Weekend Recap

I hope everyone had a GREAT Memorial Day weekend!! Ours was busy but I also feel like I’m rested so that is great.

Friday we had our party for my Father-In-Law’s retirement.  We also got to visit with my sister-in-law and her family before they moved.  My “practice” cake was a huge hit at the party.

Yummy right!  It was fabulous!  Keep in mind I had never made this so I wasn’t sure how the flavors were gonna mesh but it was perfect!  The one on the left is actually the cake I did for the graduation party.  I didn’t have time to take a before of the practice one before it was cut into.  The girl I did the cake for LOVED it and was totally surprised!  YAAA!

Saturday evening we were bums and watched a bunch of movies and played a riveting game of Monopoly which I lost.  I always lose to Adam at Monopoly. Maybe next time!

Over the course of the weekend my sister-in-law told us about this rock formation that a friend of hers had taken her to years ago.  Apparently the found it on google earth or something and decided to go check it out.  Well she found it again and we all decided to go.  I wish I knew how to show you what it looks like on google earth but until then just check out the pics that I took while we were there.

This place was about a half of a mile off the road in the middle of the woods.  There was a wide path to get to it but that’s it.  Very weird.  The lighter colored one in the last picture is about 25 ft tall.  Adam said the rocks are no more than a hundred years old because of the drill holes.  Apparently they didn’t do that pre 1900. (Does that make sense?)  So I’m guessing someone with a lot of money decided to get 8 huge slabs of granite and set them up in a field for their own enjoyment.  I would love to come back and have a picnic.  It’s beautiful!

Sunday or Monday (I really can’t remember when now) I made these awesome chocolate chip cookies.  With all the baking and cooking I’ve done I have NEVER been able to make a good chocolate chip cookie.  They always turn out cakey and spongy.  Very weird.  So I tried a new recipe and did a few things different and they turned out PERFECT!!! I think Adam has eaten half of them!  (The recipe made about 3 times as many shown, this is just the first batch).

Ok so now that you are sufficiently hungry for sugar and bad stuff I’ll say goodbye for today! HAHA!

Happy Tuesday!

Friday Confessional

I’m linking up with Mamarazzi and Glamazon today for Friday Confessional!




I confess …
I’m really going to miss the Oprah show.  It was very sad to not have anything on my DVR to watch this morning.  I cried on all three of the final shows this week. :(

I confess …
My flowers at my house look amazing.  I had no part in it though.  Adam has been watering and feeding these babies! I always forget and I just don’t have time to water them. He does it better anyways.



I confess …
It’s going to be a busy weekend.  We are having a party tonight for my father-in-law’s retirement.  Also my sister-in-law and her family are officially moving to AL so we are having their going away party too.  Tomorrow a girl I work with is graduating high school and I’m making her cake for her party.

I confess …
I’m VERY nervous about making this cake.  I have only made one other cake for an official event not within my own family.  I made a practice cake this morning and we will have that tonight at the family parties.  I’m glad my family doesn’t mind the rejects of my baking.

I confess …
I would really love a day within my three day weekend to just relax and do nothing, preferably with a pool.  We don’t own a pool.  I wonder if we could go to a hotel.  Would they notice?

I confess …
I hate already completely checked out and don’t want to work today.  Our phones are down so that’s a plus right!?! No phone calls!

I confess …
My confessions are very boring today!

Have a great &safe weekend!

Simple Savings – Price Matching

This week I changed things up a bit and added Price Matching into my grocery shopping routine. All the sales ads and matching coupons up got a bit overwhelming but I set it aside until I could actually sit down AT HOME and go through everything and make a list.

My overall results:

Coupon Savings $6.95
Price Matching Savings $6.92
TOTAL SAVINGS: $13.87

BIGGEST SAVINGS:

Wal-Mart’s price $1.98.  Family Dollar had this on sale for $1 so I did the PM.  I had a .75 cent coupon. (If I would have had more of these coupons I would have bought more.)

FINAL PRICE: .25 CENTS!

Second Biggest Savings:

Wal-Mart’s price for these were $2.98 each.  Dollar General had a sale 2 for $3.  So I did the PM and I had a $1 coupon and a .40 cent coupon. 

Final Cost: $1.60 or .80 cents each.

For the next couple of weeks I’m going to work on the price matching and finding more good deals.  I did buy a couple of things I didn’t need like paper towels and fabric softner but at a $5 savings (total) I couldn’t pass it up.  Don’t worry I only buy one of each… I’m not going psycho hoarder crazy (yet).

We Want To Know Wk 6!

It’s time again for We Want To Know Wednesday with Mamarazzi, Seriously Shawn, Impulsive Addict, and Janette.




Todays questions are from Seriously Shawn.  Link up … join the fun!
My post today is lacking in pictures but it’s been a very busy week and I’m lucky to even be able to get this up! Hopefully I can get around to all of my bloggy friends to comment!

1.} What must you do before you go to bed at night?
Check that the back door is locked, the porch light is on for the puppy, brush my teeth, and use the bathroom! Other than that I’m good for sleep!

2.} What is one thing you must snack on at the theater?
POPCORN! I love movie theater popcorn!

3.} Before going on vacation what must you do?
Make a huge list of everything to bring. If not I will forget something important. I even list underwear just in case.  Then I cross it all off as I pack each thing in the bags. Also I guess we would need to arrange food and care for all of our critters.

4.} What is one thing you must do every day?
Tell my husband that I love him and pray. Also I have to check my email and facebook every day! Gotta be honest!

5.} Is there something you do that must be done in a particular order?
Pretty much every routine that I have.  The most important one is in the morning.  I’m the last one to leave our house so I have to make sure everything is off and my house will still be there… Here’s my routine:

1. Unplug my hair straightener
2. Turn off the fan in the bedroom
3. Make sure my bedroom door is shut
4. Turn the AC up to 75
5. Put my lunch with my purse
6. Make sure I have keys, glasses, and my cell
7. Get my stuff together and lock the door on my way out
8. Feed the puppy

If I miss one step in that process it throws me off.  Like Monday I forgot my lunch because I got a phone call from my sister-in-law as I was turning up the AC.  Therefore I skipped step #5 and proceeded to #6. HAHA.

Weekend Recap

It seemed like we had a very busy weekend but now that I look back on it, we didn’t really do that much. Adam worked Saturday morning.  I had planned on getting stuff done around the house while he was working but due to a certain little doggy that is terrified of Thunder I was up until 1am. So I slept in and when he got home at 11am we got ready and went in to town.

We did get to see Pirates of the Caribbean.  Thankfully we got there about an hour early to buy our tickets.  We walked next door to Taco Bell for some quick (cheap) dinner and then got back to the theater about 15 minutes before the movie started.  It was already PACKED!!!  Luckily we got seats where we normally do.  People were coming in right as the movie started or right after and ended up sitting on the steps.  It was nuts.
The movie was EXCELLENT! I highly recommend it to anyone that’s a fan of the Pirates movies or just in this genre in general.  It was different than the first three and had a new story line.  I was bummed that Orlando Bloom wasn’t going to be in it.  He was very nice to look at.  BUT there was a new hottie! Sam Claflin.

This picture is the only one that I could find that I liked but I’m sure more will come out soon.  I swear I’ve seen him in something else but according to IMDB he’s only done TV movies (The Lost Future & United) and TV Series (The Pillars of the Earth & Any Human Heart).  So this is his first major movie!! Big things in the future from this guy.  He is cast as the Prince in Snow White and the Huntsman … opposite Kristen Stewart.  It will be very interesting to see how that turns out!

Ok so back to real life here … Saturday evening when we got home we watched the sun set from our pasture. BEAUTIFUL!

Sunday we did our grocery shopping and I added the art of price matching to my couponing.  Check back Thursday to see my results!

The rest of the day we were lazy.  Watched some tv, had dinner, and went to bed earlier because Adam had to go in early this morning. 

I haven’t had time to finish updating all the things I want to on my blog but I’ll be working on that throughout this week!

Happy Monday!

Some Changes

Notice anything different?  Anything at all?  HAHA.

I may have made a few MINOR changes … ok I pretty much went pink … all the way!  I loved my background that I had before, with the black and white damask pattern, but it just felt boring. I’m completely dumb though and accidently deleted all my content in the sidebars.  I lost my reading list for the year :(.  I did back up my template but when I restored it it didn’t have the content of the widgets, just the widgets themselves… bummer! So you may keep seeing a few changes as I add stuff back and rearrange to figure out what I want and where I want it.  I'm loving the 3 columns!

I would like to give a couple of shout outs to some people that helped me!

• Janette @ The Johanson Journey - Thanks for showing me picnik! I'm so hooked and love creating my own custom stuff on it!! Very much worth the money to go for the full program!!
• A Randomlicious Blog For The Soul – She offered to help me with my blog, doing something more custom but I decided I just wasn’t ready to figure out what the heck I wanted! Thanks for you patience with me! (And getting me HOOKED on pinterest!)
• Lena @ Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates – Thanks for the help on your FREE template and responding to my emails so quickly! I found a template that was perfect for me and her EXCELLENT tutorials helped me customize the header and she helped me make a few changes to the code to better suit my tastes! She has some excellent choices of Free stuff and tutorials for all kinds of things!

~*~

Adam is scheduled to work tomorrow but we won’t know for sure until 3pm so we don’t really have any weekend plans yet.  I think it is supposed to rain, which is good, but it limits what we can do.  I do know that at some point we will be seeing the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie!

I’m a huge fan of these movies and pretty much know them by heart.  I heard that there will be another one after this plus maybe more.  Maybe like a James Bond type of thing?  I was disappointed that Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley weren’t in the movie but I guess there story was wrapped up in “At World’s End”.

Hopefully Adam won’t have to work and we can make more plans!  Doesn’t it suck when work majorly interferes with your social life?!?!

Have a great weekend!!

Simple Savings – Good Deals

Coupon Savings from the past week- $7

I haven’t been very good about shopping deals.  This week I’m trying to step up my game a little and score better savings, not only with my coupons.

The biggest thing I’m saving on right now with my coupons is Allegra-D.  Adam has very bad allergies and has been taking Prescription Allegra daily.  Well we were paying $22 for a one month supply (60 pills).  Now that it’s over the counter it’s $20 for 20 pills ($60/month).  So until the price lowers I’m using $4 off coupons each week.

I do have to run to the grocery store (Wal-Mart) after work to pick up something for dinner and I have a few things that I’m going to get CHEAP! 

1. Country Crock Butter – Dollar General has these on sale for 2 for $3.  I can price match and get them at wal-mart for the same price.  So for one it will be $1.50 - $1 coupon = $.50 (SCORE!)
2. Vlasic Dill Spears – On sale for $1.88 - $1 coupon = $.88
3. Oscar Mayer Beef Franks – On sale for $1.68. I have a coupon for $1 off 2. So I will pay $2.36 for 20 hot dogs rather than the $7.98 for two normal price! (BIG SCORE)
4. Franks Hot Sauce – On sale for $1 – $.75 = $.25.  (I missed a $1 coupon in the paper making it free)
5. French’s Mustard – On sale $1.37 – $.50 = $.88 (Gonna get two of these)

So I’m not sure all the regular prices on these but as I make my purchases I will write down the original price and compare my savings.  I still have other stuff to get and ads to go through but I didn’t want to miss these!

So I should be able to get butter, pickles, 40 hot dogs, a bottle of hot sauce and 2 bottles of mustard for $5.75.

We Want To Know Wednesday

It’s time for We Want to Know Wednesday with Mamarazzi, Seriously Shawn, Impulsive Addict, and Janette.






The questions for today are brought to us by the letter M as in Mamarazzi!! Check it out, link up, and join the awesomeness!

{1} If you could choose a Super Power, what would it be?
Wow, that’s a hard one!! I can tell you a bunch I wouldn’t want to have (Mind reading, x-ray vision, etc). Ok I’ve thought and thought … I have no idea.  Maybe a more creative mind? Is that a super power?  I have no creative mojo today.

{2} What would be your first frivolous purchase if you were awarded a million dollars, tomorrow? 100 acres with a huge house of my dreams.

{3} What would be the hardest current luxury for you to give up?
Air conditioning! I was going to say electricity but really it all boils down to AC for me.  I could deal with living by candlelight but I HATE being hot and sweaty! I’m totally dreading summer.

{4} If you were given a choice between being given great wisdom and great wealth, which would you choose?
Great wisdom.  Surely if I had great wisdom I could then have great wealth, or I would realize that money is not really what’s important in life, people are. 

{5} If you were to be stranded on a deserted island for 100 days what 5 THINGS would you pack?

• I would pack my hubby first of all.  I couldn’t survive without him.  Literally. 
• My camera and lots of batteries.  Deserted Islands are beautiful and it’s not like I’m not coming back right.
• I would have to get some kind of digital reader (Nook or Kindle) and download like a thousand books to read. If I can read a whole book in a day and still work 8 hours imagine what I could do with a full day to read!
• A generator so that we could have electricity and power to charge the reader haha.
• A big knife … because I’m not going to be stranded in the jungle without a weapon.
  

(All photos courtesy of Microsoft Office)

Dancing Predictions

So I’m putting my predictions out here for Dancing With The Stars.  I’m not a normal watcher of this show but decided I would be this season because I really like Kendra.  I knew she wouldn’t win but planned on just watching while she was on.  I’m hooked!! So here is how I think it’s all gonna go down!

The top 4:
 

  
(Ralph, Chelsea, Hines, & Kirstie) - Source

I think Ralph will go home tonight.  Then the final two will be Hines vs. Chelsea.  I really hope that Chelsea wins but I will be ok if Hines won. 

So who do you think will win??

Today is proving to be frustrating here at the office. This part of my mouse is not working:

I use this little wheel basically on ever single web page.  Especially for work stuff.  Yesterday it just broke.  If I put pressure on it towards the left it will sorta scroll but not much.  Very sad. :(  I love my pretty pink mouse.  But I’ll just have to deal with it for now until I can get a new one. 

Happy Tuesday!!

Simple Savings – Paying Bills

IF YOU ARE VIEWING THIS POST ON MONDAY 5/16 PLEASE SEE CORRECT POST HERE! UGH!

I’m going to apologize up front for the length of this post! There is just no way to shorten it and still get all the information in.

I’m deviating from the normal coupon talk today and I’m going to share a little bit about how I pay my bills. I don’t really have anything new to share about couponing and I’m still learning a lot so I thought I would share something that I DO know about.  I have been using this system, that I made up, for about 8 years and it works for me. A friend of mine uses it and has really liked the simplicity of it.  I really hope that I have explained it in an easy to understand way! So here are the steps (with an awesome BONUS at the end!)

Step 1:
Make a list of every bill that you pay.  I’m not talking about groceries or gas.  I’m talking about the house payment, car payment, credit card bill, utilities, etc.  Even if it’s a 3 month loan from your mom write it down!
List these things:

• Name of the bill (Daycare, Electricity, House, Car)
• How much is it
• When it’s due
• How you pay it (Online, Phone, Mail, In Person)

Step 2: When do you get paid? When does your spouse get paid? Let’s say for simplicity and example purposes you both get paid every two weeks and it happens to be the same day. (I can dream right?).  You need to make a sheet like this. (Keep it simple for now)

Step 3: Now you are going to take your list of bills and start plugging them into this sheet.  Let’s say for instance that you pay daycare once a week.  Well you only get paid every other week so wouldn’t it be simpler to either pay it every other week if possible or at least account for that money so you don’t have to worry about overspending?

Start with your largest bills first.  You only have so much money to spend so you need to make sure the dollar amount is evenly distributed and that you are getting bills in the right slot so that they are paid on time.

I put in daycare first because it’s the same amount and it’s a constant. Next, I chose the House payment of $500 due on the 1st and put it under the second paycheck column (20th). Now the next largest is the car payment of $300 due on the 28th.  You would think that should go under the second paycheck column because it’s the closest paycheck to that due date. BUT, if you do that your money will be off balance.  So put it under the first paycheck column.  Keep going and until you have everything listed.  If it’s gets confusing and you are not sure what to put where start off by only going by the due date.  Put all the bills after the second date under that column and all the ones closest to the first paycheck under that one.  You can go back and rearrange later to better balance the dollars.

You probably already pretty much know what bills you pay where, but by listing them like this you are accounting for the money you need to pay your bills immediately rather than waiting for the bill to actually come due.

Step 4: Ok so now you have this fancy list of all your bills.  This is what I do each pay day.  The same day my check hits the bank I balance my check book up to that moment.  Then I add in my paycheck.  To me this is starting fresh.  I look at my chart to see what bills get paid for that week (Adam gets paid weekly so that’s our schedule) and then I pay them.  It doesn’t matter when the due date is to me at that point because that was all set up when I made the chart.  I keep the exact same schedule every single month.  The same bills get paid on the same week every time.

Now I have one bill that I cannot pay early and that’s my electricity.  I put a sticky note in my checkbook to remind me that X amount of dollars is not to be spent and stays in my account until I can actually pay that bill.  I have several bills that are auto drafted.  I record them in my checkbook on my payday and show the actual draft date.  This way I’ve already deducted it as if it’s already paid.

For me it reduces our stress about money because I take out the essential living money the day I get it.  What’s left over is for gas, groceries, and whatever else comes up.  I could take this further and budget all the other stuff like gas and groceries but that just doesn’t work for me.  Do what works for you and start small.

Now here’s the HUGE benefit to paying your bills this way!!! Are you ready for it?

I get at least two extra paychecks a year without working any harder! Adam has at least two as well! Seriously! No lie.By paying your bills by your paycheck, rather than the due date, and keeping the exact same schedule you end up getting really far ahead on your bills. Once you get so far ahead, you can skip a check and not pay any bills out of it.  This is something that I always triple check though before I skip a check.  I pull out my original chart with all the due dates and make sure that by skipping a check I’m not going to be missing any due dates and throw off my system. 

What could you do with an extra paycheck? Go on a trip? Put it in savings? I usually use these to pay off debt, put in savings, or buy something great (like my vanity).

I really REALLY hope that this is useful info to someone and maybe makes like a little easier.  Money scares me. When we were first on our own I was terrified about paying bills and making sure everything got paid.  This system was a result of that!

Please let me know if this isn’t clear and you need any further explanation.  Also, I would LOVE to hear if this works for you!

Weekend Recap

I haven’t caught up with my blog reading because everything is SO JUMBLED!! I need a better system for keeping up with the blogs that I read every day rather than just relying on blogger to tell me what posts are new.

Every since things went all crazy last week my recently updated blogs are in some funky random order.  So please forgive me if I haven’t commented or read your blog.  I’m just starting over from here! UGH
Okay back to our regularly scheduled post here.  Adam worked all day Saturday so I did my best to be productive around my house.  I did my normal cleaning routine plus went through some paper work. I even made my bed up with the fancy comforter I got for Christmas and all the pillows that came along with it.  I vacuumed every piece of carpet in my house along with all the corners … HIGH FIVES FOR ME!

Sunday we ran around town, ate some breakfast, went to a book store, and grocery shopped.  We also saw Thor!

I’m not one of those girls that typically drools over another man.  My hubby is all the man I need.  But let me tell ya ladies, Chris Hemsworth is very nice to look at!  I’m not usually a fan of longer hair on guys but this dude rocked it. 

And the scene where he has no shirt – GREAT SCENE.

The movie itself was really great too.  If you go watch it stick around until after the credits … there is a preview for part 2 (The Avengers)!

Our weather here in E. TX is absolutely perfect! A little chilly in the mornings and nice in the afternoons.  In a few weeks I will be praying for winter time so I’m trying to absorb as much of this as I can! Maybe we can eat dinner out doors tonight!!

We Want To Know Wednesday

It’s time again for We Want To Know Wednesday hosted by Mamarazzi, Seriously Shawn, Impulsive Addict, and Janette.

This week the questions were brought to us by my bloggy bff Janette!  Head over, link up, and join the fun!




1. What game show have you always thought you could be on and totally WIN!
Wheel of Fortune! It’s really to only game show that I watch but I love playing along and I can usually guess it before the contestants on the show do.  One time I solved a 10 letter bonus puzzle with just one letter showing.  Proud moment.

2. Do you have a tattoo(s)? What are they and what made you chose them? If not, would you get one, yes/no/why?
No, I do not have any tatoos.  Yes, I would love to have one.  I just can’t narrow down what I want.  It’s a huge decision to me and I don’t want something on my body forever that I’m not 100% committed to. 

3. What is your favorite piece of jewelry that you own?
My engagement / wedding ring.  This may be the common answer but it truly is my favorite.  I think my rings are very unique and of course they mean a lot to me.  Not just the memories of Adam proposing and our wedding but just the whole journey of our lives to get to this point.


4. What is your driving pet peeve(s)?
I have a slight case of road rage sometimes. Riding my tail is probably my biggest annoyance.  Especially when I’m doing the speed limit if not more! I WILL slam on my brakes or decide to go 20mph just to tick you off and will laugh and wave as you speed around me.

5. What was your favorite sitcom growing up that you wish was still on?Saved by the Bell, Growing Pains, Boy Meets World, and Full House were my favorites!  I still love catching the reruns to this day.

Weekend Recap

Our weekend was NON-STOP!!  I’m still trying to get caught up on my sleep.

Adam had to work 3am to 11am Saturday and I left around 10:30 to go shopping with my sister-in-laws and have lunch. We had a lot of fun shopping but I was wore out!  I did score this awesome new necklace though from the $1 Jewelry store:

It’s very awesome to be able to get a necklace with matching earrings for just a BUCK!  They aren’t too cheaply made either.  All the other stuff I’ve bought from there has held up well so far.

While I was out shopping Adam was helping the band get set up for their show that night.  We ended up getting home around the same time (5:30) and said hi to each other before he went to take a nap.  I dozed for a bit on the couch, but nothing to brag about.  We were up and headed to the club by 8:30.  Really it’s a biker bar … club just sounds so much better.  The show went great.  It was the first show with the new drummer.  A few issues but overall it was really good.  I wish I could post one of the videos I took but, until it’s been approved by the band, they have to stay private.

We got home around 2:30am and I HAD to take a shower and wash my hair.  I cannot go to bed smelling like an ash tray.  I think we finally went to sleep around 3am and I was probably out before I was fully laying down.

After washing my hair again Sunday morning it still smelled smoky. Or maybe it’s just all in my sinuses.  Yuck!  Sunday was not a very productive day.  I got my kitchen cleaned, made a cake, and then took it over to the in-laws to celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday. The rest of the day passed WAY to quickly.  Adam had to go in early again today so thankfully we were in bed early last night.  I still feel like I could sleep another 5 or 6 hours though.

Hope your Monday goes by quick!! I’m already looking forward to bed time!

PS. ALL OUR BABY BIRDS FLEW AWAY OVER THE WEEKEND :(

Five Little Birdies

I have nothing to talk about today.  Why am I posting then?  To show you THIS:

Every year we have swallows that build a nest on the porch of our office and lay one or two batches of eggs.  This is batch #1!  There was actually 5 but he’s hunkered down in the back.  My boss took this picture Tuesday and already 2 babies have flown away.  It’s amazing how fast they grow!

The only plans we have so far for the weekend is the band my husband is in (he’s the sound guy) is playing tomorrow night. This is their first gig since my brother-in-law moved to Alabama and they had to find a new drummer.  So I will not be in bed until around 2am Sunday morning! It’s fun and worth it though!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!!!

Thursday’s Simple Saving

This past week was my first time to actively clip and use coupons.  I shopped the way I normally did and used whatever coupons I had that matched up to things that I need.  I only shopped at my normal store, Wal-Mart, and did not do any price matching. (In other words I was a bit lazy this week.)

Results:
I used coupons and saved $7.25.  Not much but that’s $7.25 still in my pocket not theirs and required almost no work on my part other than printing and clipping a few pieces of paper.  I said previously that Adam eats a lot of cereal and one of my coupons was to buy 3 boxes and get $1 off.  Since I normally buy 2 this wasn’t any extra hardship for me to go ahead and get an extra one.

What I learned:
You can use expired coupons!  I had 3 expired coupons and they still worked.  Now, the lady at the register may not have noticed and if she had she may have not let me use them but she didn’t so it was a plus for me.  I wouldn’t rely on them for big shopping trips but if you have one that expired in the past couple of days don’t toss it before you try!

You will always find a great coupon right after you paid full price.  I bought some Woolite Dark Detergent for around $10 on Sunday.  I got home with the Sunday paper (that I bought in the same shopping trip) and there was a $3 off coupon for the Woolite.

Plans for the next week:

• Get the coupon policy for each store
• Is there a way to see future sales or coupons coming up?
• Comparison shop and price match
• Venture outside my comfort zone of Wal-Mart

So did you save any money this week?  Link up share how much and how you did it!  It doesn’t have to be couponing.  You could have skipped Starbucks this week to save some dough and that counts!

We Want To Know Wednesday

Linking up for another edition of We Want To Know Wednesday!

Hosted by Mamarazzi, Seriously Shawn, Janette, and Impulsive Addict.




1. If money didn't matter, where would your perfect vacation take place?  Briefly describe.
I have two places that I would LOVE to go.  My top pick would be Scotland.  I love reading romance books that are set in Scotland, I love the accent, the culture, and the castles!

My second pick would be to go to Necker Island.  It’s owned by Richard Branson.  I want to go here so bad that I’ve even checked the prices!  Check it out:   http://www.neckerisland.virgin.com/
You will want to go with me! I think we can get a better deal with groups over 20! Who wants to come!?!

YES PLEASE!!!

2. What's a bad habit that you have (or had) that is/was hard to break?
Not washing my face at night!  I KNOW that it is imperative.  I used to be a beauty consultant with Mary Kay.  I told other women to wash their faces but it’s SO hard for me to take those extra two minutes to do it myself!

3. If you weren't on a diet or counting calories, what would you like to have for dinner tonight?
Oh good Lord. Where to start.  So since we aren’t counting calories and I’m on this fictional planet where diets do not exist I’m assuming I would have a bottomless stomach and could eat how much I wanted and not feel sick right?  Right!  Let’s start off with some bread sticks and some alfredo sauce to dip them in.  Yummy carbs.  Then the main course would be creamy Fettuccini Alfredo with fresh Parmesan cheese. (More carbs please!). Then I would end my meal with a huge slice of New York Style Cheesecake, hold the cherry sauce please. What did you say? I had that for my birthday last year? Surely not! This is fiction we are talking about!

4. If you had the chance to interview anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and what's one question that you would ask?
This is always a hard one for me! But I think I actually have an answer.  I would want to interview Kate Middleton … or Duchess Catherine should I say? I would ask her what it’s like to be in that world?  To go from a normal girl to the future QUEEN of England.  It’s like something out of a fairy tale to me.

5. Describe yourself in 6 words.
Honest, Loyal, Nice, Trustworthy, Caring, and now Hungry

Tuesday Tribute

Check out Janette’s blog and link up for Tribute Tuesday!!



Today I’m giving a tribute to someone that I’ve known my WHOLE life.  Even before I was born!

My MOMMA!

We don’t get to see each other nearly as often as we would like but we do get to talk on the phone several times a week and that is great!  I can call her up with any of my problems and she’s always ready to listen and help me work them out.  We share a lot of the same likes, dislikes, and hobbies.  It’s all her fault I’m addicted to Twilight.  Yep, she was reading the books back when they FIRST came out. I refused.  But she got to say the big mom “I TOLD YOU SO”.  (See mom, I told the world you were right). 

We both love things that are crafty, cooking, taking care of the men in our lives, and are very loyal to our friends.

She’s a beautiful woman inside and out and I’m very glad that I get to call her momma.

Here’s some of my favorite pictures! I didn’t have many on my hard drive. :(

My smokin’ HOT mom when she was 15!  I wish I looked this good NOW!

Mom and I the day after I was born!

My first birthday!
 

Now I’m a big girl and all grown up. 

On my wedding day! Not sure why she wasn’t smiling here! It wasn’t from a lack of happiness.

There’s that smile! Maybe she likes him more than me? Nah :)


Hopefully one day we will have kids and she will get off my back get to be a grandma again. (Just kidding about that one part … sorta).

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!

Great Weekend & Great Find!

My plans for the weekend that I had for the weekend changed Friday evening.  I had planned on spending my whole Friday evening working on my final project cake for Saturday.  Then I found out that Adam was off work and I hated to spend so much time on other stuff when we could be spending it together.  I called my Cake Instructor and she explained that we weren’t learning anything new and it was just to show off our final project.  I opted to just not go.  So I had a cake free weekend.  It was kind of nice actually.

Saturday we got up very early (6am) and was out of the house by 8 to go to Canton Trades Days.  For those not in East Texas this is a huge place that is mostly out doors that you go to and shop from local vendors.  This is how big it is!

They have stuff like this where you can come across some treasures buried under the junk.

Or pretty girl things like this!

I have been going here off and on my WHOLE life because my grandparents used to be vendors and I would stay all weekend in there motor home and go exploring at night.  So fun!

For the past year or so I have been looking for a make-up table or vanity to go in my bedroom.  No luck at all.  I felt that I was being way too specific.  I wanted something in wood (not painted), tri-fold mirror, a couple of drawers, and I wanted it to be two seperate tables.  This was my inspiration for what type I wanted:

I wanted drawers instead of little cabinets but this was the general idea of what I wanted.

After 5 hours of walking around and talking to a lady who thought she knew someone that would have exactly what I was looking for we bought this beauty!  I’m so glad that I held out for exactly what I wanted rather than settling for something else.

We had to go back Sunday to pick it up since we were in my car.  I’m so excited that it is now home in my bedroom!  I LOVE IT!  My budget for this was no more than $150 but all the ones I was seeing similar to this were around $300 … another snag that was a hold up.  The lady had this for sale for $189 + tax ($205).  I ended up getting it at $175 including tax. Not too bad!

We did have a great weekend and got to spend a lot of time together.  Sunday we watched an all day marathon of Law & Order SVU while we rearranged the bedroom and cleaned the house up.  Great day way to end the weekend!