Reflecting

This will be my last post for the year! All my customers have paid their bills and we are now closed tomorrow & Friday! I'm so thrilled!

I would say this has been the biggest decade of my life. I can't remember everything big that has happened but here are some of the bigger things that happened to me:

• I moved out on my own in 2001
• I started college in 2001
• I moved in with Adam in 2002
• I graduated with an Associates degree in 2004
• I got engage on Christmas Day 2004
• I attended some college until 2005 (will finish that this decade hopefully)
• I got married to the love my life March 10, 2006
• We were living in our own place November 2007
• We got our first baby (Lexi) April 2008

Now for 2009. It seems like a lot has happened this year!

• I started my blog!
• We celebrated our 3 yr wedding anniversary & our 11yr anniversary of being together
• I witnessed the amazing recovery of a customer who by all medical accounts should not have survived brain injuries from a car accident. He has now graduated High School and is almost fully recovered.
• We paid off our first vehicle EVER
• We completed Step 1 of Dave Ramsey's plan
• I went to my first rock concert - Hinder & Black Stone Cherry
• I got a phone with internet!
• I finally got a red recliner!
• I completed my 2nd big cross stitch project - The Owl
• I learned how to knit
• I missed 4 days of work from being sick (never missed more than 1 at a time before)
• We had our first Halloween party
• Shootings at Ft Hood where my cousin is stationed... very scary
• We kept our faith through Adam's work having a major layoff
• I volunteered to ring the bell at the Salvation Army Kettle (it was a blast)
• I read the Twilight Saga!
• I had the best Christmas ever!

I cannot wait for 2010 to get here. This is going to be a totally awesome year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

My Silly Puppy

I forgot to mention something hilarious in yesterday's post!

For the past 2 weeks we have been looking for Lexi's squirrel. It's a hard nylong squirel toy that she LOVES. She'll grab it by it's head and shake it until she loses her grip and launches it across the house. Well we haven't been able to find it and so we assumed it had been launched somewhere. I looked behind the TV, on shelves, in boxes, in the hampers etc. Well Sunday when I was taking the lights off of the tree I saw something sitting on one of the inside branches. I almost had a heart attack until I realized it was her toy! She was SOOO excited to have it back. We got her a stuffed beaver for Christmas that has a flat tail of course so she can grab it and shake it around. Now she is torn between wich one to play with and trys to put both in her mouth... I love that silly puppy.

Today I'm glued to weather.com because we have a big storm coming in with ice/snow/sleet/rain all mixed up. In E Tx we don't get much of the freezing stuff so when it hits it's best to stay off the roads. Not necessarily because I'm not able to drive in it (which I may not be able to ... who knows) but people literally lose their minds. I may leave work early if it looks like it's gonna hit before 5pm so I can be safe in my home!

Have a great (and safe) day!

Chrismas recap

This has been an absolutely WONDERFUL Christmas! Usually I'm very sad after Christmas because it seems like all the magic is gone. Not this year. I feel very blessed and completely satisfied. I'm not sure why or what the difference is. Maybe because I tried not to let the little moments slip by and I enjoyed spending time with family and friends.

Wednesday I took off work and we finished our shopping. Thursday - Christmas Eve - I finished up cooking for dinner with Adam's family. As Adam was getting stuff set up outside to fry our ham (It was DELICIOUS) it started snowing! I mean like blizzard conditions only it didn't stick. It was so awesome to have it snow on Christmas Eve. We had a wonderful time with his family and had a blast doing the White Elephant Gift.

Christmas morning we got up and exchanged our gifts with each other. I got Adam a Sirius Satellite radio for his truck. I have it in my car and he's been wanting one for his truck. It actually pauses & rewinds the radio! How awesome is that?? Adam got me a bracelet that matches a pair of earrings I bought myself last year. I've always wanted the matching necklace & bracelet. They no longer carry the necklace so he got me the bracelet. I LOVE it. (picture at the bottom). He wrapped a wooden type box and put the bracelet with a Teddy Bear inside. I love all of it!

We ate breakfast and then met his sister & her boyfriend to go see Avatar! I'm so glad they pre-ordered our tickets as they were sold out! It was an amazing movie. Seriously one of the best I've ever seen! I usually don't buy movies when they come out but I will definitely be buying this one. I can't wait to watch it again!

Saturday I went to my grandparents and had dinner with them and played games with my cousins and aunt. It was so much fun. We had a White Elephant gift exchange there as well and I got a GORGEOUS cookie jar filled with homemade chocolate chip cookies from my cousin (YUM).

Sunday I decided I had been lazy enough regarding the house so started cleaning. I rearranged 3 cabinets to make room for my serving dishes my boss gave me and baking dishes from my mom. Also my island cabinets were a war zone from me taking things in and out and then just randomly putting them back in different places. I ended up having a wal-mart sack full of trash from just that cabinet because things had expired. My sugars, sprinkles, and cake mixes are now all organized. I also cleared off all my cabinets and took everything to the bare minimum. It's been so crowded. I love the way it looks now! (I'll have to take pictures). In the cleaning spree I also took down all of our Christmas stuff (except the mistletoe I just remember is still hanging from my door way). Our tree is still in the front yard but we usually burn it on New Years Eve in our bonfire. It feels so nice to be back to my normal boring house HAHA.

Here a couple of pictures. I didn't take any of the family gatherings but I did take a few of my gifts.

My gift. Adam wrapped this and made the ribbons.

The Teddy Bear (It says "I Am Loved")And the bracelet. The matching earrings are this center part.
My cookie jar (I added the red ribbon)
Serving dishes from my boss.

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday we had our party here at the office and it was awesome!

I'm pretty sure everyone liked the gifts that I got for them but they gifts they got for me were absolutely amazing. I'm such a bad gift giver. I try very hard to pay attention to clues that people give me and I agonize over gifts that I give making sure they are perfect but my boss & co-worker put SO much thought into my gifts.

First my boss gave both me & my co-worker these beautiful baking/serving dishes. They are the kind you bake in and then there is a metal basket that they set it to keep them off the counter. I tried to find a picture to post but I cannot find one online. I'll try to post it next week. They are square but the corners round in so it sorta looks like a star... very beautiful and hard to describe.

My co-worker got me a book that I have been looking for for YEARS. She has only worked here since August but picked up on the title of this book in one of our conversations when I mention that I had been searching for it. This was the very first romance novel that I read that got me hooked on them back in '95 or '96 and I have always remembered the name and have wanted to find it again. I have searched but it's out of print and the author is pretty well known so there isn't that many used copies that people give up. Well somehow she found this book. It's not just some used copy either. It is an original 1987 printing that has never been read. You can tell the book has never been cracked open and there isn't even a bend in the spine! I have never squeeled before but I do believe I did yesterday. It's amazing! Not only did she get me this amazing thoughtful gift but she also gave me a giant cupcake baking pan and a Real Men of Twilight Magazine (drool). She is an amazing friend!

On the subject of books: This weekend I downloaded the rough draft of Midnight Sun from Stephanie Meyer's website (HERE)... this is the version of Twilight from Edwards point of view. Apparently parts of it were leaked on the internet and decided to put it on hold and not finish it at that time. After reading the rough draft from her site (IT'S 264 PAGES OF AWESOMENESS) and cannot wait for her to finish it. I would love to see all 4 books from his point of view. After reading the whole series and then reading these pages you really understand Edward a lot more and some of the looks and weird facial expressions in the movie make so much more sense. I have a favorite part from this draft but I'm afraid to directly quote it here considering all the legal ramifications after the leak and copywright laws but it's page 217 when he is thinking about how Bella was created just for him.

I think the reason that I love this series so much is because Edward and my husband are a lot alike. I realize it even more after reading this. Adam has always taken care of me and protected me. He was my champion when I had problems at home and always wanted to just take me away from things that caused me pain. He is always looking out for me and is always one step ahead of my clumsyness. Sometimes that can be very frustrating but I do appreciate and love him so very much :)

Well today is my last day of work until next Monday so this will be my final blog post until then! Tomorrow we have a few errands around town to run and I need to make more fudge and more cookies. Thursday we will have Christmas with Adam's family. Friday we will have our Christmas and exchange our gifts. I can't wait for him to see what I got him!!! Saturday I'm spending the day with my dad's side of the family playing games and having food! Sunday I plan on being absolutely LAZY!

Have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Weekend + Lot's of kitchen time!

This weekend was CRAZY! I've learned a lot about cooking/baking haha.

Friday as soon as I got home I started making my chicken tortilla soup. I only bought one large thing of chicken broth instead of 2 so I added water to make up some of the difference. I didn't have any buillon so it turned out kinda bland to me. Everyone else ended up loving it but I was very disappointed. Oh well :)

My chocolate covered pretzels didn't work at all! The recipe I was working from was just something someone had tole me that a friend had made so I didn't have much to go off of. Needless to say Hershey's Hugs do not melt ... they just turn brown :)

The fudge turned out fairly well. I think because I was using a very old recipe it wasn't the same as the fudge I'm used to, which is very creamy. This turned out a little dryer but very good. Adam loves it.

My truffles are gorgeous but Adam didn't care for the Baker's chocolate saying it was too bitter. Maybe I'll use milk chocolate chips next time to dip them in.

I finally crashed about 11pm Friday night. Saturday we were up early and headed to my mom's. We had Mexican food which was yummy and had a blast visiting with the family. We didn't do much Saturday night other than play a few games of pool at his parents house.

We slept in until about 9:30 Sunday. After breakfast I started on sugar cookies. I made the dough and then it had to chill for 2 hrs so we got ready and went in to town to do our grocery shopping and get some early dinner. Back home I rolled out the dough and was very frustrated at first but finally figured out I needed more powdered sugar under the dough. While doing these I also made a coconut pie & chocolate pie to take to our Chiropractor's office today. After baking and cooling about half of the dough, because it was already 9pm, I decided to go ahead and make frosting to decorate them with. My sifter broke somehow but Adam managed to sift the 4 cups of powdered sugar that I needed. Thank goodness it was a cheapo. It was pretty fun to color different things of frosting and paint the cookies and then use sprinkles for decorations. My favorite are the Christmas trees! Hopefully I'll get pictures before they are all eaten up :)

Adam cleaned up the kitchen for me because I was beat and so ready for bed. We ended up going to bed around 10:30 or so. I honestly don't remember hitting the pillow. The next thing I knew it was 5am this morning.... but I did sleep very well!

Now today is Christmas for our office! Ya!!! Food, presents, and overall fun!

Happy Monday!

Present Pictures

Last night we had some yummy chicken tacos and watched some of the SNL christmas special. I'm not a huge SNL fan but I like it when it's funny and not totally stupid. Justin Timerblake is my favorite SNL guest. He is so funny! Last night they showed a clip from a past episode where he was a Cup Of Soup and he was singing and dancing! So funny!

Today is Adam's last day of work for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!! YEEEAAAAA! He is so much happier when he's not thinking about work! But yesterday at work he was drilling on something and the bit slipped and he drilled into his thumb right next to his fingernail. He was all bandaged up last night so I didn't see it until this morning and it's pretty gross! It was still bleeding because the wound is kinda big so it's not clotting very well to scab over. Sorry to anyone having breakfast.... I forget that I'm weird and think stuff like that is interesting :)

Amy requested that I post a picture of my presents so here they are!

The two bags to the left are my White Elephant gifts.

Close up of my various bows & ribbons.

Today I'm going to be making some major lists! First thing I need to look at all of my recipes and do a final ingredient check (mentally since I'm not home) and stop at the grocery store if I need to. That's my only gripe about living so far in the country... it's an hour ordeal to go get one thing from the store!

Then I'm going to make lists of what needs to be set out to soften as soon as I get home and what needs to chill in the fridge so I can make everything in the most effiecient manner!

Tonight I'm making Chicken Tortilla Soup to take to my mom's house tomorrow. I'm also making Fudge, Chocolate Covered Pretzels, and Truffles. I've never made Fudge before so I'm praying that it turns out good and sets!

HAPPY FRIDAY! One more week until Christmas!! :-D

Is It Christmas Yet?

All my gifts are wrapped and under my tree!!!! This year I used the same paper for all of my gifts (except the White Elephant stuff) and did variations of bows and ribbons around the packages. I love to wrap and I LOVE to make bows and curl ribbon. I'll have to take a picture tonight to post. I just cannot wait until everyone opens them!!!!

While Adam was at his brother-in-laws I watched The Sing-Off for the first time. It was pretty cool. I'm not sure how long it's been on (not long I think) but the finale is Monday. That's my kind of reality show ... quick and to the point ... LOL.

We haven't been watching SYTYCD this season but I saw that Russell won! We did watch the auditions and maybe 2 weeks of the season and he was our favorite.

Today I'm doing my grocery shopping for all the food I'm making for the holidays. My list isn't too bad because I have a lot of stuff already (flour, sugar, coconut, milk, etc). I do need to come up with something for dinner tonight though. I've GOT to get back into my meal planning! Definately a priority for the new year! Adam will be on vacation/holiday the next 2 weeks so not too worried about it for those weeks since he won't need leftovers for lunch.

Speaking of the New Year... I have big plans for this next year. I'm declaring that 2010 is MY year. Seriously. Not just to lose weight but to get my life on the track that it needs to be on. I'm really staying diligent with a Bible Study that I'm doing and praying for things that need to be corrected in my self, my relationship, and my overall outlook on life. More on all that to come closer to the New Year :-D

Have a great Thursday!

P.S. Have you ever prayed God would just smack your husband because you can't? Hmmm ... I'm sure that is not a proper prayer but I've found myself praying it a few times :).

Done Shopping

After our District Office party my boss dropped me off at my car that I left at Wal-Mart. I had something to return and get a few things there. Then I was off to Hobby Lobby. I LOVE Hobby Lobby and could spend all day browsing aroung. That store makes me want to be crafty and spend lots of money! I did restrict myself to the Christmas isles. I got 3 basket things to put candies in as gifts, 3 things of curly ribbon that had 3 bows on each, a roll of ribbon (red, gold, green, & white), & cookies cutters... all for $11!

After that I had to strategize the best way to get to the mall. Seriously. Our city has medians so you have to know if it's worth going around the block to get somewhere or to go up to a busy intersection to make a U-turn! I chose the most difficult route but it is the quickest! I actually was able to get a parking spot right in front of the main door and only 2 cars in to the row! How Awesome?! It was actually very nice browsing the mall by myself. I love Adam but he's not a patient shopper. I went into every store that interested me and only spend $50. I was able to get gifts for my sister, my SIL, my co-worker, and a White Elephant gift that I needed. (Note* If Anyone is looking for Twilight or New Moon related items go to Hot Topic!!!! There is a Team Edward hoodie that I want SO bad but it was like $50!).

I'm not officially done with my Christmas shopping!

We had leftovers for dinner last night since I was coming in late and I was able to start wrapping gifts! I have 3 wrapped at home plus I wrapped Adam's gift that I have here at the office this morning. I think Adam is going to Band Practice tonight so I should get the rest done after I make dinner! I love wrapping gifts and making bows... It's the second best part! The best being giving gifts! I absolutly L~O~V~E to find the perfect gift for someone and surprise them.

Well today I'm going to do some planning and list making because I have a lot to do by Saturday. Friday after work will be nothing but cooking for a party on Saturday so I need to make sure I have everything that I need by tomorrow.

Oh and here is a picture of the new ornaments I bought this weekend. I got 8 balls just like this for $4.50! I love Christmas sales!

Happy Hump Day!

A few of my favorite things ...

Today has been so stressful at work! Our internet has been up and down all day! Now it's fixed and will hopefully last all the way through this post. The up side is that we got off at 2:30 today to go to our District Christmas Party! Ya for food and fun!

I decided to share some of my favorite christmas ornaments with you today. :)

This is a snowman lamp that I love. Although in this pic he looks a little evil...lol

I got this teapot jingle bell from an ornament exchange with my Mary Kay Unit a couple of years ago.

I L~O~V~E snowflakes. I got these three from Jordan's Plant Farm over the past couple of years.

This is my favorite ornament of all!

My other collection is S'mores. I think I'm missing 2 in this picture... I'll have to check when I get home. (Angel, Mrs. Clause, 2 Elves)
My boss got me this in 2008. Isn't it adorable!!!!

My boss got me this one in 2007. Although it wasn't our 1st Christmas by far it was our first Christmas in our own home so I absolutely love it!

This is the new one for 2009! My co-worker found it for me! Now I have a Mr. Clause for Mrs. Clause to bake cookies for!

Hope your day is wonderful!

Weekend Recap

It was so great to take off early Friday and it made the weekend so much longer! When Adam got home we went into town and braved the crazy traffic. We got 1/2 of our shopping done that night!

Saturday we went back into town and the traffic and shoppers were even CRAZIER! At least people seemed to be in the holiday spirit and it was an organized crazy for the most part.

I have just two or three gifts left to buy and I'm pretty sure I know what I'm getting for each. I decided to hit the mall after work one day this week and maybe the traffic won't be so bad.

The only disappointing part of the weekend was Saturday night. We went around town for about an hour or so looking at Christmas lights but there was hardly anything to look at. Most houses were decorated but just didn't have their lights. Some of the big houses mansions weren't even decorated at all that normally are. Oh well I guess that's just a sign of the economy. I'm hoping that next year the ones that didn't decorate will go all out!

We didn't go to the Holiday in the park Saturday either because it was drizzling all day and evening. The last time I was out for an extended period in that kind of weather I ended up missing 4 days of work from being so sick. We played it safe.

Tomorrow starts the Christmas festivities for me! We have an open house Christmas party at our District Office. After that the cooking will begin at home! I have so much to make before this weekend.

Have a great Monday!

P.S. Taylor Lautner hosted SNL this weekend! I watched the monolog on NBC.com.... silly but he's so cute it doesn't matter that he looks like a Power Ranger ... haha.

Only 14 Days Left!

Last night I had a relaxing evening. Adam was at his brother-in-law's helping with the band so I cooked dinner and watched some shows on the DVR. Gotta love some Saturday Night Live, Law & Order SVU & Find My Family! I actually did get some stuff done around the house though. I started some laundry, folded all that has been laying out or in a basket from this week, and cleaned up the kitchen.

Did anyone catch Taylor Swift's SNL night? I don't normally watch SNL but that was the one that I watched last night. I completely forgot that I recorded it until I came across it. I LOVED her opening skit! I found it on NBC.com if you would like to watch. I love Taylor Swift even if she isn't my favorite singer!

Today I'm taking off work early to get home early and maybe do some Christmas shopping and have some dinner in town with Adam :). I'm not sure yet when I'm leaving but hopefully I can get everything done quickly and be outta here by lunch or right after!

Tomorrow we are doing an all day Christmas shopping extravaganza and then going to Holiday In The Park. We've never been and it sounds fun! Sunday we are heading over to Ellis Nursery to look at all their decorations and fun stuff! It's gonna be busy and crazy and somewhere in all of that I need to start planning my baking for the week!

I can't wait until Christmas :-D!!! Have a fabulous weekend!

Close Call

When I was getting ready this morning Adam told me that he went out to check on Pepper (our Lab who is outside) sometime in the middle of the night since it was in the low 20s last night. She has normally had a heating pad under her blankets during the winter but because she is getting older and has a bladder issue we changed to a heating lamp this year. Adam hung it about a foot above her bed, which is actually a bench covered in blankets. When he went out last night the wind had blown the lamp from it's hanger and it was sitting on the back of the bench, smoking. He went out and fixed it.

I'm thanking the Lord this morning that he woke up and checked on it. If her blanket had not fallen off the back of the bench it probably would have caught on fire. We are very thankful this morning!

Here is what it did! It didn't even crack the bulb or anything so it was just cooking the wood away.

Crazy isn't it?!

Today I'm trying to make lists of what I need to buy as far as gifts. I'm ashamed to say I haven't started, except for Adam's gift. We are doing White Elephant gifts at two places and need to get gifts for our parents, siblings, my co-workers, and I need to get a few toys for donation for our District Christmas party on Tuesday. I also really need to get together my grocery list because I'll have to start baking next Thursday or Friday. We are having parties on the 15th, 19th, 21st, 24th, & 26th! I can't wait!!!!

Silly Computers!

Well since I posted last my computer at work crashed AGAIN! I just got it back and I'm in the process of reloading everything. Apparently a hacker hacked my computer somehow. My boss was not very happy but I have been very careful not to go to any websites that I don't trust. Now I will have to be SUPER CAREFUL. If this happens again it won't be good.

We had an excellent weekend!

I went with my mom & sister to see New Moon. I LOVED it! Sure it wasn't the best acting but it was awesome. It was so much in line with the book than Twilight was. We have already made plans to go see Eclipse at midnight on opening night next year! I really can't wait to see Breaking Dawn and wether or not it will be broken up in to two movies.

I've already started planning my Christmas food (desserts) that I will be making. I'm making Truffles, Christmas Butter Cookies, Fudge, and some Butterscotch/Corn flake stuff that Adam likes. YUM!

Last night my boss and I rang the bell at Wal-Mart for the Salvation Army Kettle. It was so much fun! We rang for a little over a hour. Our company had time slots assigned to each office. I loved wishing grumpy people Merry Christmas... especially when they came back out the same door and I wished them a Merry Christmas again. I got a few smiles with my Leopard Print santa hat :).

Well I'm off to download more software onto my computer! Have an excellent day!

Picture Overload!

This has been a super busy, crazy, awesome week :)

I haven't read ANY blogs since last Tuesday so I'm very behind and will hopefully get caught up!

I worked until 3pm on Wednesday (before Thanksgiving) and then went home to help Adam get the turkeys in the Brine and ready for the fryer the following morning. Thursday we got up around 7am and Adam started warming the oil to fry the turkeys. We fried one for his parents house and one for my boss to pick up. I got ready for the day and then around noon I headed over to his parents (our neighbor) and helped her cook until about 6 when we ate.

Some pics from their house:

Me & Adam

Misty (SIL), Adam's Grammy, Emily (SIL), & Jean (MIL)

The guys playing pool & watching football

Almost time to eat!

Friday, my mom picked me up and we went to a family visitation service for my mom's cousin who passed away. It was really really sad. I did get to see a ton of family members that I haven't seen in many many years.

After that we went to her house and I stayed there for the night to help prep food and get up early to cook. We got up around 6:30 and started cooking. We cooked non-stop until about 1pm! So worth it though! Adam came over around noon to visit and eat with us and then also to pick me up.

Some pictures:

Me & my sister Bree

Jerrod (step-brother), Chris (step-sister's hubby), & Adam

My brother Glen & his Fiance Kaci & my mommy

After we got home from my mom's house we headed over to my sister-in-law's house (Emily) and played some competitive games of Skip-Bo. I love me some Skip-Bo!!!! I have no idea what time we ended up getting home. I think I slept all the way home, slept walked in, and crashed. I was SO exhausted.

Sunday we got up, got ready, and left around 9:30 to go get our christmas tree. We are usually the only ones in the family that gets a real tree but everyone comes with us. It's sorta tradition now. This year my mom & step-dad came with us with was AWESOME! The place we go to has big trailers filled with hay that are pulled behind tractors and they take you out into the tree fields and drop you off with a saw. Once you pick out the one you want and cut it down you catch the next hay ride back to the main part and pay. It's so great and we love doing it every year! Luckily we were done right as it started pouring rain :)

More pictures:

I really don't know why he always has a goofy smile when he poses with me.

I totally forgot to take a picture of Adam cutting down our tree so they propped it up on a stump and pretended to do it again!!! LOL

Adam, Grammy, & his mom

My step-dad, Mom, & Me

Me & my Mom

Adam's parents, his sister, & grammy

Adam's sister & her family

Our tree!

So that's pretty much what we did over the Thanksgiving holiday!

We didn't do any Black Friday shopping but I did do some Cyber Monday shopping. I bought Adam's christmas present... not gonna say what it is here because he could read it. But I did get $80 off! That is totally awesome!

I did finish all 4 Twilight Saga books over the week too. Book 4 was by far the best and it was really one of the best books I've ever read! I'm going with my mom & sister to see New Moon saturday. I watched Twilight last week and I really liked it even though they left out SO much. I'm can't wait.

Hope you enjoyed my week in pictures! Have an awesome Wednesday!