Iron Bowl

Ugh, I know.  You thought I wouldn't be talking about that day.  I'll admit, the game STUNK, but the day was fun!

We got to the quad about 9:30...not because we wanted to get the day started that early, but because parking is SO crazy on campus that we had to get there 4 hours in advance to find a spot!  This was after waiting at Bojangle's for 30 minutes for biscuits because someone (read I) can't bake, and tried to make 2 dozen biscuits Friday morning.  Just a big ol' FAIL, but I did come away with a couple dozen hockey pucks.  Sigh...I'll learn to bake one of these days...

So anywho...we always go all out for Auburn.  One of our good friend's (hi Dana!) birthdays is in late November, so we always celebrate it at the last game of the year!

Isn't the cake cute??  I think it's better than last year's.

I had to get one cute shot of us before my phone died...so sorry, that's the end of the pictures for the day. I refuse to lug my big camera out to campus, only to have to keep up with it/lose it/brake it.  So the phone (which I NEVER remember to charge before game days) has to suffice.

We ate, we seriously contemplated watching The Price is Right at the tailgate (because I mean really, when can you say you've done that??), and we just generally had fun!

I won't go into details about 1:30~5:30...ugh.  Just devastating.  We went home and got in bed early after that.  And for some reason I've had to go to bed at like 7:00 every night since...I don't know what's wrong with me!

This weekend was VERY chilled...we did absolutely nothing.  And I must say, it was AWESOME.  Now, I'm so behind in everything and my house is a total wreck, but that's ok...sometimes you just need it.

Happy late Monday/Tuesday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  We're in Tuscaloosa this year, spending the day with my side of the family...is it bad that our Thanksgiving/Christmas rotation depends on whether Alabama/Auburn is a home game? :)  I'm ready to stuff my face personally.  I'm making Kelly's green bean bundles.  They are SO awesome if you've never made them...my family always requests them when we have a big dinner!

Even though this has been a very challenging year for us, I have so much to be thankful for.  I have an incredibly awesome job, a great family, a beautiful house, and my health.  

But what am I most thankful for?  These two guys.  I wouldn't have made it through this year without them!

Happy Turkey Day everybody!

Sprucing Up

Y'all, my carpet was in dire need of some TLC.  We've been putting it off for forever, but it was finally time.  We found out last week that we're having Noah's family Christmas here.  I'm talking aunts, uncles, cousins...everybody.  

I know.

So I stressed a little about it at first, but now I've reached a point where I'm actually excited!  I get to have my house super-clean, plus I might just get some new furniture thrown in as a thank you. :)  More about that later...

Anyway, back to the cleaning.  So this is what my carpet looked like around 10:00 yesterday morning.

Guh-ross.  If you look closely, you can see the outlines of chairs.  I had NO idea how dirty your carpet gets in 2 years (we cleaned it when we moved in August 2008).  So we rented a cleaner and got to work last night!

I must say, he was pretty good at the cleaning.

This guy was not a fan of it though.  He would run out of the room every time we even brought the cleaner near him.  I kept on telling him we were cleaning it because of his nastiness!

And the finished product - ta da!  Looks SO, SO much better.  I already feel better about my house!

I also got in my new comforter set yesterday!  I LOVE it!  The old one was looking rough (after only a year!), and I had a coupon for overstock, so I took advantage of it!  My favorite part?  I paid a little over $100, and when I got it out of the box, a sticker to a WELL known home store fell off with a price tag of $250. :)  I LOVE that!

Our Christmas Card!

I put this on my Review blog too, but I wanted to share it with everybody on this blog too!

Here's a sneak peek of our 2010 Christmas card.  I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Peppermint Dots Christmas Card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Right Now...

...I'm watching Game Day...

...eating Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls...

...and this is my view.

So don't be surprised if I'm off the radar for a couple of days. :)

Happy weekend everybody!

Show Us Your Life - Laundry Room/Spare Rooms

**My laundry room has changed very little since the last home tour, so I just updated where needed.**

Welcome to my laundry room!


One thing you can say for my laundry room - it's functional. One thing you cannot say for my laundry room - it's decorated. I'm getting there though.




I have an AWESOME washer and dryer. We bought them when we first moved in at a scratch and dent store locally for about half of the retail price!


My cute little lint trash can next to the dryer - it matches the trash can in my kitchen.

**Update:  Because of the way I grocery shop, we finally had to break down and get a deep freezer.  It now sits where the baby trash can used to sit!**

And because my keys and work badge are ALWAYS there, I couldn't help keeping them there for this picture. :)


Our pile-o-stuff on top of the dryer is completely random.


Can you tell Noah and I buy things in bulk?? There's really no other place in the house to store all of the things we hit up Sam's for, so it ends up here.


The other side of the massive storage rack - and once again, very random. It's mostly home repair things on this side, but you'll also find the occasional Halloween bowl. :)

**Update: Same idea, different stuff. What can I say, it's out clutter magnet in the house.**

You will usually always find a garbage bag full of cans tied to the back of this door...we try to collect cans for scrap metal.


All of our winter coats are always right next to the washer so we can grab them on the way out the door.

And I just had to show this part of the laundry room. I've mentioned before that Hardy (my dog) has this weird thing where he will chew the rubber cap off of the springy thing that stops the door and just leave it next to the spring. He doesn't eat it, he doesn't even really chew on it, he just sets it down. If we put it back on, he'll just take it back off. We are convinced that he has OCD.
_______________________________________

While I do have a laundry room, I don't have a bonus room or play room - so I thought I'd tack my hallway on, since there's not a week for it.

Looking into the hall from the living room.


A little further down the hall - that picture is my absolute favorite of us (and is the one you see in my blog header!).

The room straight ahead in this picture is the spare bathroom, the room to the left of that is the office, and the room to the right of that is the guest bedroom. The room on the right closest to us is the laundry room, and the room to the left closest to us is the master bedroom.

There's not much to my hall, besides the Dirt Devil


and Hardy's beloved toy basket.


You'll often find him next to it doing this:


God love him. :)

**I updated my review blog with a few fun discounts...go here to check it out!**

Why I Gave Up Cold Turkey

I've just recently (like, yesterday) made a decision.

I'm giving up Facebook...for now.

Have any of you ever thought about this?  Everything that has happened in the past month has made me completely over-analyze everything, but this was one thing I felt pretty strongly about.  Since our whole situation has unfolded, Facebook has turned into something completely and totally negative.  I usually check it (once or twice a day, I'll admit) and get the worst feeling in my stomach.

The sad part, that I hate to admit?  It's jealousy.  These people (as far as I know) aren't going through a rough time.  Everything looks happy and perfect on Facebook.  I know it's not, but it looks that way. 

I want to be out of our situation.  I want it just to quit, and to go back to a time where we're not in this.  Where we're happy, and not constantly burdened with what has happened in the past two months.

But you know what?  We can't do that.  Plain and simple.  It's here, we're living with this forever.

And that's why Facebook and me just don't mix anymore.  I can't constantly be reminded that this isn't perfect.  Not to mention the fact that like 12 people I know are announcing they're pregnant a day (most of which were due very closely to the time I would have been).  Anybody that's ever been through this knows that it feels like a punch to the stomach every time I see a comment on there about being pregnant or dealing with pregnancy...not to mention the fact that my picture link is constantly full of precious babies and ultrasound pictures of perfectly healthy babies...not the empty screen I saw.

Thanks, but no thanks.  It's just too much to take right now.  So I've officially blocked the website on my computer and deleted the app off of my phone.

So, the whole point of this post (I'm rambling, I know)...if you're going through a rough time right now, and everybody else around you seems like they are living the perfect life, I understand.  And you might want to think about doing this too (at least for a little while).  Even if you're not going through a rough time, I've learned that constantly comparing ourselves to everyone else isn't healthy.  This is my first step to disconnecting with that.

And I must say, the first day of it feels fabulous.  This is the first day in awhile that I haven't gotten sad about it all.  It's so much easier to block it out when you aren't putting yourself in that situation.

Has anybody else ever done this?  If not, do you think you could?

Show Us Your Life - Bathrooms

***My master bath has changed a little since the last home tour, so I did a before/after where it changed!***

Welcome to my FAVORITE room in my whole house!

When Noah and I were first looking at this house, this room literally took my breath away. The big double doors were closed from the bedroom, and we opened them to see this...


I just remember Noah and I looking at each other, absolutely speechless. Seeing this room made us realize this was the house!


The shower - just to the left of the entrance to the room. There's a linen closet next to this, but I didn't think that would be very interesting. :)


There's also a very pretty tile pattern in front of the shower!

We have double sinks. Let me rephrase that - we NEED double sinks, and we are lucky enough to have them. We have tried one sink in the master bath in the past, and it was a disaster.


The water closet next to the sink...not very interesting at all. I need something to give it some oomph.

**Update: We got that oomph! :)  These are our wedding pictures, framed on the back wall.***

Betcha couldn't guess that this is my favorite part of the house. :)

I bought these plants on clearance at Hobby Lobby, and I love them! I especially love that they were a good deal. The candles around them were actually used (for display, not burning) at our wedding!


My husband has had this picture for years. For some reason (and I have no idea why), he has always said that he wanted this to hang in his bathroom. Don't ask me, I don't know.

**Update: We have the same picture, but a new frame for the picture!  I love the update!**

Our pretty chandelier. It matches the lighting throughout the house.


Our closet is just off the bathroom, next to the jacuzzi. I love love love love LOVE our big closet! We joked when we first moved into this house that this closet was almost as big as our old bedroom. We've got it divided pretty well...Noah has half of the long wall, and I have half. The back wall has my dresses, our t-shirts, and our shoes. We have an unreasonable amount of shoes, so not all of them are in those organizers.


View from the other wall. (And no, our laundry organizer isn't about to break...that just means I need to do laundry.)


Looking out into our bedroom.

Our spare bath has changed slightly since the last home tour.  We've added one cute thing!

 I LOVE this flower arrangement.  We needed something on this wall, and this was just the thing!  The colors are perfect for our house.

The sink in here is BEAUTIFUL...it's a custom made cabinet with a granite counter top.


This picture was actually left by the previous owners, and I thought it was pretty! And we registered for these towels for our wedding, but somebody actually got our monogram put on them. I thought it was so pretty!

And yes, we still have the ratty Hardy-chewed rug.  I've gotten two new rugs, and just didn't like them as much as the old one!

Kelly's Show Us Your Life - What You Make

Hi guys!  If you're coming over from Kelly's Korner, welcome!

I make custom blog designs.  I have had this little side business since May of 2009, when a friend asked me to design her blog.  Then another friend asked, and another, and the rest is just history! :)  I love my little design hobby...it's a GREAT way to get my creativity out, and it's so flexible...works great with a full time teaching job!

You can see my design blog here.  There's a 10% sale for Kelly's Korner readers through Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Doing The Diet Thing

I started Weight Watchers last week.  I've done it before, and know it works extremely well (if you follow it), so I thought I would just stay with what I know!  We're currently in an effort to do anything and everything we can to keep our mind off of things, so this fit in well.  Best case scenario, I'm on the shortest diet ever before I'm not allowed to diet anymore. :)  Worst case scenario, I lose a ton of weight.  Can't lose!

So far, it's not too bad.  I had that terrible, awful first couple of days where you feel like you're going to gnaw your arm off at about 8:00 every night.  Now that it's over, it's not bad at all!  I like Weight Watchers because you can eat whatever you want...it's just about portion control.  I had a brownie last night, and that was completely ok...I just couldn't eat anything else for the rest of the night.

If you've ever done Weight Watchers before, you know that zero point foods are like GOLD.  I found one last week when I googled...it was for a vegetable soup recipe.  I tweaked it a little bit, and this is what I got!

6 cups chicken broth (I use chicken bullion...lasts WAY longer)
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
1/2 head green cabbage, chopped
1 6oz. can tomato sauce
10 stalks celery, chopped
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 tbsp. pepper

Dump all of that in a Crock Pot and put it on low for 10 hours (until the veggies are tender).  It turned out really well - and 1-2 cups is 0 points!  I use it when I'm still starving and can't/don't need to eat anymore.

I'm also trying to work out.  I'll admit, I love working out when I get in the habit of doing it, but HATE getting in the habit.  I've been doing yoga on the Wii Fit right now.  It is FABULOUS.  It relaxes me, stretches me out, and burns calories.  My kind of workout!  Plus it tones you up and doesn't just build muscle.

Ok, y'all keep me accountable - I've got a goal to hit, and unless something drastic happens (I think you know what I'm talking about...) I'm going to get there!

PS - I've had a bunch of people ask what Swagbucks is all about, so I did a review...you can check it out here!