The Pumpkin Seed

Finn

2012-01-18T17:47:00.001-06:00

Our new nephew, baby Finn, was welcomed into the world this morning. We haven't met him yet, but judging by the pictures he is pretty darn cute. :o)

Remembering...

2012-01-10T00:22:00.000-06:00

Remembering my Uncle Charlie, who passed away yesterday.

I'm adding a link to my cousin's blog post...her father in her words.

2012 Goals

2012-01-02T14:21:00.001-06:00

I love coming up with goals for myself at the beginning of every year. I'm not always good at achieving them but I try anyway.

1 hour or less of computer Monday thru Friday...2 hours or less Saturday and Sunday (*per day)
**This is one that I plan to really focus on. I waste ridiculous amounts of time on the computer.

Read 2 books per month
**I really go in spurts with my reading. David bought me a Kindle for Christmas and I've already read 3 books, which is 3 more than I've read in the past 2-3 months.

Walk 30 minutes two times per week and Zumba two times per week
**I need to move more!

Pay off 1 credit card
**I still have college debt hanging over my head that I really need to get rid of!!

Make quinoa
**Because I always tell my friend Nicolle that I need to try it. I figure I'll actually remember to try it if I write it down.

Go vegetarian for 30 days
**Thinking I'll try this in the summer when fruits and vegetables are cheaper and taste better.

Run a 5K
**~~Probably~~ Definitely the scariest goal I've set for myself.

Keep up with Project 2012
**I thought this sounded like a fun project and so easy since you can use pictures from your cell phone.

Create a goal each month
**Mini goals that I'll set out to accomplish each month. I'll try to remember to blog about each one.

What are your goals for 2012?

Random

2011-12-19T21:14:00.000-06:00

Love these.

Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Nichole on Pinterest

You can find more here...
****
Nothing much going on around here.
We have a half day of school tomorrow, then we are off until January 3. :o)
I'm thisclose to being done with Christmas shopping. I just have a few stocking stuffers left to pick up.
Considering I've been gone from the blog for almost a month, I doubt I'll be back on this year.
So....hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year celebration!

Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Weekend Recap

2011-11-28T20:13:00.000-06:00

That's a long title for no more than I have to post about :o)

*Dave started Thanksgiving Day out by running in a Turkey Day 5K.

*My parents joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. Dave made a 19 pound turkey. Yes, a 19 pound turkey for the four of us.

*I did some Black Friday shopping at Wal*Mart here in town. Ugh, worst experience ever. I did get the sheets I wanted but that was all. There were too many people to even want to look for anything else. I also went to Sioux Falls with my sister-in-law and niece to hit the midnight sales. Craziness. I bought very little but the people watching at the mall was great.

*I saw this chick while I was waiting in line at Bath&Body Works. Her whole group was dressed in camo with the black under eye makeup. I saw lots of groups dressed in themes at the mall but this one was the best.

*I put up the Christmas decorations on Friday. I told my friend Nicolle that I feel like we have our Christmas decorations up in March or something. It doesn't feel like Christmastime at all.

*We had a Thanksgiving meal with Dave's family on Saturday.

*We spent Sunday being lazy and recovering from all the food/shopping ;o)

Have a good week!

~SNOW~

2011-11-19T20:47:00.000-06:00

We had our first snowfall of the season today. It didn't amount to much; just enough to cover the grass and leave a light sprinkling on the rest of nature.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas :o)

Failing

2011-10-19T19:58:00.000-05:00

So I'm failing at my personal challenge of posting every day. No surprise there eh?

Not much going on around here these days....

*My student that I told you about awhile back {the one with the voice}, was one of four students picked from her class to audition for honor choir. :o)

*My "friend" still isn't talking to me apparently.

*David and I went to the movie Moneyball over the weekend. It was SO good!

*Ok, my husband won't be quiet as I'm trying to type and I can't type and try to listen to him at the same time so guess that's all I got.

Easy breadsticks

2011-10-13T16:58:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd share a simple trick with ya today that I learned from my sister-in-law, Annie.

Take some refrigerated breadsticks and some Italian seasoning...

open your breadstick container {I HATE opening those things!}, separate the breadsticks, fold each one in half and give it a few twists, then sprinkle the seasoning on top.

{I got a little carried away with my seasoning over on the right there}

Bake according to the directions on the breadstick container.

These are so simple and so good! And, they make your kitchen smell really good while they are baking. :o)

Zucchini Bread

2011-10-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned the other day, I made zucchini bread on my day off. I used my new favorite recipe, which I found here.

Even though zucchini season is coming/has come to an end, I thought I'd share the recipe I used. It's definitely worth saving until next year!

Mom's Zucchini Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1.Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2.Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3.Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4.Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

**I omitted the walnuts and 1/4 cup sugar.

Rainy day

2011-10-11T17:12:00.000-05:00

Since we had the day off school yesterday {for Native American Day}, I decided to walked around the local gardens after Dave left for work. It had just finished raining...well more of a light drizzle. I had fun taking some pictures of the water droplets that were still hanging around.

I thought this tree branch looked cool with all the stuff {scientific term ;o) } growing on it.

I spent the rest of the day grocery shopping, doing laundry, and baking zucchini bread.

I ♥ long weekends!

Miscellany Monday

2011-10-10T08:12:00.000-05:00

1. My Saturday wasn't very exciting. I held down the couch pretty much all day. I think the only times I left it was to go to the bathroom. I was running a fever and just feeling yucky overall so I stayed home while Dave went to Sioux Falls to hang out with his family.

2. Sunday I woke up fever free and was feeling quite a bit better so I was able to attend my sister-in-law's baby shower. Totally forgot to take my camera with me so I have no pictures to share. It was a very nice shower. The food was awesome and she got a lot of great stuff for baby.

3. Since we don't have school today, I'm going to get some errands done and do some laundry. I lead such an exciting life :o)

Hope you have a great Monday!

Randoms

2011-10-06T19:16:00.000-05:00

I decided to go ahead with my personal challenge and write something every day this month. It's the sixth day of the month and I'm already out of things to write about. :o/

Sooo...randomness it is. Be prepared, you may get a lot of randomness this month. I guess that's really not anything new around here though.

I had a meeting with a parent at school today. I'd been dreading it since it was scheduled last week. It actually went pretty well. I'm so glad it's over and I don't have to stress about it anymore.

I'm getting a cold or something. I've had a sore throat and an earache all day. Why do sickness always show up for a long weekend?

One of my "friends" at work is giving me the cold shoulder for some reason this week. I kind of want to ask why but I don't want to make the effort to talk to her if she can't make the effort to talk to me. Mature, no?

Ok, that's all I'll bore you with today.

One more day til the weekend!!

#57 in your programs but #1 in your hearts

2011-10-05T00:05:00.056-05:00

David,
I'm totally going to regret that title since I've only heard it 100 or so times in the past couple weeks (ok, maybe not a 100 but close). ;o)
Thank you for being my confidant, my shoulder to cry on, my personal comedian, and my best friend. We've had a lot of ups and downs but there's no place I'd rather be than with you. And, even though you can be a real pain in my ass sometimes, I love you will all my heart. {Sorry, I couldn't be ALL mushy-gushy :o) }

Happy 30th Birthday!!!

I love you!
-Nichole

Some photos were stolen off Facebook :o)

Out for a drive

2011-10-04T18:15:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is go for a drive. I like to drive around town to look at houses and yard decorations for the different holidays. I also like to drive around in the country just to look at nature.

As I mentioned, Dave and I went for a drive out in the country on Sunday. The fall colors are showing strong in some places...

and in others they are just starting to come out.

We saw a farmer out combining. It's just a *little* dry out there.

We drove out to a nearby lake and walked around for a little while. It was so pretty out there.

Thankfully we didn't see any snakes while we were walking around out there. I saw two on the road while we were driving and even that gave me the heebie jeebies. Yuck!

Miscellany Monday

2011-10-03T19:13:00.000-05:00

-- Today in PE, the kids were practicing their football throws. I was watching one of my kids off to my right when all of a sudden I got nailed in the left boob with a ball. Kinda hurt a little.

-- The temperature today was 81. We are suppose to have 80s all week. I'm trying to enjoy it but it's fall...I'm ready for 50s and 60s!

-- I put away my fall decor yesterday and got out the Halloween decorations. It's hard to believe it's October already!

--I bought a few new Christmas tree picks/sprays while shopping the other day. 53 days til Black Friday!! Ohhh...the thought makes me so happy!! :o)

Weekend Recap

2011-10-02T20:07:00.000-05:00

Dave and his brother, Tony, ran a 5K Saturday morning. It was a pretty chilly morning. The temp was in the low 40s with a wind chill in the high 30s.

I had to stand across the road and face the sun to take pictures so they aren't the greatest.

starting (Dave in the yellow hat and Tony in the stocking hat)

Since it was chilly, I smartly sat in the car and drank hot chocolate and ate pumpkin bread while I waited from them to finish. :o)

finishing

Dave finished with a time of 26:13, his best time yet. Tony finished shortly after.

As soon as they were done running, I headed out of town to meet my mom so we could go to Sioux Falls. We did some shopping and visited my uncle in the hospital. He had a bone marrow transplant last week so he'll be in the hospital for quite awhile. He's doing pretty well right now considering all he's been through.

Dave and I hung out around home most of the day today. We watched the MN Vikings ~~lose yet another~~ game. After the game we took a drive out in the country.

I thought that line of trees was so cool looking.

Now we're just lounging again. I'm going to make some brownies soon so we can have warm brownies with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. :o)

Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week!

I'm gonna be a cryer....

2011-10-01T05:42:00.056-05:00

I've mentioned before that I'm not a public cryer. I don't know why, I just hate crying in front of people. Keep that in mind as you read this post.

Yesterday I was in a 4th grade music class and got to listen in as they practiced for honor choir auditions. Every kid in the class had the option to sit out if they didn't want to get up in front of the class to sing. The music teacher went through the list of kids and 2 of my kids had already opted out. She got to the name of my third child (I'm teaching a group of 3 this year) and asked if she wanted to try the song. I was quite surprised when the girl said yes and walked up in front of her whole class. The teacher ran her through a few warm ups then started to play the audition song (My Country Tis of Thee). I was shocked by her beautiful voice. I would say that out of the 12 or so kids that tried, she was one of the top two. I was SO proud of her for just getting up there in front of everyone and even more proud when everyone clapped for her when she was finished. I had to grab a kleenex and pretend to go blow my nose in the corner because I fighting back tears.....makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it now.

I love the kids I teach, I really do. But, I am somewhat concerned about the emotions they spark in me. If I get all teary watching them, what's it going to be like when I watch my own (future) children? I better get used to the thought now because I'm definitely going to be a cryer. :o)

Weekend Recap

2011-09-27T20:45:00.001-05:00

The highlights from last weekend.....

Saturday we went to our nephew's football game (he's playing center below).

(the one in front of #40)

We went out to the pumpkin patch early Sunday morning. It was a crisp, 45 degree morning.....perfect for picking pumpkins!

My husband always tries to get the biggest pumpkin in the patch each year....must be a guy thing.

And the results from our pumpkin picking trip:

________________
I'm thinking about doing a 31 for October type of challenge. The challenge would be to post every day in October. I'd really like to get in the rhythm of posting more frequently and I'm thinking maybe that would help me. I dunno. I still have a couple days to think about it.

Anyway, have a great week (what's left of it)!

Happy Fall!!

2011-09-23T04:58:00.072-05:00

I know I've said this before but I'll say it again - fall makes me happy!

There are so many things I enjoy during this wonderful season:

pumpkin picking
stepping on crunchy leaves
wearing sweaters
enjoying cool temperatures
hot chocolate drinking
eating Halloween candy
cuddling under a cozy blanket
football watching
giving thanks at Thanksgiving
decorating for the holidays

Ahhhh....I LOVE this time of year!! Maybe it's just because the heat is gone and I'm not so crabby ;o)

For anyone who may be mourning the passing of summer, here's a few fall photos to get you in the mood for fall.

Source: applecidernpumpkins.blogspot.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Source: gardenofsimple.tumblr.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Source: applecidernpumpkins.blogspot.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Source: 3cheers4mom.blogspot.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Hope ya all have a great weekend!!

Weekend Recap

2011-09-18T18:17:00.000-05:00

Dave and I had a really nice weekend. We had some professional pictures taken on Saturday. Last spring, if you made a donation to the Cancer Society, you could get a session with a local photographer. The pictures turned out well. Now we just have the hard part of deciding what to order.

We stopped at WalMart Saturday afternoon and I was SO excited to walk in and see this:

I know a lot of people think it's too early and blah, blah, blah. But, I love it and it makes me happy. :o)

It was windy and cool (somewhere in the 50s I think) Saturday so I had my first hot chocolate of the season. Yum!!

We also went to the SD Special Olympic softball tournament yesterday and today. We got to watch the two boys I taught the past two years and two of the students I'm teaching this year. It was so fun to watch them play and to have them be so excited that I came to see them. Dave and I both got kisses and lots of hugs from one of the boys. :o)

Hope you all had a great weekend too!!

Remembering

2011-09-11T10:34:00.001-05:00

This might not be of interest to anyone else but I wanted to write down what I remember. Even though now it feels like just yesterday, I’m sure the day will come when some of the memories fade.

I was in college in 2001. I woke up the morning of September 11th to my alarm going off. I had it set so the radio would come on rather than beeping. It took me a few seconds to realize that the man on the radio was not just a commercial or the local news but a man talking about an attack in New York City. I got out of bed and went to the living room to turn on the TV to see what was happening. I remember seeing two buildings on the screen with smoke rolling out of them. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. I didn’t really know what the Twin Towers were before that date. I watched for a few minutes then quickly got ready to head to my class. At that point, I didn’t understand the enormity of it all. For some reason, all I was thinking about were buildings and airplanes. I hadn’t yet thought of all the people in the buildings or on the airplanes.

I arrived at my Social Problems class in the Rotunda and the whole room was buzzing with talk of what was happening. Professor Redlin came in shortly after I arrived. She said that she had received a few emails and phone calls from students saying they wouldn’t be attending class that day because they wanted to continue watching the coverage on TV. I can’t remember what else was said during class but she didn’t keep us long.

I turned my TV back on when I got home and the first thing I heard was “the Twin Towers are no more.” I remember thinking, “They’re still there, they just have holes in them” (a horrible thought, I know, like I said I hadn’t yet understood what was really happening). Then when I saw the buildings had collapsed I thought “Oh my God, they really are gone.” That’s also when I learned of the Pentagon crash and the plane crash in a Pennsylvania field.

I continued watching TV until my next class (a human development class, I think it was Adulthood) at 3 pm. Of course the class discussion was about the day’s happenings. Professor White talked about how this would lead to war. He said he thought there would most likely be a draft. That really scared me considering my brother had just turned 18 in June. I can’t remember anything else he said that day but I left class feeling even more scared.

Later that afternoon my friends Hillary and Lory stopped over to talk about what had happened. At some point that evening I talked to my mom. Sometime after I hung up with my mom, my friend Tonya and I decided we should go get in line to get some gas. There was all kinds of speculation that the price of gas of going to skyrocket so we wanted to fill our tanks in case that happened. I’m not sure how long we actually spent in line waiting to get gas, but I think it was around a half hour wait.

I had a hard time going to sleep that night. I felt so unsafe and so unsure of what might happen next.

It’s interesting how the memories stop there. I don’t have any specific memories from September 12 or the few days that followed.

A few other random things I remember from that day:
- Carson Daly on MTV saying something like “We’re going to stay live here. Other stations across the country are probably just showing clips on the news but we’ll stay live”. I was thinking….Really? This was an attack on America that happened in New York. Why wouldn’t all news channels stay live?
- Channels like QVC and HGTV went off air sometime during the day.
- Watching President Bush address the American people that night and feeling very proud of our country.

Encourage

2011-09-09T20:27:00.000-05:00

Source: mth2011.tumblr.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Miscellany Monday

2011-09-05T13:51:00.000-05:00

1. We've had a nice preview of fall this holiday weekend. We woke up to temperatures in the 40s and had daily temps in the 60s over the weekend and today.

2. Since the weather was so awesome, it put me in the fall mood. I put out my fall decor yesterday. I even bought some mums to replace my dying flowers on the patio.

3. Dave and I had a pretty relaxed weekend. We mostly just hung out around home all weekend. Last night we had supper with my brother-in-law's family.

4. Today I am baking zucchini bread. Hopefully it turns out better than last year's flop. My husband is at Target Field watching the Minnesota Twins game.

That's all I've got. :o) Hope you all are enjoying the holiday weekend!!

First week love

2011-09-02T23:24:00.000-05:00

Well we made it through the first week of the school year. I'm not going to lie, I'm really glad this weekend is a 3 day! I much prefer when school starts on a Wednesday or Thursday for the first week. Even though it was a long, tiring week there were a lot of things that happened that reminded me why I love my job.

I love:
meeting new students
seeing kids that I used to have at daycare/preschool as big 4th graders
getting random hugs throughout the day
seeing the boys in their football jerseys on Fridays
reconnecting with my coworkers
when students I taught last year are excited to see me again
4th grade humor {most of the time anyway}

Yup, I love my job :o)

Weekend Recap

2011-08-29T18:43:00.001-05:00

Dave and I, along with my parents, headed out to Pierre this past weekend for my cousin's wedding.

I have only been to Pierre once so it was fun to go the capitol building and look around at the grounds.

We also went to the Oahe Dam and spillway to see all the water that was still flowing through from the releases earlier this summer. Even though the flow was lower than earlier this summer, it was still quite impressive.

I didn't get very good pictures at the wedding...and I kind of forgot about my camera at the reception. The pastor had a very good message during the ceremony. He spoke of not relying on feeling love, but making the choice to love....that even when the feeling isn't there, you can make the choice to love. Much better message than some I've been to that have talked about divorce and other topics that I really don't think belong in a wedding ceremony.

Anyway, my cousin is the groom. He was my favorite cousin when we were growing up. He's such a funny guy and is just a lot of fun to be around.

Now all the grandkids on my mom's side are married except my brother. I think it's going to be a looong time before that changes too. :o)

Hope ya all have a great week!

Weekend Recap

2011-08-22T17:27:00.000-05:00

We spent this past weekend in Yankton. Dave ran the 5k Saturday morning.

Just starting out (Dave's in the red with the yellow hat, his friend James is next to him in blue)

Crossing the finish line

This was the fourth 5K Dave has ran. He finished with his best time yet, 27:59.

After the race

How awesome is this lady who also competed in the 5K?!

We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with the family. :o)

Befores and afters

2011-08-19T06:37:00.122-05:00

Last week I made a list of all the things I'd like to get done before we head back to school. One of the things on the list was to do something about the blank wall in the kitchen. I really didn't want to spend any money since I have plenty of things around here to use. Problem was, nothing I had really worked on the wall.

So, I dug out this shelf and tried to find a way to make it work.

I wasn't overly thrilled with the way it looked (I just hung it on some nails that were already there as I tried to decide if I could make it work). I thought with a little makeover it might just work. I bought the shelf at a rummage sale when I was in college for $1 (I think) so I wasn't afraid to experiment with a different look.

So I took a hammer to it

and sawed the legs down (legs? I dunno what to call them). Yup, I sawed it right on the living room floor.

Here is the after

Ignore the decorations please. I'm not sure what to put up there yet. Soon I'll have holiday decorations up there to take me through the next few months so I'll be set for awhile. Oh, yes, the autumn plate. I knew I wanted something on the platter so I cut some vinyl with my Cricut. Since it's almost fall, I figured why not? I got a Christmas one ready to go too :o)

(I got the idea here.)

I finally found some brown zebra fabric at Hobby Lobby last week. I recovered some lamp shades with the fabric.

Before

and after

My hair before

and after

Okay, one last before and after. I got this idea from Pinterest (you can find the original post here).

Before (sort of, forgot to take pics before I started spraying)

and after

So easy...just glue two frames together to make a chunky frame. Love it! Really love that it was free since I already had the frames and the paint. Now I just need to get a picture that actually fits the frame in there....and figure out what else to put on that shelf....oh yeah, and finish that to do list!

Because...

2011-08-17T21:43:00.000-05:00

Because I'm too lazy to get some of my projects done..
Because I'm too lazy to load the pictures onto my computer of the projects I have completed...
Because I'm ~~going into labor~~ having horrible cramps this week (TMI? sorry) and don't feel like doing anything...
Because I want to post something but don't have anything to write about/show you due to the above reasons...

I'm going to share a few of my pins from my Random stuff that makes laugh and/or smile board.

Source: polyvore.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Source: femailcreations.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Source: weheartit.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Maybe tomorrow I'll be more motivated to show you some things I've done lately.

Miscellany Monday

2011-08-15T10:38:00.000-05:00

- David and I went to The Help yesterday. As I told my mom, you know a movie is good when the credits start rolling and no one gets up to leave. I liked it, a lot. I loved the book, but I felt a much wider range of emotions during the movie. I had to fight back tears quite a few times. I'm not a public cryer (or I try really hard not to be at least), even when in a dark theater.

- I went to Hobby Lobby on Saturday and got a few fall pieces. I'm so excited to put them out!!

- I'm getting my hair cut on Wednesday. I can't wait! I'm thinking about going fairly short so maybe I'll actually fix it for school this year. We shall see what the stylist thinks.

- David will be running a 5K this coming Saturday.

- I've been working on a list of things I want to get done before school starts. Nothing like waiting until the last few weeks of vacation to do what I should have been working on all summer.

Free {Christmas} Shopping!!

2011-08-12T14:53:00.001-05:00

Just think, in four short months the holiday season will be in full swing. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to do some of that Christmas shopping for free??

Want to know how to do some free shopping of your own? Join Swagbucks! If you head over and join during the month of August and enter the code AUGUSTBONUS you'll receive 50 extra Swagbucks!! So, for signing up now you will receive a total of 80 Swagbucks (a $5 Amazon gift card is only 450 Swagbucks so that's a good start!).

Last year I was able to do some free Christmas shopping on Amazon thanks to the Amazon gift cards I'd earned through Swagbucks. I love buying presents but it's even more fun when you don't have to open the checkbook (not to mention that it eases the financial burden of buying for so many people).

Earning points is as easy as searching through the Swagbucks toolbar, watching videos, answering polls, and playing games (there are other ways too but those are how I get most of my bucks).

PS - There are other great items and gift cards you can purchase with your Swagbucks, but I always get the Amazon GCs. Think of all the things you can buy on there: Kindles, DVDs, TVs, clothing, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

PPS - It's fun to "buy" free stuff any time of the year! So, even if you don't buy Christmas gifts you can earn free stuff for yourself or your family!! :o)

Disclosure: referral link used

Flowers

2011-08-11T17:17:00.001-05:00

Towards the end of May I planted a bunch of zinnia seeds. I picked up a few different types of seed this year, some I've never planted before.

I think I might have planted too many seeds in too small of an area because they aren't doing much. I cut over three fourths of what's open and this is all I've got

the Giant Cactus (so far this is the only one I've gotten to bloom of this variety)

Violet Queen

Lilliput (these are cute, tiny flowers)

I think these are suppose to be Enchantress though they don't look like the picture on the package at all..

I think these are Purity though they don't look like the package either (just not as full of a flower)...

Anyway, that's pretty much what has bloomed so far. I'm hoping more of the Giant Cactus will open...I think those are pretty fun!

I would show ya all the flowers on our patio too but my petunias look like crap. They are all spindly and my sweet potato vine is being eaten like crazy by some kind of bug out there.

That's ok though...I'm ready to move on to fall decor ;o)

Miscellany Monday

2011-08-08T22:38:00.000-05:00

- I had an AWESOME weekend. I rode home with my brother Friday afternoon and spent the whole weekend at my mom's. I got in a lot of family time and friend time, which makes me a happy girl. Some things I did while home:
-- spent some quality time with my brother. I laughed a lot and learned some things about him that I maybe didn't need to know ;o)
-- went shopping with my mom
-- went out for supper with my mom and dad Friday night
-- had Sunday lunch and supper with my family
-- visited my Grandma H. and listened to her interesting stories she had to tell that day (she has Alzheimer's)
-- spent time with my friends Tasha and Trisha

-I took my camera home with me so I could get pictures while I was there. It sat in the camera bag the whole weekend so I have zero pictures from the weekend.

- My flowers were looking pretty sad today since they hadn't been watered for three days (forgot to ask Dave to do that for me while I was gone). So, I spent a good half hour watering them only to have it rain an hour later.

- Halloween candy is on the shelves :o)

- I ordered some shoes last week. They arrived today and they are too tight :o(. I have the hardest time finding shoes that fit right.

- That's about it. Nothing too exciting around here. I'm just enjoying the last couple weeks of summer break :o)

PS - I found out about Misc. Monday over at This Southern Girl's Nest and thought I'd start joining in too :o)

Bedroom makeover...need your help

2011-08-03T23:45:00.000-05:00

So I'm wanting to makeover our bedroom a bit. It's never really been "done". Mostly because I didn't want to spend much money it. And, I still don't so I'm going to have to get creative.

Right now we have chocolate brown and a little deep red in there. I'm thinking I want to add some chocolate brown zebra in there just to jazz things up a bit. I have no idea if zebra prints are still "in" or are on their way out. I don't care. I like it.

I'm not going to go all crazy like this:

I'm thinking just recovering our lampshades with zebra....if I can find chocolate zebra fabric anyway. Living in a town where Wal*Mart is the only "fabric store" makes it difficult. Ohhh..and if I could find some scrapbook paper with that pattern I could makeover a few things for super cheap.

Ok, anyway, here's where I need your help. We have just a basic metal frame on our bed...no headboard or anything. I really want to raise the bed up 4-6 inches but don't want to buy those bed risers at the stores. We'd need two sets which would be around $40 and that doesn't equal cheap. So what I'm thinking about doing is taking the wheels off the frame and setting the legs on bricks. I read about it here. So, have any of you tried bricks or anything similar? Did it work? I'm thinking this sounds like a cheap, easy way to lift our bed up a few inches. But, I really don't want our bed to fall some night when I'm sleeping either.

Any thought, tips, or suggestions would be appreciated! :o)

August!

2011-08-01T15:54:00.001-05:00

Woo hoo it's August! Finally! :o)

Some things I'm looking forward to this month:

soooo excited to see this movie!!

source

watching this show again

source

Ok, I fully admit I watch a lot of stupid TV. This show probably wins the award for the stupidest though. What can I say? Its stupidity sucked me in.

heading to Yankton to watch my husband run in a 5k and do some shopping at the arts/crafts show (in the air conditioned mall...so much better than outside!)
attending my cousin's wedding
school starting! I'm a little nervous because I have to teach a class this year that I've never taught before {language arts}...could be interesting! :/
getting a little closer to fall!! Fall makes me happy :o)

Misc.

2011-07-27T01:07:00.002-05:00

My mom has been "on vacation" the past 6 days so she came up to visit. My dad and brother are doing a job in the area so we went to see their jobsite (they build electrical substations) while she was here. All I had with me was my camera phone so I couldn't get any close-ups.

_______
Why does the month of July drag on and on and on? I feel the same way about January.
_______

28 days until inservice starts. I'm kind of not ready for school this year. Good thing I have 28 days to get used to the idea.
_______

It's way past my bedtime (1:08 am) and I'm still not sleepy. I've spent the past few hours on Pinterest and looking at blogs. Super good use of my time. :s
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I ran across this tonight on Pinterest. You must read this post (unless you're offend by swear words....if so, skip it). So funny.

Source: thebloggess.com via Nichole on Pinterest

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Ohh...looks like tonight's episode of Teen Mom is replaying right now. Score! I spared my husband from that one tonight...totally made him sit through Pretty Little Liars though.
_______

And that's about all I got. I was planning to show you our super awesome volunteer pumpkin plant this week. But, some jerkface weed-eated it Monday morning. Sorry. I know you were dying to see a picture of a pumpkin plant.

PS - Happy Birthday ARod! Yeah, that was totally for my husband ;o)

Pinterest love

2011-07-13T14:49:00.002-05:00

Some things I've pinned...

Source: thehighdefinite.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark

Source: legumeloyalist.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Nichole on Pinterest

Source: sodahead.com via Nichole on Pinterest

I don't know why I love that picture of the little ol' ladies so much but I do. :o)

If you're not on Pinterest yet and would like to be, leave me your email address and I'll send you an invite. You don't have to have an invite to join but it's quicker than requesting one from the site itself.

Some stuff

2011-07-10T17:33:00.009-05:00

I posted this on my 101 blog but thought I'd post it here too. One of my goals was to take pictures of the sunrise and sunset on one day. Since I was awake bright and early on the 3rd I decided to go out and take some pics of the sunrise.

Sunrise

peeking through the trees

Sunset

shadows :o)

____________
We went to the Brookings Summer Arts Festival yesterday. We baisically go for the food :o) Dave ate shrimp, alligator (yuck), frog legs (gross), and a 10" Polish sausage. I had a pork loin sandwich that was really good. I had a huge dragonfly land on my shoulder while I was eating and the stupid thing would not get off me so for some reason I decided to brush it off with my sandwich. I finished the sandwich anyway since it was so good. Normally, knowing that a huge bug touched my food would gross me out and I wouldn't eat it. We got some doughnuts as we left the park that were pretty good too.
____________
We had an awesome lightning storm go through last night and I tried to get some pics. They're not the greatest since I have a really hard time keeping my hands still that long but I tried ;o)

____________
I watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation earlier today. It was on TV and I just couldn't pass it up ;o)

Hope ya all had a great weekend!

Going crazy?

2011-06-21T03:30:00.013-05:00

For the past few days I've been smelling cigarette smoke for no apparent reason. I'll be watching TV, lying in bed, doing dishes, etc. and all of a sudden I'll smell the smoke. It's driving me nuts! I HATE that smell and I can't figure out what's causing it.

I decided to Google it and to my surprise I didn't even have to type any more than "keep smelling" and it suggested the rest. Lots of people have this happen but no one seemed to have a reason as to why it happens.

Has anyone else had this happen? If so, do you know what caused it?

Until I figure it out I'll be sporting this look...

...because smelling my hand is the only thing that makes it go away.
{Just so you know, I don't put my hands in my armpits before smelling them ;o) }

pic source

A few things...

2011-06-20T00:19:00.001-05:00

Well I've thought about my blog a lot lately. But, obviously thinking about it is all I've done. I really haven't had anything to post about.

I guess I can tell ya that I finally cleaned out our oven last week. It was really bad...like it smoked as it preheated because there was so much junk on the bottom.

I can tell ya that I watched two movies this weekend while my husband worked 20 hours of overtime. I watched Love & Other Drugs {made me sad} and No Strings Attached {eh, it was ok}.

I can tell ya that I watched reruns of Swamp People because it's one of my favorite TV shows {it's in my top 5}.

I can tell ya that I read the book Something Blue {and really liked it}.

I can tell ya that I ate a {medium size} bag of M&Ms this weekend by myself and I had a piece of cake for breakfast Saturday morning. Yes, it's my TOM...why do you ask?

I can tell ya that I did 220 minutes of *Zumba last week {which hopefully will counteract the M&Ms & cake somewhat}.

I can tell ya that we had a beautiful, red sunset Friday evening. I was blog surfing late Friday evening after returning home from a prayer service for a wonderful woman who passed away from cancer. I happened to notice the reddish color peeking through our curtains so I got up to look outside. I grabbed my camera and took a few pics.

And that's about all I can tell ya.

Baseball!

2011-06-06T18:31:00.001-05:00

I spent a few hours watching my nephew play baseball this afternoon....

His team won their first game. I'm not sure about the second since I left about half way through. It was 95* and I'm a wuss when it's hot out. :o)

Weekend randoms

2011-06-05T18:00:00.000-05:00

My mom and I went shopping on Saturday. I got quite a bit of stuff that I've been wanting but not needing.

The best part is that it was guilt-free shopping because I used my birthday money and gift cards! Love that :o)

__
Are any of you using Pinterest? I'm loving it and am spending way too much time browsing! Let me know if you're using it and I'll see if I can figure out how to follow you :o)

__
My baby brother turned 28 on Saturday.

__
My flowers really took off this weekend. I was surprised to see how many had opened when I got back home Saturday evening. Now if I can just remember to water them more than once a week...

__
Hope ya all have a great week!

30 to 31

2011-05-27T11:40:00.000-05:00

Did anyone else have a hard time going from 30 to 31? Today is my birthday and I'm having a hard time with it this year for some reason. I've pretty much always thought age is just a number and never really understood why people lied about their age, got depressed around their birthdays, etc.

Last year I had a little bump in the road when I turned 30....nothing like this year though. I don't think it's really the number that bothers me so much as that I look back and feel like I should have accomplished more by this point.

Ugh...midlife crisis at 31...is that possible?

Oprah's Final Show

2011-05-26T12:31:00.000-05:00

So I watched the last Oprah show yesterday. I've never really been a loyal fan. Some weeks I might have watched 3 or 4 shows and some weeks I might not have watched any. But, I did make sure to sit down yesterday. I was glad I did. I liked the simplicity of it and appreciated a lot of the advice she offered.

Some of my favorite lines from the show:

Don't wait for someone else to complete you. 'Jerry Maguire' was just a movie.

People want to know 'Do you see me, do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything to you?' Try it with your children, your husband, your boss -- validate them. 'I see you. I hear you. And what you say matters to me.

My hope is you will be a safe harbor for somebody else. Connect, embrace, liberate, love just one person. Then spread that to two and see what a difference that makes.

Your life is speaking to you. What does it say?

A calling lights you up and lets you know you're exactly where you're supposed to be doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. Live from the heart of yourself. You have to know what sparks the light in you so you in your own way can illuminate the world. You have the power to change somebody's life.

There is a difference between thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing you are worthy of happiness. We often block our own blessings because we don't feel smart or pretty or worthy enough. The show's taught me you're worthy because you're born and you're here. You alone are enough.

Did you watch?

Saying Goodbye

2011-05-19T17:22:00.000-05:00

Today was the last day for two of the students I've taught for the past two years. They'll be moving on to middle school next year. Ugh, I'm so sad that I won't get to work with them anymore. I'm going to miss all the hugs, high fives, smiles, and cheers. I'll even miss all the sayings like"tartar sauce", "heavens no" and "oh yeah baby".

I'm so glad I got to be a part of their lives for the last two years, and so thankful they were a part of mine.

4 days!

2011-05-16T20:31:00.000-05:00

I'm so ready!

Heaven is For Real

2011-05-02T08:15:00.050-05:00

I read this book yesterday:

From Barnes&Noble:
A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven.

Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.

Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place.....

I was sort of disappointed by some of the reviews I read on B&N (I read them after I read the book). A lot of people had a lot of negative things to say. I personally thought it was a great book and it gave me a lot to think about. And, since my own personal views on religion are all that matter to me, I quit reading the reviews.

I highly recommend reading it if you haven't already. I wouldn't look at any reviews before you read it either so you have an open mind as you read.

If you've already read it, I'm interested to hear what you thought.

Spring?

2011-04-15T19:35:00.000-05:00

I'm glad to have a little spring inside....

...because outside it looks like winter.

Snow. I'm over it.

"This is you"

2011-04-05T16:41:00.000-05:00

So yesterday one of my students was talking back, having a hard time following directions, etc. It went on for awhile and finally I told him that he had to sit in our other room in the "time out" area. I let him take a coloring sheet and some colored pencils with him since he wasn't in big trouble but just needed some time away from the class.
About 10 minutes later I went back to the other room to get him. He was still a little grumpy as he handed me this picture and said, "This is you." At first I wasn't sure what he was talking about because all I saw was this:

But then I noticed this in the corner:

It's always nice to see yourself through your student's eyes. ;o)

Do you ever...

2011-04-02T23:34:00.000-05:00

Do you ever want to write a post but have nothing to say?
Do you ever feel like everything you've ever written looks/sounds stupid?
Do you ever feel like going through your old posts and deleting the ones that really look stupid?
Do you ever want to stop blogging all together?
Do you ever want to click the delete blog option?

Just wondering.

No title

2011-03-16T17:31:00.000-05:00

So, I haven't been around much lately. I feel like all I've done this winter is gone to work and then come back home. I'm hoping that that will change now that the weather is getting nicer. So hopefully I'll have more things to write about soon.

Last night we went to see a play in Sioux Falls called *Avenue Q*. Oh my gosh, I LOVED it! I really didn't know much about it before we went so when the first few puppets came out my first thought was "What the hell am I in for for the next 2 hours?!?" I still don't understand why some characters were just regular people and not puppets but whatever. It was so funny.

There was one song that I particularly loved so I'll share it with you.

There were a lot of really funny parts so if you ever get the chance to see it, I recommend doing so!

Tomorrow is my Friday! I don't have any interesting plans as of now for the weekend but hopefully something will come along. Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Don't Forget....

2011-03-12T21:18:00.000-06:00

Hope you're having a great weekend!

The past few weeks....

2011-03-07T06:46:00.028-06:00

Not a lot going on around here the past few weeks. Just been going to work, etc. Nothing too exciting.

This past weekend was a three day weekend for us, which was very nice. We have three day weekends the next two weeks too.

I finally got my hair cut on Friday. It's been awhile since I've done anything with it. My hair hadn't been that long since high school and it was starting to drive me nuts!

BEFORE:

I about died when she was finished cutting & styling my hair and I finally got a look at it in the mirror.

AFTER:

The length was fine as I was ready to go quite a bit shorter. But, the curliness of it? Gah, yuck. I have naturally curly hair and apparantly she wanted to play that up. So, I told her I liked it (which I wasn't quite a lie since I just didn't like how curly it was) and paid her. I immediately came home, took some pics, and then ran my straight iron through it.

Ahhh...much better. Just gotta work on that duck tail.

Hope you all have a great week!

PS...Yes, I know I look totally thrilled in my pics. Do you have any idea how "un-fun" it is to take pics of yourself in the mirror?

Annoyed

2011-02-13T14:09:00.000-06:00

This is why I haven't blogged in the past week:

My laptop screen died on me last weekend. Let me just say how much I hate -HATE- Dell computers. I've had this laptop a little over a year and a half. Just long enough that the warranty has expired but not long enough that I thought something as major as the screen dying would happen.

My husband hooked up an old monitor so I can at least have something to use.

Seriously annoyed with DELL and it's crappy computers.

Fab Five Friday

2011-02-04T06:30:00.004-06:00

I don't have five pictures to share this week but I thought I'd share the few I do have. I went out Monday morning and took a few shots of the snowflakes as they hit my jacket. These are much more detailed snowflakes than I posted a few weeks ago.

I'm linking up with Nichole :o)

Homemade Applesauce

2011-02-02T08:15:00.054-06:00

So we had another snow day yesterday (yay!). Since I was up early, I decided to run to the store quick and get some supplies to make homemade applesauce.

Do you have any idea how easy it is to make it in your crockpot? I had no idea.

So this is all you have to do...

buy or pick some apples (I used Gala)....

peel them....

chop 'em up and throw 'em in the crockpot.....

dump a little water in, sprinkle a little sugar on top, a couple squirts of lemon juice, and put the lid on. I had my crockpot on high and about 2 1/2 hours later it was ready.

So easy and so good! I put some on my oatmeal this morning. My new obsession is this website and all her oatmeal creations. Who knew there were so many ways to eat oatmeal?

Anyway, back to the applesauce. I used this site as a guide because I wasn't really sure how to go about making the applesauce. Easy to follow, she even says it'd be hard to mess up. And the name of her blog makes me giggle, cuz I'm mature like that (please tell me I'm not the only one).

Shots from Saturday and Sunday

2011-02-01T10:52:00.026-06:00

Bought these super sexy shoes at *Walmart. I know, I shouldn't have shown you, now you'll want some too ;o) Story behind these to come later.

Cleaned the office after our annual Christmas explosion. It went from this

to this after a couple hours of cleaning.

Still needs a little organizing but at least we can walk in without risking injury.

Went out for supper Saturday night and finally got my salad I was craving earlier last week.

A car pulled up outside Sunday afternoon with icicles "growing" out of the roof.

Ended the weekend with homemade custard and apple dumplings.

Snow Day!

2011-01-31T10:49:00.000-06:00

I got a call at 5:30 this morning saying there was no school today. To be honest, snow days are just as much fun for me as they are for the students!

My very scientific measurement :o)

About 7 1/2 to 8 inches anywhere I measured. As you can see here it's still coming down pretty heavily too.

I was just thinking I was sick of snow. A snow day totally makes it worth it though!

Today's Miscellaneous

2011-01-25T19:55:00.000-06:00

I'm so over winter. Maybe not winter so much but definately over the cold weather. Today with the wind chill it was 4 degrees at noon...and it felt warm if that tells ya anything about how cold it has been lately.
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After lunch recess my boys came back to the room and got ready for handwriting. They got through their assignments with little whining, which was a bonus. I turned my back on them for just a minute while I turned on the -SMART Board for social studies. When I turned back around I realized one of students had left the room without asking. I walked out toward the drinking fountain and saw that he was filling my water bottle. Before he saw me, I asked him what he was doing. He turned to me with a huge smile on his face and said, "I filling you bottle."

Yes, a pretty sweet thing for him to do since he had noticed my bottle was nearly empty. What he apparently thought was even nicer was that he decided to test out my bottle for me by taking a few drinks before he gave it back.
_____________

I was craving a salad from a local restaurant all day. Thinking it'd be cheaper, I decided to go to the grocery store and buy some items to make my own for supper.

I bought this dressing:

I got my salad assembled and decided to give the dressing a try before I actually put it on the salad. Eww..it was horrible. So I ran out to Walmart quick to get more dressing because I was determinded to have my salad tonight. I got three bottles just to be safe...

Luckily all of them were pretty good. So...$18 later I had my "cheaper than the restaurant" salad. Should have just gone the easy and cheaper route and called for carry out on the salad I really wanted!

I had this with my salad and it was really good (for a microwave meal).

I cooked mine on the stove though since we don't have a microwave.
_____________

Has anyone else been watching this?

It's one of my guilty pleasure shows. David kind of thinks I'm dumb for watching it. I wouldn't say he's totally wrong about that one but I watch it anyway. One of the moms is a South Dakota girl so I'm always trying to spot things I recognize from her area in the show.

Fab Five Friday

2011-01-21T18:57:00.000-06:00

My friend Frizzy is hosting Fab Five Friday where you share your five favorite photos from the week. It's too cold right now to take pictures of anything outside so I went through some of my old photos so I had something to share.

A couple butterfly shots from the local gardens a few summers ago...

A swan that lives on the lake in my hometown...

A hot air balloon that went over us one day as we were leaving Dave's mom & dad's house...

Cottage in the local gardens....

Shots from Saturday and Sunday

2011-01-17T11:20:00.001-06:00

On our way to the library Saturday morning we saw this accident. No idea how they ended up on someone's front lawn. Must have been quite the ride though.

New library books

Ate one (or two) of these this weekend. I love Easter candy.

Snow pile on our patio

Grocery shopping

Weekend Recap

2011-01-10T19:09:00.000-06:00

Well we spent another weekend at home. I think I left our place three times - one Walmart trip, out for supper Saturday night, and grocery shopping on Sunday. So..we spent a lot of time at home over the weekend and I enjoyed every bit of it too!

The snow started to fall again yesterday around 11a and it's still falling now. Not sure how much more we've gotten...maybe 4 or 5 inches. We got to start school late today due to slick roads. It was a nice way to start out a Monday morning!

A snowball that "grew" on the tree today...

Well...it looked more like a ball in person.

Hope you all have a great week!

Crockpot Chicken

2011-01-06T20:00:00.000-06:00

Our supper tonight was so good and so easy.

I can't decide if that picture makes it look gross or appetizing. Anyway, I just did a little prep work last night of washing potatoes, carrots, and the chicken. This morning I just threw the potatoes, carrots, and some onion in the crockpot and poured a little water over top. Then I put the chicken on top of that, put the lid on, and turned it on low. Super fast and easy. When I came home from work I just turned the temp down to keep warm so the chicken wouldn't dry out before supper time.

This was only the second time I've thrown a whole chicken in the crockpot. I'm not sure why I don't do it more often.

Do you have any good crockpot recipes? I'd like to start making more meals in ours since it's so darn easy.

The past few days (or week, whatever)...

2011-01-04T07:45:00.024-06:00

Today is my last day of Christmas vacation. Looking back I didn’t do a whole lot over break and I'm ok with that because it has been one of my most relaxing and favorite breaks.

-David and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day here. Earlier in the week the weathermen had forecasted a decent snowstorm coming our way so we changed our plans to head to my parent’s house from Christmas Eve/Day to New Year’s Eve/Day. The storm totally fizzled out and left us with only an inch or two of snow though.

-We had Christmas with David’s side of the family on the 26th.

-We met my parents for brunch at The Cracker Barrel in Sioux Falls to exchange gifts on the 28th. Another snowstorm was forecasted and it didn’t sound good so we thought we’d better meet up while we had a chance.

-December 30th the storm started with rain. I can’t remember a time when we had rain in the end of December. It made for a "nice" layer of ice once the snowstorm started.

-New Year’s Eve thru New Year’s Day - Dave and I hung out at home. We got about 5 inches of snow and lots of wind. Good thing we’d already cancelled our plans with my parents because no travel was advised due to the blizzard covering much of the state. Dave hooked up the surround sound he bought me for Christmas. We also ventured out to Walmart…not our smartest move since the snow was still blowing and visibility was horrible. But, we did score some Christmas ornaments for 75% off and I got Eclipse (the first movie we watched with SS hooked up).

-I finally took care of that laundry pile. We added to it for a couple more days before I just couldn’t handle it anymore.

-I relaxed…a lot. I got to spend a lot of time with my husband, watch movies, read magazines, take naps, bake, sleep in, and stay up late and not feel guilty for doing it.

Hope you all had a relaxing holiday too. I know I'm a little late but Happy 2011!

Why?

2010-12-28T16:10:00.000-06:00

Why do I let this happen?

Things you should know about me if we're going to be BFF

2010-12-21T21:17:00.001-06:00

So yesterday Ashley at Little Miss Momma had a really fun post yesterday called Things you should know about me if we're going to be BFF. She did another today and added a linky party to it.

Some things you should know about me....

I hate staying in hotels. Sleeping in a bed where thousands of other people have slept (and *ahem* done other things) makes me want to puke. And the thought of other people drooling on the pillow I am suppose to put my head/face on? Gag. And no, I’m not going to take my own pillow and blanket…unless they can go in the garbage afterward…I’m not taking that back to my bed.

Feet gross me out. Please never put your bare feet on me. Yuck.

Actually lots of things gross me out….swimming pools and hot tubs (no, I do not want to take a bath with you), people who cough on their hands then don’t sanitize (use your flippin’ elbow people, what’s the point of covering if you’re just going to spread it around with your hands anyway??), grocery carts, public bathrooms….ok I’ll stop there so I don’t scare you off.

I love to drive around. I love driving through neighborhoods and in the country. Something about it just relaxes me.

I like to watch movies but often have a hard time staying awake through them.

I am a homebody so if you can just (mostly) always come to my place we’ll be good.

If you use the words retard or retarded while around me I’m likely to slap you upside the head. I hate those words…they make me cringe.

I don’t drink alcohol because it upsets my stomach. So….I can only drink if I drink a lot, which I prefer not to do.

If I’m really comfortable around you (which I would be if you were my BFF, obviously) you’re going to hear me burp. Sorry, I know it’s gross. But, I promise I will never fart (purposely anyway).

I'm getting old. Yes, I really am. I bought packaged underwear a couple weeks ago. I do believe that is the first sign of old age.

I love to laugh (who doesn’t?). Sometimes though, if something strikes me as especially funny, I can’t stop. There have been a few times at work (school) where my students have said things that I just can’t get over. I’ll laugh….then stop…..then I’ll think of it again…and try really hard not to laugh….so I’ll put my head down so they can’t see my face…I try really hard not to laugh out loud…..so my body starts to shake from my inner laughter….then a weird noise usually comes out and I just can’t help but laugh out loud. Usually everyone else has moved on by that time so I get some weird looks. Just thought you should know.

Public displays of affection make me gag. I believe you really like/love your significant other. You don't have to show me.

I love Christmas. Just so you know, I listen to Christmas music 99% of the time from Thanksgiving until Christmas Day. And I watch Christmas movies, a lot.

You might not want to visit me on the weekends. I normally don't shower unless we're going somewhere. Because, let's face it, showers truly are optional on the weekends (yes David it's true).

I like to hear other people’s opinions about things and discuss them. My friend Christa and I have had some really good conversations at work because our views differ on so many things.

My husband is my #1 BFF, so hope you’re okay with taking the BFF #2 position :o)

What should I know about you?

Pic sources 1 & 2

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

2010-12-20T14:53:00.000-06:00

Woohoo!! We got out of school at 1:30 today due to the snow. I am loving the snow this year for some reason...usually I'm not so into it. I'm not sure I'll still feel the same in March/April but for now I'll take it!

I wish you could tell how deep the snow the snow is on the road....it was rubbing on the undercarriage of my car.

We are forecasted to get between 4-6 inches but I think we must be close to 6" already and it's still snowing.

I'm off to make some Chex mix :o)

Shots from Saturday and Sunday

2010-12-19T17:33:00.000-06:00

Yeah, so I don't have any pictures from the weekend. I was tired and lazy. My weekend in bullets...

finished Christmas shopping
bought paint at Lowes
painted picture frames
hung picture frames
went out for supper with my husband
bought groceries
took a nap
looked for meal ideas
watched movies

So as you can see we had a pretty lazy weekend. I'm so ready for Christmas break. Two and a half days this week then we're off til January 5th.

Hope you all have a great week!

Shots from Saturday and Sunday

2010-12-13T00:44:00.025-06:00

Saturday

Blizzard!

Christmas baking

Sunday

What a difference a day makes! Taken same time of day as Saturday's pics.

Frost on the bedroom window

Sunday Thought - Did you hear that?

2010-12-12T17:05:00.000-06:00

Some of you will probably think this is disgusting....I think it's hilarious. Sorry.

Happy Sunday! 12 more days :o)

Shots from Sunday

2010-12-06T07:00:00.031-06:00

Sunday morning snowfall

Outside in my pajamas taking pictures

Snowflakes on my jacket

Christmas cards ready to mail

My husband telling me he's having fun writing his part of the Christmas cards....making me wonder what he's writing

Vikings game

Wrapping presents

Sunday Thought

2010-12-05T16:00:00.016-06:00

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.

~W.T. Ellis

source

Snow! (Finally!!)

2010-12-04T18:46:00.000-06:00

We finally got some snow yesterday! We've had snow just a couple times so far this season but nothing more than a dusting. I think we only got a couple inches, but I'm so glad to have it! It finally feels like Christmas is just a few weeks away.

Have a good weekend!

It's the hap-happiest season of all

2010-12-01T14:50:00.057-06:00

David and I spent Thanksgiving together at home. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (ok I cheated and made Stove Top), rolls, and cranberry sauce (the awesome kind that plops out of and holds the shape of the can). David did an awesome job with the turkey. It was the first time he'd made a turkey but you wouldn't have known it for as great as it turned out.

I went Black Friday shopping with a couple of friends this year. We all got some good deals and made a big dent in our Christmas lists.

I spent the rest of the weekend decorating for Christmas. I am in LOVE with our new *white* Christmas tree. I've always used white lights to decorate our trees so this one is especially fun since I picked one with multi-colored lights. I also traded the white lights on our kitchen tree for multi colored this year.

Yeah, that one is kinda crammed up under the cupboard but it's the only spot that works so I just pretend like it's not stuffed under there. I couldn't get a shot of it with the lights off either.

This next tree is the one my husband bought me last year. It holds the vintage ornaments that he also bought for me last year.

The last one is our main tree. For some reason I'm not loving it this year like I did last year.

Now we just need some snow so it actually feels like Christmas is coming!!

Oldies But Goodies

2010-11-30T17:50:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple more of my favorite Christmas time treats. The links will take you to the recipe and also give photo credit.

Original Chex Mix Recipe

Puppy Chow

Sunday Thought

2010-11-28T08:11:00.000-06:00

You just have to decide if you’re a Tigger or an Eeyore.

-Randy Pausch (from The Last Lecture)

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

2010-11-23T07:00:00.023-06:00

Here's another of my favorite Christmas treat recipes. I've posted this before but it's definitely worth revisiting.

Here's what you'll need to make the cookie cups:
Refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
Reese's peanut butter cups minis
Mini muffin pans
Cooking spray

Grease mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Roll PB cookie dough into 1 inch balls and drop into mini muffin pan.

Bake at 350 for 11-13 minutes. Insert peanut butter cups into cookie immediately after removing from oven. Let cool. Run knife along edges of each cookie to remove from pan.

These are so easy and so good! The two packages of dough made about 55 cookie cups.

Sunday Thought

2010-11-21T08:00:00.018-06:00

Be thankful for what you have, you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.

-Oprah Winfrey

source

My Favorite Christmas Things

2010-11-20T10:02:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I happened to catch Oprah's Favorite Things show. I love watching her favorite things show; I get goosebumps every time she shows a new favorite and the audience screams/cries. How awesome would it be to be in that audience?!? She's doing another one on Monday if you're interested.

Anyway, I started going through my Google Reader while I was watching the show and saw that Melissa at 320 Sycamore was hosting a My Favorite things party. I always enjoy seeing other's favorite things. I thought I'd join in today too and show you my favorite Christmas things.

1. Black Friday

I LOVE shopping on Black Friday. My mom and I shop together so standing in line to pay isn't so bad since we have each other to talk to. We go a few hours after the stores open so we can still get the "doorbusters" but don't have to wait in line to get into the stores (and most of the crazies are out of the store by then).

2. Shopping for and wrapping presents

I have the best time shopping for Christmas presents. Sometimes it's a little frustrating when I have no ideas for a particular person but I still love it. I also really enjoy wrapping presents.

3. Peppermint Hot Chocolate from Starbucks

I suppose this is more of a winter treat but I only drink it in December so for me it's a Christmas treat.

4. Driving around looking at Christmas lights

Definitely one of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season. I'm not so much of a fan of seeing the blow up baby Jesus in a manger next to a Tigger on someone's lawn. But, bad decor is still good because decorated houses just make me happy.

5. Watching Christmas movies

A few of my favorites include It's a Wonderful Life (can you believe I saw this for the 1st time only two years ago?), Christmas with the Kranks, The Santa Clause movies, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

A few of my other Christmas favorites include baking Christmas cookies, listening to Christmas music, and putting out the Christmas decorations.

Thanks for hosting Melissa!

Picture sources 1 2 3 4 5

Golden Grahams Mix

2010-11-15T07:00:00.045-06:00

Can you believe there are only 39 days until Christmas?!? I'm so excited!!

Since we are so close to the holidays, I thought I'd start sharing some of my favorite holiday recipes with ya all.

This is a new favorite and I don't really have an actual recipe for this one. I have no idea what it's called so I'm just going to call it Golden Grahams Mix. I went into the lounge at work one day and it was there. I decided I'd make it at home that weekend so Dave could try it too.

What you need:
White almond bark - 1 lb.
Golden Grahams cereal - 1 box
Salted peanuts - 1 jar
Mixed nuts -small can
Pretzels - 1 bag

So, since I don't have a recipe this is what I did:
Melted half of the 1 lb bar of white almond bark in a 6 quart pot (I think that's the size I used).
Once melted, I dumped in a few cups of cereal, a couple handfuls of peanuts, about 1/4 of the can of mixed nuts, and a handful or so of pretzels.

Then I just mixed it all together until everything was pretty well covered. Next, I dumped it out onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. I stuck in the cookie sheet in the fridge while I did the next batch. Once the almond bark was hard, I just broke it into pieces then put it in a bowl.

I know, real exact but you could really alter this anyway you want. More cereal and less nuts, more nuts and no pretzels, etc. It's so easy and really good.

If know or have a name for this let me know! :o)

Sunday Thought

2010-11-14T19:37:00.000-06:00

source

Love/Hate

2010-11-09T18:10:00.000-06:00

It's November 9th and this is what it looks like across the street

Not a single flake of snow around. I'm trying to enjoy it, and some things I do love. I love not having to go outside early in the cold to start my car so it can warm up before I leave. I love that it's still easy to get around. I really love that it's been in the 60s the past few days so we can still be jacket-free (I hate wearing coats). And I love that winter won't seem to drag on forever since it's getting a late start.

But, I kind of hate that I'm ready for snow (just a little) and there's none.

Standard time, ugh. I took this picture at 5:15 this evening.

Yuck, I hate when it gets dark out so early. It takes my body awhile to get used to it. I'm ready for bed by 7 since it's completely dark by then. Makes me feel like I'm 80 instead of 30. :o)

There are some things I enjoy about late fall/winter though. I like making hotdishes, soups, breads, and baking. I like staying home at night and watching movies or reading. And, I love the holidays that come along with the seasons.

Is there anything you have a love/hate relationship with?

It's November!!

2010-11-01T18:53:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great time yesterday celebrating Halloween. We didn't do anything special but my husband did dress up. You really need to see this video to understand. Notice Jared Allen toward the end of the segment and his jorts.

Ok, now that you've seen that...here is my husband in all his glory..

Luckily the only place he wanted to show off his "costume" was at his brother's house. You should have seen how fast he got out of the car when he saw our niece's boyfriend was at the house. Poor girl, he loves to embarrass her.

I took the Halloween decorations down yesterday. I think that's the first time I've taken holiday decorations down on the day of. I put out the few Thanksgiving decorations I have while I was at it. I'm not in love with the way this looks but I don't have much so I kind of just threw it all together.

I love the start of November because I feel like it's the start of the holiday season. Just think, in 2 months it'll all be over. Gotta enjoy it while we can!

Catch up

2010-10-27T17:27:00.000-05:00

I'm back! My husband bought and installed (or whatever you do) a new router so now we have internet again. Yay!

A quick catch up of the past week or so...

*Last week was a three day work week for me. I love four day weekends!

*Thursday my mom and I went to Sioux Falls and did a little shopping. We also met with my uncle for lunch. He is in good spirits but could really use some prayers. Baisically the cancer is not responding to the treatments. It's maybe buying him some time but not going to make him better.

*I spent the day Friday doing chores and running errands. I bought this while I was out..

Oh yes I did. I wanted one of these last year so bad but I decided to wait until after Christmas so I could get it 50% off. Well, they were gone before Christmas so I couldn't get one. I was ready this year though. I cashed out my Toluna money in September so I'd have some money when the trees came out. This one was the only one on the shelf Friday morning so I grabbed it and put it in my cart. I got quite a few comments while walking around the store with a Christmas tree in my cart. Whatever.

*Saturday was Hobo Days for SDSU. We went to the parade. Boring, yawn. I hate that they've changed it so much in the past few years. Definitely not as entertaining as it used to be. We did get to see our nephew march in the middle school band though.

A big thanks to the lady who stepped in front of me as I took the picture. That would be our nephew on the top of her head.

*Saturday night we had supper with my parents.

*David picked up some overtime on Sunday so I had some time to do a little crafting. I turned these

into this..

and this...

*Today we had our first snowfall of the season. We just got a light dusting this morning and it's gone now. I know I'll regret saying this but I'm ready for some snow. The first few snowfalls are always fun and I can't imagine Christmas with no snow (well I can because we've had a few but it just doesn't feel like Christmas) but by March I'm so sick of it.

Hope you all've been well. I have a lot of posts in Reader to catch up on!

Fingers crossed

2010-10-25T18:05:00.000-05:00

Hey guys...I'm doing ok...just having some major internet problems. Hopefully I'll be able to get back on soon.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this posts...been trying for awhile now. Grrr!!!

Melancholy...

2010-10-13T20:36:00.000-05:00

That pretty much sums up how I've felt the past week. Oh, add in grumpy, crabby,and irritable too.

Could be that it's just that time of the month, that it's about that time of year when my SAD kicks in, or that I've just got a lot on my mind with family stuff. Whatever it is, it's getting old.

I'll be back soon.

source

Halloween Decor

2010-10-06T13:30:00.003-05:00

I packed up my fall decor last Friday night and pulled out the Halloween stuff. I know my fall stuff was only out for 8 days of the actual fall season but it had been out since the end of August so I was ready to put it away. I'll pull some of it back out again for the first few weeks of November.

Anyway, back to the Halloween decor. I don't have a lot of it but here's what I do have.

Just a little touch in the kitchen

The EEK sign is one of the painted blocks I showed you a couple weeks ago and another is the purple BOO sign a few pictures down. The third went to my swap partner.

Some spiders crawling down from my shelves. I don't like creepy Halloween decorations and I do think spiders are creepy (hate them) but since they glitter I figure they're ok.

I picked up some frames at Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago and spray painted them black. For the pictures, I printed out the Trick or Treat picture from The Graphics Fairy, the Trick or Treater boy is from a font I have, and the small picture is just a piece of Halloween scrapbook paper with some letters hot glued onto the glass.

I just did a few pumpkins outside this year. I spray painted a few as you can see. I also threw in a little sign I painted last year.

And that's it for my Halloween decorations. Nothing too crazy or grand but it works for us :o)

Happy Birthday!

2010-10-05T19:45:00.000-05:00

Happy 29th Birthday to my husband!

(He was trying on an outfit for a wedding, thus the reason why there is a size tag on the front of the sweater and why he has a stocking hat on.)

Halloween Tree

2010-10-04T14:30:00.081-05:00

I decided my Halloween decorations needed a boost this year but I wanted to be able to make decorations instead of buying new. So I was looking around the internet the other day for some craft ideas. I ran across this picture during my search and fell in love

source

I thought I could make a version of this easily enough so I went to Walmart (the only store in town that carries beads) the next day for supplies. I was really disappointed by their bead selection. They had some that would work, but at $4.25 per strand they just wouldn't work with my budget. So, I went to Dollar Tree to see if they had anything I could use. I was getting frustrated because I couldn't find anything but just as I was about to leave I saw these

I figured I could make them work so I bought 4 packages and headed home. I decided to glitter the balls by using Mod Podge and some glitter I already had.

I wasn't going to pay for branches so I sent my husband on a hunt for a branch or two. He brought a couple home which I spray painted black. Once dry, I put them in a glass vase with some black river rocks I already had here. The end result:

Sorry about the lighting....my camera batteries died shortly after I took these so I didn't have a chance to get better pics.

I think it turned out pretty well. It's not exactly like the inspiration picture but for $4 worth of supplies I can't really complain!

Linking to eighteen25

and The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday

Start of a Halloween Project

2010-10-02T17:22:00.001-05:00

I decorated our place for Halloween last night. It didn't take long because I don't have a lot of decorations but I like how it turned out. Today I'm working on one more project using these

and these

I'll show ya on Monday what I did with them.

Hope ya all have a great weekend!

Treats...

2010-09-27T20:46:00.000-05:00

My "treat" from my husband tonight...

Too early? Not when my favorite Christmas drink is in the stores already too...

:o)

Week in review...

2010-09-25T08:21:00.001-05:00

Monday afternoon we went to our nephew's game (#64). I don't remember what the score was...something like a lot of points to not many points with Conor's team winning.

I planted some mums on Tuesday afternoon. Glad I did it that day because we had pretty much nonstop rain from Wednesday through Thursday. Now I just need to get some pumpkins. Not sure when we'll get that done though since the fields are all muddy.

Since it was cool and rainy on Wednesday, I baked some cookies after school. These are my favorite (original Toll House recipe). I like when they're flat and have the little ripples on the side.

I got my Halloween swap package mailed out on Thursday. I'll show you what I sent once I'm sure my partner has received her package.

Friday night David and I went out for supper. Nothing too exciting but it was nice to go out.

This morning I'm watching the Christmas programming on QVC. 90 days to go :o)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Recipe: Spaghetti Casserole

2010-09-22T19:34:00.001-05:00

So one of the things that I've enjoyed about having my husband home every night is being able to cook a meal each night. I enjoy meal planning (most of the time) and I like to cook (most of the time). When I was here by myself I'd eat cereal, popcorn, or whatever else I could find to feed myself. It got old but I wasn't going to make a whole meal for myself.

One thing that makes meal planning easier is my recipe binder. I don't always need a recipe but it does give me ideas. A couple years ago I decided to gather all my recipes and put them in a binder. It has been so much nicer to just go to my binder for a recipe than try to dig through various magazines/cookbooks.

I rarely post recipes on here and I'm not sure why. Blogs have been a great source of new recipes for me. I guess it's time I start sharing more too.

I made spaghetti casserole for supper Tuesday night. We don't have it often but it is really good. It's nice too beacause you can make two pans of it at once and freeze one for a future meal. I usually just make mine in a 9x13inch pan so we leftovers for lunches.

Sorry about the crusty appearance of the paper. It got splattered on a time or two before I made my recipe binder.

Oh, and don't bake it for 55 minutes unless it's one you've taken it out of the freezer. It only takes about 15 minutes or so if you make it and bake it the same night.

Fall....

2010-09-21T05:00:00.002-05:00

Well I've had my fall stuff out for quite awhile now so I thought I'd show you what I've done before I take it down. I decided this year I'd decorate for fall in September then take it down to decorate for Halloween in October. I usually just have the two out together but I decided to do it differently this year. Then I'll bring some of the fall decor back out in November for Thanksgiving. Since I don't have much it shouldn't be much work.

Anyway, I don't have a lot of spaces to decorate so I just have little touches wherever I can stick them. Here's my buffet....it's pretty simple.

I'm glad to report that everything is slightly stuck to the top of the buffet thanks to my impatience on letting the paint fully dry. :/ Oh, and as you can see I still haven't turned the upside down handle the right way. Or redecorated the wall space. I'll get to it eventually. Not sure why it looks like there are big dirty marks on the wall either. Hmm, maybe I need to wipe that wall down. Something else I'll get to eventually.

Yeah, that's the door to our apartment. Try not to be jealous of our steel frame and awesome wood grain door.

And that's pretty much it for our fall decor. We'll probably go get some pumpkins either this weekend or next so I can decorate our patio a bit. :o)

Weekend Recap

2010-09-20T05:00:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile since I last posted. Not much has been going on around here, nothing fun anyway. I've really enjoyed having my husband at home with me every night though.

We had a pretty calm weekend. We hung out at home almost all weekend. We did make a W-Mart trip and I went grocery shopping but otherwise we were home. I've been trying to fight off a cold all week and it finally got the best of me Saturday. I was tired and just didn't feel like doing anything. I started feeling better on Sunday though and finally did some crafting. It's been awhile since I last made anything.

I can't show ya any finished products yet though. I joined in on a Halloween swap so I made some things for my partner. I'll post them here once I know she's received her package.

We definitely had some fall like weather this weekend. I don't think we made it out of the 50s all weekend. I'm ready for fall but I hope this early cool snap of weather isn't a predictor of an early winter. I'm so not ready for winter.

That was about it for the weekend. Nothing too exciting.

PS - My family could really use your prayers if you are the praying kind. My 97 year old grandma is in the hospital with pneumonia. My uncle found out his leukemia is out of remission. My aunt is going in for tests this morning because she's been having chest pains,shortness of breath, and pains down her left arm. We've had some other stressful issues too so any prayers would be appreciated. Thank you!

I Love This Day.

2010-09-02T18:48:00.001-05:00

I'm loving today.

I love that our weather is awesome. It's 6:40pm right now and the temperature is 63 degrees with a steady breeze. The sky goes from this:

to this:

over and over. It's the best of both worlds - a crisp, sunny day to a dreary, rainy day.

I love that it's Thursday night. I am so tired from work this week but I can handle one more day.

I LOVE that my husband was offered (and accepted) a new job yesterday!!! I almost cried yesterday when he called to tell me the news (I probably would have if I'd been alone but I was at work. I'm not a public crier). We have been waiting so long for a new opportunity for him. He has worked really hard at a job for the past two years that he didn't enjoy.

I really love that for the first time in our 5 years together we will be working the same hours. We usually got to spend about a half hour together from the time I got home and when he left for work. That was it, a half hour per day. No more nights and weekends alone!!

Hope you're loving your day too!

Buffet is done...

2010-09-01T20:53:00.003-05:00

sorta...kinda...until I decide what else to do with it anyway. I can't decide if I want to distress it, add some sort of something to the doors, or just leave it alone.

Anyway. Here she is in all her glory when we brought her home.

And here's her super loverly shelf liner.

See those pennies in the bottom? Yeah, we scored 7 cents....lucky much?

So I sanded her down and painted her with this paint from Lowe's:

Mine came in a plastic jar, whatev. ~~David and~~ I chose the color Rolling Prarie.

Here she is after her facelift:

I ripped out the mushroom liner on the shelf and in the drawers. I just know I'll regret that one when orange and brown mushrooms come back into style again. I haven't found anything to replace it with yet though.

I put the old hardware back on when I was finished painting. My original plan was to buy some new stuff but the handles on the doors weren't going to come off without some major damage to the doors. So I had to tape around them before I painted. MAJOR pain in my butt. And yeah, I just noticed that I put that handle over there on the left on upside down. Probably never would have noticed it if I wouldn't have written this.

Now I need to redecorate the wall above the buffet. Everything is a little off center with the buffet. Uh yeah, just a little.

The shelf is already down, now I just need to decide what I want to put up once the rest is down.

She's not sitting around naked anymore either. It took FOREVER for the paint to dry. The paint was still a little tacky but my patience ran out and I found some things to dress her up with. I'll show you that in another post though.

Total cost $25 for buffet + $6 for paint - .07 cents that came with her = $30.93 Not bad.

Ohhh...want to see what we did with the hutch?

Yeah, that's where it has sat for the past two weeks. I think it's about time we figure out what to do with it.

I'm linking up to The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday.