Black Friday, WPS!

Unlike all the crazies that went out shopping at 2am on Friday, I was snug as a bug in a rug.

We got up about 5am and headed to Fayetteville, to see the Arkansas/LSU game.

 

It's such a beautiful drive.

Did I mention it was FREEZING up there?

 

 

We finished it up with a little bit of shopping on Saturday and headed home.

We really needed the mini-vacation.

I think next weekend we will go see the Christmas lights at Garvan Gardens.

*Happy Saturday*

 



Turkey Day!/30 days of Thankfulness

Happy Turkey Day!!

 

 

 

I know it's a few days late, but what can I say, I've been a little bit busy.

This was our work turkey.

It was a work in progress, but by the end of the day, it was a masterpiece!

 

 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you did too. On facebook, everyone did the whole thankful thing.  Well, I'm putting all of mine here, in one post.

 

1. God, he sent his son to die on the cross for me. What love.

2. My husband, I couldn't of found a better match.

3. My parents and grandparents.  If it weren't for them I wouldn't be where I am today.

4. Lola. I want to be the person she thinks I am.

5. Butt warmers. Technology never ceases to amaze me, and when the weather was 40 degrees this weekend, I'm so glad my seats were able to warm themselves.

6. My home. I am very fortunate that at my age, we own our home. It is a wonderful blessing.

7. Good health. 

8. A warm bed. There are people everywhere who sleep on the streets, in shelters, on couches, and we take our warm beds for granted every day.

9. Family.  We may have our ups and downs, but they are always there when we need them.

10. Growing up in the greatest country in the world.

11. Being able to become anything I aspire to be.

12. Women's rights.

13. Our veterans, they fought for our freedoms, all of them.

14. My friends. I may not get to see them as often as I would like, but every time I do, it's as if we haven't been apart at all.

15. Emergency services. They provide care when we are in the stickiest of situations.

16. Doctors. Hate having to go see them, but thankful they are there when I need them.

17. Wine. No explanation needed :)

18. Electricity.

19. Modern technology.

20. My job.

21. Cupcakes.

22. My nieces and nephews.

23. My car.

24. Food. Not everyone has a warm meal everyday, we are fortunate enough to have three. 

25. DTV.

26. The Razorbacks.

27.Black Friday, now that I don't have to work in retail :)

28. Internet :)

29. Again, my husband, he is so amazing to me.

30. The many opportunities I have for my future.



My birthday!

So the last two weeks have been a bit cray-cray.

My third anniversary was the 14th, birthday the 17th, and the we had Thanksgiving.

 

So, this one is all about my 25th birthday, eek! I'm now mid-twenties. It feels like just yesterday that I was in college and partying with my sorority sisters. My, my, how time does fly.

I asked my entire family for flooring for my birthday. Wish granted!

 

So here are the results!

 

First, Lola had to stay in "puppy jail" so that she didn't get into the flooring since it took two days to finish.  She likes to eat things that put her in the animal hospital.

 

Here is the progression, in photos, of course.

 

 

Thanks to my wonderful family for getting everything we needed, and my amazing husband for being patient enough to lay the flooring with me after work on Monday and Tuesday!



Holiday House

Today we went to Holiday House which is basically a huge set up of shops in one place where you can get a jump start on holiday shopping.

 

*But first*

 

I went and picked up Cadence this morning from my mom, we headed to Little Rock for a fun filled day.  First stop was to pick up Jodie, my sister-in-law.  We stopped by Saver's and then headed to lunch at the neatest, kid friendly, place ever.

It's a really good train themed place that delivers your food by train!

 

 

 

 

After eating, we headed to the state house convention center and got to shopping.

 

It was crazy packed, but we had fun. And got a few good pictures with C.

 

 

*Happy Saturday*

'Cause you had a bad day

"'Cause you had a bad day, you're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know, you tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride"

 

Jenny Penny- How much do you hate me for that?

I'm sure I'll get a text about that one tomorrow. :)

 

The last few days have been crap. For realz.

I feel like there is a storm cloud following me around.

This is pretty much how I feel.

 

Work has been cray-cray the last few days and I think that my family just may be the death of me. Now don't get all "Oh my goodness! She's gonna bash her family on the internet! She's gonna bash her job!" I'm not. And well, even if I were it's my blog and you'd get the hell over it.

 

Sometimes I just want to be a whiny hiney.

But here is what I really need: Good karma, a normal day at the office, and some prayers for an unspoken request.

 

Also, I think I figured out what I want for my birthday!  I want to do my kitchen floors before Thanksgiving! No promises, but I'll keep ya posted.


Holidays

Funny thing about my family, we like lists.

Birthdays, Christmas, anything. If you want something, it better be on the list.

Otherwise, we will give you crap gifts just to teach you a lesson.

 

Ahh holidays.

A time to be with family. A time to love, give back, celebrate, and give thanks.

This year, I have a nice, big plan for Thanksgiving. 

It will be smaller this year so I can do something a little bit bigger.

I have been looking over table set ups and decorations

 

And I think I am going to do a combo of these:

 

 

Plus I have a super cheap, crafty way to do the table runner! I'll be getting started on some of the decor within the next week.  I'll keep ya posted!

 



Sharefest 2012

I love sleeping.

Those who know me, know that.

Saturday, however, was a different story.

 

J and I have started going to a new church, The Grove. Last Sunday, they had a post in the bulletin that Share Fest was on Saturday, November 3rd.  We would be working at the Garland County housing authority. I decided to get more information and trade my Saturday morning of sleeping in to go help out and give back to the community. You can learn more about Sharefest here. 

 

Our jobs that day were to prune, trim, re-mulch, and clean up the offices at the housing authority.

 

This is how the front looked before:

 

Then we started cleaning up, pruning bushes, and spreading new mulch.

 

Yep, I kidnapped my niece and she helped too! It is so sweet to see how much she loves to help others.  She worked really hard and did a great job!

 

We also provided lunch for the people who live in the government housing, offered to pray with them, and invited them to church.

 

It was worth giving up sleep to get up bright and early on a Saturday and donate our time to those who are less fortunate.  I am so thankful for all that God has blessed me with.

 

*Happy Sunday*

 

Check back tomorrow night for another awesome post!

 



Cool Whip Cookies

Anyone else hate dieting because of their sweet tooth?

Here's a super easy recipe, for COOKIES, that are only 1 Weight Watcher point each!

Don't these look amazing? I've been making them for about a year now and they have yet to not be a hit. 

 

You can make them in any flavor, and they are super easy! Here's what you need:

1 box cake mix (flavor is your choice)

1 egg

1 8oz container Fat Free Cool Whip
1 cup powdered sugar

 

Mix all ingredients in bowl. I recommend using a stand mixer, dough will be thick and super sticky!

Take two spoons and place 1-inch drops on powdered sugar covered wax paper.  Roll the balls around in the powdered sugar. Then place them on a greased cookie sheet (I just lightly spray it with PAM).  Bake at 375 for 8 mins.  You want the cookies to be very VERY soft when you take them out because they harden as they cool.  DO NOT OVERBAKE. If you over bake them, they will be inedible.

 

My favorite mixes are red velvet, devil's food chocolate, and spice or carrot cake!

 

Enjoy without guilt, they're only 1 point each!

 

  

Crock-Pot Season

Now that the temps have dropped to a chilly 50's, it's time to break out the crock pot and get to slow cookin'.

Is there anything you cannot make it a crock pot? I super fluffy heart this traveling one, so it's on the birthday/christmas list! So much easier than having to drive super slow and hold the crock pot the entire time! 

 

As you already know, fall is my favorite season.

The temps drop, you start smelling bon-fires, crisp fall mornings, pumpkin spice everything, french vanilla coffee with pumpkin spice creamer (yes, it's amazing, you should try it!), and most importantly my BIRTHDAY!!

 

But back to the crock-pot thing.

 

Tonight I made vegetable beef soup, Wednesday will be cream cheese chicken soup, and Friday is BBQ pork tenderloin, shredded and made into a sandwich. Can you say yummy?

Yeah, I know 30 day challenge shake thing, blah blah.  It's freezing out. You drink a damn milkshake.

 I did, however, make it a week and lost 1 1/2 pounds.
That's healthy weightloss, right?
 

So, you can go here,  and check out a pretty awesome post all about crock pot recipes.

I think next week I may attempt Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup.

 

*Happy Monday*

30 day {Challenge}

I'm not very good at diets.

I'm not very good at sticking to routines.

I'm not very good at exercising.

I'm not very good at cooking "low fat" meals.

I'm not very good at being healthy.

 

My problem is that I'm not good at sticking to anything.  I start off good and after a few weeks, I'm like "Oh, I totally want buffalo wings!" 

Sad, I know.

But, I think it's time for a little truth.

 

I set goals for myself and fail on a regular basis.

I cheat on diets all the time.

I skip out on exercising because I'd much rather lay on the couch or take a nap.

 

*BUT*

Yesterday my husband and I made a promise to each other.

A promise to hold each other accountable.

A promise to support and rely on each other.

A promise to kick off our weight-loss.

 

We're starting back on Body by Vi.  I'm usually not a good liquid dieter, but, I will say this one is probably the easiest to follow and actually works.  It's usually a 90 day challenge, but we figured it was best to start out with 30 days and go from there.

 

 

We are going to start doing the program tomorrow and walking 2 miles three times a week.

Wish us luck!

I'll post updates about our progress as we go.

The hubs is a better housewife...

I really hate coming up with titles for these things.

So a friend's fb status inspired this title.

 

I'm not the best housewife in the world. Awesome wife, most def! HOUSEwife? Not even in the top million. 

I HATE house work.  Love cooking and all that, hate the clean up.

I am only allowed to do laundry for things like towels and whites, but after shrinking a few RL Polos, I'm not allowed to do colors. But J, he is always doing something. I have to say, I'm very lucky, I married an awesome man!  I would much rather go to work than do housework all day, but I would rather sleep in.

 

On to the cooking thing...
I love Crock Pot meals.

Tomorrow I'm making Chicken Taco Chili

Sound yummy? It is.

You can find a similar recipe here.

 

 



 

{this was the last time I made it}

 

Life would be so much more awesome if I could just stay home with the brat and had an unlimited crafting budget.  Oh, and a maid.

 

*Happy Thursday*

Craft Fair/Pumpkin Carving

Forgive my lack of posting, I've been sickly.

Turns out working in peds, you get catch everything the first three months or so that you're there.  Then, a wonderful thing happens: your immune system is built up enough to resist everything.

 

Anywho, last weekend was the craft fair.  There is nothing I love more than craft fairs.  Where else can you find super awesome stuff for super cheap?

 

 

Like these, for $5!

I also saw a license plate that made me giggle.

 

 

 

So Wednesday finally rolled around and we had made plans to go over to a friend's house to carve pumpkins. 

 

 

 

I made a cat!

 

 

We had a blast and got or pumpkin carving fever taken care of.

 

The brat joined us, and got to hang out with her boyfriend, Lou Holtz.

 

Enjoy the work week!



My "Dear John" letters

Let me give you a little knowledge.

During WWII women would write to their men at war and begin the letters with sweet introductions such as "My Dearest Johnny" or "Darling Johnny" but when they received a letter that began "Dear John" they knew that the letter contained the one thing the men prayed would never happen.  The letter would continue and inform them that their sweetie was no longer going to wait for them.  She had either given up or found another man to take up with.

 

In the spirit of "breaking up" I have a few things that I have decided to break up with.

 

Dear Reese's-

I have to end our relationship.  My ass cannot handle you anymore.  Especially in shapes. I have loved you for a long time. But all things eventually come to an end. 

 

Dear Dr. Pepper-

Your 23 flavors are like magic.  Sadly, your empty calories are not.  I have decided to take up with your brother, Diet Dr. Pepper.  And your {very} distant relative, water.

 

Dear McDonald's-

Damn you and your McGriddles.  They are like a non-sticky syrupy bliss smothered with sausage.

Bastards.  It's over.

 

Dear InTouch-

I have to stop buying your magazines.  I know I am addicted to the gossip and what is happening in the Teen Mom's lives. Let us not forget the RHONJ and all their drama.  But this obsession must end.

 

Dear Old Navy-
The materials you have gone to using for your clothing, well they suck.  Gone are the days that I went to you for everything.  Gone are the days of my ONC. 

I can assure you, these are only a few of my many, many addictions that I should be writing "dear john's" to...most of them have contributed to my fat ass.

*Happy Monday*



Getting ready for Halloween...Kind of

My cousin posted this to her facebook page and I thought it was funny that the same day I finally finished the "What's Lo gonna be this year" debacle.

 

"A longer rush hour commute, more FB posts about job openings, and people are expected to spend more this year on halloween costumes for their dogs. Yes friends, the economy has rebounded." -S.S.

 

Every year on Halloween, we put the baby gate up on the front door, dress Lola in her costume, fill the candy bowl, and start a movie, waiting on our trick-or-treaters.  When the door bell rings LG springs into action: jumping down from her favorite spot on the back of the couch, running as fast as she can towards the door, and jumping up on the baby gate as she sees the faces of children she has never met.

 

{The LoCow, last year at Halloween}

 

 

{Perched to help pass out candy, and stop any intruders}

 

 

This year we decided on something just as cute, a cheerleader! She even has a megaphone dog toy that says "Cheer!"

{Doesn't she look like the cutest little fat baby ever?}

 

 

{She loved her new toy, but I had to put it up so she would still have it by Halloween}

 

Super excited for Halloween! Now just to dig out my Halloween decor and get the house in the spirit!

 

*In Other News*

 

I start my new job at the Pediatric Clinic on Tuesday! Wish me luck!