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!

The season of pumpkin spice everything

Ahhhhh Pumpkin Spice.

Is there anything better?

 

My favorite of all seasons is finally upon us. Ahhh fall.

The smell of cinnamon, burning leaves, pumpkin, nutmeg.

I'm in nasal heaven.

 

Tonight, my little brother got married.

That is what inspired this post, as they had tiny pumpkin pie pieces on their dessert bar!

Best idea ever!

 

So in that spirit, I thought that it would be a great idea to make some pumpkin spice cookies tomorrow with cream cheese icing on top, sprinkled with nutmeg.

Sounds pretty yummy!

 

Another recipe I cannot wait to make is pumpkin spice lattes.  I love the ones from starbucks and I added a "morning beverage" to my Thanksgiving menu this year. You can find the recipe here.  Best of all? You make it in the crock pot.  Is there anything you can't cook in one?

 

So, there you go, short and sweet.

If I could turn back time...

If I could find a way...

But seriously.

 

There are things that I regularly think about that I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to make a different decision.  Maybe some of those decisions would have made my life a little bit different.

 

{Example 1}

When I went to college, I really should have just chosen nursing as my major and stuck with it.  I would have graduated 2 years earlier than I did.

 

{Example 2}

I would have bought a house WITH a formal dining room and an open concept kitchen. Ugh, I dread being stuck in the kitchen for the entire day this year on Thanksgiving.  *BUT* I have already made a rough draft of a schedule for the week leading up to it and for that day, it's done in 15 minute time slots.

 

That's not crazy, right?

 

{Example 3}

I like my car, don't get me wrong.

But I would hop in that time machine and tell my self to get an SUV.

Every time I get a car, I wish for an SUV.

Problem?

When I'm car shopping, I get smitten with things only little old ladies care about like MPG, trunk space, and airbags.

 

Yeah, I know I'm a little odd.

 

{Example 4}

Furniture.

Along with that formal dining room I wish I had, would be a larger dining table.

When we bought our furniture, it was when we bought the house.

Then we started hosting Thanksgiving, and so we have to bring in folding tables to seat everyone.

 

I'm not complaining because I like hosting it, but, I do wish everyone was sitting right there together in a formal dining room passing bowls of mashed potatoes around.

 

{Example 5}

Arkansas Razorbacks.

For realz.

I would go back in time and tell Bobby to stop being a man whore so he doesn't screw us over royally.

 

 

 

Okay, I'll probably have more to cry about later and I know I should be thankful for everything I have but sometimes you just want to hit reverse and go back and fix a few things.

Like the Razorbacks.

{Seriously}



Glass Three-Quarter's of the Way Empty

My day has pretty much been bad all day long.

Seriously.

Usually I am a glass half full kind of person, but today, it is more like three-quarter's of the way empty. Ugh.

 

I got up this morning and got dressed, and honestly, I'm having a rockin' hair day.  That is about where the good day ends.  I headed out to the college to get my refund check and not only is there no refund, but they told me that I no longer have my financial aid.

 

W.T.F.

 

F.M.L.

 

Yeah, so after I flip out I head down to financial aid to find out what they are talking about and the advisor informs me that my hours from HSU and OTC put me over my "max hours" for the school.  Along with that little tid-bit she informs me that my G.P.A. from those schools is not counted for my financial aid so it is below the limit set for my loan.  And because my hours from the other schools are counting against me but my grades for those hours are not helping me, I feel like it is unfair that they are picking and choosing how to use my courses.

 

And to top it off, they tried to tell me that my courses will not transfer back to COTO next semester, that I would have to take both parts of my class there....have I mentioned that I hate NPCC?

 

I now have to file an appeal to get my aid applied to my account again. Ugh.

 

After I freaked out {a little} and called the hubs, I called COTO and found out all the information I needed to see about going back there for the spring semester. They informed me there would be no problem transferring my courses and taking the second part of the class there. *BAM* A little bit more fluid in the glass.

 

On the up side, I did take my photo today for my ID badge for my new job and it was *awesome*! Last time it was horrid, so that at least made it better.  Then I met the hubs for lunch and headed home.

 

Once I got home, I was surprised to see a package on my doorstep. 

What was it you ask?

 

A turkey table runner!

 

And the day just got a {little} bit better!

Thanks to my Nanny and Gene!

 

 



A little fall decor

Sew, sew, sew…

A while back I posted a project I really wanted to do from pinterest.  The place mat pillows? Remember those? Yeah, so do I.  As we {mostly} all know, things are never as simple as they seem. 

My mom bought me the place mats and after looking at them, there was no way I could just use a seam ripper to get into them, so I started thinking about ways to turn them into pillows. 

We went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some fabric that we both agreed on and a few other things like pins and scissors.  While I watched the disappointment that was the Arkansas-Alabama game I pinned all of the place mats to the fabric that I bought.

 

 

 

 

Sunday I went to my mother’s to stitch the place mat pillows.  Or so I thought.

I attempted to sew this thing on my own and we will just say EPIC FAIL.  This sewing shit is for the birds.  It’s a really good thing that I didn’t live 100 years ago when you had to sew all the clothing for your family, as we would be wearing a big piece of fabric with a hole cut out for the head.  I know that I will get better with practice, but I think I need to start off with squares.

 

We completed one of the pillows and flipped it.  It turned out pretty good, but not exactly what we had in mind.   

 

{This was before I finished sewing the edge}

 

After talking it over, we decided to go another direction so I repinned everything and will finish the "other" version of the pillows later this week.

{I started flipping the edges and pinning them so that it will be easier to put the brown fabric behind it to make the pillow}

 

With the second one that we attempted, we decided to make it into something a little different:

 

It's now hanging above the sink.  With all this fall decor creating spirit, I caved in and started putting out a few decorations :)

 

 

More to come, I really can't wait for it to be a little bit more into fall!  I'm making chili right now and have the windows open! 

 

On to a little bit different news!  I got a new job! I start on the 2nd and can't wait especially since it's working in pediatrics!  So, anybody want to throw some loot at me?  I really want this:

 

Yeah, it's a stethoscope with an animal head on the bell.  How frickin' cute is that?

 

Happy Wednesday!

Puppy Shame

So I followed the funniest link ever on facebook to a website where people dog-shame their animals. (Don't worry, no animals harmed, just good clean fun!)  It's here!  Anywho, in the spirit of so much fun, I added my own!

 

 

I have to clear out her toy bucket about every 3 months and get rid of torn up toys while she is at the groomer's so that she doesn't try to get them out of the trash. 

 

I worked on Saturday but Sunday finally came around and I'm so proud of my sister!  She just completed a 9 month rehabilitation program and is doing better than ever!

 

{This was at church before the graduation.  The program not only focused on rehabilitation, but putting God first in your life and him leading you to success with your rehabilitation.}

 

They always do a dance program at their church, which is really well done and fun to watch.

 

 

 

I'm so proud of her!  She won't be able to move out for about another month, but, we got to take her for a celebratory lunch at Applebees!

 

{After the graduation}

Enjoy your work week!

Is it fall yet?

Is it too early to be excited for fall?  I mean it is September, right?  I'm so ready for chilly days, the smell of pumpkin spice, coming home to crock-pot meals, the smell of bon-fires, football, and fall/winter clothing.  I'm trying really, REALLY hard to not decorate my entire house with yellow/orange/red leaf vine thingys and a bunch of other fall decor since we still have Halloween to get to.  Also, I'm such a cheap ass when it comes to buying decorations.  I was at Kirkland's the other day, (which, in case you were wondering, does not carry turkey table runners), and found these super cute burlap pumpkins.

 

Super cute, right? Exactly, except the price.  I was not willing to pay $25 for some pumpkins which I could easily make on my own!  So, that is my next project!  Make some cute fall decor that works with my home. Did I mention that these ones were a smidge to tall?  I found this amazing fall project here and she has a bunch of other cute fall decor projects.  Hello to-do list.  Now if I can just manage all of my projects and maintain good grades, oh, and there is that whole "I have a job" thing.  Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful to have a job, but sometimes it seems to get in the way of things like sleep and projects.  I keep trying to convince the hubs that Lola Grace needs a full time stay at home mom.  For some reason he keeps saying no.  I have yet to figure out why :)

 

On to some A-M-A-Z-I-N-G news!

 

I may or may not have whined about my mattress on here, I really can't remember, but it sucks.  Well, it did.  But today our NEW mattress was delivered!! Best news ever!! I'm so excited to be able to sleep without tossing and turning all over the place!  On that note, goodnight!

 

 

Labor Day Weekend/Camera Fail

[Friday]

I got a three day weekend, which almost never happens because if I'm off the weekend I work on Friday, and I always work on Mondays. Anywho, after work on Friday the hubs and I headed to Mooyah for burgers since he can't eat that stuff anymore. After the doctor said borderline high blood pressure and if it doesn't change by December, he's going on meds. So, that's no more excuses from the hubster, exercising and dieting are a must and he's got to decrease his stress! <---I'm sure I really don't help with that one!! After we ate, we went to my moms to hang out.

[Saturday]

The next day, the first day of {Razorback} football! We headed over to our friends house for the game. Before I went over there, I went to Michaels and got the stuff for a mesh ribbon wreath. I'll upload some pics once I'm done, but it's super cute so far! It poured down the entire night, but thankfully we only lost signal for like 5mins of the entire game. I had to head home early since we were getting up early to go to Little Rock.

[Sunday]

Ahh family day. We went to Little Rock, out for lunch and headed to the Clinton Presidential Library. It was a blast. We spent a couple of hours there and then headed back to my sister in laws.

[Monday]

Sleep!!! Sadly, the work week begins again tomorrow. So we have been lazy all day and just not really done anything but watch tv. Upside? Our DVR is pretty much cleaned out.

<Camera Fail>

I need a new digital camera. For starters I couldn't find mine, which is why there are no photos on this post. Never fear, I have found it. But I really really really want a new one for my birthday or Christmas. I'm thinking a DSLR.

[Tuesday]

Work, work, work, all day long.... Then class, on the up side, I developed my first roll of film and we will be working on prints next week! Super stoked! Well, gotta work tomorrow! Night!