My Happily Ever After

WOW...

2011-02-15T19:09:00.000-05:00

It's been a looooong time, too long, it has been a long tough year.... more to come :)

Super Double Coupons!

2010-02-17T12:09:00.003-05:00

Harris Teeter is having their Super Doubles this week where the double coupons up to $1.99, meaning a $1.50 coupon is now worth $3!!!!!! Check out Mrs. MoneySaver for her great list of the deals you can get. Her site is always full of great match-ups and money saving tips!!

Who dosen't Love Yankee Candles?

2010-02-17T11:03:00.002-05:00

You can go here to print a coupon for $10 off of $25! You should be able to use this coupon and the Yankee Candle Outlet in Williamsburg as well as Bath & Body Works, Hallmark, and Kohls!

Thanks Fiddledeedee!!

BAZINGA!

2010-02-02T10:36:00.001-05:00

The episode of The Big Bang Theory that was on last night was HILARIOUS!

Especially this part... Bazinga!

Monthly Meal Planning

2010-02-01T12:42:00.002-05:00

As part of my "Thrifty shopping" I have been trying to stockpile items that I frequently use, when they are on sale, so that in the end I am saving money and time (by not having to run to the store because I don't have cream of chicken soup) So starting in February I will be planning my meals out for a month at a time. I based my first months meals on simple things that my family already likes! I made a spreadsheet with separate worksheets, which are, 1. a calendar with the meals, 2. a page of recipes and ingredients, and 3. a running list of ingredients I need to purchase for the month. Under each day of the month I put what meat the recipe calls for so that I know what to pull out of the freezer and also so I could see how many pounds of each meat I would need for the entire month! I also left one day a week for left overs or eating out... or if something came up during the week and I didn't get dinner made it can be moved to that night! I posted a snapshot of my calendar for you to see but if you would like a copy of the file to use for yourself leave me a comment with your email address and I will send it to you!!

So this month is planned and I have already planned what groceries need to be bought on pay day.... I will keep you all updated as to how my plan works out!!

These make me smile

2010-02-01T11:07:00.002-05:00

Every Month "A Little Birdie told me" puts out these super cute desktop calendar background and I just love them!!! Check out February's here!!

SNOW? In Virginia??

2010-02-01T09:04:00.002-05:00

That's right can you believe we actually had, not just snow, but a foot of snow here in South Eastern VA? Crazy Right?! Well we spent the whole weekend having a blast an enjoying it! I managed to snap some pictures yesterday one the sun came out! I will try to get them up this week!

So for the last few weeks I have been mixing between personal blogging and blogging about coupons and freebies and such. Is there anything you all would particularly like to see? Deals on specific things or stores?? Do you have a question? Let me know in the comments section and I will post about your topic or question this week!!!

xoxo,

Blush Undershirts!!

2010-01-28T10:12:00.002-05:00

Oh wow i need one of these for the multitude of shirts i have shrunk!!! It is a new product From Blush and Blue Cricket is giving one away! Check it out here!

20% off for Coach!

2010-01-27T15:57:00.002-05:00

Got a Hankering for a new Coach bag? I know I always do but sadly I do not have room in my budget for one. Well the Coach Factory stores have a new 20% off coupon!! Go here to print, it is valid thru 1/31! Don't forget you can use this coupon with already reduced items! If you use it let me know what kind of deals you get!!!

(Thanks,Hip2Save !)

THE BIG 200

2010-01-27T15:44:00.002-05:00

Since I have now posted over 200 times I decided that the time had come for yet another face-lift on the dear old Blog! Let me know what you think... look forward to more great deals and also a giveaway in the near future!!!

kisses,

50% off at Joann Fabric!

2010-01-27T09:29:00.001-05:00

JoAnn Fabric and Craft store is offering up another great coupon! Go here to print a 50% off any one regular-priced item coupon! This coupon is valid thru January 30th.

(Thanks, Hip2Save !)

Earn 1 Swagbuck EASY!!

2010-01-25T09:48:00.004-05:00

There is a new Swag Code worth 1 Swag Buck in Special Offers! Here's how to claim your SB!

Go to the Swagbucks home page
Look in the left column for "Special Offers" NEW
Look for the blue box on the right that says "No Obligation Offers"
Scroll past the offers and skip them all
When you reach the end, you'll be given a unique Swag Code - Copy it
Go back to the Swagbucks Home Page and enter the code under your Swag Bucks total

This is an easy way to gain a Swag Buck! Don't forget to search today for more earning opportunities!

If you haven't signed up yet click here to get started!!

FREE Workout Music

2010-01-22T10:33:00.003-05:00

If you like peppy workout music, go here to download The Biggest Loser Workout Mix for free! I downloaded it and listen to it every day at the gym... it is current songs and all very upbeat mixes... i don't notice that i am listening to the same songs everyday! love it and it keeps me super motivated!!

Thanks, Frugal Newlyweds!

Target Freeness

2010-01-22T09:05:00.003-05:00

Are you headed to the Mecca today? AKA Target? LOL well check out this freebie thanks to Stretching a Buck!

Buy 1 Nivea Body Wash (16.9 oz) at $2.99
Use $1/1 Target web coupon
Use $2/1 coupon from 1/3 Red Plum insert
Final Price = FREE

Make sure to check out Stretching a Buck for even more deals!!

FREE Betty Crocker Coupons!

2010-01-22T09:02:00.001-05:00

Sign up to get a free Betty Crocker coupon booklet by mail packed with $10 in coupon savings. This offer is only available to new Betty Crocker, Dinner Made Easy or Bisquick email subscribers. Thanks, Coupon Cravings!

Free Renu Contact Solution

2010-01-22T08:59:00.002-05:00

Print a $2/1 Renu contact solution coupon here (use your browser's back button to print it twice) and use these on the travel-size bottles at Target to get them free.

Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

Swag Bucks

2010-01-21T10:37:00.003-05:00

Over the past week I have been sharing ways to save money! today I am going to discuss how to EARN money!! I started the SwagBucks program after the first of the year this year and it really is simple.

So are you wondering what SwagBucks is and how it works? It's a toolbar you install and use for searching, and you earn swagbucks that you can cash in for gifts. I have read numerous bloggers who use swagbucks but after the hard hit of Christmas this year I decided to give it a try. Now that I've tried it for a month, I can see the pros and cons:
(I have taken the pros/cons from a blog post from Money Wise Moms, she said it much better than I can- Thanks Money Wise Moms!)

PRO) I use the toolbar whenever I would normally type in a web address that I know by heart. For example, if I want to go to Target.com, instead of typing it into the regular address bar, I type it into the Swagbucks toolbar, which pulls it up for me. Yes, it's a teeny extra step, but I'm willing to do it for the free credit at Amazon.

PRO & CON) You can earn faster by having others sign up for Swagbucks using your link, so if you're thinking about trying it, please use my link here.

That's a PRO for me, and for you if you have a blog, a large network of family or friends, or another way to promote it. It may be a CON if you're a regular computer user, but you can still earn and win without it--I did it in the month of December by myself.

PRO) If you sign up for the email newsletter, you'll get additional codes that you can enter for free Swagbucks. There are plenty of gift cards available, but the points-per-dollar trade for Amazon is the best ratio, I have read many blogs where people have paid for their entire Christmas with Amazon GC's earned on Swag Bucks!

It's worth a try... You are going to be surfing the web anyways right? so why not surf and EARN!!!!

Here is the link again for an account through my referral!

EARN FREE STUFF WITH SWAGBUCKS!

Google Reader

2010-01-16T07:00:00.001-05:00

If you read my blog on couponing this is the next step in my opinion. I read tons of blogs all the time and honestly the best way to monitor all these sites is to set up a Google reader… here are some quick instructions on how to set it up.

Step one go to www.google.com/reader, select create account and use your most used email account

Step 2 once set up and you get to this screen click on +add subscription like i have in this picture. Enter the Web address e. http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ , and click add. It will pop up under subscriptions.Ok so when there is a new post the title turns bold like Deal Seeking mom below, click on it and the posts That you haven’t read yet will pop up on the right. now typically there are lots to look through, so I look through if I have The time I print out any coupons or deals that I like, if not at the bottom of each post you have a couple options You can email it to a friend (or yourself) which is what I do with recipes, you can keep it unread so next time You log in it will still be there, or you can star it which will put it into your starred items which you can access later Kind of like favorites!

Hope that was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions! I will be back on Monday with some hot deals to get you started!

Couponing tips!

2010-01-15T16:30:00.002-05:00

This past week I scored some great deals at Harris Teeter taking advantage of their Super Double Coupon week and at Walgreens!

Walgreens deal I scored
9 Double rolls Angel Soft TP (.50/1 coupon)
diet coke (for my lunch) (.50/1 coupon)
Colgate toothpaste (2- .75/1 coupons)
4 cans of Oust Air sanitizer (B1G1 in store sale, and B1G1 coupon)
2 Large things of Luandry detergent (instore sale 2/4.99)
and 3 8x11 photo collages (free online offer)
$1 RR from last week, and $3 off coupon from "Grand Opening" store flier
after $2 in Register Rewards
I Spent just $11.86!!!

First off I get a Sunday paper, if you have it delivered it is only 99 cents for the Sunday only paper. I pull out the coupons and save them to clip when I have time. Then at the beginning of the week say Monday and Tuesday I peruse all the blogs and the papers for stores and see whats a “great deal.” For instance I found on a blog that Oust was on sale B1G1 and I had a B1G1 coupon so I could buy one and get 3 free, but I always looks through the ads too because what they might not think is a great deal I might really need this week, and already have a coupon, for instance I needed icing for a birthday cake for the weekend and had a coupon for Duncan Hines, so when I looked through the ads I just kept in mind that I needed to find a good price to use my coupon on top of.

And during the week as I surf I print out any coupons I see that I may buy… even if it isn’t something I typically buy, I read somewhere that you ask yourself 2 questions1) would I buy this if I didn’t have the coupon and 2) if I got it free or super cheap would I buy it…. If not I don’t print/clip it.

Back to what I was saying earlier though I typically go through the blogs and ad’s at the beginning of the week and make envelopes one for CVS, Walgreens, Walmart those are my typical ones but this week I added Kroger and Kmart cause they had some FANTASTIC deals. I write on a sticky note or on the envelope what items are on sale what the price is and what coupon I have for instance

Hunts pudding 4 packs – 10/$10 - .50/3 printable = .67ea

Most coupon sites have the items listed like this, so I can either print it right then, or if it says 1/3 SS (smart source insert from 1/3 paper) I know that I got that paper and I have that coupon already!

Then I put the coupons I plan on using in the envelope, along with mvp card or whatever and put it in my coupon organizer. Then when I have a chance or I am near that store I stop in grab what I need and get out!

Now if I don’t make it to that store that week no biggie, but if there is something that is a GREAT deal or something we really need I make a point to make that store a priority!!
Most coupon sites list deals by store so sometimes, like yesterday at Kroger, I print out the list along with any of the printable coupons I plan on using and highlight the items on that list I plan to buy and add anything else I need. That way I don’t spend my time looking at everything going ooh is that on sale, do I have a coupon for that… I already know what’s on sale and I already know what coupons match.

**EDITED TO ADD - before surfing any sites to get coupons you really should set up a "junk email account... one that you don't mind people sending offers too because some of the coupons require a "registration" of sorts. so i have what i call my freebie account which is a free hotmail account that is only for this type of thing!

As a starter here are a few of the blogs that I frequent:

Deal Seeking Mom

Hey! It's Free

Hip2 Save - I just found this lady via my friend Hannah and I Love her!!

Money Saving Madness

Money Saving Mom

I have lots more but these should get you started. Now I know it seems overwhelming but honestly a few hours a week searching, printing, and clipping could save your family hundreds of dollars a month! And to make blog surfing easier I use Google reader, I will post on that in the next couple days.... for now just cruise through these sites and start printing, by Monday you will be ready to deal hunt!!!

Any questions??

I am in love...

2010-01-08T15:42:00.000-05:00

...with this picture!

Picture time!!

2010-01-05T18:36:00.000-05:00

The last few weeks have been totally crazy busy, I am sure that all of you feel the same way!! We held our 2nd annual Penn/LaRoche Christmas Eve at our house. Pics of that are still to come! ( I didn't get them off my old camera yet) Then Christmas morning Larry and I went to my parents house to open gifts and have lunch.... the first gift I opened was this....

Can you tell I was excited??

OOOh man how I love this camera!!!

A few more pics of Christmas morning...

And a few more from Christmas Night at Larry's parents house...

Now for a few of my favorite shots which of course were taken with my fancy new camera and then edited!!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New year! lots more pictures to come soon!!

McFatty Monday

2010-01-04T18:00:00.000-05:00

Hello all, you may be wondering what the heck is up with this post? Well, Blair from Heir to Blair is starting McFatty Mondays, for people to talk about their weight loss journeys. Now this is not a "New Years Resolution" type of thing, well not for me at least. As most of you know I was diagnosed with type II diabetes in Sept of 08, since then I have lost about 30 lbs but have gained 7 back in the last few months. It gets frustrating the ping ponging back and forth and the holidays were certainly no help at all! In November I joined the gym and was doing really well up until around Christmas... as of today I have not stepped in the gym in over 2 weeks! YIKES, how am i gonna lose the chub sitting on the couch? OK so I am not sitting on the Couch all the time, honestly i have been running myself ragged over the last month with kids, parties, gifts, cooking, and the list goes on and on! but I did promise myself (and my gym partner Sherri) that I would get back into it after the New year! well here it is! the new year has arrived. but i have decided to set a little more realistic goal for the gym as opposed to my everyday of the week goal i never managed to meet. so my goal at least for the 1st month is 3 times a week for an hour... I think that is a healthy start (restart).... my honest goal is to lose 75lbs... WOW that is a lot and I think that is honestly the first time I put that out there, but that's what McFatty Monday is all about right? OK well at some point this week I will get the hubs to take a starting pic of me in all my not so glory and that will be in next weeks post!

***also look forward to a new post this week about a certain awesome Christmas gift and all that followed!!!!

It's Snowing....

2009-12-28T15:24:00.001-05:00

..on my blog anyways! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I know I did!!! tons of pic (from my new DSLR Camera!!) coming soon!!

Merry Christmas from The Penns

2009-12-17T12:53:00.002-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

These are a few of my Favorite things!

2009-12-10T16:50:00.006-05:00

Lately i have really gotten into cooking and crafting (well mainly i dream of crafting) I like to think that I am craft capable but lots of time i just look at a project and go oh how cute... how would i be able to do that and where would I put it in my house. So I have about a million things starred on my reader but don't actually ever get to them lol. since the Holidays are coming up i thought i would show some of my favorite craft projects that can be given as gifts or for holiday decorating!

Don't these just look delicious for Christmas Dinner??
Looking for an inexpensive gift idea for that co-worker or friend? Check out these $5 magazine subscriptions to some of your favorite magazines! (I'd like Good Housekeeping or Redbook if you were interested lol)
Still haven't done your Christmas Cards yet? don't worry me either. Check out this link to get 50 FREE photo cards, all you pay is shipping! I did and just got mine yesterday and they are sooooo cute!!
I will be trying some of these yummys at the Penn/LaRoche 2nd annual Christmas Eve get together! Scotcheroos, Chocolate Fudge Butterfinger Cookies (I love every word in that title), Crunchy Caramel Reeses Cookies
I actually saw these ornaments when i was at the Dollar Tree today and had to stop myself from buying them all to make these really cute ornaments!!
I have really been wanting to change my tree over to a themed tree but just can't bring myself to leave all the years and years worth of ornaments i have been collecting in the box. But if i ever do do a themed tree i will be making some of this garland!
Isn't this so cute?
I am dying to make one of these for my table for our Christmas Eve Get Together!
when i got married mom gave me a recipe binder... but it isn't really holding up so i really wanted to make myself one of these cuties!
For my final link today I will show you something I have actually done. I was inspired by this, this, and this to create this adorable gift for a friend of ours who recently had a baby!
Well that's all for me today! hope every has a good weekend!!

WOW

2009-12-04T08:55:00.002-05:00

Has it really been since August that I have posted on here?? is there anyone still out there waiting... possibly with baited breath to see what i am up to?? I will be back soon with some updates and even some pictures!!!

The most wonderful time of the year!

2009-08-20T14:51:00.000-04:00

Hello All

2009-08-10T14:54:00.003-04:00

I promise that I have not abandoned you! I swear time flies so quickly that I can barely catch up. We had some issues with the 2 oldest kids this week and that took a lot of my focus... everything is ok just some badly needed behavioral and action adjustments. Also Larry had his back epidural procedure done last week. That went well and we are still waiting to see if it helps with the pain at all. Then this weekend we had family down from martinsville and we threw an (early) 5th birthday party for Elle, since she leaves to go home tomorrow and her birthday is Aug. 21st.

I have tons of pics but here is a sneak peak for now!

Also please pray for my dad, he has pnemonia and has been home sick for a week... also pray for my mom... I am sure she could use some too as she has been really worried!

Thanks for sticking with me!

On a bicycle made for two!

2009-08-04T17:41:00.001-04:00

Larry and I both love to ride bikes, and recently he found this great attachment for Elle to ride behind him on his bike. She is pretty hesitant about learning to ride a bike but she loves this! So the other day we decided to take a bike ride to the park!!

Who looks super cute in their helmet??

Here is their bicycle made for two!!

Please ignore the crazy woman

with glasses on a bike!

Daddy you aren't supposed to

stand ON the monkey bars!!

Sisters on the slide

What a great day!

Bike-tastic,

I Heart Purses

2009-08-03T11:17:00.006-04:00

Oh my! People, I have found a new addiction. Well I should say not a new addiction... maybe new and improved! I have always had a thing for purses, right? Well, my friends, I have found the very cutest purses EVER!!! A few weeks ago I was invited by a friend to at Thirty-One party. Really I had never heard of these but one look at the website and I knew I had to check it out. Of course I had to take mom along, especially since it was her birthday!!

Well needless to say I fell in love with this stuff! The bags are absolutely amazing and you can get any of them embroidered for just $6!!

Mom and I each bought a skirt purse which is great because you can change the outside or "skirt" of the purse! here is a picture of mine!!

I also got this adorable little wristlet! It fits all of my essentials and I can take just that if I am running into a store really quick! I love it!!

I say all this to say that this stuff is FABULOUS!! I don't like to "sell" things on my blog but I can't let all my bloggy friends miss out on this too cute stuff! Mom and I are going to have a party on August 21st at 7 at my mom's house and would love for you all to come! If you can't make it and you would like to order let me know and I can get you a catalog, or you can go to Lindsey's (the consultant) website and look at everything! The new catalog just started so there are tons of cute new fall stuff!! Let me know if you have questions! you can always email me at mrshappilyeverafter@yahoo.com.

Hope you all enjoy!

Purse-addict,

And the winner is.....

2009-08-01T21:14:00.002-04:00

The winner of my very First Giveaway is......... Beachbumaw!!!!!!!!!!! Her favorite book is Islands by Ann Rivers Siddons, I will definitely have to check that out!! Email me your address at mrshappilyeverafter@yahoo.com and "The Secret Life of Bees" in the mail to you this week!!!

Stay tuned for more giveaways coming soon!!

Show us your life - My Wedding Party

2009-07-31T07:30:00.003-04:00

Today on Show us Your Life on Kelly's Korner is part 2 of Weddings, last weeks Show us your Wedding Dress was an absolute blast! I love looking at every one's gorgeous dresses!! I still haven't even gotten through the whole list but I am definitely working on it! This weeks theme is Bridal Party and Flowers (and anything else you want to show) So I tried to pick just a few of my favorite pictures of our wedding party. Here we go!

This is me and my sister (MOH) looking outside from upstairs where we got ready. The day of our wedding we had a tropical storm and it was pouring down rain outside, we were watching the crazy weather and seeing who was arriving!

Is there lipstick on my teeth?

Here is me and my bridesmaids! Bethany (sister & MOH), Ashley (Step-Daughter), and Kayla (Step-Daughter) Their dresses were Wine Color and our flowers were Hydrangeas.

My Family

Bethany, Dad, Me, and Mom

The Guys

(From Left to Right)

Marty, Corey (Best Man), Corey (his cousin) and my Super handsome Husband Larry

Here they are again!

The girls as they were about to walk down the Aisle
Kayla's dress was different, we got her a JR bridesmaids dress in the same style.

My new Family
Larry's Parents, Us, and My parents

Larry and I with my family
we clean up pretty good!

Kayla and Corey

after the ceremony

Ashley and Marty

My Parents

They are the most Amazing People!

The whole bridal party I love every one's faces!

Thanks for Hopping by my blog! I hope you enjoyed Week 2 of Show us your Life - Wedding pictures!

If you haven't already don't forget to enter my very First Giveaway!! You can still enter until midnight tonight!!!

And if you missed it check out my Old School Wednesday post to see my totally awesome 80's hair!!!

X's & O's,

Update on Mr. Happily Ever After's back

2009-07-30T18:15:00.004-04:00

Today we had the follow up appointment for Larry's Back, he had the MRI on Monday and today we met with the doctor to discuss the results and see what our options are. It turns out that the problem in his back is not from an old injury but was actually something he was born with. There is a separation (break) where his bones of the disk did not actually connect to the spine, and it's actually in 2 different places. and because it is not attached properly it is pushing the disc out (towards this stomach) and pinching the nerves causing the pain and numbness in his hip and leg. So basically yes his back is broken. But there is good news, the doctor thinks that he doesn't need the surgery... yet. He said eventually he will HAVE to have it, but for now they are going to try a procedure where they give him an epidural of a steroid type medicine. He is not exactly thrilled about a huge needle being inserted into his spine but it could buy him some time. The doctor says that some people only have to get it like every year or 2 some people have to get it 2-3 times a year. So for now we are seeing how this works before jumping to the radical step of surgery. So he said he could go on with the shots for 20 years and it could be 2 weeks until he needs the surgery... it just is all based on how much that discs moves out of place.

So all that medical mumbo jumbo basically means no surgery for now!!! so that's great!!

ok I will stop boring you all with the crazy details! Don't forget tomorrow is the 2nd part of the Show us your life - Weddings!!

thankful for answered prayers,

Old School Wednesday!

2009-07-29T19:57:00.006-04:00

Welcome to Old School Wednesday! I have been blogging now for 2 1/2 years! Wow I can hardly believe that! Of course for at least the first year or so I wasn't that great at keeping up with it! So i thought it would be fun to start this Old School Wednesday as a way to show some pics of me and my family pre-blog! I have ton of pics from when I was a kids all they way thru my crazy single days!! I would love to make this into a blog hop.... but I don't know that enough people would be interested. So this week if you would like to join in leave me a comment and include your link and I will add them... if i get enough people I will make it a blog hop next week!

So lets get started shall we?? This picture makes me laugh every time i see it! Actually it is the picture that gave me the idea to do this post. last night I was showing Mr. Happily Ever After some old pictures i had on my computer and we had a good laugh at this one for at least 5 minutes. With out further adoo... My family Circa Christmas 1987...

Yeah so we both had favorite parts my favorite part is my dad's wicked cool mustache.... or as I like to refer to it... his MANstache. He just looks so awesomely cool! His favorite part is Bethany's face, he said she looked evil! We used to call her monster baby when she was little... which I find hilarious! You can see it can't you? Of course we can't ignore my fabulous 4 year old .. Quaf?! that's really the only word to use in this situation, not to mention those fabulous bangs.

Well that's it for Old School Wednesday!

Rocking awesome bangs since '83,

My Fave Kids Pics - Blog Hop!

2009-07-28T08:01:00.004-04:00

This weeks blog hop is a topic close to my heart. Just this last year I became step mom to 4 amazing and very special kids! I have loved getting to know each one of them and love them very much. So because I could not pick just one here is my favorite photo of each of the kids from the last year or so.

1st up is Ashley, she will be 16 in a couple weeks! She shows her emotions more than her sister but she has also got that hard headedness from her Daddy, and his dimples! She has been living with us this summer and we have gotten a lot closer!

Next up is Kayla, She just turned 12 and acts like she's 25! She's definitely got her daddy's personality and stubbornness! she is lots of fun and always giggling and has tons of energy! She likes to sleep a lot and love tinkerbell! she will be in 7th grade this year! This pic is from her birthday party!

Next is Ethan he is 5! Ethan lives with his mom in Northern VA. We have gotten to see him a couple times this year and he is really coming out of his shell. Ethan is autistic and when I first met him he didn't talk at all. Now he is saying all kinds of things! we are very proud! This picture is from last fall, I know it isn't a great pic where you can see his adorable face but I adore this picture!

And last but certainly not least is the baby, Elle! Elle is 4 and will be 5 next month and she will be sure to remind you of that! she loves little pet shop animals and bratz dolls, she has spent a month with us this summer and we have had so much fun... how can you not love that face and those curls!!

Well thanks for hopping by to see my Favorite Kids Pics!

Don't forget about my First Ever Giveaway! Click on over and leave a comment to be entered to win!!!

Happy Blog Hopping!!

My First GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-07-27T11:13:00.006-04:00

That's right today I am doing my very first giveaway! A few months ago I won the book The Secret Life of Bees from Jane Says. When I finally got around to reading it I COULD NOT put it down! I hadn't seen the movie and really had no idea what the book was about but I fell in love with the characters and their story. I love to read and try to do it every day on my lunch break I find a quiet table in my favorite restaurant and read for my hour lunch break. This weekend I finally finished the book and then Karen, Ashley and I watched the movie. The movie is just not the same... I really felt like it didn't do the book justice, but both Karen and Ashley loved it! This is a great read that will have you both laughing and crying!

I love to read and hate to see the books I have read collecting dust. So I would love to pass it on just like Jane did to me!

Here is how to enter

1. Leave me a comment telling me your favorite book of all time and why.

2. for another entry become a follower and let me know you did or let me know you already are!

3. for a 3rd entry blog or tweet about this giveaway and leave me the link!

You can do this all in one comment if you like!

I will close this giveaway on Friday at midnight and will announce the winner on Saturday 8/1!!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the McLinky Blog Hop - My Fave Kids Pics

Good Luck!

**edited** The giveaway has been extended thru Friday! :)

What a week!

2009-07-25T11:10:00.003-04:00

Wow what a week we have had here in My Happily Ever After! Let me first say welcome to any new readers! yesterday was a record day for my blog... I had the most readers I have ever had thanks to the Show us your life - wedding dresses blog hop at Kelly's Korner! I hope that you all stick around!

Also this week we had some exciting news! Elle was supposed to go back home to Florida after a month here and she really wanted to stay so we changed our flights to take her home so that she could stay another 3 weeks!! We are excited to get to spend lots more time with her!

Here is her and Corren playing dress up last night! they have really become great friends!!

Also this week we had a few bad things happen... on Tuesday Larry was in a fender bender.. not his fault... that messed up his truck a bit which does not make him happy. He loves that truck and is very anxious to get it fixed. Completely unrelated he has been having back problems, he has had them for years and every once in a while the pain gets so bad he can barely walk. so I finally made him go to the dr, who sent him to a specialist. The took x-rays and could see there is some breakage in the cartilage around one of the lower discs in his spine. so on Monday we go to have an MRI done then go back to the dr later in the week to discuss options. we are trying to just take it one dy at a time and not freak out at the fact that he may need surgery meaning he could not work. But like i said we cannot jump right to that!

We are keeping upbeat regardless around here and the doc did give him some meds to help with the pain for now!

Well I better get going and figure out what we are gonna do today!

Show us your life - Wedding Dresses

2009-07-24T08:36:00.005-04:00

Kelly at Kelly's Korner hosts a new topic every week this week it's wedding dresses!

I have to say that I am still absolutely in love with my wedding dress. When I went shopping to find a dress this one is the farthest from what I wanted.... I had tried on so many and my mom picked this one out and I hated it! But she begged me to try it on and the second I did I knew this was THE DRESS!

It was ivory and had lots of beading at the top with a gathered waist and little lace cap sleeves that came off after the ceremony!

Here is me and my dad right as we are about to walk down the Aisle.

There we go down the aisle... I absolutely love this dress from the back, the style is called a pick-up gown which is what the gathering is... again I hated this on the rack but loved it on!

Here is our first dance, I loved that the cap sleeves came off it made it easier to move my arms! actually when I initially bought the dress we weren't going to use those caps at all but I thought it really added something to the dress!

and cutting the cake! this is one of my fave pics!!

now I have been married for almost 11 months, wow i can't believe that! I tried my dress on at my moms house last month and would you believe it is at lest 2 or 3 sizes too big now! which is good and bad... wish i had been smaller when i bought the dress but it showed me how far i have come since then! I posted on my facebook how much I was missing my dress and my AMAZING Photographer Sara sent me this beautiful collage! I love it and will cherish the memories of that dress and that wonderful day always!!

My advice to any one getting married or to you single girls is your dress should be one of the first things you pick! I was sure I knew exactly how I wanted my wedding to be... I mean we all plan it in our head years before Mr. Happily Ever After comes along! But when I picked this dress as opposed to what I thought I wanted it changed the entire look and feel of my wedding, in a good way! My wedding wasn't how I had planned all those years playing bride with the curtains in our playroom... it was better!

I hope you enjoyed my wedding dress! I certainly enjoyed sharing it with you!

Blue Bird Gap Farm

2009-07-23T16:40:00.000-04:00

Last weekend Mom (De-De) and I took the girls to Blue Bird Gap farm in Hampton. Apparently I am the only person in our area who has never been there but I thought it was fantastic, not to mention FREE! The kids had a blast and loved feeding the animals! Afterwards De-De treated us all to Chick-fil-a then the girls got to go to her house and spend the night!

Here are a few pics from the day!

Friday at the Fort

2009-07-22T13:18:00.000-04:00

Every Friday at Larry's Mom's work they have Friday at the Fort (she works at Fort Monroe at the Community Center) the pool is open from 5-8 and they have a band on the beach and food and stuff for the kids to do, it's all free and it's a lot of fun! They also have a face painting clown here are elle's face paint stylings from the last 2 weeks!

a precious butterfly

her tattoo of her name and cherries... oh and her muscles

and then Ashley and Kayla got rainbows

and elle was a pink puppy complete with puppy kisses!

Delicious Stuffed Chicken Breast!

2009-07-21T09:11:00.007-04:00

Ok today I am doing my very first blog hop with McLinky! It is about favorite recipes. Now I would have to say that Kelly's King Ranch Chicken is my absolute fave right now but she used that recipe as her fave so this would be my second fave!!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 clove garlic, minced
2 eggs, beaten
1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
1 can mushrooms

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste. Slit open on the side for stuffing; set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, spinach, garlic, eggs and 3/4 of the cheese. Mix well and stuff each breast with 1/4 of the mixture; secure with toothpicks and place stuffed breasts in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour sauce and mushrooms over all and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 60 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

oh and don't forget the yummy breadsticks!!!

Happy Hopping!! Come back soon for updates and pics from the weekend!!

Beach!

2009-07-09T17:08:00.001-04:00

Last weekend we decided to take Elle, Ashley, and Corren to the beach. Well, I decided and begged Larry to go too! after a trip to Kmart to get all the essentials we were on our way. I used to go to the beach all the time, back in our singles day Pam, Gretchen and I were at the beach almost every weekend! Now I am lucky to go once a year... the last time I was at the beach was the day we got engaged. And that was well over a year ago. So we packed up the chairs, towels, and toys and headed to Buckroe. My friend Hannah and her daughter Sara joined us shortly after we got there. Also shortly after we got there Larry decided that was enough beach for him, so he and his friend headed home and promised to come pick us up when we were done.

It was a good thing Hannah came with us because she is super mom. I had packed a couple bottles of water, but not in a cooler so of course they were hot. And well that's all I brought. I guess I didn't think we would be there long enough for anyone to starve... I was wrong! But thanks to Hannah, none of my kids went hungry she came prepared with all kinds of goodies, thanks Hannah!!!!

ok on to the pics, this batch were all taken by Hannah, isn't she great?! I did take a few pictures while we were there... however hers put mine to shame... so we will just let the professionals handle this post!

her new bathing suit!

LOVE those curls!

Can you tell we have no problem getting Elle to pose?

the "treasure" she found on the beach

I love this one of Corren she is famous for making this face lol

Elle is very into the details

Elle and Sara made a sand castle for her Little Pet Shops, something tells me Sara will make a great Big Sister!

everytime we would rinse Corren off she would dive right back into the sand.

It was a great day, although both Ashley and I ended up with some sunburn!

My little Hard Hat

2009-07-08T17:27:00.001-04:00

For those of you that don't know, Larry works construction. Last time Elle was here she got to go to work with him one day and she got her very own hard hat! She left that hat here and saturday night she decided it went perfectly with her out fit!

I agree don't you? I am not sure how safe the hat is when worn sideways but she insisted this was THE way to wear it!

Flip Flops <3

2009-07-07T17:52:00.001-04:00

Pool & Hopscotch

2009-07-06T17:15:00.001-04:00

Took a little break over the long weekend... haven't been feeling well for the last week or so, so I stayed in the bed or on the couch for most of the weekend. But feeling better or not I am back and have some good pics planned to post this week! Hope you all had a safe and happy July 4th!

Last week I found this pool on sale at Target fo $14.99! Talk about deal and a half!! So I brought it home and used the handy air matress pump to blow it up on friday night! Elle invited Corren over to play and they had a blast playing in the pool till the sun started going down!

We have this little patch, about big enough to park a car on, of asphault on the side of the house. It is great cause that side of the house dosen't get much sun so it isn't too hot on the black top. So once they were tired of the pool they found the sidewalk chalk and played some hopscotch! Daddy even got in on the action.

It was a fun night for the girls... and I am lovin these hopscotch pictures!!

Perfection

2009-07-01T17:13:00.000-04:00

The other night Larry and Elle were playing in the living room and I snapped this picture and immediately fell in love with it...

Doesn't it just make you smile??

Goodbye my sweet love....

2009-06-29T17:49:00.003-04:00

There have been lots of posts recently about the kids and even about the hubby. Today this post is about me... all me! Some of you may recall I have been having problems sleeping. I have always been the type of person that takes forever to fall asleep, but never had problems staying asleep... I could sleep like a champ, for hours and hours. But over the last year or so I have been having trouble sleeping and even when I felt like I was sleeping I still and exhausted throughout the day. It has been getting worse and worse, on top of that over the last few months or so I have been really emotional and very moody.... for those of you thinking it no I am not pregnant. I have had lots of problems with getting light headed and not much of an appetite but never put those things together with the no sleeping. I have had my allergies tested, my thyroid checked, and found out that I am not anemic, so I figured it must all be in my head.

Today I reached the point where I could not take it anymore. I am tired of waking up tired, I am tired of feeling that I could have a breakdown at any moment, and I am tired of this silly eye twitch I get from my eyes being so tired. ok the eye twitch is kinda funny... and funny looking!
So I went to see my doctor today, and after talking for a bit he linked all of the symptoms I have been having to my lack of sleep (obviously) but what causes that. He has a few ideas and has started me on a medication that he thinks will help solve the causing problem. if that doesn’t work he wants me to do a sleep study session... yeah I just don't see me sleeping in a strange place with all those wires attached to me... the only thing they would be studying is how insane I am at 3am when I can't fall asleep lol.

So I feel better just knowing that I have not totally gone off the deep end. I start taking my new meds tonight... oh yeah and to take the edge off he gave me some Ambien CR which hopefully will help me get an amazing nights sleep tonight! On top of that he suggested I lay of the Diet Coke... completely... apparently it is like 3rd ranked in the MOST CAFFEINE list. He said I should probably ween myself off, and that just because I stop drinking them at 4pm doesn't mean that is enough time to get the caffeine out of my system... apparently 4-5 a day is a lot... but I love it. Oh well today I have only had 2 I think that is a good start... goodbye my sweet love... diet coke. You have been good to me and I will miss you.. don't worry caffeine free diet coke could never replace you in my heart!

Tomorrow will be a weekend recap...

Elle is Here!

2009-06-26T18:00:00.000-04:00

YAY!! Elle is here!! She got here on Tuesday and we have been having lots of fun ever since! It's so nice to have that wonderful laughter in the house! she is getting to spends lots of time with her sisters so far. Of course everyone wants to see her so we are trying to fit as much as we can into these few weeks!

Here are a couple pictures from when she first got here Tuesday night. (grammy flew down to get her)

Right when she got to see her room for the first time (her room is what we have been saying is Kayla's room but Kayla never actually moved in so now it is just the kids room)

She loves her daddy!

all 3 girls!

then last night she wanted to do a photo shoot so I managed to get a few really great pics!

How can you not love that gorgeous face?

Miss Thang!

That's all for today, Don't worry We have an action packed weekend ahead of us i am sure.... have a great one!!

Kristen

Kayla turns 12

2009-06-25T06:37:00.001-04:00

Last Tuesday our little Kayla turned 12! It is always interesting to me how grown up these girls are for their age, they try so hard to fit in at school and act older than they are... then for their birthday they want nothing but a tinkerbell cake and DVD! must be a hard stage in life to be at... trying to act grown all the while still being a kid inside.

Here are the pics from her party!! Enjoy

His new love

2009-06-23T17:32:00.001-04:00

I am sad to say my husband has found a newer, younger, more... shiny love.

Yes we picked this bad boy up last week on a super sale at Wal-Mart and let me tell you my friends nothing makes a man happier than shiny steel, heat, and meat. ok their may be a few things that make him happier... like new carborators or whatever but this must be at least in the top 5! I am just glad to see him happy!

In even more exciting news... our little Elle will be here today.... in fact by the time you read this she will be in our arms! we are so excited... get ready for the onslaught of pictures for the next month! and tomorrow will be all the pics from Kayla's birthday!!

Cake Fiasco

2009-06-19T17:04:00.001-04:00

So Monday I went to order a cake for Kayla's Birthday on Tuesday, yes I know I shouldn't have waited till the last minute. but in my defense she was supposed to have a skating party on the weekend with her friends and those plans fell through Monday afternoon so Super step mom had to come up with plan B. So I went Monday night to the local Food Lion to order a cake and pick up some steaks to try out the new grill. So as I am walking up to the cake area someone else does as well and I let him go ahead and order since I want to look at the options available in the Tinker Bell design... apparently I thought I was at some sort of upscale bakery that would have more than one, if any, option for Tinker Bell cakes. So after 20 minutes of listening to this guy and his wife and their 3 screaming kids order some stupid star wars cake it is finally my turn. So I say to the guy in the apron, presumably he works there, that I would like to order a tinker bell cake. here is how the discussion went:

"I would like to order a Tinker Bell cake"

"um what's a tinker bell?"

"you know Tinker Bell, the Disney character, she is a fairy, she has little sparkly wings" at this point I am physically acting out the wings

"uh ok is she like a princess?"

"NO, she is a fairy... you're book has a picture of Tinker Bell in it."

"yeah we don't actually have most of the stuff in that book"

"so what is the point of the book?"

"yeah I don't know... but I am not really the cake person so I don't know if we carry belle"

"not Belle, Tinker Bell, ok never mind you know what where is the cake person?"

"oh she's gone, but I could take your order and if we don't have it she can call you and tell you that"

"so when she comes back tomorrow she may or may not call me to tell me that you do or do not have a Tinker bell cake?"

"yea sure"

"so what if you don't have that cake, what will I do then?"

"uh I dunno"

that's when I completely lost it and said FORGET IT and left the store. Did I mention this kid was like 15 and had on baggy pants and unruly hair... not the guy I want working around my baked goods.. or deli meats for that matter.

So on my way home I call the local Wal-Mart and the very polite young lady assured me I could have a very lovely Tinker Bell cake ready for me the very next afternoon... I didn't even have to go into the store to order! Tuesday evening on my way home I went it grabbed the cake... paid the very affordable price and this is the cuteness I received!

ok so the handwriting is a little squished, but it is SO adorable. Thanks to Cake Wrecks I was certain I would have a disaster on my hands but it was too cute for words! I will be a Wal-Mart Bakery customer for life!

Be back next week with pics of Kayla's party oh and a look at the new love of my husband's life!

Kristen

Ethan's Visit

2009-06-18T17:34:00.001-04:00

Larry's son Ethan got to come visit us a couple weekends ago. I keep forgetting to post the pictures though. I guess that's what happens when life is crazy busy. I have pics of Kayla's birthday party to post too but haven't gotten those loaded yet! So for now enjoy some of this super cuteness!!

Larry's dad had brought us all these chairs and tables and they got rained on, Ethan loved playing in the water that had collected on the table...

His favorite room in the house for some reason was the girls room... he loved climbing on the bed and I am not sure what he is looking at but he was checking out underneath the dresser... maybe he liked my dust bunnies! lol

and of course since it had just rained the place where we cut down the tree was all muddy... so he had to give that a go! this pic was right after he picked up some mud and out it on his face! You saw a couple of these in the sneak peak last week!

playin in his fave room with daddy and of course the monkey and wizard hat!

with daddy's hard hat on!

this is one of my faves! i think i will have to do some pickniking with this one

sweet sleepy boy!

trying to get a good pic of the two of them together...

Ok, well, there they are! finally posted! we had a great visit with Catherine and Ethan! can't wait to see them again... hopefully soon!

In other children news... Elle will be here on Monday! I have been busy getting her room ready, even got Bratz sheets for her bed!! We are thinkin we will have Ashley come stay with us so that we have someone to watch her while we are at work and it will give Ashley some responsibility (and extra $$) for the summer! Also added bonus poor Elle won't have to wake up at the crack of dawn everyday for me to take her to grammys!

Till tomorrow! Kristen

ps so glad you can leave comments now Peggy!

My computer got a cold...

2009-06-17T16:51:00.001-04:00

or a virus should i say! so no post for today... so sorry ya'll!

but hopefully i will be back up and running later tonight and should get all the pics up of Kaylas birthday party later!

Crazy Weekend

2009-06-15T17:21:00.000-04:00

This weekend was sooo busy! I had lots to do and didn't realize by the end of the 3 day sprint I would need a nap!

Friday started with rain and sun at the same time which resulted in this....

then later that night we hung out with our friends Karen and Corey who were leaving the next day to go on a cruise to Bermuda! Hope they are having fun! Then Larry took me out on a late night drive in the Ford, which is his big loud truck. It was the truck he was driving when we first started dating and for some reason still when we hop in it gives my butterflies in my stomach! Love that truck (only when it's cool outside though.. no AC... or heat for that matter.

Then Saturday I got up and went Wedding Dress shopping with Pam. we weren't expecting to find THE DRESS that day but after 2 shops and 15 or so dresses she found IT, and it is absolutely beautiful! This is not the dress she picked but it was a cute pic of pam!

After dress shopping I went home and rounded up Larry and we went to a birthday party for the most awesome 8 year old ever, Sara. It was nice to catch up with lots of friends!!

See... she is awesome isn't she!!

After that we went home so larry could do some work in teh yard then we went to have dinner with pam and Jeremy at their place... yummy burgers... then we played some wii! oh yeah and inbetween Larry and Jeremy went out and Larry bought a new grill! he was so excited how could i say no? He just put it together yesterday so i will get pictures tonight when we use it!

Me and Pamela

This is Larry's Wii "BRING IT" face!

and this is their dog Jose, don't worry his eye's aren;t that creepy in person!

Then Sunday while Larry worked out in the Yard I tackled the Spare room... which was a lot of work! but it is done now... and I could even go in there and Scrap now if I wanted to or had the time haha... take a look!!

Well that’s it for me today... lots of pics to make up for lack of pics recently!!

Just incase you are wondering

2009-06-15T10:37:00.000-04:00

I have started watermarking all of my pics I post on my blog... not because I am in any way a fancy photographer but because of this article. Turns out this woman's Christmas picture which she posted on her blog made it all the way to an advertisement for a store in another country... as seeing how my family is super awesome I thought the best thing was to at least watermark my photos, thus making it harder to use.... hopefully I will come up with something a little nicer than whats on the latest pics but I was in a pinch!

Sneak Peak

2009-06-12T17:15:00.001-04:00

Well the weekend is finally here... I did get some of the pictures edited but not all of them so for now here is a sneak peak of the pictures from when Ethan was here!!

We have a super busy weekend coming up! I have an appointment to go wedding dress shopping with a friend tomorrow morning then we have a birthday party tomorrow afternoon!

Next week Kayla turns 12 and she wants a Tinkerbell Cake so I need to get that ordered... anyone have and good places to get cakes around here... I am a good baker but do not wish to attempt characters lol!

Oh also I finally got some semi decent pics of my hair cut.... enjoy!!

I absolutely love it! my boss said I look more like my mom now... I will take that as a compliment!

have a great weekend! I'll be back next week!!!

Kristen

License Plates

2009-06-11T17:01:00.001-04:00

Am I the only person that enjoys seeing their initials on other peoples license plates?? Really?! the only one! maybe it's because I am still a newleywed and still getting used to my new initials... anyways this made me smile!!

I know what you are thinking.. this post is a cop out... where are the weekend pics... and you are right I still haven't gotten them up yet and I am sorry! but there is a reason I promise! yesterday I went to the thrift store and got valances for all my windows, so last night I got a couple put up and I finally put down the area rug in the living room! it looks so great in there now... and yes I will take pictures once I clean up the house because.... well I want you to see my window treatments however I do not want you to see the junk piled on every surface of the house lol!

also I chopped all my hair off.... well I did that last week but today I went and cut even more off... pics of that to come soon as well!!

thats all for tonight... i promise tomorrow there will be pictures!!

thank you for visiting procrastination central! Please come again soon!

My husband the miniture bike enthusiast...

2009-06-10T17:53:00.000-04:00

...you all remember what that daredevil did with a mini bike a couple weeks ago right? I have forbidden the man to stay away from anything with wheels that is not protected with a steel cage of some sort... and although I have seen him eyeing that 3 wheel bike more than once, he has been very good about heeding my warnings. And I am happy to report his shoulder is finally starting to heal! thanks to lots of re-dressing by me (and lots of whining on his part lol)

However, we are over at corey's for a bit this weekend and what do I see??

haha... luckily the wheels don't move on this one! ( I like how his outfit coordinates with the bike!)

Keeping my husband safe... one bad motor bike idea at a time,

Kristen

Exhaustion + hammertime = better day

2009-06-09T15:30:00.001-04:00

Ok so I know that I promised pictures of this weekend... I did get the pics loaded last night onto my computer but they need some serious editing and honestly I did not have any desire to sit in front of the computer for any amount of time last night. I got home last night and did 2 loads of laundry at my mother in laws house and while that was going made dinner (King Ranch Chicken with a few variations) finally I sat down to get to picture loading and I was just so exhausted i decided to put it off until tonight... of course I did not sleep a wink last night so I am not promising anything tonight lol!

I really Cannot figure out why I am not sleeping... I am going to try the no Caffeine thing again starting today and really stick with it.... it's just so hard cause I love my Diet Coke... I know I know they make Caffeine Free Diet Coke.. but it's just not the same. But last night was one of the worst nights I've had probably because to start I didn't think I could BE any more tired... then I just tossed and turned all night long... I can honestly say I don't think I even slept more than 5 minutes at a time.

Ok Kristen time to stop whining and start entertaining.

Well from all my whining above you can understand I was most certainly dragging myself to work this morning... but thanks to a co-worker I got a great pick-me-up in the form of a video we will call Hammertime. if you need a laugh or a quick pick me up please watch this! I have watched it twice already!!

My secret love affair

2009-06-08T14:41:00.005-04:00

OK you can stop all that guessing... my love affair, dear friends, is with Mexican food... not just any Mexican food... Plaza Azteca! I have been going there for years and I am talking at least 10 years.. wow that's crazy ten years eating at the same restaurant... but oh how I love it so. and what makes me write about this? Just that today when I went there for lunch I had my favorite waiter and he brought me this......

oh yes my friends that is an ice cold (beer) gigantic mug with their amazing Iced Tea in it... that sweet waiter knows me so well... and I drank every last drip drop too.... oh how I love summertime and refreshing iced tea!

ahhhhhhhhh,

Kristen

ps Ethan was here this weekend! Hopefully I will have that post and all the pics up tomorrow!

Ashley’s Chorus

2009-06-03T15:45:00.001-04:00

Tonight Ashley is headed to Disney World!! She is going with her High School chorus group to compete! She is so thrilled and I can't wait to hear all about it when she gets back!

Recently she had her spring concert at Hampton High School. She loves to sing and was very adamant that everyone that could come did and that we sat right in front. They sang a few really good songs including “You Raise Me Up” which I love! They did a great job and even De-De got to come and enjoy!

The hardest thing about going to these concerts is watching how the kids act and dress.... when I was in chorus we had rules... you can only wear a certain amount of jewelry, if you were supposed to wear black skirts and white shirt that’s what you wore, and you certainly did not scratch your face or wave or talk while you were on stage...but that’s what made us look good on stage! watching these kids fidget and all else makes my stomach turn... I am sure that Mrs. Holland (my loved chorus teacher from high school) could whip these kids into shape!

this is really the only good pic I could get!! There is a video to but I can't get it to load right now... hopefully I will get it up soon!

and just for fun here is a pic of me in my chorus dress from high school

peace, love, and puffy sleaves!

Kristen

Happy Birthday Larry

2009-06-01T17:46:00.001-04:00

This past saturday was Larry's 30th Birthday and as is tradition he wanted a cookout. So I worked really hard last week to put together a kick butt party with lots of good food and great friends. We had an awesome weekend all in all.

We woke up saturday to the phone ringing and it was Elle calling to wish him a Happy Birthday and we also got a video from her singing him Happy Birthday, He loved it!! Then we drove out to one of his jobsites so he could check on the guys that were working. He couldn't stay away even on his day off that was also his Birthday!! anyways after that we wanted to stop by the FLC yard sale but had too much to do so we headed home to start getting the yard together for the party.

This time we were smart about it though, on friday night he mowed the grass and cleaned up the yard and i got all the meats prepared and pre-cooked as much as i could including the not very pretty but super yummy cake!! so saturday we just had to do the last minute things like chairs and tables and such!! then around 3 everyone started showing up and we had a blast! Larry manned the grill of course and i tried my best to play hostess and keep up the dishes (which i was thankful for later that night!)

here are a few pics from the party

thanks for the sign mom!!

I missed it when he blew out the candles... so yes I did make him pose.... i ran out of icing hence why i did not spell out his name (it was also jennifer's bday so we included her on larry's cake)

I love the look on his face in this picture... mine... not so much

our typical pose

everyone says we always do the same picture (see above) so they made us do something different... apparently this is what we came up with!

bethany and pam

Sorry that's all the pics that I took, I was runnin around all day and halfway through i realized I forgot to take any pictures lol! Then on sunday he got an awesome call from Ethan who wished him a Happy Birthday... I think that was the icing on his cake!! I loved the look on his face! so happy!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Follow Me!

2009-05-28T10:57:00.003-04:00

Attention ladies and gentlemen, if I can draw your attention to the right hand side of the screen, there is a box marked Followers, see how there are only 4 people in there (shout out to maggie, April, Amber, and Larissa) I know there are more than 4 of you reading :) so go ahead and click where it says Follow! It will update you everytime I write one of these highly entertaining and whitty blog posts!

thanks!

Dinner Success

2009-05-27T10:53:00.000-04:00

I have achieved dinner success! Last night I made this recipe called King Ranch Chicken from Kelly's recipe blog! Larry loved it! I loved it! The man ate 3 SERVINGS people!! he has never ate 3 servings of anything I have made unless it was burgers or something easy! although this was very easy... it smelled so good that I was super excited to get it on the plates and forgot to take a picture... but here is the pic from Kelly's blog.. of course mine was not quite as pretty but you get the idea!

The only changes I made was I also lined the sides of the pan with the corn tortilla pieces, and when I served it I crushed up some tortilla chips over the top (this was Larry's idea) and next time I will probably serve with a dollop of sour cream as well. This was delish and so easy to do, start to finish in less than an hour... that's my kinda cookin!!

I think we're gonna need more gauze..

2009-05-26T18:08:00.002-04:00

My hubby has been quite the dare devil as long as I’ve known him and I am sure it was even worse when he was younger.. much worse from stories I hear! This weekend was Memorial Day weekend and we spent all day Saturday across the street at Karen & Corey’s house for a cookout! it was a great day and there was lots of good friends and good food! later in the afternoon I went back to our house to do a couple things and grab my purse so I could run to the store. In the time I was in the house maybe 10 minutes Larry decided to be evil keneival... he has a 3 wheel bike.. something similar to this...on this bike you steer with your butt and that tilts the front wheel... so this genius decides that the handle on the front must mean that it's supposed to be pulled.... by this....

yep that’s a mini motorcycle! so from what I can gather (because remember I did not actually witness this) they tie one end of a tow strap to the motorcycle and the other to the bike and Corey pulls my husband down the street. Apparently the 3-wheel bike is not made to handle that kind of speed, now keep in mind he is practically sitting on the ground, the bike starts to wobble, Larry tried to bail and ends up head over heels on the pavement.

As I leave the house to run to the store he is walking up and his shirt is torn and he tells me he fell off the bike but he is fine, when I get back from the store it is a different story... I walk into the house and he is calling me from the bathroom. "baby... BABY!" I walk in and...well I will just let the picture speak for its self!

yeah we are gonna need more gauze!

Hope you had a wonderful, and much safer, Memorial Day weekend!

Nurse Kristen

dinner & kitchen

2009-05-25T19:00:00.000-04:00

Friday night i buckeled down and tried the recipe i told you about! it turned out very well and DH ate it up! here it is right right before i put it in the oven...

and all yummy hot and bubbly on the fancy plastic plates with delicious breadsticks!!

don't you just love the weekends? On saturday this past weekend DH let me sleep in until 11! It was fantastic, then when I woke up i found this...

Yep a very clean kitchen! the friend of larrys that has been staying with cleaned the entire kitchen, the floors, the dishes... EVERYTHING!! It made my day!

We spent the day at our friends cookout... we had an interesting day... more about that tomorrow!

Friday Favorites

2009-05-22T19:34:00.000-04:00

Just thought I would take a minute and talk about some of my favorite things right now!

We all hate swim suit season... well if you are bigger than a twig you do! And those of us who are... "busty" really have a hard time but I just ordered this Fabulous suit from Old Navy and I cannot wait for it to get here. As an added bonus last night I showed larry the picture and he said "mmm I like that!" so that's always a good thing... although i am not going for Beach Vixen It's nice to know at least my husband will like how it looks :)

I have been reading Kelly's Blog for a few months now but i just discovered that she also has a recipe blog... actually I knew she did I just kept forgetting to check it out! Anyways she makes all kinds of delicious looking things... check it out!

I have been eyeing this picture for at least 2 months, I just know that it would look fantastic in my bedroom which is grey with black and red accents.... see perfect! now I just have to talk myself into spending that much money on something that hangs on the wall and certainly won't cook dinner!

Is there a target in heaven? watch this... made me laugh till I cried!

Well that's it for tonight, I did end up making that Chicken recipe tonight.. turned out pretty good more on that next time!!

Chef Kristen

2009-05-21T17:57:00.002-04:00

If you know me you know I don't cook.... it isn't that I don't like to cook I just a) am very picky so I am good with a frozen pizza every night and b) have no idea what I am doing in the kitchen and C) really don't know what to make! ever since we moved in the house my kitchen has been pretty much in disarray and my husband has been lucky to get 2 home cooked meals a week, and usually one of those meals is on the grill which technically he is making himself! so today I was on the hunt for something different (than pizza, tacos, spaghetti, and burgers) to make for dinner. I really want to start cooking at least 5 times a week... that still leaves me 2 days to just order pizza rights? So tonight I am going to attempt this doesn't it look delish! I went to Trader Joe's on my lunch break and picked up everything that I didn't already have at home. On my way home I am going to grab some garlic bread sticks to make my version of crazy bread (which Larry LOVES!) that link will take you to a recipe that is basically what I do. Except I buy the frozen break sticks and I use left over papa johns garlic sauce and Parmesan cheese! so yummy!

Hopefully I will be able to tackle this bad boy! of course I am 99% positive that I will have to do a mountain of dishes before i can even get in there to cook .... and then there will be a mountain of dishes when I am done.... maybe I should rethink this because I really don't like to do dishes lol!

Speaking of recipes check out Kelly's recipe blog... there are lots of yummies on there and I will be trying the Mexican Chicken some time soon so I will let you know how it turns out!

Well wish me luck!

**update** Yeah so the dinner thing.. didn't happen.... washed dishes for like an hour or 5! and then i was soooo over it.

Houston, we have a pantry!

2009-05-20T17:35:00.000-04:00

When we first got the house and the water heater busted and had to be moved to a different closet, leaving me a huge waste of space in the kitchen! So my DH decided he would make me a pantry.... of course that was 2 months ago and i still have boxes of dishes waiting to be unpacked because the good is taking up most of the cabinet space.... here is what that nasty closet looked like before (except without the white pieces of wood that was the start of shelving)

I know nasty looking right? who would want to put anything in there? here is is all finished though!!

tadaaa isn't it great... except for that stupid air freshener i can't get off the cabinet door lol i seriously think they must have super glued it on there! Finally i have a pantry! Larry did this on Sunday after he built his grillin fort but before he started cooking! he even moved all the food from the cabinets into it for me! of course he did not organize it how i would but it's the thought that counts right?!

YAY for Pantries!

Feel the Burn

2009-05-19T16:25:00.000-04:00

This week we purchased a Wii! After the Bowling Smackdown of 09 we decided to get one for ourselves! So after DH got it all hooked up it was on like a prawn who yawns at dawn! (Sorry I had to throw in that Andy Bernard quote from The Office)We played all evening until after 11 when we finally had to force ourselves to put down the controllers and go to bed... the worst part is my arm and shoulder hurt so bad today it is ridiculous.... honestly how out of shape do you have to be to get muscle pain from a video game. of course in my defense I do play a little hard... ok a lot Larry kept having to remind me I don't actually have to punch as hard as I can in boxing, I just have to move the controllers. also he got a great laugh out of my tennis skills.... every time it was my turn to serve I would pretend to throw a ball in the air and then jump up and hit it with the controller as hard as I could Anna Kournikova style... and added a little grunt for good measure. he thought it was hilarious... but who's serves never hit the net and were super powerful... oh yeah mine, and who tipped the net almost every time? that’s right Mr. I know how to play every gamer perfectly... yours!!! yeah he also taught me how to smack talk... it's fun

as Kelly Kapour of the office would say "I don’t talk trash. I talk smack. They’re totally different. Trash talk is all hypothetical, like, “Your momma is so fat, she could eat the Internet.” But smack talk is, happening like, right now. Like, “you’re ugly and I know it for a fact, ’cause I got the evidence. Right there.”

ooohhh burn

speaking of burn I have to go put some icy hot on my arm/shoulder.

Wii-tastic, Kristen

wow 2 The Office quotes in one blog.... thats gotta be some kind of record... this one goes out to Jennifer... it's your congrats on making a human gift :)

Grillin Fort

2009-05-18T18:00:00.002-04:00

This weekend we had planned to have a few friends over so we thought the easiest thing to do would be just grill out chicken and burgers..... we woke up Sunday morning to a complete downpour! Of course to me that meant I could spend the day lounging on the couch because it was raining there is no way we can have a cookout with all this rain right? WRONG! DH got working right away to figure out how he could still grill even though the rain was coming down in all directions. This is what he came up with.

Yes my husband made a grown up fort complete with a grill, cooler and 3 chairs that he dried off so i could come sit out there! It is right off our back porch so you only have to take about 2 steps in the actual rain! It was too funny but the man was determined!!

We ended up doing burgers, hot dogs, chicken, and steaks (we still had a few that my parents gave us earlier this year from a Prime Rib Dinner) and it was all delish!

afterwards we went over to Karen and Corey's and played some Wii bowling.. i don't want to brag or anything but i did kick EVERYONE's butt!! Yeah who knew i would be awesome at virtual bowling... cause Lord knows i am not good at all at real bowling! LOL I am really thinking we should get one of those things!

Maybe you could pick up the corn pops?!

2009-05-15T17:20:00.001-04:00

This week a friend of Larry's came into town to start working for our company again. The afternoon he got here I got a call from Larry, turns out his friend doesn't have an apartment yet and needs a place to stay for a few days. Being the awesome wife that I am I tell DH that of course he can stay with us, we have a spare room so no problem. Now of course I was not prepared to have a house guest so sheets need changed and the house needs picked up and all that fun stuff. So I ask Larry if he doesn't mind would he just pick up the living room a bit when he gets home? we both have a habit of putting everything we bring into the house in that room and particularly on the coffee table. Of course my wonderful husband says I think it's fine... of course he does he is a man... well as I shut the door to the house that morning I noticed that apparently he had dropped some of his cereal on the floor... now he did pick it up but there was just a handful of corn pops laying on the coffee table. Back to the phone convo.. I tell him that yes it is bad and all he has to do is just clean up in that one room and I will take care of the rest when I get home.... at least pick up the corn pops!

When I got home that night guess what he had gotten done.... he picked up the corn pops... yep that's it! I love that man, I said "at least do this" and that's exactly what he did lol

Next time I will be more specific!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Cookout

2009-05-14T18:09:00.000-04:00

We had our housewarming cookout a few weekends ago. We invited a bunch of our friends and family over to see the new house now that we have settled in. It ended up being a smaller group of friends than we originally thought but we had a good time regardless and all the food got ate up! Here are a few pics of that afternoon, it was really hot!

Back from blog hiatus

2009-05-13T17:30:00.000-04:00

I know it’s been a long while! Life got the best of me here lately and every time I sat down to blog nothing came to me…. Or I just didn’t get to it at all. I think maybe I needed the little break though… and now because ~~my mom nagged me~~ I missed it so much, I am back!

We have had lots going on lately and I promise I will post about all of it over the next week or so. This past weekend Larry and I actually went out… I know that sounds weird, but we have tried to go out a few times over the last few months and something always comes up and we don’t make it… or we go out (see valentines day) and we're exhausted. But this weekend we were supposed to go see a friends band play, of course that didn’t work out, but at the last minute Marty (one of Larry’s best friends who was also in our wedding) called to see if we wanted to go to block party, so we went downtown and I actually ran into a good friend, Rachel, I hadn’t seen in awhile. Rachel was there with her best friend Nikki who it turns out is engaged to one of Larry’s friends and they live one street over from us! Larry had mentioned to me that his friend Glenn lived down the street and how Glenn has this really cool dog that plays basketball with you. (of course now Larry is convinced we must get a dog just like it lol) anyways I knew Nikki through Rachel but not too well so I was glad to see them both and chat a bit! Now we can have another couple to hang out with in the neighborhood, of course we have Karen and Corey too but beyond them we don’t have too many couple friends! Unless you count my parents… which I do... but in a different category lol!

After block party we ended up in NN at Manhatten’s I wasn’t impressed with the band but I love their chicken sandwich and never get to eat it so I of course ordered one and was content to sit and listen to Marty and Larry tell funny stories about stuff they used to do! I love that my husband has friends like that!! I know this a blurry pic but it was cute! I don't know why all the good ones of us are always blurry :( you'll see what I mean when I post pics from the BBQ! Thats all for me today! I promise more posts to come this week!

Communicating with the opposite sex

2009-04-21T17:10:00.002-04:00

I am fast learning how to be a better communicator... or should I say how men are not! Don't think that I mean any of this negatively towards my DH but some times that man (and men in general) frustrate the living daylights outta me!

Exhibit A: When we moved into the new house we decided that our microwave, affectionately known as the "Lava Machine," is way too big for our kitchen. Since we had my old smaller microwave in storage we just tossed the lava machine and decided to use my smaller, more practical one. But guess how long it took to go get the new microwave out of the storage unit 5 mins from our house? 2 weeks lol! every day Larry would say he was going to the storage unit after work and every day I would come home to a new tree cut down but no microwave. How, may I ask you, is a girl supposed to cook without a microwave? So finally I told him one night last week just to put the key on my key ring and I would go after work. On my way home from work the following day I called him because I couldn't find the key on my key ring. He says "oh, I put it in your purse." like it is that simple... I don't know about ya'll but my purse is the black hole where paperwork, coupons, hair ties, receipts, and lip gloss go to die. If you ever have hopes of finding something small like a key in there you better put it in one of the smaller side pockets. The man is scared to death of my purse so he just threw the key in. I love him but it took me 5 mins to find it LOL!

Exhibit B: Priorities - the new house has a little room out back that my DH promised would be my laundry room, I have lived the last year and a half with no laundry and it was driving me crazy, so that was one of my stipulations .... I must have onsite laundry facilities. the plumber finished hooking everything up for the new stackable over a week ago! So hubby said all he had to do was go get the stackable from storage and hook it up. Every night he tells me that he will get to it tomorrow.... well a few "tomorrows" pass by and I start to nag... just a bit lol. and he tells me he will do it over the weekend. you know what he did this weekend? cut down a tree I don't even remember having, mowed the grass, attempted to grind the tree stump, put in a new door at someone elses house, weed eated, drilled new holes so he could run cable to every room of the house, spent hours trying to figure out how to run the new cable, organized some of his tool, broke one of the lawn chairs... the list goes on.... I'll give you one guess as to what he didn't do.... hook up my washer and dryer! so yesterday I finally had it and was like what's up with my wash room... turns out he has to repair the drywall first and he decided that it was easier to get a bunch of small things done instead of one big thing. well that makes sense (I guess) but next time let you wife in on this logic so she can stop pulling her hair out and tripping over dirty clothes and just go to the laundry mat.

I love that man I really do!!

TGIF

2009-04-17T16:57:00.000-04:00

It is finally friday! This week has been way too long! During last weekend and all this week i have had the worst earache, i went to my regular doctor who sent me to a Ear, nose, & throat dr who sent me to have a CAT scan. My ear has started to feel better and my dr feels that is actually something to do with my jaw as opposed to an ear problem. They tested my hearing while i was at the ENT turns out i can still hear even though larry always blast the music way too loud! lol So today i go for the CAT, that should be interesting... i have never really had anything like that before, and i was super apprehensive at first because i was getting it confused with the one where you have to go inside a tube.... or coffin as i would call it lol. I am not a fan of tight spaces i don't like the thought of re-breathing the air i just breathed out. I know I am insane aren't I? I have good reason! But the lady at the hospital assured me that there will be plenty of room and i will be ablt to see the other people so this should be fun. I wanted larry to go with me, lame, i know, but he won't be able to get there in enough time after work... plus who needs their husband to go with them to get a little x-ray? pshh not me i'm cool!

So for your weekend delight here are a few pics from the last week! Enjoy!

Corren and Larry (he was pretending to be asleep)

Kayla's first night in her new room and new bed!

See how excited Larry is that Kayla moved in?!

Have a great weekend, I know I will, I see lots of box unpacking in my near future!

The unpacking guru,

Kristen

Can't judge a book by it's cover

2009-04-16T14:10:00.003-04:00

This video has been all over the blog world today and honestly I skipped by it more than a few times.... but the last time I saw someone else had posted it I thought ok I gotta see what this is all about. I am not going to tell you all about it, it pretty much speaks for its self. It is a clip of Susan Boyle preforming on Britain's got Talent... don't know who that is? I didn't either but you won't soon forget her. Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

If you don't smile and your eyes don't at least well up a little..... Something is wrong!

I watched it twice!

Kristen

Google me?

2009-04-15T18:00:00.000-04:00

Well it is tax day and since our taxes are already done and our measily little return has already been spent I thought I would do a fun post today!

My site tracker tells me all kinds of cool things like what linked readers to my page, what site they came from, where they went after, what time most people are reading etc. the funnest thing is what got them to my page! now many times it's from a friends blog or from my facebook but sometimes its through Google! these are always interesting so here are the best 3 searches on google that led people to my page over the last week or so.

"bo essentials" twitter
my eyes look googley
smeller b smellerson – my blog is the first result to come up on this one lol

I am not sure why anyone would google the last 2 but i find it interesting that it led them to my page!

Fun times

2009-04-13T18:00:00.001-04:00

A few weekends ago my friend Kelly had a baby shower and then they had a cookout, so we went and I got to spend time with her sisters in law (my besties Gretchen and Lauren) and of course got to see my precious Shelby (Gretchen's daughter) Gretchen lives out of town so I don't get to see her too often

Isn't she the cutest ever?!

Gretchen and Shelby

Gretchen, Lauren and Me

And now Kelly's baby has arrived his name is Andrew Peter Rummel came into the world last week! Isn't he adorable... I think at the moment this pic was taken I wanted to have a baby right then... since that moment the feeling has passed lol!

Kristen

Now we're Grillin'!

2009-04-10T18:00:00.000-04:00

One of the things we most looked forward to about getting a house, besides having our own place of course, was that we would have a yard and be able to grill out. Larry loves to grill and we were not allowed to have a grill at our apartment. So the other night we decided to set up the grill and make burgers! I used my friend Karen's recipe that we had at her b-day cookout last weekend. It has onion soup mix as well as diced onions and bell peppers. They were delicious! Here is my DH all excited when we finally got the burgers on the grill!

As far an unpacking goes I haven't gotten much further. I have gotten our room and some of the kitchen set up but we have both been so tired that we haven't really gotten much else done. The spare room is jam packed with boxes and there is no end in sight! This weekend Kayla is moving in so I really need to get her room ready. Also this weekend I have got to go to the storage unit and get the smaller microwave (because our "lava machine" as we call it is way too big for the counter) and at least my dish drainer so I can "cook" and do dishes lol. I have been doing pretty good, if I may say so myself, with keeping up with the dishes. Unfortunately the sink isn't really working right, so draining the water is a bit of an issue! and of course I have no hot water yet so I have to boil water to wash dishes lol. but at least we are in and the plumbing and hot water heater should be fixed soon! Well that's all for today I hope everyone has a happy and blessed Easter!

grill-tastic,

Kristen

Is that Michael Jackson

2009-04-09T18:07:00.001-04:00

As a new step mom I learn new things every day. I think the girls’ favorite thing to teach me is that I am old and no longer cool. Seriously just last year I was very hip....happening... whatever. I really was, just ask my friends I could bar hop with the best of them, went out seeing the best bands till all hours of the night, and always had lots of friends to hang out with. Seriously people I WAS COOL; at least I thought I was until I had teenagers. I imagine this is why God didn't just give us kids at this age, I am pretty sure all the crying and such of the infant years is supposed to train you in patience and all sorts of other important parent like things, because if you just jump in at teenager.... oh you are in for it. LOL

Moving on, so the girls like to quiz me on do you know this song or can you do this dance? people did you know there is a dance called "the stanky leg" which has a song with it... it consists of bending one leg at the knee and rotating it on the tip of your toe.... as in your leg smells? Apparently since I had not heard of this dance craze... I am old... and secondly because I don't wish to learn the "stanky leg" I am uncool. Is this what passes for dancing these days? What am I saying these days...? I am only 25 and hardly "not with the times" but what happened to the Macarena and the electric slide?

I said all this to say that I really realized how young these girls are and how... not young I am the other day. Kayla was at the house and we were watching TV and that Prince commercial came on. I think it is for his new CD at Target or something. Anyways after the commercial is over Kayla says "Is that Michael Jackson? Isn't he too old to sing anymore?" And of course I said "no that's Prince... don't you know who Prince is? You know he sings that song (this is where I proceeded to sing the lyrics to "kiss") She had no clue and I felt old.

Signing off,
the mom-like Kristen

I have a follower

2009-04-08T18:09:00.003-04:00

Ladies and.... ok probably just ladies! I have my very first follower! Please direct your attention to the side bar and see that Maggie has become my very first follower! Wohoo what a day! Welcome Maggie and I am very excited that I think that brings my readers count up to about 5! You to can be cool like Maggie and become a follower of this awesome blog!!

This week we made our first trip to Lowes as homeowners! Now I see why people like that store so much. Don't get me wrong I still spend at least half an hour leaning on the cart bored out of my mind waiting on Larry to decide which type of chain he needs for whatever. But it is exciting going there to get things for home improvements! This trip we purchased all the mini-blinds for our windows... because I am pretty sure the neighbors no longer care to see into our house! Also we got our keys made including a very cute Tinkerbelle key for Kayla and we got the letters to replace the old owners name on the mailbox with PENNS! How cute are we?! We will have our own little mailbox with our own name on it! We are so homeownerish, aren't we?! Of course when we got home Larry looks at me and say, "Please tell me I don't have to hang these blinds tonight?" No honey not tonight I know you are tired... poor thing... he has worked very hard.

I was just telling my mom yesterday how difficult he is being with this whole move. I packed every box that got moved and so far I have unpacked every box too. My DH gets sidetracked easily and it frustrates me some times. For instance instead of helping me get things unpacked on Saturday night he decided to start cutting down the tree in our front yard, with a CHAINSAW!!!

It got even worse after this, he put on a harness and climed the tree with that chainsaw!

Now while this is something that needs to be done, it doesn’t need to be done on our first night in the house... what does need to be done is unpacking some dishes and utensils so that we can eat. But just when I complain about something like that he does something great like clean the apartment. After we took the second to last load from the apartment I did not even have to go back. He went back Sunday and vacuumed and then when he got off work yesterday he went and cleaned the apartment! A job I was sure he was going to leave for me! I was so thrilled that all I had to was go by and do a once over. Don't you hate right when you are frustrated with them they go and do something great! I love that man!

Homeowner-liscious,

Kristen

Eyelash Wishes

2009-04-07T10:10:00.003-04:00

This morning I was sitting at my desk when I got a pesky eyelash in my eye... when I got it on the tip of my finger I prepared to make a wish and blow it off like I always have! It was then that I realized I wasn't really sure what to wish for. Past wishes included falling in love, Larry proposing, having no rain on my wedding day (that one didn't quite work out) and that everything would come through on the house. All of those great hopes of mine have come true over this last year. Of course I know it is not because I have wished on my little eyelashes, but it made me stop and realize how truly blessed my life has been over this last year, honestly I have been blessed my whole life... it's just a lot easier to see that when you are looking back. Looking back what are some blessings you have had that maybe you didn’t realize at the time? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

Kristen

He still sweeps me off my feet!

2009-04-02T17:30:00.000-04:00

It is now official, we are homeowners! We closed on our house yesterday! We are so excited, this has been a very long and exhausting process. Next week it will all be worth it. Heck, right now it feels pretty well worth it! We move in on Saturday as long as the weather holds out like it is supposed to! I have 80% of the house packed just have to do our room and such... and I am already almost out of boxes... I can't believe that!

So I have to tell you the best part about closing on our house. I got off work yesterday and met Larry at the new house. We wanted to go in together the first time that it was actually ours. so we walk up to the door and I say do you wanna do the honors and he is like no I have something else I need to take care of, you do it. So I unlock the door and push it open and turn back to grab his hand and he swoops me up and carries me over the threshold and then kisses me. That man amazes me sometimes. It was so romantic and wonderful, wish I knew it was happening though because I would have had someone take a picture lol

I love my husband! and my home!

Homeowner Extraordinaire,
Kristen

This is IT!!

2009-04-01T15:49:00.003-04:00

Today is the day! We have been working so hard and for so long.... the day is finally (hopefully) here! Today we are supposed to close on our house! OUR HOME! I cannot wait, it has been canceled and delayed so many times we have come to expect that it won't happen. But we have confirmation from both sides of the purchase that today we will become homeowners. I am so excited can't you tell?! If all goes well we will be moving in Saturday morning! I have so much to do between now and then... YIKES! I am sure we will get it all done though. I had every intention of last night packing up at least one of the bedrooms but my poor DH wasn't feeling well and came home early to veg out on the couch so I had to join him right?! Yes I had too! Lol

So we have 3 days, including today, to get everything packed and then 2 days to move out, move in and clean the apt. The sooner we can hand over those the better (and the less money we have to pay!)

Well I am off to keep myself busy..... I will let you know tomorrow how it all goes!

Almost a Home Owner,
Kristen

It's his Target...

2009-03-27T19:35:00.001-04:00

The other night the the Hubs and I were out and about and he said he had to stop by Lowe's "real quick" to pick up a couple things. Ladies we all know what this really means... be prepared to be bored out of your mind... right? I see two types of women in Lowe's (1) Women who are there to get things for a home project, pick out paint, carpet, etc. and (2) women who are following behind their husbands with that blank look of boredom. I fall into the later more often times than not. But ladies I have now come to a realization: Lowe's is to men what Target is to Women. Brilliant right? I mean I usually go to target and only need a few things... but I end up walking up and down every aisle picking up things I don't end up buying and buying things I don't really need. This is precisely what a trip to Lowe's with my DH is like.

All we needed last night was 3 sheets of plywood... so we go into the wood section and my goodness who knew there were so many different wood options, I believe we stood there staring and piles of wood for 20 minutes! Honestly, it cannot be that difficult to pick out wood! So after we get the 3 sheets we came for we had to wonder aimlessly looking at everything else in the store we might need! Next we ended up getting some 2x4's, he asked me to help him get them off the shelf and I mentioned that they felt wet, after which he informs me that is because they are treated with arsenic, as in poison... seriously? after that I was super paranoid to touch my skin or heaven forbid scratch my eye for fear that the arsenic had transferred to my fingers and find its way into my body some how. I accidentally scratched my ear and I swear it immediately felt warm and irritated. Larry assured me that I did not have arsenic poisoning but I am not so sure.

After that ordeal and then taking 10 minutes to pick out a hinge and 15 more minutes to select plain old paint for the ceilings we were finally headed to the checkout line... of course they line the entire front aisle with goodies, and every 5 seconds it's oooh ooh look at this, and man I gotta have one of those. He ended up buying some funky looking hammer that was way too expensive and when we got to the truck he pulled at least 3 other hammers out of the toolbox and I know he has 5 at home!

I suppose his hammers are my purses!

Roller Skating

2009-03-26T18:00:00.000-04:00

Recently we took the girls to the Roller Rink. Just so everyone is aware I am not the graceful competent skater that I thought I was. I would get out there go around once or twice and then come back and sit down... I don't get it, I swear this was so easy when I was a kid. Maybe it was all in my head. Anyways I ended up with a blister on the bottom of my foot from the stupid cheapo skates they rent out, which by the way were not exactly what I would call clean lol. Here are a couple pics from that night... note to self skating while also trying to take a picture... not smart.

Ashley and her friend... i guess they are posing.
Kayla and her friend
my husband... the figure skater :)

my attempt at an in motion picture
and poor Kayla fell quite a few times... being the awesome step-mom I am, I took a picture!

Paint Colors

2009-03-25T18:00:00.000-04:00

I finally got Pics taken of the new paint at the new house! I was a little nervous about picking out colors, but it really came to me very easily i think it took me like hour total to decide on the colors! Here are the pictures, hope you like!

This is Kayla's room, she picked the colors, there is one bright pink wall and the others are this gorgeous lilac color!

These next 3 pics are the dining room and living room, it is a really light sand color with just a hint of a rose under tone... it turned out really nice!

This is the office aka scrap room ;) i love this color too, it is a light silver-y grey!

and my favorite room and most favorite color is in the Master Bedroom, this color is slightly darker in person and it makes you want to close the shades and take a nap... which in my opinion is what a bedroom should be.. not to mention with my black curtains and red accessories it will be a very romantic room too ;)

Well there you have it. We also painted the kitchen but the color is called strand of pearls and probably wouldn't really look like anything other than white in a picture, but i do have to mention i painted the kitchen all by myself!! we also got an antique white to paint all the trim... we have yet to tackle that project, it makes me nervous b/c i don't want to get paint on my wood floors! which by the way we are keeping.. they just need to be sanded and given a clear coat. Just add that to the list of a million other things that we have to do before we move in next week! yikes!

Miss me?

2009-03-23T18:00:00.000-04:00

Hello all! It has been awhile, I know. I am so sorry for neglecting you! This last week has been really busy, in fact this whole month has gone by in a complete blur! Last weekend I had a bout of Vertigo, if you have not experienced this, you are lucky because let me tell you it is terrible. I have had about 6 or 7 episodes over the last 5 years and it makes me miserable. The whole room spins and I freak the heck out, haha no exaggeration... I don't know why I panic so much. for about a month afterwards every time I even stand up too fast or turn my head and get that dizzy feeling I freak out, like "oh no here it comes again!" anyways so Sunday night was not fun at all then I felt nauseous all week... still haven't managed to completely shake that feeling. by Wednesday I had a massive headache and could not even stomach food, turns out when I was sick at the beginning of the month I had an ear infection that the "doc in a box" I had to go to (b/c my doc closed due to snow) did not catch. By now it had turned into a SEVERE inner ear infection, the ear full of water seems to be what caused all the dizziness. so they gave me some good drugs but the water kind of has to go away on it's own, they gave me great drugs for the nausea but they made me soo sleepy I slept for 20 hours straight!!! so that was fun!

By Friday I did come back to work, I still don't feel 100%, but I do feel better. This weekend I had no choice but to suck it up we are down to crunch time with the new house and it had to be painted. So both Saturday and Sunday we painted ALL day! Saturday mom came over to help and that was great, don't you love moms?! Then Sunday Larry and I were all on our own, although we did have a few observers stop by. But all in all it was a very productive weekend Saturday we got one coat in every room but the kitchen, and Sunday every wall got a second coat! I am so happy with the colors I chose and even more happy with how they turned out. We still have to paint all the trim and the kitchen but the bulk of it is DONE! Now if I could only get my every muscle in my body to stop throbbing! I barely slept last night b/c I just couldn't find a comfortable position!

This week will be just as busy! we don't have a thing packed, we still have to finish painting, the floors have to be redone, and we are getting all new plumbing and a new water heater... oh yeah and we have to move lol. luckily our land lady is awesome and gave us an extra week to get moved out! so if we fall a little behind this week, and lets be honest that's probably gonna happen, then we have a little cushion!

hopefully I will get pics taken tonight and I will put them up tomorrow! I hope you all love it as much as I do!

Random Pics

2009-03-13T17:39:00.001-04:00

Is it me or did we just have a Friday the 13th last month? I honestly could care less... I just found that interesting... Moving on to today's post.

I realized today that I really need a picture post sometime soon, it's been quite awhile since I did one but in my defense I haven't really taken any pictures. So here are a few random ones from the last month or so! Enjoy!

Here is a cute one of Elle from the airport that was on my phone... i don't think i posted it yet, I just love this pic! My parents got her that monkey... she wasn't sure about it at first but by this point she was totally in love with it!

Why is it that my DH waits until he is actually wearing his last pair of underwear, socks and pants to tell me he needs clean clothes? You may say why don't you just keep up the laundry? To which I would reply, Because I don't have time to go to the laundry mat to do a load every other day LOL. But without fail every time he waits till he is out of clothes to say anything... that's OK though I make him go with me to the laundry mat! He loves it ; )

This one is just for amusement purposes... I don't know if I wrote about Valentines or not? it wasn't that thrilling but friends of Larry's parents gave me this rose on V-day when we were working on the house... this was the only vase I could find.... thought it was amusing.

Here is DH enjoying my valentine present to him! Basically they were Red Velvet Oreo cakesters... and let me tell you I did have a nibble and they were absolutely delicious! I got the recipe from Bakerella, if you haven't visited her site before she always has delish recipes for sweet treats.... I think this second pic is my fave.. he cracks me up!

And this one is us before we went on that night! We didn't stay out very long... guess we realized we would rather just relax at home since we had been working non stop on the house!

Well that's it for today, have a great weekend everyone!

oh Virginia... you tease me so

2009-03-10T17:01:00.001-04:00

Dear Virginia,

Why is it that yesterday I had on flip flops... today? I have on my fuzzy boots, and while yes I do love my fuzzy boots, I want warmth!!!!!! NOW. Please.

warmth and sunshine, Kristen

sunshine and flip flops

2009-03-09T17:35:00.000-04:00

This weekend was GORGEOUS!!! if you live in the south east you most likely enjoyed the same amazing temperature swing we did. Last Sunday it snowed and this Sunday it was 81 degrees when I passed my local bank.... and girls you know those flip flops came flying outta the closet! I did not even care that my toes have not seen the inside of a salon since my wedding! I slipped those puppies on and never felt better. I tell you what there is nothing better than a pair of reef flip flops.... particularly these which are by far the most awesome pair I have ever owned. I used to spend weekends down in Nags Head all the time especially in the summer and there is this one little shop we always went to, that had the cheapest flip flops and I would always buy a pair. these brown ones are the only ones that have survived and I haven't been down to the beach in a couple years so I am really in need. I think I will have to hunt around ebay to find some cheap ones!

Ok moving on from the topic of shoes, although you must know I just took a 5 min blog break to look for said shoes LOL.

This weekend my friend Karen brought me home some boxes from her work (mcD's) they have the best packing boxes. So do you want to know the grand total of boxes I packed this weekend? now keep in mind we need to be out of our apartment by April 1st! I packed 2... that's right 2 boxes and all they were were some movies and a bunch of pic frames and candles... sad right. at least for the next month I can blame my messy house on packing right? Speaking of packing I need some advice from all you smart savvy women out there... how do I make my husband get rid of junk? every closet in our apt is packed with either tools or clothes... I have NOT ONE thing in any of the 3 closets. here is a prime example of his thinking. at work we always are getting give aways from suppliers of random stuff like shirts etc. so one guy brought us in like 20 of those little cheapo collapsible lunch boxes. I took 3 home gave one to larry (which he has stashed somewhere I am sure b/c he already has 4 lunch boxes) I gave one to the guy he works with and I kept one. well that one I kept rode around in my car for months, then got put into a bag when I cleaned out my car then sat in my living room for 2 months. so when I was cleaning out that bag on Saturday I asked Larry if he needed a new lunch box, he says No (b/c he has 4 already right?) so it goes in the throw it away/donate pile. and he is like well if you are gonna get rid of it give it to me. WHYYYYYYYY why why why does he need another FREE CHEAP lunch box when he has 4.... why? and that I realize is his philosophy and the philosophy of those that raised him. don't throw ANYTHING away b/c one day you might need it. well I guarantee you at the rate I make lunched it will take at least the next 20 years to wear out 4 lunch boxes and by then I seriously hope we can scrounge up the change to buy one at the dollar general. This is why some people have houses crammed full of junk.... and why some people are about to lose their sanity trying to get everything into the new house in an orderly fashion. Not gonna happen people I can see it now.

ps Was uber sick last week and had to go to the Dr. I am down a total of 26 lbs now!

A GREAT CAUSE

2009-03-06T08:35:00.005-05:00

Today i stumbled on this blog, they are doing an Autism Speaks Create and Donate Card Drive! All the proceeds go to Autism Speaks which is a great organization! Head over to Life, One Layout at a Time to read all about this great project and also about Autism if you are not familiar with how it effects millions of families every day.

I plan on sending one big package of cards, so if you are interested in getting involved let me know and i will get with you on the details!

thanks,
Kristen

it's a good thing The Office was a re-run

2009-03-05T22:27:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday night turned into a really busy night. When I got off from work I went to the grocery store and spent a small fortune, however, our fridge was completely empty before (it was pathetic) so I guess you could say it was money well spent.... as in I need to feed my family LOL.

Larry went to help a friend tow a truck so when i got home from the grocery store I had to unload everything by myself which I hate b/c i have to make a million trips back and forth from the car to the apt. Anyways i had just gotten everything put away and made myself a little dinner and sat down to watch Ugly Betty when my DH called in a panic. He said "the truck broke down," (he was drving his old truck) "i need you to get in the new truck and come get us." so i say "ok how do i get to where you are?" and he says "go through the tunnel and it is like the first or second exit i think it's called college drive"

Side note for non locals: now for those of you that read my blog that aren't local i should explain how our area is set up. We live on a Penninsula and are connected to what we call the South Side, which is where Norfolk and Va Beach and all that good stuff is, by quite a few different Bridges and Tunnels. The main Tunnel is on I64 and that is the HRBT and then there are a few others on the secondary interstates.

Now for those of you who do live here, if someone asks you to go through "The Tunnel" which one do you assume they are talking about? The HRBT right? me too so i get to the HRBT and of course they are cleaning or something so it is down to one lane, i get through the tunnel finally and drive about 5-10 minutes before realizing that i am not seeing an exit named college drive. so i call my DH and say what is the exit i can't find it, he says its right after you get out of the Moniter Merrimac.... Ooops i went through the wrong tunnel people the wrong one.... and he keeps saying i said college drive why would you go through the HRBT? Like i am supposed to know where the heck college drive is. see this is why i just stay on the penninsula... there is just no need to be going back and forth over (and under) that water all the time when they have everything i need right here!

All that said, i finally made it to him and we got everything taken care of but we didn't get home until after midnight.... that man is lucky The Office was a rerun that night...

EVIL

2009-02-27T16:53:00.006-05:00

Introducing the Diabetics Arch Nemisis

It's friday, I am outta here! I will leave you with this lovely bit of torture. If you body is capable of ingesting this amount of sugar please stop by coldstone this weekend and leave me a comment detailing how each and every bite tastes... thanks

your truly, sugarly challenged

Smelly Smellerson

2009-02-26T17:45:00.000-05:00

I read in one of my favorite blogs the other day that to write a funny blog you have to have stupid stuff happen to you...or do stupid stuff.. or something along those lines. I have no problem with this.... although it may not translate to a funny blog i definitely have the stupid stuff part down.

That being said I had a very strange day the other day i had to wake up early to go to a conference in Richmond (yuck) thanks to my in-laws GPS i managed to make it there on time. Now i hate going to these by myself b/c much like my younger days i have a tendency to be... lets say friendly, (just ask my mother, my very first report card in Kindergarten said something to the effect of Kristen talks too much in class). so whenever i go to these things i try to pick a seat next to someone i think looks nice enough and that looks like they may be chatty also. on this day apparently my mojo was off. I sat down and had not been there 2 seconds and the woman next to me turns towards me and i think we are about to exchange pleasantries.... no... not at all..
I should mention this lady is at least in her late 40's early 50's and has had plenty of time to learn manners

the following is the actual conversation:

rude lady: are you wearing perfume
me: uhm i think so
rude lady: uckkk (nasty throat sound) it smells
me: shock and silence
rude lady: i think i am going to move i can't stand it
(i was still shocked and not very snappy in an embarrassing moment)
me: uh I'm sorry?

People she literally picked up all her stuff and moved one seat over then told the lady next to her that she couldn't stand the smell and i stunk

are you kidding me.. .now this is a very embarrassing story yes... but i am not afraid to share for a few reasons. 1.) i am sure i did not have on that much perfume b/c i ran out last week and have been using body spray. 2) this perfume was especially made for me at the best place ever, called Bo Essentials, especially for my wedding day. 3) i get compliments all the time on the scent.

But can you believe the rudeness of this woman... i tell you what i was liable to smack her.... i just wish i had some of my body spray with me cause you can bet i would sprayed on some more right there at the table.

the nerve of some people.

smell ya later - K

speaking of smell just a small side note, when i got back to the office that day aparently our heater had caught on fire and filled the whole office with smoke. no one was hurt and nothing was damaged but it smelled bad.... i wish that rude lady had to come work in my smelly office all day.

I'm tellin you it dosen't work

2009-02-25T19:00:00.001-05:00

Don't you hate when your husband is right?

About a year ago my DH bought a new vacuum. I went with him we picked one out that was decently priced and went on our way. Now, I have been using this thing for a year and I kept trying to use the hose and it would never work, always ticked me off. we had family over at Christmas and during my deep cleaning I realized the carpet right along the baseboards has not been vacuumed since at least 1997 but could I clean it... no cause the stupid hose on our stupid "brand new vacuum" doesn't work!

So last weekend we were working on a side project fixing up and cleaning a house so the owner could sell it after a tenant moved out. I wanted to use the hose to go around all the edges and all the ceilings to get the cob webs down and of course the hose had no suckky action... I was beyond frustrated and whined to Larry we desperately need to get another vacuum cause I can't handle this... he was like there is nothing wrong with it... to which I whine yesssss there is I hate it!

so he goes over to it and 10 seconds later the hose works great! turns out that you have to actually connect the hose to the vacuum in order for it to have any sucking power... in my defense on my old vacuum the suction actually ran thru the hose all the time and when you detached it it just stopped the sucking from going to the reg vacuum and diverted it to the hose.

I hate when he is right.... and ooh the vacuuming I could have been doing all this time.

p.s. I used the work Vacuum 9 times in this post... when I did spell check I misspelled it every time.... sad. also I spelled the word misspelled wrong just then... thank goodness for spell-check... still sad.

You too!!

2009-02-24T16:18:00.000-05:00

Just the other day I was running a bunch of errands for work and for myself on my lunch break. unfortunately this required me going to 3 different banks ughh. At the last bank i was just dropping off a deposit and when i was finished the lady says, "Have a nice day, and thank you for banking with Wachovia!" to which i replied "you too" yeah thanks for banking with the bank of Kristen in her ford focus! duhhhh

reminds me of Brian Regan... he is hilarious

take luck, Kristen

Carpool Day 2

2009-02-20T08:51:00.001-05:00

Just a quick note:

1. I made it to work today without turning into a mental wreck (since hubby was driving again) i think that the anti anxiety meds really helped.... LOL just kidding!

2. I have on my warm fuzzy boots today, they make me happy!

Hunny, you are supposed to be in that lane

2009-02-19T16:49:00.002-05:00

I never knew until today that i ~~absolutely gotta have~~ really enjoy my alone time driving to work in the morning. I get ~~away from all the racket~~ peaceful time to myself! But yes indeed today i realized i like those drives, just me, my car, and the z-morning zoo and their stupid E on the Z which is my favorite part. Want to know how i discovered this? Today my dear husband was supposed to work in the office so he decided that he would just work my hours and ride into work with me! sounded great to me a whole day of sneaky kisses and cute little winks (which by the way has not been the case at all) so he says we have to make sure we get up on time so we aren't late! who are you kidding buddy i have got this "there in the nick of time" thing down to a science, But i just said ok honey! SO this morning the alarm goes off, now i know that i can technically snooze 3 times before i absolutely have to get up right, so i hit snooze number one this morning and snuggle back down into the covers and what does he do he gets up and lets all the cold air under the covers and goes to the bathroom all noisy like and says "time to go to work honey" at that time i decided to give him the ~~meanest stink eye~~ most loving smile i could and ~~sulk out of the bed stomping my feet~~ jump up very cheerfully. so i think ok no biggie and start getting ready, now i leave no time for errors in getting ready, i know that is bad but i use every spare minute to fix a curl or watch a little extra weather channel. so i give him a 2 minute warning that we needed to leave, no problem he is dressed and ready to go. so i put on my coat grab my stunner shades and keys and say ok i am ready and he sits down and starts doing something stupid, looking for a paper or something... honestly you couldn't do that while i was getting ready? but i digress. We head off to work in his truck and we get no further than a mile from the house and he turns on a different road than i do, and i think to myself it's crazy he can go anyway he wants to go as long as we get there right? wrong, i have it down to a science people where to turn and when to be in what lane,and he messed it all up, it is very hard to bite your tongue when you know he should be in the left lane at this point in the ride because the next light a lot of people are turning right but he just rides merrily into the traffic... aghhhhh! but my friends, i kept my composure and as far as my handsome driver knows all went smoothly. of course i was a mental wreck by the time we got to the office (5 minutes late) but it is all good! we did go to lunch together so that was nice but he was all in a hurry to get back to the office i kept telling him to chill we had an hour and i had every intention of using every minute(no such luck). I think i did sneak in one little kiss when no one is looking... he is just so serious at work it's so cute! well i am headed home to finish my 24 hour larry and kristen marathon! i joke but you all know i love it and am completely smitten with that man. <3