Merry Christmas!!

I just wanted to comment on how much I have heard the "horrible" phrase Merry Christmas this year. So many people have said Merry Christmas to me this year and I LOVE IT!! It is Christmas!! And Thanks for making it Merry!! I really can't remember how long its been since I have heard it so much. I even went to Wal-Mart and the employees have said it to me! Now we all know that Wal-Mart is the Evil Empire so I was literally floored by the fact that any employee of said Evil Empire can even mention Christmas. In fact I am surprised they even sell Christmas decorations and all the propaganda that come with it. They really are communist you know. So, good for you Wal-Mart or employees for Wal-Mart who are breaking rules, if in fact, that is what you are doing. I just really am glad to hear Merry Christmas so much. It really makes the season better.

Look at you guys keeping Christmas in the spot light! You will be rewarded for it. Nice job everybody!

Merry Christmas!!!

Just So We're Clear

In a previous post, about the new baby in our lives, I mentioned that the process was sometimes grueling. Now, I am sure that the female readers took it the way it was written. It was a long and grueling process emotionally. Apparently, I was not as clear as I thought I was to my male readers. As Zac so kindly pointed out, it sounded like I meant the act was grueling. Sorry if that is TMI. No honey, that isn't what I meant. I tried to explain to him that most women would see it as emotional. Maybe some didn't. That is why I want to clarify the statement. Just so we are ALL clear, it was a long emotional process. There, happy now.

It's a Family Tradition

Is it just me or is it totally time for the holidays? I am super stoked about Thanksgiving and Christmas this year for some reason. Last year, eh, not so much. This year, Yes Please!! I'm not sure why but I am SO EXCITED! It makes me feel like a kid again. Maybe its the whole preggo thing. Not sure. I just thought I might share some traditions our family has for the holidays. Everybody has so many different ways they celebrate and traditions they do. Its interesting to me to see what else everybody else does. So, if your feeling froggy, post a few of your own.



Thanksgiving:

On my moms side we all go over to my Granny's on Thanksgiving day for lunch and we normally stay for dinner too. When I say all, I literally mean ALL the family. All my aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins children, cousins boyfriend or girlfriend at the time. My mom has 3 other sisters and a brother. My Uncle Jerry and his family they live in Augusta so we don't see them much. But everybody else is there.

We have your normal (what we call normal anyway) Thanksgiving feast. Smoked and fried turkey, my Mom's sweet potato casserole (the kind with brown sugar topping not marshmallow), dressing my Granny makes, my Nae-Nae's potato salad (yes potato salad. we have it at every family event), Cindy's hashbrown casserole, Aunt Dean's mac-n-cheese, green beans of some sort, deviled eggs, my Granny's homemade rolls (I just drooled thinking about them), and my favorite...cranberry sauce from a can.

We all eat then sit around and go through all the sales papers. My mom, granny, and aunts plan out their Black Friday expedition. They go every year. They leave at like 5 am and are normally gone until dark. Not me. I can't stand Black Friday. Too many people and the sales aren't really that great in my opinion. Of course, this year the UA vs AU game is on Friday AFTER THANKSGIVING. I mean really who does that? That is a whole other post. Saturday we will put up all the Christmas decor. Zac loves this part because he gets to go in the attic. He just loves the attic.


Christmas: This was a couple of years ago. Just setting the table. Not everything is there yet.



On Christmas Eve we spend it with my dad's side of the family. We do your normal, everyday, eating and presents. We draw names for all the kids and the adults play Dirty Santa. This year should be extra exciting since certain people aren't talking to certain people and those people really aren't sure why said people aren't talking to them. Plus we have had TONS of drama this past year. Looking forward to it. Should be loads of family togetherness.

On Christmas Day, Zac and I will get up and go to my parents for presents and breakfast. My mom and dad always cook a great breakfast Christmas morning. This year will be super great because we will have Carter. Babies make Christmas so much more fun! (Then next year I'll have my own!) After that we all get ready and go to my Granny's for lunch. We eat the usual Christmas feast. This time we have ham and turkey. Everybody will get stuffed and we go open presents. After presents everybody will more than likely eat again. Then Christmas is over. Sad day. We will all head home to play with our new gifts and relax.

But yea Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!! I can't wait!

Mele Kalikimaka!

I have totally just cheated on Thanksgiving and I am ashamed!! I just couldn't help myself. Oh Bing Crosby White Christmas how I've missed you so!

I am taking a cue from Tabitha. Here is my, probably one and only, Christmas savings post. We were in Best Buy yesterday looking for Christmas gifts and I came across the Christmas music section. I was super stoked! I noticed that they had the Bing Crosby White Christmas CD. It was 6.99. I thought, well, I'll just get it on iTunes its probably the same price. Get on iTunes this morning....$9.99. Some of the songs individually were $1.29! Seriously, iTunes? I mean, I know you have the MP3 market on lock down but jeez! What happened to "all the songs are .99"? So I head on over to BestBuy.com just to double check the price again. At Best Buy online all the Christmas music is on SALE!! The Bing CD....$4.99!! And you can just go pick it up at the store! (Side Note: Please beware though some CDs are not better deals. Do some shopping on both sites to find the best deal.) If you have a Best Buy close to you that rocks! If you don't and just need an excuse to get out of the office for an hour, that rocks too! Even if you have to have it shipped its only like $1.89 or something like that. Totally worth it in my opinion. Take that iTunes! In your face!! Now that is the Christmas Spirit!

On my way back from Best Buy this afternoon I just HAD to pop in the Bing CD to just get a preview of Christmas. Of course, as I'm listening to the beginning of Silent Night, my air conditioner is on because it's 75 outside. That album just takes me back to Christmas as a kid. Every year after it came out my Mom would put in the tape and we would listen to it as we were decorating the house. We listened to it on our way to my Granny's for Christmas Day. We listened to it all the time! I loved it though. I didn't care how much it was played. Every song seems to bring some sort of Christmas memory. Then I get to the very last song. Mele Kalikimaka. Then I have visions of Clark Griswold standing in his kitchen day dreaming about the pool he is going to get with his bonus check. Ahhh. Its Christmas!

BUT NOT BEFORE THANKSGIVING!!! Its really Christmas AFTER November 26th! I will not listen to an entire Christmas song until then. That is on My Five Things List!

Oh Baby Baby!

So here is the post you've all been waiting for! Well, maybe not all of you. It has been a while since my last post and I am deeply sorry. A lot going on here lately! The only time I feel like doing anything is at night and when I get home from work I am exhausted so I have neglected by blog lately. But I have caught up on all my favorite TV shows!

As you all have heard by now, Zac and I will have our first little bundle of joy in June. It was a long and sometimes grueling process but we finally made it. It took us over a year. When it seems that everyone around you can get pregnant but you, it is really tough. I had some great people to fall back on. My family (the ones who knew) were good at helping us and my good friend Lauren from high school was going through the same thing. Little did we know 7 years ago during our high school dance team days we would be having these conversations. Lauren helped me so much more than I think she or I realized at the time. She was such a good support system even though we only talked through email. We both understood each others pains and frustrations. She was one step ahead of me in the infertility treatment stage so she would tell me about it and I would feel better because I knew there was another step to take. Unfortunately for Lauren and her husband they have not succeeded yet. They have taken a break for now so hopefully it will happen for them soon. If you read Lauren's blog you know the story. I just wanted to tell her part in our story. Thank you Lauren for all you helped me with!

At this point I am 10 weeks. I have had 2 ultrasounds and we got to hear the heart beat each time. I am told this is a good sign but not out of the deep water until 12 or 13 weeks. We just pray about it and hope this is God's plan. If it isn't we will deal with it when or if that point occurs.

I was sick to begin with but my doctor changed my prenatal vitamins and they seem to help a lot. I haven't been sick since I got the new ones. Well, sick like I was before. All signs point to it being a girl but as Lisa says I am her friend so it should be a boy. The Chinese Birth calendar says girl. At least the one I've seen. Zac saw one that says boy so that is the one he is going by even though he says we aren't Chinese so it doesn't count. My dad did the string on a pencil thing and it said girl too. Of course, people tell me all kinds of crazy stuff so we will just have to wait and see. I am hoping to have an early ultrasound so we can find out before Christmas. My doctor will only do the one where we are supposed to find out at 20 weeks but she told me we could pay to have one done early at 15 weeks. We will either do that or go to Virginia College and let them do it there. They have a sonography department and they will do it for free. I know several people who have had it done so i would feel comfortable with it. I am just ready to find out. I feel like I can't do anything until we know what it is. No name picking, no registry stuff, no buying anything. Good things come to those who wait I guess.

So, needless to say our lives are really changing over the next 18 years I guess. The only thing that scares me is changing too much. Not like how our lives will change but how I will change as a person. I just don't want to change that. I know a lot of people who just turn into crazy people after they have kids. God help me! I do have medicine for being crazy though. I'll just still take that and maybe that will help. Ok I guess that is enough rambling for now. More to come though. I'm sure as I have thoughts about things there will be more but until then.....

Another Year Older

Happy Birthday to my great friend Lisa today!! We grew up together basically and lost touch some through college like most do. Now, we talk a good bit and I am so glad she is back in my life regularly. Like BeneLisa. Ok sorry sick joke. Anyway, there are many stories that I could share about Lisa but one day I too will have a birthday and I'm sure retaliation would be involved. I'll spare you and her the humility. Your welcome.

Lisa is a great wife, mother and friend. She has a beautiful family and I am lucky to have had her as a friend all these years. Happy Birthday Lisa!!

The Curse of the Camry

As most of you know I drive a Toyota Camry. This car was extra special to me when I bought it because it is the first car that I bought by myself with no help from my parents. Now, I think it's cursed. Not long after I got the car, not even 2 months, somebody backed into it at work. I didn't notice that the whole freakin side of my bumper was smashed in until I got home that afternoon. I had a bunch of stuff that I was carrying to the car that afternoon after work and just never thought to check and see if some idiot in Mountain Brook hit my car. So I had a melt down in the driveway of parents house until my Daddy got home. He gets under the car and pops the bumper back out. As he did this, he pulled a muscle in his shoulder. He had to go to the doctor several times for it. It really hurt him bad. At this time I was also planning and paying (for some) of a wedding. I didn't have the money to get it fixed. I'm sure it would cost a good bit because I need a whole new bumper. Anyway, as time went on other things came up and the sad bumper never got fixed. Well, a few months ago I noticed that my windshield had a chip out of it. And you all know where this is going. Now I have a huge crack that goes from the middle of the windshield to the right side of the car. It looks great.

There was also this one time that I was moving my car from behind Zac's truck so he could back out and I got a little too close to the retaining wall on the side of our driveway. Yeah, so now there is a big place on the front right side bumper. Then, this morning, I hit somebody's mail box in our neighborhood. They apparently left the door open on it and yup, totally hit it with my right side mirror. The crazy thing is, that the mirror just fell out. It did crack the casing just a little but it literally looks like the mirror just got scared and jumped to its death. So, not knowing what to do I just kept going. I just had to call somebody and Zac was at home asleep from work last night. The only other person was my Daddy. I called and told him what happened. He said "Did you stop and pick it up" Me "No, should I go back?" Daddy "Yeah, go look for it. If it isn't broke we'll just glue it back on!" Me "Really?" Daddy "Yeah it will work. Who knows maybe they are built that way so you can just snap it back on" Ok, so I head back to my neighborhood. At this point its already 7:30. There will be no getting to work for me at 8. I send everybody (who cares) at my office a text and tell them I'll be late and why. I just know they are all sitting there laughing their heads off. As I get back into the neighborhood, I think, I must have really jacked somebody's mailbox up. I need to put a note on there and apologize or something. Well, as I'm passing the spot where I thought I hit the mail box, I see one that looks bad and kinda dented up so I think "Oh that must be it!" As I keep driving I see another one that looks pretty bad too. "Well, was it that one?" They all look like they've been hit before! What am I going to do and where is my mirror?!? The people on the front road of my neighborhood really need to step it up a bit and get a new mailbox by the way. So I drove back and forth for a while until I figured if there was anybody home they might call the cops. I never did find my mirror.

This just freakin sucks! Why is it that this happens to me? Something so small that its pointless to call the insurance company. I am totally convinced that my Camry is cursed! I just need to buy a new car and be done with it. I've been wanting a new car for some time so now seems like just as good a time as any. Think Zac will go for it? No, your right, he won't. Dang!

P.S. Exciting things coming up! You don't want to miss this folks!!

Old McSpanick had a farm Ei, Ei, Ooooo!

The day finally came for us to go pick up Gus Gus. ( Oh, we did finally get a freezer to put Gus Gus in. We got it from Lowe's, which I hate, but that's another blog.) What a crappy day it was too! It had to rain but of course its rained everyday for the last month it seems. Anyway, so the morning started by getting up at 6:30 so we could get ready to go eat breakfast with my parents and get Gus. So, my dad wanted to eat at Jacks, mainly because that is the only place to eat breakfast at in Odenville. As we are on our way, he calls and says, never mind we are going to eat and Bowling's. Which never crossed my mind because when they moved out there it was like they disappeared really. Never mind the fact that when they were in Moody I ate there every morning of my Senior year in high school. (During that time they were called Shaw's.) Ummmm...Hashbrown Special! Ok sorry, I think I kinda drooled on myself there. Anyway, so it has and always will be the "local Moody government official" hang out joint. The same 5 or 6 men are there every Saturday at 7 am. Which include, a previous mayor and the current sheriff of St Clair Co. Of course, my dad knows them all. So we eat and I reminisce with a plate full of hashbrowns and talk to a girl I graduated with. Her parents own the place and she works there. After that we are on the road again. Oh, Side Note: My dad had to tell everybody we talked to that we were "headed up to Dollar's to pick up a cow". They were all intrigued.

So, back on highway 411. Deep in the heart of Odenville, AL. Which, by the way, is only 10 mins from our house. Of course, we are passing the usual trailers and run down houses. As we approach our destination, I wanted to scream " NO! YOUR GOING THE WRONG WAY! YOUR GOING THE WRONG WAY!!" (A line from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the one will Jessica Biel) It literally looks like a scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Picture an old run down wood shed type thing. There was one we drove past. Oh, before that there is an old sign, you know the one with the lighted arrow at the top, that sits right off 411. It says Dollar's Sausage and something else through the moldy plastic that covered it. So anyway driving up to the place where they do the processing, we pass a shed with many old rusty things in it. Then we come to this building on one side it has this rusty metal fence. Kinda like what you would see at a rodeo. I assume this is where they keep the cows before they are put through the processing part. Then as you look across the building looks like a metal version of the shed we passed before. When we pulled up I told Zac, "I'm not going in there" He laughed. "No really, I'm serious. I'll just stand out here in the rain" So we all get out. Side Note: My dad had surgery on his foot a few weeks ago and is on crutches. Obviously, with my dad on crutches I have to help load up Gus. As we walk in I just know I'm going to see dead cow parts everywhere and its going to smell like rotting meat. To my surprise I did not see cow parts but it did smell funny. I guess you just can't get that smell out though. They already had him frozen so all we had to do was put him in the boxes. We loaded up 11 boxes of meat. Our part of Gus was 317 lbs. Roughly, that comes out to .50 per pound for what it cost to have the meat processed. Not too shabby.

We get home and unload Gus into the freezer. When we first got the freezer I was super stoked because I thought "now we can buy in bulk!"and have a place to keep it. Wrong! Gus takes up the entire freezer but we will have plenty to eat. So, as my cow story comes to an end, I'll leave you with some pictures of our first Gus Gus meal. Spaghetti! It was really good too!!

Here a Moo, There a Moo Everywhere a Moo Moo......

Ye-haw and howdy friends! Well, the cow finally made its way to the processor last week. (Please see last post for the beginning of the cow story) Fortunately, we split it with my parents and our half is 350 lbs. Yes, that's 3 HUNDRED and 50 POUNDS! We have to pick him up next Saturday. What a great way to spend a football Saturday, picking up 700lbs of cow from a slaughter house. Yumm-ee! Not to mention that is the same day as one of my best friends in the whole wide world's wedding day. Good thing its at night! I hope I have time to take a good shower before then. Anyway, we still have not gotten a freezer. Still trying to find one for under $600 mind you. So literally, Zac has to pour a concrete slab in our pretend basement to put the freezer full of 350lbs of cow on. (Side note: We call it the "pretend basement" b/c we live on the side of the biggest mountain in Moody and our crawl space has a full size door.) So in the frigid months of Dec-Feb. someone (Zac) will have to go outside to the back of the house and go in the pretend basement to get whatever beef we feel like consuming at that particular time. (Additional side note: This is why I NEED a new house!!) Thankfully, for said person (Zac), we (Zac) are putting in a nice terracotta sidewalk from the backdoor to the pretend basement so its a little nicer than just tromping through the yucky dirt. Real nice Clark, Real Nice.

Stay tuned folks, more to come!

Forget About It Friday

This week I did not.....

Watch Veggie Tales even though I wish I had an excuse too. I did not post pics of my weekend excursions. I did not find a really cool free giveaway for you. I did not have time to make you a list of all my recent activities. I did not post engagement pics, to my blog that is. I did not have a really uplifting sermon to recite for you. I do not believe in magic. Well, ok I do. I did not pull my hair out. I did not almost drown from all the freakin rain we've had. And I most certainly did not have a cow.....ok wait, that was me. Have a great weekend.

With a Moo Moo here and a Moo Moo there.....

Having a cow slaughtered tomorrow....yes, that's right, no need to read it again. Sometimes I think my family is half way normal then they buy cows to have them processed just in case we hit another great depression. If it does happen, you are all invited over for steaks. We'll eat like its 1999! We'll show you Obama! I guess that is the way our parents did it, right? Oh, not to mention, I have to buy a freezer for said cow. Anybody priced those lately? Wow! $700 for a freezer? Really? Anybody need to sell a freezer? I've got a great loving home for it if you do. Off to bed now to dream of Ribeyes, Filets, and hamburgers. Mooooo!! :)

Landon Carter 1 month and 2 weeks

My friend Erin came by and took some pictures of Carter last week. She has a photography business called Lens Envy Photography, check out her website. Erin has been a good friend of my for a long time and she does great work! Here are a few of my favorites.

Little Lion

Chelsea and Carter

Sweet Boy

Monkey Toes

Just Another Day

Hey, me again. I just felt as though I needed to blog but I really couldn't think of anything exciting that has been going on lately besides the whole trying to build a house thing. (I'll blog about that later). Soooo, here is what HASN'T been going on in my world. I have not created a new casserole. I have not found a great coupon where you can get something free or half off. I do not have a child that has had a milestone. I do not watch Glee and only watch old episopes of The Office when Zac isn't home. I have not blogged about how much I really do LOVE Patrick Swayze. I am not going anywhere fun besides Tuscaloosa this weekend. I have not found a cool new way or place to use Laticrete (That's for my work friends). I have not moved away to find new adventures. I have not taken really cute pictures of sweet little kids. And I certainly don't have any Mommy advice. Just so you know.

P.S. Thanks to all my fellow Blogger friends for your blogs everyday! :)

Free Fonts!!

Ok, I am totally addicted to cool fonts. I found this website that does handwriting fonts. You can download them for free! They have some super cute ones! The best part is....you can submit your handwriting and they will turn it into a font...for FREE!! Check it out.

Yea! Fall!!

Anybody going to be in town for Halloween this year? I want to have a party! I just want to make sure people are actually going to be here. Ha!

I saw these on CutestBlogontheBlock.com and just had to add it.

Just Had To

Bahahahaha!!! Ok, so I get random pictures of children of people I know. Like we all do. A girl I used to work with, had twins this year and she will send pictures of just random things they are doing from time to time. Well, this time, she apparently was having a play date with another ex-co-worker of mine who now has a little boy. She was taking pictures and got this one below. Bahaha! I thought this was funny enough to share with you. Please keep in mind that I don't know this kid and I haven't talked to his mother in 3 years but its one of those you have GOT TO SEE THIS pictures. Check it out and I hope you laugh as loud as I did!

Liberal and Christian

I saw a post on Facebook that really rubbed me the wrong way. I get so tired of hearing that you can still be a Christian and be liberal.

So, can you really be liberal and still be a Christian?!? Maybe, but not totally in my opinion. There is a difference in claiming to be a Christian and being a follower of Jesus Christ. Of course, it isn't my place to judge your eternity if you are liberal and claim to be a Christian but here are my thoughts on it.....just saying

You can be liberal and claim to be a Christian but you are not a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ. If you voted for our current President, you are not a follower of Christ. If you believe in National Health Care, you are not a follower of Christ. If you voted for ANY Demo in office, present day, you are not a follower of Christ. If you did either of those things, you support abortion and gay marriage, which in turn, does not make you a follower of Christ.

Now, if being liberal means that you think we should help those less fortunate, then you can claim to be a Christian. Other than that, you are not. You can say you are all day long but Jesus himself you tell you no.......just saying

Ohh Look at this Background!..... Dang it!

Is it just me or is there anybody else who is frustrated over trying to find a FREE blog background? I just can't find ANYTHING I like! I guess I will just have to Photoshop one! Dang it! Why can't there be a free one that is exactly what I want? UGH!!

Why are vacations not long enough?

We decided to take a little vacation to Joe Wheeler State park this past weekend with our good friends Michael and Janna Perry. With us trying to build a house (and the Perry's trying to buy a house) this is the only vacation we are going to get this year. We had a wonderful time! The cottage we stayed is was SUPER nice! Totally not what I had expected. Janna's brother, Daniel and his wife Ashley, came up on Sat and spent the day with us. They live in Florence so it was a shorter drive for them. We rented a pontoon boat for the day to take out on Wheeler Lake. The lake was wonderful except for the times we felt like we should be taping an episode of Deadliest Catch. We were not expecting a big boat to come by and the wake to flood our boat. Literally, the waves came over the front of the boat. It was funny after but I think it scared us all to death. We all got a little sun burnt. Well, I ALWAYS get sun burnt! But hey, at least its some color other than WHITE! Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Jon and Kate Plus.....Enough already!!!

*Please beware if you like Jon and Kate + 8 you don't want to read this*

Ok, if I have to hear ANY MORE about Jon and freakin Kate Gosselin and all their freakin kids I am going to scream!! I used to like them. I really did. And I watched the show but now they are out of control. So, NOW Jon says he wants to stop taping the show. Not to save his marriage or keep his kids from hearing all the things the media is saying about their parents but because its just too much. Oh boo! Poor little thing can't handle it. I'll admit that people have been all over them but why couldn't they just say, you know we are done with the show and we need to work on our family and just go away. But NOOOO they didn't do did they, so they get what they deserve if you ask me. They have gotten used to the cushy lifestyle and that seems to be more important to them than keeping their family together. I have been done with them for a while but when I read that story earlier I thought..."Really?!?! Now you want to quit because its hard on YOU?!?! Really?" What about your "wife" and EIGHT children? Huh? You think of them Jon and Kate? Obviously not. So now I am officially DONE! Shut your trap and go on! Nobody wants to hear you whine any more. Thank you.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Had a great time at Ellie's Bachelorette party last Saturday night. It was so good to see everybody and get to hang out finally. It has been too long ladies, too long! Oh, how I miss all my friends. You must all move back immediately!! Got to see Malisa who I haven't seen in years. She made an awesome cake for the party. It made me want to go to my high school reunion so bad!! Thank goodness for Facebook. How did people stay in touch before social networking sites?!?! Here are a few pics from the night. Enjoy!

Serioulsy, not again?!?

Ok I have completely lost my mind!! I, once again, have LOST MY DEBIT CARD!!! What has happened to me? Is it because I turned 25? Did this happen to anybody else? I am loosing it! Literally! I can only imagine what will happen when I turn 30. If I have kids by then I will reluctantly have to put them on one of those horrible leash things!! Seriously? How does this happen?

The last place I remember seeing it was Saturday morning when Amanda, Aunt Cookie, Evan and I went to Chevron to get a drink. I got Jalapeno Cheetos and a Dasani. And yes I used my debit card for that. I only had $20 and I needed that for all the yards sales that awaited us that day. I called Jerry at Moody Chevron and asked him if he had seen it. He says "Hang on let me see if it's in my stack." Ok, that's funny. "Nope" he said "I don't see it here in my stack but if I find it I'll give you a call." Wonderful.

I did check my account and nothing has been charged on it since Sat. so I guess that is a good thing. But what that really means is that, yes, I am that irresponsible. I just can't believe it. I have obviously just lost it again. Just for the record, I have not been to Wal-Mart.

I bet they have a note on my account at Regions, "Hibitual Debit Card Looser". I honestly wound't be surprised if they charged me for this one. Which, maybe they should. Then maybe I can keep up with it. This also means that I will have to get cash out for the festivities this weekend and won't be able to put it on a tab. Crap!!! Dang you life! Dang you!!

Lesson Learned

Ok, so here is my lesson for the week, month, rest of the year and the rest of my life. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, put anything in Wal-Mart bags unless you purchased it at Wal-Mart! Over the last 2 weeks I have done a great job at loosing things that I put into Wal-Mart bags. I lost my entire checking account when I ran in Wal-Mart to grab something real quick. I just grabbed my debit card and keys while I was on the phone. Well apparently, after I bought my so needed items I just dropped my debit card into the bag. The next morning, on my birthday none the less, I went to my favorite breakfast place to get my favorite breakfast item (for my birthday) and my debit card was nowhere to be found. So, not knowing what happened to it I called it in lost. When I got home that afternoon I found it in the Wal-Mart bag. So, the whole weekend and first part of last week I had no access to my checking account. I finally got my new debit card on Wed. Thank goodness! Ok lesson learned, right, not so fast.

The same week/weekend that I "lost" my debit card, I had gone once again to Wal-Mart. This time after I purchased my items I got cash back. Well, here we go again, I just threw it down in the bag b/c I was in a hurry and left. That night I just left everything in the bags for the next night. Well the next night came and I was getting everything ready. Zac asked me what he could do to help and I asked him to get the chips and stuff out of the Wal-Mart bags but I said there is $40 in the bag with the chips so don't throw it away. The night came and went and so did the weekend. On Monday this past week I remembered that $40 and wondered what had come of it. I asked Zac what he had done with it. He said he didn't touch the bag b/c he didn't want to loose the cash in it. Now, I admit totally that I have a hard time remembering things. My short term memory is horrible. So, I couldn't remember if I had gotten the money out when I took the chips out. Apparently I didn't. Zac (bless his heart) went out to the garbage can and dug threw it until he found my Wal-Mart bag with my $40 in it. Please keep in mind that in this garbage can was all weekend trash and we had friends over on Friday night. So it was a good bit of trash. Thanks to Zac for digging through trash to help me! Lesson learned this time!! Promise!! No more putting things in Wal-Mart bags unless they were actually bought at Wal-Mart!

The "Joke"r is on Us!

The weekend of technology

Yes, it was in fact the weekend of technology. Zac surprised me on Thursday night with a iPod Touch that he bought me for my birthday. By the way, it has to be the coolest thing I have ever had. I am sure the iPhone is much cooler but I, however, can not have one of those b/c you can only get it through AT&T and I think that sucks!! Anyway, that is another blog entry for another day. So I finally got my new iPod! Yea!! I had been trying to save extra money and all the birthday money I've gotten for it and now I don't have to!! I decided that I would use part of the saved funds for a bluetooth for my cell phone. I have never had one of those either. So we went to Best Buy yesterday and I got a bluetooth, a sleeve for my iPod Touch, and an arm band for the iPod so I don't have to stuff this one in my sports bra when we run. Ha!

While we were at Best Buy, of course, we have to look at the new LED TV's, home theater systems and appliances. By the way, the new LED TV's are freakin AWESOME! Maybe in the next few years we can actually afford one! And wow home theater systems have really come down in cost! You can get a good one now for like $200. You can also get them with BlueRay players that stream Netfix and Pandora! Right on your TV and you don't have to use the computer at all!! Freakin Sweet! Apparently, according to Zac that isn't new but I didn't know so it was new to me. Oh, what to get next?!?

When life hands you..... Jalapenos?!?

Ok, so there are a few things I need to blog about but just haven't had the time because of Carter being born and this past week being so crazy. So, here is my (hopefully) last canning experience.

Apparently, my whole family thinks we are going to be in another great depression and its going to cost $1000 for a loaf of bread because they all planted these huge gardens and done other things I'll get to later. My Uncle Wayne's garden is bigger than my dad's. Yes, its true. Any who, he had a bunch of Jalapenos he needed to give away. Well, what better person but me! Yea! I happen to actually like pickled Jalapenos. I mean they are great with tacos, nachos, salsa, Buffalo Chicken Dip and the list goes on and on. So of course my dear ole dad says hey you want to can these? Well of course I do! I LOVE to cut up vegetables that you have to wear gloves to touch! Yea!

So we take 2 Wal-Mart bags full home with us. And yes, that is how you measure the amount of things that come from your garden. Just in case you didn't know. We decided that we would can one bag as just regular jalapenos and the other we would do candied ones. If you've never had candied jalapenos your missing out! So we started with the regular ones first. Zac decided he would cut and I would wash so we could get more of the seeds out. We were trying to make them more mild. Is that possible really? We get started by gloving up. You must wear rubber gloves when you get hot peppers. My dad tried it once without gloves, not fun. So Zac starts cutting. Wow I had no idea they were so strong. I mean I knew they were strong hence the gloves but dang the babies are smokin! As he is cutting he is putting them in a bowl for me to wash. Not a great day to start getting a cold and have a sore throat by the way! As I am washing, I start to cough. After the cough comes sneezing. After the sneezing comes the watering eyes. Let me tell you that it was hurting me so bad that I had to take a towel and wrap it around my face. I looked like a member of the Taliban. Not joking. I had to take several breaks. I mean, really, should you have to take a break when you are just washing vegetables? Umm no, you shouldn't. Honey, these potatoes are just wearing me out. I think I need a break. NOT THE SAME THING!! Anyway, then Zac starts sneezing. I thought "Really? is it worth all the pain!?!" "Who decided this was a good idea? Damn those Mexicans and their wonderful food!" By the time the whole process was over we were both crying coughing and sneezing. It was terrible! No worries though, we did not contaminate the peppers. All in all we had 7 pint jars of pickled jalapeno peppers and no, Peter Piper never showed up to help!

Aunt Weesha x2

The newest member of our family arrived at 9:45 on July 27th. Four days before my 25th birthday, I might add. He is the most precious thing I have ever seen. They whole process started at 9 pm on the 26th. By 11:30 Chelsea and her entourage were at the hospital and in Labor and Delivery. I got there around 2 and we were just waiting on Chelsea's doctor to get there. She had been on vacation for like 2 weeks and Monday was her first day back. Thank goodness! I know Chelsea was relieved. They finally broke her water around 8 am and Landon Carter was born at 9:45. He was 5.3 and 19 inches long. He is such a beautiful little boy! I hope I get to see him grow up. And one day when he is old enough he will know the story of how he came to be. Honestly, nothing else matters now though. He is just wonderful.

My cousin Amanda, who is really like my sister, has a little boy named Taylor Evan. He is 3 and the best toddler I have met. He is so funny! He calls me Aunt Weesha and I gladly answer. Believe it or not he started calling me that on his own. So now I have 2 little boys in my life. I love them both so much! In February I will become Aunt Weesha x3. Yes, you guessed it, Amanda is preggo again and her due date is the end of February. Its not a leap year is it?!? Maybe when the new baby comes she will let me keep Evan more! Ha! I know she is going to need some help.

I never realized how precious kids are until I've had these guys in my life. Maybe one day I will have my own. Maybe....

Not me Wednesday

I would just like you to know that it definitely was NOT me who freaked out on Wednesday when I got in my car going to my parents and realized I had my hair up. And it was NOT me who frantically searched for a brush and bobby pins so I could just put my bangs up so the rest of my hair would cover where I pierced my ears. And it is definitely NOT me who is still scared to sell my daddy.

P.S. Thanks to Malisa for the inspiration.

Mid 20's Crisis

In keeping with the theme of this week, here is another first for ya. Let me preface this with another story. When I was 19, I decided that I was old enough to get the cartilage in my ear pierced. If any of you know my dad, you know that this is a good way to get your butt in some serious trouble. But, I figured, why not? I am plenty old enough to make my own decisions and I am an adult now. Wrong! As soon as my dad saw it, which was a week later, he told me to take it out or find somewhere else to live. So, obviously, I took it out. Not to mention the fact that he checked that night when I came home to make sure that it was in fact gone. I was not happy.

As I approach 25 next week, I decided that I was, in deed, was old enough now to get a 2nd hole in my ear, which I couldn't have either, and get my cartilage pierced too. Considering the fact that I am married and my19 year old sister is about to have a baby. I think I deserve the right. So last Friday I went and had it done. Happy Birthday to me! I really do like it though. For some people this may not be a big deal but for me its huge. Look at me being a rebel at 25! Woo hoo! Maybe next time I won't clean my room!

When life hands you cucumbers......

This is a long story so bare with me. With this being a week of firsts let me tell you about my recent "canning" experiment. I use this term canning loosely. Shouldn't it be call jarring really? Anyway, as a child I grew up watching my mom and grandmother "can" all types of wierd yet somehow wonderful goodies that were grown in our gardens. This year my dad for some reason unknown to me or anybody else but him decided to plant 9 cucumber plants. Again, I still have no idea why. It has been one of those "I thought it was a good idea at the time" sort of events. Not only did my father plant 9 cucumber plants but he planted them right next to the fill lines by their house. So you can imagine that they have grown rather nicely. We are all so over run with cucumbers its ridiculous! There are only so many cucumber and tomato salads I can handle!! We decided that the best thing to do is make pickels. When life hands you cucumbers, make freakin' pickles!! Honestly "canning" and just cooking in general like my grandmother does is a lost art. It kinda makes me sad to think that once she is gone food just won't be the same but then I think about our pickels and change my mind. Anyway, back to my canning. So here we go, we are going to make pickles. Of course, we had to borrow all the nessecary tools to do so from my mother. If you can imagine my tiny little kitchen, we had 3 walmart bags full of cucumbers, 12 quart size mason jars, a huge canning pot, a huge thing of vinegar, and all the cutting utensils to cut 3 bags of cucumbers. No room to even move in there! I cut up all the cucumbers while Zac was cutting grass that afternoon. I had a huge bowl full by the time he got in! Oh yeah that adds another thing to the list of crap in my counter! Nevermind the fact that I had to call my mother 3 times before we even started to make sure I was in fact doing everything right. After we argued about how full the pot was supposed to be (hinse the call to the mother) we started boiling the jars to saterlize them. The package of pickle mix says it would make 7 quart size jars. Well, we thought that would be plenty so we just got one. We started boiling the mix and vinegar while waiting on this other HUGE pot to boil with the jars in it. All that finishes and I started suffing the jars with the cucumbers and Zac is pouring in the boiling pickle mix. As we get to the 4th jar he says to me "We aren't going to have enough" 'What?!? What do you mean not enough?!?. The package says 7 we only have 4 done!" Well we didn't have enough. He had to go back to the store to get more mix. As we are getting to the 10th quart size jar in our 3rd hour of doing this he says to me "We aren't going to have enough to do the rest of these cucumbers" Me: "I am NOT making anymore pickles! Enough is enough. I like pickles but we can only eat so many. If my father offers us more cucumbers we are just going to have to tell him NO!" "I just can't do it! Just throw them away. I'm done with pickle making for this year" So we stopped at 10 jars.

On Sunday after our wonderful canoe trip I opened our bag of clothes so we could change and the whole bag smelled like pickles. Our clothes smelled like pickles. Our shoes smelled like pickles. Even our undies smelled like pickles! Everything we own now smells like pickles!! Thanks Dad, thanks a lot!

My very first post!

So here it is...my very first post to my own very first blog! How exciting for me! Ok, glad I got that out of my system now on to something more important. When I think of something I'll be back.