Weekend Line Up

Things to do this weekend:
1. Air show in Iuka- 9am Saturday
2. MS State game-6pm Saturday- I will not be wearing maroon or ringing a cowbell.
3. Church Sunday morning
4. Eating out with the in-laws for my father-in-law's birthday on Sunday
5. Cleaning house
6. Doing laundry
7. Shopping for trip
8. Packing
9. Figuring out exactly what we're going to do with Amos while we're gone.
10. Leaving for vacation Tuesday!!! (yes, I know this is supposed to be about this weekend and Tuesday isn't a part of the weekend, but it will take me all weekend to get prepared for Tuesday). Details later...

This is all I can think of for now :)
What do YOU have planned for this weekend??

This Week

Survived another weekend! Friday was nice and low-key. Brad wasn't feeling well so we stayed home and had a frozen pizza which was fine with me, but we had plans to go to Tupelo to eat at Outback! Mmmm. Saturday was busy as usual. Chloe's party started at 11 so I met the family at Tad's and set up the decorations. She asked for a horse themed party this year (#1: butterflies; #2: Elmo; #3: Princesses). Still not sure where she came up with that, but it turned out great.

We had Brad's mother make the cake (www.juliascakekitchen.com) and it was yummy! She didn't want just any horse; it HAD to be a Clydesdale horse. We had several people show up and they all had a great time!

After the party I took every ounce of energy I had and convinced myself I had to go to Kirkland's (again). This time I noticed a piece of furniture I've never noticed before and I had to have it (not to be confused with "I wanted to have it"). I had to. Then, silly me, went to Wal-Mart, on a Saturday. I still have no idea what I was thinking, but I went anyway. Sadly, I'm not sure if I even bought anything to eat this week. Ha! Saturday night was low-key as well. Brad cooked deer roast with all the "fixin's". We invited the Wilhites over and I made the fudge pie (again). This time it wasn't as gooey {almost a brownie consistency}. Anyway, if you haven't made it yet, MAKE IT. :)

Sunday was fun as well. After going to the early service at church I headed to my parents' house to decorate for Courtney's birthday. Mrs. Julia made her a cake too!! Isn't that cute? And those flowers? Tasty!

She was thrilled! Courtney turned 27 yesterday and Chloe will be 4 Tuesday. Mother was a doll and cooked dressing, peas, mashed potatoes and rolls. I stuffed myself, then had cake! Chloe was delirious from skipping nap time two days in a row so we danced around the house looking like idiots but she was having the best time. Oh, to be a child again. We had a few minutes then it was time for a baby shower! Mother's friend Mary will be a grandmother in less than a month. Her son, Brandon, and I graduated high school together and mother and Mary go to church together. He and his wife, Chasity, are having a little girl {Addison Leann}. I love that name! I left there and went to Tractor Supply. Iams dog food was on sale! When you have a 143 pound dog that eats like a horse you have to stock up when you can! By the way, not ONE single person offered to help me hoist those 40lb bags. If I ever have a child, I hope it's a boy, so I can teach him manners!!! We had another low key afternoon. Brad wasn't feeling well, but he was kind enough to grill some burgers and I finished setting out my fall things (unless I have (not want) to buy more). :)

Today is a regular work day, plus I have another college/career fair tonight. Should be interesting! Tomorrow is my sweet little cousin's Homecoming- she's a Princess- and she will be absolutely gorgeous (I'll share pics later this week). I just hope she doesn't trip on her dress or get her heels stuck in the mud!! After all, her name is "Grace" :)

We have at least six things going on this weekend! Ahhhh....

Oh, this time next week, Brad and I will be packing our bags and heading out of town! Woohoo!

Stop!

Stop what you are doing! Go out, buy the ingredients, and make the fudge pie I posted about earlier! I made it last night and within 20 minutes half was gone! Brad didn't want to wait until it had set up or thickened so we scooped it in bowls, covered it with ice cream, and ate it! I will say that the next time I eat it, I will try it with a large glass of milk. It was very chocolatey and ooey gooey.

Now, on to other things besides food... how about a Friday Five? :)

Friday Five
Five things I have to planned for this weekend...
1. Catch up on my DVR list
2. Chloe's FOURTH birthday party at Tad's Pizza Saturday
3. birthday party for my sister Sunday (Happy 27th!)
4. baby shower for a friend Sunday
5. shop for groceries, clothes, fall things, house things, etc... just shop!

Have a great (hopefully dry) weekend! :):):)

Trying not to sound whiney

I'm not certain where I left off last time, but I'll try to get you all (ok, my two readers) up to date :)


I have been putting in a lot of extra hours at work recently. Too bad everything is confidential and I can't share with you exactly what I have been doing! Last week is almost a blur to me... luckily I depend on my daily planner. I don't know what I would do without it! Thursday after working to 7pm I ran home to watch Bones! I was so thrilled about the season premier, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. I know that once those two get together then there really won't be anywhere for the show to go, but still!!

Friday was a rainy mess. A lot of the streets were flooded and cars were stalling out. I (being completely insane) was determined that Amos was getting a bath from the vet so we braved the flooded streets and he smelled so much better Friday afternoon. Brad and I went to Taylor's Escape to eat after work. I love that place! Then we went home and I got caught up on some of my dvr'd shows after cleaning most of the house. It was nice relaxing for once!

Saturday, we slept late (8am!) then I got started on laundry and Brad cooked pancakes! Later he decided we should go to Tupelo. There was some sort of "Sportsmen's Bonanza" that Brad wanted to go to. We walked around for a bit and quickly got tired of all the cute little kids running around blowing duck calls in our ears! Brad bought a "Scentlock" bag to put his hunting things in when he goes to Arkansas. That thing was half price! Woohoo! We also got food... ha! Brad got three types of jerky and something called "Cowboy Candy" (candied jalapenos) and some type of salsa that had habaneros and pineapple and mango. Think about that combination! In reality, it really is good! I got a jar of sweet potato butter. It is absolutely delicious! In fact, we had a meal Sunday with rolls just so we could eat the butter; although I fear I'll be eating it with a spoon straight out of the jar soon. Ok, back on track, we left there and went to the APO for Brad to check something out and then headed to the mall to eat. Brad and I are indecisive and I'm picky and it's so much simpler to eat at a food court so we can both get what we want. We walked around a bit then left. I'm so mad at myself because I've been begging to go to Bath and Body Works for two weeks now and I finally get to the mall and forget where I wanted to go?!?! After the mall, I wanted to go to Hobby Lobby. Brad was kind (or stupid) enough to go in with me. About three minutes into it he starts getting antsy and ready to leave. I reminded him I kindly walked around the duck call bonanza for far longer than we would be in HL. I found several (and I mean several) things in HL I wanted but I used self control {that and the fact my hubs was with me}.

We drove back home and I went grocery shopping. Who doesn't love grocery shopping on a Saturday?? Kidding... Not one person in their right mind would say they loved it! I hope not anyway! It's crowded. It's loud. It's a hot mess.

Sunday, Brad and I went to my mom's church for their Homecoming. They had a family from a neighboring church to sing and they were wonderful! Afterwards, we ate in the fellowship hall and the food was wonderful! A good friend of the family made these potatoes that were absolutely delish! In fact, Brad attempted to copy them later that night. We stuffed ourselves and went back home to rest. See, early Sunday morning I let Amos out to run around and later called him back in the house. I was mixing some things to make this dessert dish for homecoming and Brad was helping when all of a sudden Amos started getting sick. in the house. in the kitchen. more than once. I'll spare more details but apparently our goofy dog ate mud then followed it down with muddy water. That runs us late then I run into the bathroom to blow dry my hair when I see a tiny looking blue/green fireball come from the hair dryer! Needless to say "someone" was not having a good hair day at church. That plus the fact it's rained since Labor Day!!
After a short nap, Brad decides he's going to cook. Why stop him? He cooked deer minute steaks plus those potatoes I talked about earlier, plus he cooked come carrots in cinnamon. AND we had rolls with sweet potato butter!! Y-U-M! We invited the Wilhites over and I made the apple blueberry crunch for dessert.

Monday I took the laptop to get cleaned. Apparently we got some sort of Trojan and $80 later it was fixed. I worked even more and then went back to the grocery store to get a few things I forgot Saturday. I left there and met Brad at the airport. Since the plane is officially his and he now has insurance on it and we had a freak afternoon of no rain he wanted to take it up. He flew "in the pattern" (basically he flew circles around the airport) checking things out and he safely landed. He was like a kid in a candy store. I took pictures, but haven't uploaded them yet. I'll do that this weekend... maybe... that's a whole other story to tell.

Tuesday was more work then Kayla was sweet enough to volunteer to help me out at a college/career fair at Corinth High School from 530-730 that afternoon. It was a terrible turn out, but I think we had fun being out of our houses and routine.

Wednesday was busy too with errands and the usual. I started making coffee Wednesday morning and noticed two wet spots on the ceiling! I quickly added something to Brad's to-do list for that afternoon. I stopped by Kirkland's after work for some quick retail therapy. What did we do before they opened? That little trip made me feel much better then I picked Amos up and we headed home. Brad got home shortly after and repaired the roof (now we have to do something about the big brown spot on our ceiling)! I made shrimp and chicken Alfredo for dinner/supper and then we crashed on the couch. I finally got to watch House's season premier. It was ok, but I'm excited for next week! Brad has been sick for a few days so he didn't care what I was watching.

That brings us to today! Yay! Are you still paying attention? Do you care about today? :) Brad went to the doctor this morning and got two shots (one antibiotic and one steroid) plus three prescriptions for more antibiotics, steroids, and an ointment. They did blood work and they're going to test for Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever! We should have those results in a few days I would think. Now, I'm about to leave for lunch (my second lunch in two weeks! :)). My grandmother and her twin sister's birthdays are tomorrow; my niece's 4th birthday party is Saturday (her birthday is the 29th) and then my sister's birthday is Sunday. Bookland/Hallmark will love to see me coming today! :)

If you made it to the end I want to thank you by sharing a recipe that was in our newspaper yesterday.

Hot Fudge Pie
1 stick margarine
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup plain flour

Melt margarine; add rest of ingredients. Pour into pie plate and bake 25 minutes at 325 degrees. Enjoy! I haven't made it yet, but a co-worker did and said she scooped it out as soon as it was done and covered it in ice cream and it was delicious. I'll be making it tonight if at all possible!

Whew!

Ok, sadly, I had to read my last post to even know where to begin on this one. You have really missed out on some things that have been happening lately. HA!

Thursday, Lori and I decorated at church. We set out some nice fall flowers in the urns and put the wreaths on the door. Two other ladies had already finished so much when we got there!
Friday was almost a date night for us. We tried out the Shrimp Boat Cafe in town. They have a variety of seafood such as crab claws and alligator meat. Don't worry, they have catfish and chicken too! Afterwards we went home and crashed. Brad forced me to watch 3:10 to Yuma. Luckily I found a magazine to read and played on the Internet. If I'm going to watch a Western, I would prefer an action packed one or at least something that holds my attention. This one? I was yawning 10 minutes into it.
Saturday was busy (as usual). I met my mother and some coworkers at the Green Market downtown and shopped for a bit; had new tires put on my car; grocery shopped, and attended a benefit for a friend's father. I left my house around 9:30 that morning and got home 12 hours later.
Sunday was worse. Brad found a plane in Nashville, TN so he called the man to schedule a time (we were hoping for Saturday, but we weren't so lucky). We pulled out of our driveway at 6:30 am Sunday morning. It was DARK, people... dark. We dropped Amos off at my in-laws' and headed North. We drove about an hour northeast of Nashville- almost the Kentucky line- to a tiny little town named Lafayette, TN. It's a tobacco farming community and it is one sad sight. We drove down this one road and almost every house had a "For Sale" sign in the yard. Every back we passed had several cars that were apparently repossessed. At every intersection there were auctioning signs. It was so sad.
What I found odd was that every house was either a newer mobile home with a nice drive and landscaping or a newer home. We did see a few old houses, but most looked new. We also saw a lot of barns that looked identical. Later we found out that they are identical because they are all used to cure the tobacco. Back to the original train... the newness of the town (is "newness" a word?). The main street was freshly paved; there was a brand new Wal-Mart supercenter; there were brand new fast food restaurants- Hardee's, KFC, Long John Silver's, etc...; the banks even looked new. BUT 75-85% of the houses are for sale or being auctioned off due to foreclosure.
Back to the plane... since we got there so early we stopped for an early lunch and a walk around Wal-Mart to stretch our legs. You see, Brad is not one to stop on a 4 hour drive- even if you really, really have to go! The walking was nice! We got to the hangar and met with the mechanic and the owner. The plane is identical to Snoopy... long white snout with black nose. Brad checked it out, liked it, and offered to buy it IF our aero-mechanic approved of it. We drove back from Lafayette and the owner flew the plane down to the Corinth airport. Are you getting tired of reading yet??
We picked the guy up and drove him to Pickwick to his sail boat and dropped him off. We picked Amos up and headed straight for home. So, we left our house at 6:30am and got home 15 hours later.
That leads us to Monday. Monday was spent trying not to fall asleep at work plus trying to get the financing straight and the plane checked out. We figured the man would the plane down a few days or the next weekend-- not the same day-- so we weren't really prepared. Everything on the plane checked out and Brad left out about 6pm driving the man back to Nashville. I went to Bunco after work and got home about 11 that night. I stayed up until Brad got home at 12:30. We were in bed before 1 and I was back up at 6.
Now we're at Tuesday when I got up at 6am. Needless to say, I drove straight to the coffee shop after dropping Amos off this morning. I slurped that puppy down after I added a few packets of Splenda. I'm still trying to stay awake today. I'm praying that the cleaning fairy showed up at my house! I mean... we haven't really been home since Friday night. Ha! One day I think we'll be boring people, but not now... that's for sure.

Oh, Big Brother will be on tonight!!!! Bones comes back on Thursday and House starts Monday!! I can.not.wait.!!!

I think this puts you up to date, but I had no less than ten interruptions while typing this so there is NO TELLING what I just typed or how bad I will leave you confused. Leave a comment and I'll try to clear things up... right after I have another cup of coffee or caffeinated beverage.

Oh, another thought-- Prixie had around 1200 miles added to her this weekend. I'm sure we broke in the new tires!!

Oh, I forgot my camera Sunday so I have zero pictures of Lafayette, TN and all of the tobacco fields.

Current Events

When I was in school we had to do current events every Monday. You would find an article in the newspaper, cut it out, glue or tape to notebook paper and write a brief description. Every Monday before school you could find dozens of people in the library sifting through articles trying to find the shortest or the easiest. I'll admit I did that a few times. I mean... who remembers to do "homework" on the weekend??

Anyway, on to my "current events"...
Last week is almost a blur to me. Brad and I took Amos to a different Vet on Thursday and he agreed that we had been doing the right things with Amos and his sickly little self. He did give him a prescription for 4000mg of antibiotics per day for 14 days. At the end of the 14 days (depending on how Amos is doing) he might give another 14 days worth of meds. They seem to be helping with his sores. He had a HUGE nasty one in his armpit (not sure of the technical name for that spot on a dog) but now it's almost completely gone! Prior to this visit, he was on 2000mg so I think doubling it was a good call.

We skipped our high school's first home game because Pug and Tyler were coming in and we had lots to do. They needed to buy their licenses, shells, etc... We got them taken care of and back to the house later Friday night. Brad had to get a few things together and then it was off to bed (around midnight). MY alarm went off bright and early (or should I put "dark and early"?) at 5am Saturday morning. I got the boys out of bed and sent on their way then back to bed for me... for approximately 22 minutes until the nice gentlemen behind our house started shooting. And shooting. And shooting. Afterwards we went out for breakfast and I stuffed myself like a pig. (I didn't eat anything else until 8pm that night). Jenessa and I watched Time Traveler's Wife. I'll spare you my detailed opinion, but let's just say I won't be renting it. Afterwards, we all met back up at a friend's restaurant. I barely touched my salad-- I was still stuffed from breakfast! :) HA!

Sunday was similar to Saturday morning; got the guys up and back to bed I went. Then it was time to get ready for church. After church I went to my grandmother's; all 3 of her children, 5 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild was there. It was nice visiting, but I couldn't stay long. Brad and I were cooking fish for everyone at our house that afternoon. We had a good crowd, but plenty of food left over. It was nice having everyone over to visit.

Pug and Tyler left out Monday morning heading back to Arkansas. After they left, Brad and I worked around the house. I think I ended up doing 6 loads of laundry! We also drove down to Okolona to look at an airplane. Brad took it for a test fly and then we headed back home. I think every Monday should be a holiday. We definitely could use another day off! :)

Yesterday was back to the grind for us. After work I went to get my hair cut and ended up cutting about 6 inches off of my hair. Then I went to a junior high football game where I got soaked! My sweet 13 yr old cousin, Savannah Grace, is a cheerleader. She looked so cute out on the field. Too bad it started pouring rain and the game was called and everyone was running to their vehicles. I hope the next game is a little drier.

Today I have a few errands to run; nothing major. Then tomorrow I think we're going to decorate the church after work. "It's Fall Y'all!" and we can finally start decorating that way! :)

Toys R Us Kids

I've been singing the song "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid" for a few days now. Some days I love being "an adult" and other days I wish I was back in school. Monday was payday and I'm already broke! Ha! We have so many extra bills this month- Brad's truck tag, propane for our tank, dentist bill, medical bill, furniture, new tires for Prixie, and three birthday gifts (grandmother, sister, and niece). This is all on top of our regular bills. Some days I like to think back to when my parents paid for everything I needed and I paid for what I wanted. No wonder my parents were so eager to get my sister and me out of the house! Ha!


Speaking of getting people out of the house... Levi is back in New Orleans. He called Monday with bad news though. Apparently after he got back he went to bed and while he was sleeping someone tried to hot wire his truck. I'm not sure what went wrong, but the truck blew up/exploded/caught on fire. He's now in NOLA without a vehicle. I'm sure by now he has a rental car though.

Levi walked out of his house and found this...

Inside of the truck... at least his basketball survived

This Saturday dove season opens in our area. Pug and his son, Tyler, will be coming in to hunt with the guys.

Random information: I'm sitting in my office wearing my North Face Jacket-- I am THAT cold. My boss is oblivious to the fact Jan and I are both wearing jackets; of course, she's wearing a suit jacket, but I'm pulling out the winter coat! HA!

I guess there was no reason for this post except to ramble a few things. Oh, well... one day I'll have plenty of interesting information to share; just not today! :)