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!! :)