Halloween Flashback

I don't think I've fully dressed up for Halloween since that "I'm too good for this" phase of middle school.  So all of my pictures this week are from childhood!

 My second Halloween - I was sick!  My mom just has this one picture, since I didn't dress up that year. (1987)

With my dad and little brother in (pre-renovation) University Mall (1989).

 

I think between my brother and I, we were a clown for a good solid 6 years.  Preschool, 1989.

This was my FAVORITE costume ever...I was a flamingo! Notice my brother's clown costume? 1992

 

Maybe 1995 or 1996

And that's about the point it stopped being cool to dress up for Halloween. :)

Thanks for stopping by...Happy Halloween weekend!

The Piggies Got Me

It's (all but*) official - I have had swine flu.  And it was not fun in the least.

I've never had the flu.  My mom laughed at me when I told her this the other day, but when I asked her to name one time she could remember me having it, she couldn't.  I've always thought I just had some magical immunity to it, because it's not like I've never been exposed to it.  PSSSHHHH....funny!

This has been my view for the past few days:

(Including the big black blob in the bottom right of the picture known as Hardy - he has been with me NON-STOP.  It's almost like he thinks he needs to watch me and protect me.  It's really cute!)

So, if you do get this Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad (like that elem. teachers?) disease, here are my suggestions:

- It sounds cliche', but fluids...as much as you can.  Because, all of a sudden, you will magically not have ANY fluids in your whole body and you will feel like you are ABOUT TO DIE.

-Gatorade, Emitrol, Tylenol, and cough syrup are your best friends.

-Don't eat anything that you actually like.  You'll never like it again.  And I'll leave that at that.

-REST.  I've been in bed for 4 days now, and I still feel like I've ran a marathon.  I'm a little bit of a work-a-holic, but even I had to call it for this.

-Don't go back to work too early.  Fever has to be under 100 for 24 hours before you are not contagious.  Trust me, nobody wants this business.

-Don't get it in the first place!  I'm not going to say go get the shot because I'm a little iffy about getting shot full of a vaccine that hasn't been proven not to cause long-term harm, but just use common sense - wash hands, don't go near sick people, don't share drinks, etc.

I think I'm finally ready to go back to school tomorrow...thank God!  My poor kids have had 3 different subs in 3 different days, and I know they're getting sick of worksheets.  I'm ready to go back!  But today, I'm doing a little bit more resting, and a TON of catching up around here!

And the positive out of all of this?  I'm immune to swine flu for the rest of the year. :)

*I went to the doctor Saturday and tested negative for the flu.  The doctor at that point said I might still have it, but it was just too early to test positive (my symptoms had just shown up 24 hours before that).  She said if I still had symptoms the next day (which I did), I probably did have the flu.  Trust me, this is not a mistakable kind of virus... you know when you have it. :)  Then, the nausea/vomiting showed up Monday - that means swine flu.  That also explains why my flu test was negative Saturday - we've heard of a lot of people with swine flu that had a negative flu test.

BOO on the FLU

I am the kind of person that says I can't get sick.  I had a really awful stomach virus when I was in middle school that gave me some kind of super immune system (and I'm not crazy, my dad had the same stomach virus and got the same super immune system), so I've literally been sick 3 times (barring a couple of minor sinus infections) since 8th grade.

Until Friday.

Here's my life since then.

3:00 Friday - I started feeling sick.  I had car rider duty at school, and remember commenting to another teacher that my sinuses felt swollen.  My throat hurt too, but I just passed it off as one of those sinus infections I get once or twice a year.

4:00 Friday - Thought it might be allergies, so took a Benadryl and completely passed out.  Didn't wake up until 7:00 Saturday morning.

8:00 Saturday - Woke up with a low grade fever (I think it was like 99.5), so decided not to go to the tailgate.  I was sad - I've never missed a tailgate since Noah and I have been together.

12:00 Saturday - Progressively feeling worse.  You know it's bad when you call your mom. :)  Called her, and she was completely insistent that I go to a doc-in-the-box to see if it was the flu (she works in a school too, so she knows how bad it is right now).

3:00 Saturday - Fever gets up over 100.  We decide to go to the doctor during the game, so it wouldn't be too busy.  We go, they tell me my fever was 98.4 (which I KNOW it wasn't...I was having chills already at that point), and I test negative for strep and flu.  Left a little bit more confused that I came in, armed with antibiotics and cough syrup.  They tell me to call back for TamiFlu the next day if symptoms aren't better.

6:00 Saturday - I watch that TERRIFYING game going on down the road, and I'm actually feeling a little better.  Fever is still up, but I have Mexican for dinner and go to sleep fairly early.

8:00 Sunday - I wake up feeling not too bad...beginning to think it was just a 24 hour bug.  My fever is low grade again, and I actually felt well enough to go to the grocery store and watch movies that afternoon with my husband.

5:00 Sunday - Fever starts going back up.  It got up to 102 yesterday afternoon.  Made the call to get a sub for Monday (which I HATE, by the way - teachers out there know how much of a pain it is to miss school).  Still don't feel too bad, got a shower.  Wondering why this flu stuff is so bad (HA).

9:00 Sunday - Go to bed, not feeling too bad.

5:30 Monday - Wake up feeling LIKE A TRUCK HAD HIT ME.  It was the most pain I've been in in a while.  I had severe chills, couldn't get comfortable in bed (and actually dreamed ALL night that people were trying to donate pillows to me to get comfortable), had a really severe headache, was coughing (which made the headache worse), and throwing up.  Fever was at 103.

6:00 Monday - I wait until Noah's up so I can tell him what's going on, then take my medicine and pass back out.

Since 7:00 Monday - I've slept about 6 out of the past 9 hours.  I'm usually the type that can't go back to sleep if I've already been asleep for awhile, but not today.  I've only woken up long enough to talk to the teachers at school, take medicine, and take my temp.

So, as of right now, my fever is at 101 (unmedicated - medicated it's just a little bit over normal).  So, teachers, you know what that means - no school tomorrow.  BOO.  And we have a field trip.  I feel SO terrible missing tomorrow, but I don't want to get anyone else sick.

So this is no fun.  Basically.  Get your flu shot.

Tennessee Weekend

I'm sick today.  Boo.  So Noah's going to tailgate/go to the game, and I'm in bed with Hardy.

So for now, I leave you with a man that echos my exact feelings this weekend.

Roll Tide. :)

Sips n Strokes

Some of my co-workers and I went to Sips n Strokes in Tuscaloosa last night!  If you don't know - Sips n Strokes is a place where you can go (as a group) and make a painting together.  They walk you through a painting one step at a time, and make it extremely easy.  Trust me, if I can paint, you can too. :)

We had so much fun!  Here are some pictures from last night.

The first grade teachers!

Already looking kind of messy...

With our great Spanish teacher Katie!

The finished product...obviously I am not a painter!

All of us with our paintings. :)

If you want to see all of the paintings they do, go here!

PS - Finished a couple of blogs tonight...

 

Us, In Pictures

If you're new to my blog, welcome!  What better way to meet my family than pictures?

This is me.

This is my husband.  He's kind of cute.

We were married in December 2007.

This is my dog, Hardy.  He's kind of cute too.

We live in Tuscaloosa, AL, where we love to go to football games!

We also love to take vacations...this was the Bahamas this summer.

I am a first grade teacher, and he is an insurance agent.  All throughout the summer, I kept a record of my new classroom, and how it was coming along!  Here's a couple of pictures that were included in it:

Feel free to look around...we've got a lot going on in our lives right now! I'm glad you're here!

Homecoming Weekend

We had a great weekend!

This was Alabama's homecoming, so we spent pretty much all day yesterday doing things for that.  Every year at Noah's fraternity house, they do a big lunch and all of the alumni hang out and watch football all day.  It was COLD, so it was nice to be inside rather than freezing on the quad!

This was the only picture I took...I was kind of a photography slacker this weekend. :)

After the fraternity house, we went to a restaurant on the strip and watched the game.  We thought about going to the game for about 3 seconds before we realized the temperature was going to be in the 30's before the game was over...no thanks!  We were nice and warm inside.

The game wasn't the prettiest thing I've ever seen, but we won!  And HOW ABOUT that #1 AP ranking??  We're kind of excited around here!

Today's been catch-up day...after Kelly's tour on Thursday I got 12 new blog orders!  I'm extremely thankful, but still trying to get everything organized.  As of right now, I am caught up on starting the ones with payments submitted and answering emails.  It has taken me three hours to do all of that though!

PS - Haven't had a cute Hardy picture lately.  So here you go. :)

Kelly's Show Us Your Life - Designed by Leslie

I LOVE that Kelly is letting us show off our little home businesses this week! 

I started designing blogs in April, about the time I actually started blogging!  I wanted a cute blog, but I'm very particular about the kinds of things I like.  I have some experience in html code from college, so I thought I'd try it out!  A couple of friends liked my design and asked if I could do their's as well.  And the rest is history. :)  Since April, I've designed over 70 blogs.

Here are some of my favorites from recently (click the graphic to go to the blog):

I was also lucky enough to work on Kelly's Recipe blog!

The big reason I started this as a side business is to raise money for my classroom.  I am a first year teacher, and as you know, money isn't great in schools right now.  A lot of teachers are paying for a lot of their classroom supplies out of pocket.  This business has actually raised most of the money needed to start up my classroom!  It still helps pay for that, but the focus for continuing blog design has kind of shifted in the last couple of months.  I want more than anything to have children, but college debt is kind of standing in the way right now.  This business is helping us pay off the debt I incurred throughout college.  I couldn't be more thankful that the Lord has blessed me with a way to get closer to having children!  So just know that your business helps me get to becoming a mommy. :)

To see my designs, pricing, and business blog, click here.  If you are interested in a blog design and place your order before Sunday, mention that you found me through Kelly's Korner and you will receive 20% off your package price!

New Award!

Thanks to Katie for a new award!  I designed both of her blogs a couple of months ago - she is a teacher too, and teaches in Germany - how cool is that?

The logistics:

1. Say thanks and give a link to the one who gave you the award.
2. Share 10 honest things about yourself.
3. Present this award to 3 other fantastically brilliant blogs of content or design, or peeps that have encouraged you.
4. Tell those 3 people they've been awarded and make sure they're informed of these guidelines

10 Honest Things About Me

1. My natural hair color is incredibly mousy brown - I haven't seen it since I was in 9th grade.
2. I'm pretty sure I could eat cheese for every meal for the rest of my life.
3. I am one of the cheapest people you will ever meet...I ABSOLUTELY don't spend money on something if I don't have to.
4. I have some baby fever like you wouldn't BELIEVE...but if you read this blog often, you already know that. :)
5. I still cry at the end of Apollo 13.  It's like one of my top two favorite movies ever.
6. I am super self-conscious about my stomach...I've never like the way it looks.  At one point in high school, I weighed 110 pounds and didn't like it.
7. I have individual burn scars all over my arms.  Not intentional, just clumsiness.  Two are from accidentally touching George Foreman grills, and a new one (just acquired yesterday - I'm pretty certain it will scar) is from dropping glue from a high-temp glue gun on my hand.  It hurt just a little.
8. If you walk into my house on a Thursday night, you will think we live like absolute slobs.  I try to clean throughout the week, but usually run out of steam by that point.  I really clean either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, but it's usually pretty rough before that.
9. I look forward to Christmas basically year-round.  Christmas and snow make me become an absolute child.
10. I love my husband, puppy, and family with all of my heart. :)

And I re-gift this to...

Allison at Brad and Allison

April at Fabulous Five

Nikki at The South Family

(I feel like you three are who I give these things to every time! :))

A Little Grocery Shopping Q and A...

I had a couple of really good questions on the last post.  I thought, instead of answering them individually, I'd make a post for them!

This entire thing is possible because of iheartpublix.com...it is the BEST.  They break down the weekly ads for Publix and match up the coupons you can use with each sale to make for huge discounts (sometimes even free items!).

The best way to figure out what the heck you're doing with these coupons is to go to this site.  It answers a bunch of questions about Publix's coupon policies.  There's also a link at the top of this page that explains the abbreviations (for example BOGO is buy 1 get 1 free, RP is the Red Plum coupon book in the Sunday paper, etc.).

It's going to take you a few weeks to accumulate enough coupons to really make this effective...just stick with it, and it can be SUPER beneficial!  I started out slow - I would look for one or two things that I could find a coupon for online - those are the easiest to start with.  Also, for a few weeks, I printed every coupon I thought we would use, got every coupon book I saw at Publix (they're at the entrance at our store), and saved every coupon book out of the newspaper every Sunday (and put the date I got it on each one - that will help later).

A few questions I had on all of this:

-How do the coupons double...do you have to ask for that?

No!  Publix's policy is: any manufacturer coupon 50 cents or less doubles.  SO...it's a lot more beneficial to have a 50 cent coupon than to have a 55 cent coupon.  Most registers will automatically double those coupons (even if they have a "don't double" note at the top of the coupon), but just watch when then scan your coupon to make sure.

This brings up another point - learn the difference in manufacturer coupons and Publix coupons.  There's usually a note somewhere on the coupon that tells you which one it is.  At Publix, you can use 1 manufacturer coupon AND 1 Publix coupon on 1 item...not two of either one though.  That can make a BIG difference if you can plan it right!


-Where do you get your coupons from?

Three main places - the internet (sites like coupons.com, smartsource.com, redplum.com, and manufacturer sites), actually at Publix (in those stands at the front of the store), and out of the newspaper/circulators they put in your mailbox.  Every coupon you can use is laid out at that website above.

The key to it all is buying stuff when you don't necessarily need it just then.  I know that sounds weird, but if it can be stored in a pantry or frozen, it will usually last until you can use it!  If you wait until you have to have something to buy it, chances are it won't be on sale.  Meats can be frozen, cheeses/milk can be frozen, even bread lasts a few weeks (for us) in the fridge.  Our freezer stays PACKED, but it works really well.  I've actually gotten our weekly grocery bill down to around $20...and we eat at home almost every night!  As long as you're willing to give up some of the control over what you fix each night, this is very do-able.  And personally, to save this much money, I'll eat pretty much whatever they want me to! :)

If anybody has any questions about this, you're welcome to email me at leslieflambert@gmail.com...I'm actually kind of a dork about all of this, so I'll be glad to answer anything you don't understand!  It's kind of fun to me to see how much I can save.  The way I figure it, if this is going to become a hobby, at least it's a hobby that SAVES me money!

Hardy's Birthday

 

Hardy had a pretty great 2nd birthday.

He got some presents...

 

...ate some cupcakes...

...and passed out like a kid after Christmas morning.  It was cute. :)

As for us?  We ate some biscuits and gravy for breakfast,

 

watched some football, ate some buffalo chicken dip, baked (and ate) some cookies (can you tell I was in the kitchen all day?)...

...and spent some quality time with our two year old puppy dog.

It was a good day. :)

Happy Birthday Hardy!

Today's my sweet boy's 2nd birthday! I've already posted pictures of his first birthday, so I thought today, I'd put up some pictures of the first few days we had him. :)

He was 14 weeks old when we got him. I had to work the day Noah had to drive (almost) to the Tennessee line to get him from the breeder. It was January and REALLY cold...I think I remembering it snowing that day (which, in Alabama, is really rare). I walked in and saw this sweet, shy baby sitting in Noah's lap! How things have changed.







I love my buppy so much!

For his birthday, he gets two new toys, a sausage breakfast, and a birthday cake lunch. I'm about to start working on his cake right now, which includes beef baby food and beef jerky. Gross, but he LOVES it.