Eatin', Shootin', Craftin'

Isn't that the way everyone's Thanksgiving goes?

I know everyone is beyond bored with the Thanksgiving recaps.

So I promise mine will be short

and probably just like the other ten million posts you've already read.

It's okay.

You need a break from Cyber Monday anyway.

We started our morning off right...

...by jumping into a big pile of leaves.

Literally, we rolled out of bed (pajamas and all)

and then jumped/threw the puppies in before Robbie burned them all away.

And then,

if leaf-jumping wasn't quite redneck enough....

....we went to a big empty field

behind Robbie's Nana's house and shot guns.

After stuffing our faces, obviously.

Friday night, we ventured out to do a little people watching...

....for Black Friday Thursday (since everywhere was opened on Thursday night anyway.)

{Sidenote: This is the second year we've gone Black Friday "shopping"

(really we just go to watch all the crazies)

and I still just don't get it.

I mean, sure the deals are GREAT. 

But really all those deals just make me want to buy MORE.

I guess maybe that's the point. 

All weekend, I've felt like I'm missing out on something,

because I'm not buying everything in sight.

But just because Amazon.com sends me 3 emails every hour 

telling me about some big, exclusive deal

doesn't mean I need to use it.

We went into Target not wanting or needing anything in particular.

We didn't leave with anything, which is quite impressive,

but I saw about 50 things that I wanted while I was there.

And the thing was, they were things I wanted for myself,

not for anyone else. 

I just feel like Black Friday kind of takes away from what the holidays are all about.

Yep. I said it.

Not America's proudest day...}

After I scoped out the shopping lunatics,

I spent the rest of my Black Friday doing something every American should be proud of...

attending football games. Duh.

The Pirates won in double overtime.

I snagged a picture with a beautiful fall tree.

And my high school team won their conference championship game 

which means they are now on their way to states.

We call that a win, win, win situation. 

Saturday was full of cousin cuteness

and a little bit of crafting,

cause that's what cute six-year-olds do.

Oh yea, my cute 19-year-old brother does that too apparently.

I'm not really sure when my family decided to reproduce,

but I do know I am glad they did.

One, because hello? They are so stinking cute.

And two, because better them than me!

Hugs,

It's Heeeeeere!

Happy Black Friday, you crazy people!

P.S. Go ahead and just watch all of those crazy lady Target commercials.

You can thank me later for the side-splitting laughter it will ensue.

Hugs,

Thankful Complaints

I've realized our society as a whole

(me included) 

seem to have a looooot to complain about.

To often we're moaning and groaning 

about the missed parking spot at the mall,

or the slow check out line at the grocery store,

or a million and one other trivial things.

I'm just as guilty as the next person.

The second things don't go "my way"

I'm the first to get suuuuuper grumpy about it. 

And you know what I've realized,

it's just so pointless. 

On this annual day of thanks, 

we're forced to remind ourselves of all the blessings we have in our lives

and to give thanks for them.

However, giving thanks is something that should happen every single day.

Especially when we all have so much to be thankful for.

Sure sometimes things are disguised as frustrating annoyances,

but even those little things that drive us crazy

are still things we should be thankful for.

So instead of listing the obvious blessings that surround me

I'm choosing to look at the ugly things in my life

and find a way to be thankful for even them.

1.

I'm thankful for the massive amounts of dog hair that constantly cover my floor.

Sure, I hate the fact that as soon as I'm done sweeping,

a huge tumbleweed of black dog hair rolls past me.

But all the dog hair in my house means that my home is filled with sweet puppy love.

And I wouldn't trade one day of sweeping for my sweet Roxy girl.

2.

I'm thankful for cluttered man caves.

Mainly because they have doors that can be closed

and, just like that clutter is forgotten.

But really because they make my man so happy.

He loves his clutter.

And even though I think it's junk, it's special to him and 

I'm thankful he has that. 

3.

I'm thankful for my 5:50 AM wake up call.

(Yes, if you've been paying attention, it used to be 5:30. I've slacked off. Sue me.)

I still think waking up before Mr. Sun is all kinds of ridiculous,

but that wake up call means that I have a job.

A fairly decent one at that. 

I'm doing what I love,

and what I went to school for. 

That's two for two.

I'm able to provide for my family 

and I'd like to think I'm making some type of difference in the world.

I also get to work with some bomb.com ladies.

I think I've mentioned them once or twice?

4.

I'm thankful for grocery shopping.

As annoying as it is,

making a list,

searching for the items on said list,

maneuvering your cart through the teeny tiny aisles

crammed with screaming babies and slow poke shoppers,

being able to go grocery shopping is something I can do on my own,

physically and financially.

And in times like this, that's something to be thankful for.

5.

I'm thankful for my parents' divorce.

This was tricky one, and was actually pretty painful to type.

But hear me out,

I, in no way, approve of divorce.

I think it's cowardly and selfish

and shouldn't even be allowed.

However, if my parents hadn't gotten divorced

they would have never met their second spouses

and literally quadrupled the love and laughter in my life. 

Obviously, I still wish my parents were together. 

But I wouldn't trade our "Plan B" for anything.

I couldn't imagine my day-to-day life without my step-parents and step-siblings.

I'm thankful for Sam and Caroline and the new dynamic they've brought to our family,

especially around the holidays.

Christmas 2009 - we're a beautiful mess.

I know that I am blessed beyond belief. 

Definitely beyond what I deserve.

I could sit here for days and days

going on and on about the blessings in my life

and why I'm thankful for them.

But I'll save that for the dinner table rotation.

On this Thanksgiving, I hope you all find something to be thankful for.

And I hope that moment of thankfulness continues on throughout the days to come.

Despite the hardships and negatives that might seem so ever present,

I promise you, there is still something to thank God for.

Now, go eat your weight in turkey 

(or pork chops, since apparently that's what half of my first graders are eating this year)

watch a little football, 

get in a fight with a family member,

(it is the holidays after all)

take 3.5 naps on the couch,

whatever floats your boat.

Just be thankful!

Oh and make THIS!

I blogged about it (and my mini panic attack) yesterday.

It turned out sooooo tasty.

And it was suuuuuuper easy.

You won't be dissappointed.

P.S. Evaporated milk wasn't that tricky to find. Who knew?

Gobble-gobble,

The Lone Delightful Recipe

You've probably noticed by now,

that I am not much of a cook.

At all.

There's a huge part of me that wants to learn how to cook

real housewife food, from scratch

with the correct seasoning and spices.

I don't hate the kitchen.

In fact, small kitchen appliances and dishes 

are some of my most favoritest things.

I would love to have delicious food to prepare and serve on those dishes. 

I do, however, hate following recipes.

I literally get a small does of anxiety when I try new recipes.

First, there's buying all those ingredients.

The grocery store is stressful enough.

Having to find some strange new spice 

that comes in a quart size tub, when you only need a pinch

is frustrating, to say the least. 

And figuring out all those measurements. 

I've definitely been known to pull out trusty Mr. Gallon a time or two.

Then there's the inevitable mess that you're left to clean up afterwards.

And it's true when people say that food always tastes better

when you didn't have to cook it. 

Usually by the time I'm finished cooking, 

I'm not even hungry anymore. 

Anywho...with Thanksgiving quickly approaching

(like tomorrow) 

I've acquired a newfound braveness 

and am feeling quite apt to try a brand new recipe.

(Insert panic stricken face here)

Obviously, due to my lackluster culinary skills,

I am not expected to bring anything to the trillion and one Thanksgiving dinners Robbie and I will be attending this year

(oh yea, we get around on the holidays. More on that later.)

but, dare I say it, I think I'd like to try.

A few weeks ago, one of my teammates made the. most. delicious. pumpkin thing

for a baby shower at school.

I don't even like pumpkin

and I went back for seconds. 

As soon as I leave school today

(at noon by the way. thank God for half days.)

I will be heading to the grocery store to buy the ingredients 

to make Pumpkin Crunch Cake.

It's 50 shades of delicious.

At least it was when Jenna made it.

We'll see how it goes this afternoon.

Now, if I can just find evaporated milk without having a panic attack.

Hugs,

P.S. For a whole slew of other recipes that I'm too scared to try,

check out THIS board on Pinterest!

P.S.#2. That's kind of a lie....I've tried soooooome of those recipes. 

The ones that require very few ingredients

and brain cells!

If I Were A...

I had so much fun writing this post

in which I channeled my inner boy.

That I figured I'd keep it going.

(Plus, Jess at The Kentucky Priss did this a while ago.

And I'm all about stealing sharing great blog ideas!)

If I were a house...

I would be warm and cozy
and always filled with family, friends, love, and laughter.

Oh, and I would have this master bathroom.

If I were an animal...

Duh.
Though being an elephant in Africa would be pretty cool too.

If I were a drink...

I would be cool and refreshingly delicious,

chips and salsa would be my best friends,

and I would always be ready for a good time!

If I were a celebrity...

Girlfriend is smoking hot, 

has real, ginormous talent,

is wholesome,

and down to earth.

I'd probably have to rethink the whole vegan thing,

but other than that I'm good to go.

If I Were an Outfit...

via.

I'd be this in the winter.

via.

And this is the summer.

If I were a meal...

via.

I'd be breakfast...it is the most important meal of the day after all.

Mmmmm. 

On that note, I better get started on dinner!

Hugs,

Weekend Confessions

I know normally Confession Friday 

actually happens, you know, on a Friday.

But I've always felt like it might be better served on a Monday.

I feel like there might be more things that need to be confessed after a weekend

than a week.

But hey, that could just be me.

And every college student from here to Texas. 

So here we go....

{1} 

I confess that this happened.

Yep. That's me.

On the right.

Dressed as a vampire. 

I also confess....I kind of liked it.

Back story - 

Every year our local Partners in Education 

host a bowling event for the schools in our county.

Each school that chooses to participate

gets to come up with a theme,

team name, and costumes,

and is eligible to win all sorts of prizes throughout the event.

Each year, one school takes home the prize for Best Spirit.

Since I scored a maximum of 25 points bowling ten frames on Saturday,

Best Spirit is always the one we try to claim.

This year we (everyone but me) decided our theme would be Twilight

and we would dress up as vampires.

One of my teammates, also known as our honorary Bella.

In case you're new to these parts, 

I am not a big Twilight fan. 

At. All.

I don't get what all that hype is about. 

I think the Cullens are weird.

Kristin Stewart is THE worst actress to have ever graced the silver screen.

And vampires. Come on.

They're ranked right up there with zombies.

At the top of the list of most stupid fads around right now.

With that being said,

I agreed to channel my inner Alice Cullen

(because she can read the future 

and is a semi-cool vampire)

and take one for the team.

It definitely paid off,

because we won....again. :)

This was me and my assistant last year. 

We were the "Fruit Bowlers"

And as always, we had a BLAST.

I seriously, work with the best girls around.

And I didn't completely hate my vampire get-up.

(Though the teeth did almost gave me lock jaw.)

{2}

Speaking of vampires...

you know those 42 billion crazy people 

who went and saw Twilight this weekend.

I may or may not have been one of them.

I still stand by my anti-Twilight rant.

Kristin Stewart still sucks.

Vampires are still weird.

And I'm glad the saga is finally coming to an end.

Also, if you're above the age of 17,

you should not whoop and holler when 

Jacob takes his shirt off.

Yes, middle-aged woman in the row in front of me.

I am in fact talking about you.

But, since these are confessions...

the movie was well done

and I did somewhat enjoy myself.

Since I, obviously, have not read the books

I was pretty surprised throughout the whole thing.

But so was the entire theater,

so either the movie didn't follow the book at all

or all of the classy people in New Bern 

(ahem middle-aged squealer)

didn't read the book either.

I'm going with the latter. 

{3}

I confess that our Christmas decorations are no longer in the attic.

They are, however, still in boxes in the garage.

I am not, no way no how, decorating before Thanksgiving.

Which thankfully is Thursday because 

I am having an extremelyyyyy hard time resisting.

Robbie and I spent Sunday perusing the Christmas aisle at Target

daydreaming of all the wonderful decorations we'll get to put up in a few days.

I also pulled this out for a few hours.

It's Willow's Christmas bandana,

"Santa's Little Yelper".

Cute, right?

I got it at the end of last season on sale

and was so excited I let her prance around in it for a few hours.

We took our Christmas card picture too.

But that is it.

No more Christmas, I promise.

Not until Friday.

{4}

Taylor Swift has officially gotten on my nerves.

Don't get me wrong. 

I jumped on the Taylor bandwagon...at first,

back when she was still singing Teardrops on my Guitar and Tim McGraw.

And I did my fair share of rocking out to 

her iconic break-up songs

(Should Have Said No and Picture to Burn anyone?)

But ever since she straightened her hair

I've just had enough.

I mean...no one has been scorned by that many guys.

And if you have, I'm pretty sure the English language 

has quite the saucy name for ya, dear.

I'm tired of her taking over every. single. awards show. 

(And for still acting surprised and innocent with those doe eyes.)

I'm tired of her taking over every. single. magazine cover. 

You can't be featured on one magazine,

in a church girl, innocent cardigan sweater, 

and on another in a voluptuous purple dress.

Well, I guess you can.

But again, I'm pretty sure the English language 

has a name for that one too.

I confess...I did not buy Red,

and I've just had enough of this girl.

{5}

Lastly, I confess that I went to bed at 9:45 Saturday night.

Vampires, Christmas decorations, anti-Taylor Swift attitudes, and grandma status bedtime.

Lame. I know.

But whew. 

I feel so much better getting that off my chest. 

Now I'm off to enjoy my Monday,

which is really my Wednesday, 

which means enjoying it is actually a possibility.

Hugs,

I love ketchup, but I hate tomatoes.

I was folding laundry the other night,

something that I love-hate,

love - when it's still warm from the dryer,

hate - folding it, especially after it's sat in the basket for a while

When I got to thinking,

how many other things do I love-hate?

For example,

love - ketchup. Seriously, sometimes my meals are based around this one condiment.

hate - tomatoes. Can not stand them. On a sandwich, in a salad, blegh.

And maybe I'm just an odd-bird,

because I realized there are a lot of things I love-hate.

But what better place than my sweet little bloggy-blog

to proudly claim all my odd-bird tendencies.

So here goes,

love - hand washing dishes with hot, soapy water

hate - touching left over food residue on said dishes

also hate - sponges used to wash said dishes

love - the smell of a clean house

hate - cleaning the house

(this one probably isn't really that odd)

love - traveling new places

hate - driving in the car for more than thirty minutes. 

love - wearing gym clothes

hate - going to the gym

love - Christmas (obviously, I am not a Scrooge) and secretly pray for a white one every year.

hate - cold weather.

love - breakfast food.

hate - waking up early enough to go out to breakfast. 

Restaurants that serve breakfast all day are seriously the best places on Earth.

love - E! News

hate - that all they've been talking about for the past 39098324 days is Twilight. 

No body cares.

(Okay, really everybody cares. But I for one, just don't get it.)

love - high school football games

hate - high school kids at high school football games

love - the feeling of being ahead of the game.

hate - actually doing my work early enough to be ahead of the game.

love - that today is Thursday.

hate - that today is not Friday.

:)

Hugs,

Wedded Bliss Wednesday..with a twist

I'm not gonna lie.

This week's post made me a little queasy.

Don't get me wrong,

One of my life long goals is to be a mom.

And Robbie is going to be an ah-mazing dad.

But right now, it is the furthest thing from our mind.

And when we do think about it

or get asked about it 2390834097 billion times,

it scares the begeezus out of us. 

It's all I can do to get myself up and out of bed in the mornings.

If I actually had to be responsible for another human being...

whew. Let's just say, I wouldn't be winning any mother of the year awards.

At least not any human-mother of the year awards.

I may be a little biased, 

but I think I pretty much kick butt

at raising these two furbabies. 

Don't get me wrong,

it's definitely not an easy job.

The first night I spent alone with Willow, 

she cried, I cried, we all cried.

It felt like I was on an episode of Teen Mom forreal. 

But we prevailed.

And Robbie whipped that little nugget right into shape.

He really is the best dog-trainer around. 

I'm hoping some of it carries over to child training raising.

Anywho....long story, short

(or long story long, cause I tend to ramble, whatevs)

I'm answering this week's questions based on Robbie as a puppy daddy. 

Which, yes, I realize is not even comparable to being a baby daddy,

but unless you want to wait around for another 5 years

puppy dad is all you get right now.

{1}

What is your husband's best trait as a puppy father?

He plays with them 

and taught them every trick they know

(including how to tinkle outside).

Also, he stands in the aisle of Target for 25 minutes (literally)

reading the ingredients of different dog food brands

to make sure we don't buy them dog food with too much corn in it.

Cause apparently that's no good.

{2}

What is your husband's favorite thing to do with the kids pups?

Run through the house with them like a crazy person.

Especially right around 9:30

when I'm trying to go to bed. 

{3}

How does your husband help out with the kids pups?

We pretty much split responsibilities down the middle. 

I wake up first in the mornings,

so I'm usually the one to let them out and feed them breakfast.

He's in charge of getting their food

(see above)

and he uses his big, strapping muscles to carry that big bag.

Also, he's in charge of anything gross.

Like giving Roxy ear drops for her ear infections

or cleaning out Willow's gums when food gets stuck in her snout.

And bath time, he's in charge of baths.

{4}

What do you hope your children puppies learn from their dad?

They've already learned how to listen

and stay in the yard. 

He taught them all of that.

Honestly, all I want is for my puppies to feel love,

show love,

and be well-behaved for others.

And while I've got the lovin part under control,

it's definitely dad that teaches them good, respectful manners

and how to treat others. 

(That's a lesson I want my real human children to learn from him too.)

One day, in the far, far future,

I'm sure I'll use this sweet bloggy blog

to gush about the fabulous dad Robbie is.

Until then, 

he'll stick to the puppy-dad,

hunk-a-burnin husband gig. 

Hugs,

It's (almost) Thanksgiving, You Know

 Charlie Brown: We've got another holiday to worry about. 

It seems Thanksgiving Day is upon us.
 Sally: I haven't even finished eating all of my Halloween candy. 

{Sidenote: If you don't celebrate every holiday 

with Charlie Brown,

we quite possibly can no longer be friends.

And I might have to accuse you of being un-American.}

Lately, I've been feeling a little bit like Sally.

How can it already be November?

How can we already be getting our cranberry and stuffing recipes ready?

How can it already be 44 degrees outside?

(Especially since I live in Eastern North Carolina)

Nevertheless, I am excited about the upcoming holiday.

And in case you're confused,

the upcoming holiday is Thanksgiving.

Sally: I know what you mean. I went down to buy a turkey tree and all they have are things for Christmas. 

Charlie Brown: For Christmas? Already? 

Thank you Nordstrom, 

for agreeing with me and sweet Sally Brown.

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas as much as the next person.

And I've already mentally decorated my entire house.

But this time of year speeds past us as it is.

We need to do everything we can to slow it down

and enjoy every moment.

Come on people,

give Thanksgiving the respect it deserves. 

And yes, I'm talking to you

eager beavers with your Christmas trees already up and decorated.

There's nothing wrong with being prepared,

start your Christmas shopping,

go ahead and make those cute Pinterest crafts you've been pinning since August.

But step away from the garland.

Go out and find that turkey tree if you need to.

This month, it's all about turkeys, mashed potatoes, football, and stretchy pants.

Oh and being thankful.

Although that last one, really should be celebrated every month.

Stretchy pants can be celebrated every month too. 

I'd be okay with that. 

Tune in later this week to hear all about the little things I'm thankful for.

Some of them might surprise you! ;)

Hugs,