little after 3:00, we met their friend Karen at the local McDonald's and transferred all their stuff over to her car, then I was on my own. I have to say I was more than a little nervous about the rest of my drive. I do. not. drive. in the city. I'm such a chicken!

Thankfully, Brandon and I bought a Garmin last weekend. I swear, without that little piece of technology, I don't think I would've made it. Just knowing which lane I needed to be in for my next exit helped tremendously, especially since I did not reach my goal of getting through Nashville before rush hour. Traffic was awful! It was literally stop and go for a while. UGH! But, with the help of my new little friend, I made it. Never mind she (yeah, "she"...my Garmin is a girl! hehe) didn't know exactly where Abby's address was...she got me close enough and I read mailbox numbers and backtracked until I found the correct house. And boy was I glad to be there!!

That night when Abby got home from work, she and I headed over to Keith & Shellby's house for dinner. As usual, there were a bunch of other people there. (Their house seems to be the place to be! LOL) I got to meet lots of their friends, as well as Abby's in-laws. Shellby grilled whatever everyone had brought to throw on the grill. Their new karaoke system was going the entire time we were there. (I didn't participate in that activity.) A bunch of us ended our evening relaxing in the hot tub out on the deck. It was perfect weather for that! Around 1:00, Abby, Justin, and I went back to their house.

Saturday morning, Abby & I met Shellby & Julie (Abby's mother-in-law) and went to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel for the festival. I had never been there before and even though I had heard about it, I had no idea how huge it was, not to mention gorgeous. Wow! So anyway, it took us a while, but we finally found the part of the hotel where the festival was being held. After standing in line forever, I finally got the tickets I had bought ahead of time, and we made it into the exhibit hall around 11:00.

We explored and sampled yummy food for about an hour before heading over to the wine tasting area. I had never done anything like this before, but I was really impressed with how it was set up. When you entered, you handed in your ticket and were given a wine glass, a book, and a pen. The book had numbered pages that cooresponded with each of the 27 booths that were set up. Each wine was listed on the appropriate page with a description so you could pick and choose what you wanted to sample. I marked everything I tried and made brief notes. It was really fun! Here are a few pics from our wine tasting experience:

Shellby, Abby, and Me

Shellby, Abby, and Julie

Julie doesn't like wine. She wanted to know, "Where's the Boone's?" LOL

At 1:00, I left the wine tasting area and headed back upstairs to the Governor's Ballroom for my Alton Brown seminar. I have to say that he is just as witty and food-smart in person as he is on TV. (You've gotta wonder about these people and whether they just have great writers!) He focused on fish, rainbow trout in particular, and cooked it 3 or 4 different ways. Then he had a Q&A session that lasted until 4:00. It was very entertaining! Unfortunately, my camera card decided to quit working on me, and so I didn't get as many pictures as I would've liked. :(

After my seminar was over, I met back up with Abby & Shellby (Julie had to leave) and we spent another hour or so visiting more of the exhibitor booths. Around 5:00, we started back toward the parking lot. Abby & I went back to her place and fixed salads for supper and crashed in front of the TV. It was a good day, but we were both exhausted!

Sunday morning, I left and picked up Mary & Jim in Fairview and we headed back home. We were back by 2:00, which was nice. At least I got to see Brandon for a few hours before he went to work!

Short & Sweet

2009-07-30T06:56:00.002-05:00

What's been going on with me, short & sweet version:

Got my hair trimmed and colored Tuesday. She toned down some of the highlights with the result more like what I wanted the first time around. I really like it. No pic yet - sorry.
I've felt pretty crappy the last few days...I think it's all the junk I ate last week/weekend. BLAH.
I'm really looking forward to going to Nashville tomorrow, although I hope I feel better by then. Gotta be able to enjoy all the food Saturday!
I haven't packed the first thing for said trip and have tons to do before I go! (laundry, bathe the dogs, put away all my scrappy stuff from Saturday, etc.)
I could sooo go back to bed right now.

Scrapping with Friends

2009-07-26T18:04:00.017-05:00

Two of my friends, Jeannie & Heather, came over yesterday around noon and we had ourselves a little scrappy slumber party. Brandon was working, so they brought their stuff and we just made a night of it. It was so fun! Our other friend, Rachel, was supposed to come, but she's not feeling well and couldn't make it. Hope you're better after tomorrow, Rachel! :)

You can't scrapbook with out good food, right? Well, we had tons of it! You can see most of the spread in this picture of Heather. We had spinach dip & tortilla chips, onion dip & potato chips, spicy pretzels, apples & grapes with unbelievably good fruit dip, barbecue nachos, Oreo delight (made by Heather with a recipe courtesy of Becky Higgins' awesome blog, here), marinated cheese, and mimosas. Everything was great, especially the mimosas, which I'm posting the recipe for below. Click the links above for some of the other recipes we used.

Party Mimosa

(From AllRecipes.com)
6 oz. mango nectar

6 oz. apricot nectar
12 oz. pineapple juice
3/4 cup cold water
6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed and undiluted
1 (750 milliliter) bottle cold champagne

Stir together apricot nectar, pineapple juice, water, and orange juice concentrate in a large pitcher until combined. Pour in bottle of champagne just before serving.

This recipe would also be awesome with ginger ale instead of champagne. It would make a great punch and would be really pretty with some frozen fruit or sliced citrus floating in the punch bowl with it. Ginger ale would also be a little safer method of making this drink. Have you ever opened a bottle of champagne?? Well, it's not something I do very often. In fact, I'm not sure if I ever had before last night. Let's just say that when you see a warning label on the top of a bottle, they mean business. I nearly took out a whole shelf of photos and other breakables when the cork finally popped out on the first bottle. (Photo on Heather's blog here.) Later that night when I made another batch to go with our yummy BBQ nachos, I was understandably a little gun-shy! LOL

We had a lot of fun scrapbooking and talking into the night. We were still scrapbooking away when I looked at the clock and realized it was after 2:00! We got to stopping points, put away all the food, and got ready for bed. By the time I crawled under the covers it was 2:30! I can't believe we all got up and going this morning. Go us! I did succumb to a nap when Brandon & I got home from the meeting this afternoon. I'm getting too old to pull all-nighters! LOL

Here are the layouts I did for the kids' albums last night. (Click to enlarge.) I was really happy with how they all turned out, and I'm using up lots of paper scraps and embellishments that have been in my stash for years. Yay!

I cut this anchor out several times from my Going Places cartridge and then just stacked them on top of each other for some depth. I was very pleased with the result.

See the little shrimps on Logan's version of the layouts below? His journalling will tell about the two plates of shrimp he ate at dinner the first night on our cruise. I found the SVG file here and cut them out with my Sure Cuts a Lot software. Score!

A Little Catching Up (Edited)

2009-07-21T10:06:00.009-05:00

I haven't posted in a few days and so I thought I'd catch up a little. It wouldn't be a big deal except that by the time I get around to this week on my Project 365 album, I'll be like, "WHAT did I do that week??" Sadly, I have slacked on my daily photo taking, but if I can keep up with my day-to-day activities on my blog, then at least I'll have something to say for each day of the year, even when I'm missing a photo.

Let's see...

Last Monday, Brandon & I drove to Sheffield when I got off work. I had found a wicker table & chair on Craigslist. It was listed for $35, but I took a chance and offered $25, and the girl took it. It needs some paint and a little work on the seat, but I think I got a great deal. I can't wait to have all these pieces I've been collecting all put together on our newly re-decorated back porch!

Wednesday night I stopped at Jeannie's on my way home from the meeting and picked up Harley. We kept her until Friday so they could go out of town to take care of some family business. Needless to say, we had a doggie party for a couple of days. Bogart loved having someone to run around and play with since Duchess rarely wants to play with him.

Friday evening, Kim came over and we made a bunch of bookmarks for her to take with her to Paris this week. She wanted something to give out to her new friends with her contact info. They turned out cute, and I enjoyed having someone to craft with. Brandon had to work that night, so I also had some company instead of sitting at home by myself. Jeannie picked up Harley around 10:00, and then Kim left around 10:30.

Saturday morning I went out with my aunt Mary, Kim, Rachel, and Colleen. We had a really nice morning. Afterwards, Mary & I cut bouquets of zinnias from her garden and took them to a couple of friends in the local assisted living facility. I wish I had had my camera. The bouquets were really pretty and colorful, and they brightened the days of those two sweet ladies. I enjoyed our visit with both of them.

Sunday morning Brandon and I had a little adventure. After working all night, he came home and got ready to go to the meeting with me. At 9:30, we started out the door. For a fleeting moment, it occurred to me that I'd better grab my keys off the desk where I had left them the day before, but then I was distracted by a light left on in the back of the house. By the time I turned that off, I had totally forgotten that my keys weren't in my purse where they always are, and I rushed out to the car where Brandon was waiting on me. Locking the door behind me. With my keys inside. Aaagghh! It took us an hour and a half to get back into our house. Suffice it to say that we missed the meeting that morning.

That evening after Brandon went back to work, I finally got some progress made on the albums I'm putting together for Hannah & Logan. Each layout is pretty much the same for each album, except with different colors. I'm trying to let go of trying to do the "perfect" page with tons of details and embellishments and just be simple for this project so I can get done and get them in the mail. I'm getting the pages done first and then will go back and fill in all the journaling at the end. I love what I have so far! Hopefully I'll get lots more done this weekend. I've invited a few friends over for a day of scrapbooking. I'm really looking forward to it!

Food Network Festival

2009-07-17T09:14:00.005-05:00

There is a Food Network Southern Food & Wine Festival coming up in Nashville at the end of the month. My very favorite celebrity chef - Alton Brown - will be doing one of the seminars. How fun will that be?

Unfortunately, Brandon's working that weekend. I talked to him about it though and he had no problem with me going without him...which I hate to do because I know he would enjoy it. However, I really want to go, so I'll go enjoy it for both of us. :) His sister Abby lives in the area, so I'll be spending the weekend with her. She's going to the festival with me. She isn't an AB fan and didn't care about going to his seminar, so I'll be doing that part by myself. I can live with that! I just ordered our tickets. I can't wait!!

I do have one gripe about the festival. There is a meet & greet after Alton Brown's seminar, but you have to have a separate ticket to attend. I can deal with that part; I was willing to buy one. The catch is that you have to buy a hotel package with 2 nights (we're talking hundreds of dollars here) and all this other stuff in order to get one of the meet & greet tickets. How fair is that to the people who live in Nashville?? Not to mention the rest of us... Oh well. At least I can do the seminar!!

Girls' Weekend

2009-07-14T07:26:00.006-05:00

Saturday morning, I picked Jeannie up around 10:00 and we headed to Memphis for our girls' weekend away. We had tickets for a show at the Orpheum for 2:00 and had decided to go straight there, get a parking spot, and then find somewhere to eat lunch. At 12:30, we pulled into the almost-full parking lot right next to the Orpheum. I was hoping we would be able to park close by and we barely did. We wanted to be in our seats early, so we set out walking to find lunch somewhere close.

We decided to eat at BB Kings, which is only about a block away on Beale Street. I had never been there and wanted to try it anyway. We shared an appetizer combo plate which consisted of ribs, fried pickles, hot wings, and potato skins. It was all great! We also got some fries because we werne't sure how big the combo would be, but we couldn't eat it all. And they were really busy, so it took forever to get our food and so we had to eat fast when it came out. We barely made it back to the Orpheum and got our seats before our show started.

After the show was over, we went to our friend Vanessa's house. She and Tim were nice enough to let us stay with them so we didn't have to get a hotel room. Jeannie, Vanessa, and I have all known each other for years - Vanessa & I practically since diapers, and then Jeannie and her family moved here about twenty years ago. Anyway, so the four of us went out to Joe's Crab Shack for supper. Mmmm!!! After supper, Tim went to play pool with a friend and left us at the house watching a movie. It was a fun night. :)

Sunday before we went home, Jeannie & I hit a couple of stores that we don't have at home. First stop was Jo-Ann. We love that place! And we scored big time too because almost all their scrapbooking supplies were 40% off. I got paper (liked I needed more), a couple of adorable stamp sets, and some Xyron refills. They also had a lot of summer things marked 70% off, so I got a really pretty candle holder for the back porch. After JoAnn's, we went down the street to Aldi for a few groceries. We made it home around 4:30.

Something to Make You Smile

2009-07-09T06:35:00.004-05:00

My sister-in-law sent me a link to this video of an a cappella jazz choir from Slovenia performing the 80's song, "Africa." It's amazing and definitely worth your time. Turn up the volume and enjoy! :)

Mom's Plant Stand

2009-07-07T19:21:00.006-05:00

My aunt Mary brought over something else to add to my growing collection of things to fix up for the back porch makeover. It's one of my mom's iron plant stands. It's not in great shape right now. It needs a couple of spots welded back together and a good coat of paint, but it will be perfect when I get it fixed up. Plus, it was my mother's, so it's special to me! :)

In other outside news, my little garden has really picked up! Check out my gardening blog for an update and pictures.

Ready for the Weekend!

2009-07-07T10:23:00.002-05:00

I'm really looking forward to my girls' night out this Saturday. Jeannie & I are going to Memphis for a show and then are spending the night with Vanessa & Tim. It'll be nice seeing Vanessa again and will be fun being there with Jeannie as well. We'll have to talk old times! :)

Last night Brandon rented New in Town for me when he took his video game back to Movie Gallery. I've been wanting to see it again since the night Jeannie & I saw it in the theater. It's so funny! Brandon even thought so. We watched it while he smoked a rack of ribs for supper. Yum!

I finally started on the kids' scrapbooks last night. It looks like it's going to be a long process. Why can't I just pick out some paper and slap a few pictures down on the page and be done with it?? I'm sooooooo slooooooooow when it comes to scrapbooking. Maybe I can pick up the pace and get done before too long. I need a scrap night with my girlfriends to motivate me! (Hint, hint, ladies!)

3-Day Weekend

2009-07-06T08:03:00.008-05:00

I had a nice, long weekend. Thursday when I got off work, Brandon and I went to his mom’s house to spend some time with Hannah & Logan before they had to go back to Kentucky. Cathy made chicken piccata for supper, which was awesome. We really enjoyed our evening with the kids. We even went out with them to pick veggies in the garden. They really enjoyed that. We’re going to miss them!

We ended up staying at Cathy & Eddie’s until nearly 9:30. On our way home, we stopped at Kroger for groceries. It was nice that I didn’t have to get up and go to work the next morning, so we took our time. We got home around midnight and got all our groceries put away and finally went to bed.

The next morning, the dogs woke me up at 5:30 needing out. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to go ahead and get up and head out. I had decided the day before to get out and look for some yard sales to see if I could pick up some inexpensive stuff to help redo our back porch. I had already called my aunt Mary and our friend Martha, who both wanted to go with me. Since it was still so early, I hit a few yard sales in town before going to pick them up.

We went all over the whole county, driving back roads and watching for signs on the highway. We actually found a lot more sales than I expected with it being a holiday weekend. It was a lot of fun. I don’t remember the last time I went to yard sales, and I really enjoyed spending the time with both of them! And Mary treated us (she insisted!) to lunch at a local restaurant, so that was nice. We wrapped up our shopping after lunch, and I took them home. Here are a few of my finds that I intend to fix up and use on our back porch. (“After” pictures to come soon!)

I was exhausted by the time I got back home around 1:00. Brandon was still asleep (he had to work that night) so I crashed on the couch and took a nap myself. The rest of the day was pretty much lounging around until after he left for work. By then, it had cooled off enough for me to get out and work on the back porch some. I cleared off all the clutter that has accumulated for so long. Some stuff went in the trash, some back to our shed, and some is sitting inside the back door waiting for a home. LOL Anyway, it looked much better when I was done! Here's a before picture. I'll post an after picture when I'm totally done. :)

Saturday morning I got up and went out in service when Brandon got in from work. I got to work with my aunt and some friends I don’t get to work with much. We had a good morning. That afternoon was pretty laid-back. It was just too hot to get outside and do anything else! I had intended to work on the kids’ scrapbooks from our cruise, but I couldn’t seem to get myself into a scrappy mood. I hate that!

Yesterday after the meeting, Brandon and I came straight home. He was exhausted from working the past two nights. We fixed some lunch from the taco-fixings we had leftover from Friday’s supper, and then he fell asleep on the couch. I watched the rest of “Little Dorrit”, the mini-series I had recorded on PBS a while back. It was really good, even if it was a tear-jerker part of the way through. For supper, we had rib eyes and fries, another unhealthy meal…We’ve GOT to do better about that! But, Brandon wanted to celebrate having a Sunday evening off. LOL And they were good!

We Rescued Him!

2009-07-02T12:40:00.004-05:00

Just look at that face!! This poor little doggie was sitting in a live trap in our main plant this morning. The guard said they've been trying to catch him and his littermate for a while. Apparently, they were born on the property and have been roaming around, getting in the garbage, and generally being nuisances for the last few months. They finally got a trap from the city and caught this little guy last night.

It broke my heart to see this baby shivering in that cage. He was scared to death, and no doubt thirsty & hungry too. The guard had fed him a little bit and given him some water, but surely he needed more! The guard told me that the city was sending someone to pick him up today...I couldn't bear to think about what would happen to him once he was picked up, so I went to the car and got my camera and decided to at least try to find him a home.

I honestly didn't think I would be able to in time, but low & behold, one of the guys in my department called his mother, and she said she would take him! Chris called the guard to tell him, and his reply was that she'd better hurry up and get up here because they were coming for the little guy. Another animal-lover in our department stepped up to the plate and said we'd just go get him and take him to his new home before the city could get here!

In no time, we had the little dog, now named "Red" at his new home. It took a while to coax him out of his cage, but before long he was exploring and getting to know his new doggie friends. Mission accomplished!