Craftin' & Cookin'

Last week, when I was off, I got out the sewing machine for a couple of days and finished Aubrey's snowflake pants. They turned out really cute! I can't wait to share a pic of her actually wearing them.
I also went to Hobby Lobby and Big Lots searching for new Christmas decorations for her tree. We couldn't find any stockings that matched the decor, so we went to Hancock and found some fabric and I whipped these up that evening.
They looked a lot better after I ironed them, but I think they turned out really cute!!
I also went to Publix and they had their turkeys on sale for $0.69/lb. I bought a 12 pounder and roasted it this past weekend and it was ooohhh so yummy!!! And we had plenty for leftover sandwiches. I love my roasting pan, it makes me feel like I have accomplished a lot when I use it.

Great Pic

I just thought that this picture was the cutest ever! My husband playing in the floor with our niece. How cute!!! Even though we don't feel like we are at the point of having kids, watching him interact with her, makes me a little wishful...

Fun Times With Family

**Updated with pics**

Anway, this past Saturday was my mother in law's birthday. We had plans to meet up at Stix to eat at 6:30. I was ready way early because we had gone to see my father in law for lunch that day. Well, around 4, I was in our computer room and I over hear my husband talking on the phone. This is what is said, "Hey man, do you want to go bowling after we eat tonight?" The man has not mentioned ONE word to his wife anything about bowling. I continue to listen, "Yeah, I think it would be fun if we all went. I am going to call Traci." Really!?! Would you like for me to tell you the last time I went bowling. It would have to be more than 8 years ago while I was in high school. Kent and I have been together for 4 years and not once have we gone bowling or even talked about the possibility. I walked into the den as he finishes up his conversation and asked, "Are you asking people if they want to go bowling?" Anyway I told him that it would've been nice to hear about this before he asked everyone else, but MY husband is inviting people to go and do something. If you don't know my husband, he is not exactly the most social person, and for him to be making plans with several people, in my opinion is a success.
Well, we went out to dinner and had a great time with some great family and then some of us went bowling. I of course color coordinated with my bowling ball and sweater, had many a gutter balls and never broke 100. I don't think that they will be calling me to join the bowling league, but we had a great time!!!

I would like to have some to take home please, size 9 with a can of Lysol please!

Color coordination at its best!

Thankful

Today really makes you think of all the good things going on in your life no matter what bad things are going on. I love my family. No we are not perfect, we don't get along all of the time, but I never doubt the fact that we will always be there for each other. This year has had many ups and downs. One grandmother being diagnosed with breast cancer, having a masectomy, then starting chemo. Loosing her hair, being depressed because you are confined to your house, getting shots or bloodwork everyday. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun does it. My other grandmother being 89 and having another stroke that has taken part of her memory, being depressed because she is now dependent on someone to take care of her. Telling my parents to take her to the nursing home because she doesn't want to be a burden on anyone. My father-in-law having a severe stroke in April that left him paralyzed on the left side, living in a nursing home with his memory faded and no will to try to become better. Being hospitalized last week for pneumonia and knowing that this may become a vicious cycle.
I know it sounds as though I am a little "Debbie Downer," but throughout all of these situations, they have all brought our families closer. And for that I am thankful! Seeing how many people visit, send cards, phone calls, food, etc. There are many things in these circumstances that we all should take the time to Thank God for! Mamaw Faye's tests came back negative for any spreading of the cancer. Her genetic testing was negative. She only has to take 4 rounds of chemo and will be done before Christmas. Praise God! Mamaw Ezma is remembering more and more every day. She is getting around the house with her walker without any problem. Praise God! My father in law was not really a part of our lives prior to the stroke and now we see him more and even though the relationship is still somewhat strained, it is building. Praise God!
Tonight we went to Cullman for my family Thanksgiving get together. What a wonderful time! Delicious food, great company, great conversations! Aubrey-my niece-is adorable. She is definitely dramatic! It's hilarious to see her face light up when Little Einsteins comes on and she acts out some of the songs. What a wonderful time of year!
What a crazy world that we live in these days. Amongst everything going on around us, we just need to stop, take in some deep breaths and be thankful that we are here. We are able to have an outlet, and we are able to meet other people who inspire us to become better. Even though we may go through hard times that make us ask God, "Why me? I don't think that I can handle any more." It's always easier said that done, but we must remember that He never leaves our side! He is always there and in every situation that we don't understand there is always a deeper meaning and lessen that we can learn.

Sign up!

For those of you that want to go to sips n strokes, sign up! I am signed up for Dec 2! It's at the Pelham location. Let me know! I can't wait!! I am on my way to spend the day with my grandmother! YEAH!!!

Invitation

I would like to send out an invite to see if anyone would be interested in getting together and going to sips n strokes. They have a new thing this Dec where you can paint on a plate. There is a class in Pelham on Dec 2 or a class at the location on 280 on Dec 16th. Let me know if you would like to go and which would be best for you.

Late Night Ramblings

So here I am at work in the middle of my off week. I guess that's what you get when you take off a night during your work week if you don't want to go broke. It was brought to my attention tonight that we only have two more paychecks until Christmas and that made me feel a lot better for being here. I have been really worried about the holidays this year. I don't know why. I think that I am still not used to trying to coordinate all of the family get togethers. It stresses me out! I don't know what will be going on with my grandmother. She is still in the hospital. They have done all different tests and procedures on her to check her brain/heart/stomach. Hopefully she will be able to come home soon. I think that we are just waiting on the neurologist to come up with a plan for some preventative measures so hopefully she won't have to go through this again. I really don't think that she is enjoying the hospital food very much. She can't have salt. OMG!! I would go bananas! I work at a hospital and I know that food is just about as bland as it can be. My other grandmother started her chemo last week and hasn't had the best of weeks. She has already gone way too low on her white blood cell count so she is having to go back and forth to the hospital to get shots to boost those, then get more and more bloodwork. I think she's just really down about the whole thing. Especially since it's getting close to the holidays and she needs to do her Christmas shopping.
On a lighter note, I am going to start making my Christmas cards tonight if I can ever stop looking at random blogs. I went to Hobby Lobby the other day and got a really good deal on my paper!!! I am pretty excited about what I am planning to do. I just hope it turns out as good on paper as it looks in my head. I guess we will see. I will keep you posted.

Game Day

So today, Kent and i went to the GA/Auburn game with some of his friends. Like I have stated before, I am an Alabama fan, but my husband is a GA fan. I am a GA fan, as long as they are not playing AL! We had a really great time! Kent had boiled shrimp last night for us to eat at the tailgating spot, so we had delicious shrimp for breakfast since the game started at 11:30am. Of course the outcome was great for us, so we had a great day. And to top it off, we came home and watched the Alabama game and we won too!!!

My older sis Ashley graduated from Auburn and now lives in Auburn, so she always has season tickets to the home games. We met up for a couple of minutes, so we had to get a pic:

Of course I had to take a few pics of the field before kickoff.

And please say a little prayer for my grandmother. While we were at the game, I got a call that my grandmother had a stroke this morning. This is not the same one that was just diagnosed with breast cancer though. This is my dad's mom. She is in her 80s and has had one before, and has had episodes of "mini strokes" in the past. They did a cat scan and all kinds of labwork and they said everything looked good. They are keeping her overnight to see how everything goes. I just pray for knowledge for the doctors and nurses and peace for my grandmother, she gets very anxious during these episodes. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!

NFL game

This past Sunday, Kent and I went to the Saints vs Falcons game. They were tickets that I had given him for our anniversary. Kent is a big fan of the Saints. He used to work with Deuce McAllister's cousin and we met him last year. I think that makes him like them more since he has actually met him. We were on the 20 yd line on the lower level so our seats were great! We had a great time, unfortunately the Saints lost, but at least the Deuce scored a touchdown. I also found out this morning that we got tickets to the Auburn vs Georgia game this Sat. I am really excited! We didn't get to go to a game last year. Kent's a huge GA fan, so hopefully the game will go his way! I am still an AL fan though-so Roll Tide!!! The LSU game this past Sat was a big nail biter for me! I had a bought with nausea and heartburn during the 4th quarter and overtime, but it turned out for the best-for me, so all is well!

Here are some pics of our weekend:

Enjoying the game: (No alcohol, just Kent being dumb, oh well)

Really good view:Go Saints!!

New Hobby

Just thought that I would share some pics of my first creations of my new jewelry line. HaHa!!! I took these to show to my in laws the other night at my niece's pageant. And by the way, she looked magnificent and got Miss Photogenic and was in the top 8. Her BFF won so they were all excited!!! I also have a couple of orders to make some more like this when I get the beads. I made the full set of a necklace, bracelet and earrings. I think that they turned out really well. I am going to keep this set for the sheer nostalgia of it all since this was my first ones to make. Here is my first items:

And here are all the ladies of the family at the pageant: Isn't she gorgeous!!!

Thinking...

So tonight starts another week...of working. Blah, blah, blah. I have been up since 8 am, so I am really tired. I've been told tonight that I am a "walking dictionary for adjectives." I thought that was pretty funny. I've really been down on my life tonight. I think that I am to the point where I am tired of working night shift. I just want to be "normal" again. I don't want to do the flip flop schedule anymore. I said tonight, I feel like I need a life change. Really? I was really inspired this past weekend when I went to the Christmas village to start doing some crafting. I love going to these shows and getting ideas to come home and do. Not to toot my own horn, but I am a little crafty. If I don't know how to do something, I can look it up and figure it out. I have a sewing machine that I bought last year the day after Thankgiving and have used it once. I made a curtain. I whipped it out this morning and sewed up a pair of pants for my niece. When we were at the show, we found these really cute pants, but they were $36 for just the pants. I just can't pay that much for just a pair of pants. Therefore, I went to Hancock and bought some fabric to see if I can make some on the cheap. We'll see how they turn out. I also bought a bunch of beads at Hobby Lobby and have started making some jewelry. I think that this is a great idea for Christmas presents. I am really going to have to cut back on the buying this season of my life. I am BROKE! Our paychecks are now coming in 4 days later and this is the transition week. The fact that I missed 3 nights on my last paycheck makes for a pretty depressing balance in the checking account. I may have dipped in a little (lot) to our bedroom suite fund. No, we still haven't gotten that yet, but when your hubby has had 3 surgeries this summer, it makes for a lot of holding off on the new things. Anyway, the rest of the weekend was great! Our nephew's birthday party was Sat night, and we had a great time watching the game with the family, then roasting hot dogs out by the fire. Totally smelt like a smokestack and walked directly in the shower upon arriving home. I can't stand to smell my hair after being out by the campfire! Anywho, I must go chart and finish my admission. I guess I have rambled enough!

Chip In/Giveaway

Be Thou a Knight is having another Chip In/Giveaway! I posted about this blog a couple of days ago and wanted to let you know that she is going crazy with some Vera Bradley! Follow the link to read all about the rules. You can have up to 5 entries! Take the time to check it out and possibly donate some $$ if you can!

Great Savings!!!

I haven't really posted anything about my shopping trips lately, but this one I couldn't pass up. Especially since I saved 60%. I can't believe all of the good deals I got yesterday at Publix! I bought:
1 pkg Cottonelle
2 lg & 1 sm coffee creamers
4 pkg toll house cookies
4 pkg Pillsbury Savorings
1 Bertolli pasta dinner
1 cake mix
2 cake frostings
1 loaf bread
1 bag lettuce
1 pkg cherry tomatoes
2jars Ragu

4 cans Hunts diced tomatoes

1 Welch's grape juice

2 loreal cleansers

1 loreal cleansing wipes
1 soft scrub
1 lysol wipes
There was a $5/$35 in the Bruno's flyer that I used. Then I used $17.7 MFC and since Publix doubles coupons that are $0.50 & under that added another $8.45 discount. I saved $44.52 in advertised specials with a total savings of $70.67 and OOP cost $48.18. When my cashier was giving my receipt, she told me how much I saved and said, "pick me up off the floor, you saved $70!" It was funny and made me feel really good!!

Then I went to CVS and bought 2 Olay quench lotions, 1 Dawn and 2 big candy bars for OOP cost of $2.14 after coupons and ECBs. Not too bad!!

Chip In Give Away

I came across a blog while I was continually linking from blog to blog. I wanted to let you know about it. She is a married woman struggling with infertility. I personally know several people who have went through/are going through the same thing and it is heart wrenching. She is trying to raise $$ for her 3rd attempt at IVF. She is giving away a Coach purse. Here's the original post. Please take the time to visit her blog and maybe donate a couple of bucks! But most importantly pray for them while they go through this season of their life!

My night:

I HATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME WHEN I HAVE TO WORK!!

I've been tagged!

I was tagged by Susan @ Life in the Psych Ward
The Rules:
1.) Link back to the person who tagged you & share the rules on your blog.
2.) Share 7 random facts about yourself.
3.) Tag 7 people & list their links on your post.
4.) Tell those 7 people by commenting on their blogs

So 7 random facts about myself:
1.) I am not a big Thangsgiving food person. The smell of ham makes me nauseated, I hate sweet potatoes, and I'm not a big fan of dressing. I do love the holidays and getting together with my family though!
2.) I am a little vain in the fact that I love name brand items. I like to go in Saks and pretend that I can buy anything I want, when in reality I've bought one shirt from there I found on clearance for $40.
3.) I have been called Martha Stewart by some of my friends because I love to bake, I can crochet, sew, and I've made a quilt.
4.) My entire family is Auburn fans except me. Roll Tide!!
5.) When I was in middle school, I got a perm even though my hair is naturally curly. Gorgeous was I!!
6.) My first two dogs that I adopted from the pound ran away. I was still living with my parents so they were outside. They disappeared for a couple of days, then one came back. Two weeks later, the other disappeared for good too.
7.) I watch A LOT of TV. On the verge of ridiculous, but I'm okay with it.

The 7 people I am tagging:
Heather, Jillian, Courtney, Jennifer, Ashley, Brandy, & Dawn