Celebrating Mardi Gras

Yesterday at about 2pm, a nice FedEx man rang my doorbell.  Lace and I aren't used to people dropping by unannounced so yes, I can't believe I'm admitting this to blogland, but I was just getting out of the shower.  We had Downline early yesterday morning, and I had simply come in from that at 8am and started working.  I'd had clothes on and not my PJs all day, but for some reason, I felt the need to wait until 2pm to take a shower. Shame on me.  So since I didn't know who was there, I quickly threw my PJs on, as they were in the dirty clothes, and I peaked out the window.  When I saw the FedEx man standing with that oh so perfect box decorated with Mardi Gras beads {Gambinos sends King Cakes in Mardi Gras FedEx boxes}, I jumped up and RAN to throw clothes on. I had this horrible thought that he would put it back on the truck and, heaven forbid, LEAVE.  That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake.

Next step was to rip open the box.  Gambinos usually sends Mardi Gras beads so I was going to put them on Lacey and send a picture to my Dad.  My Dad is a wonderful Dad.  When I was a little kid, my Dad used to dress up  us both up and have Mardi Gras parades.  I've never actually BEEN to Mardi Gras, but you can tell from this picture that I've celebrated Mardi Gras every year since I was little.

 

Anyway, so Gambinos did not send Mardi Gras beads this year {which is fine}, but they sent a sign that said Happy Mardi Gras. So Lacey posed with it. You can also see the FedEx Mardi Gras box and King Cake in the background.  I didn't have my real camera inside so I took this with my cell phone. That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake.

 

I sent that picture to my Dad {and Mom} and said "Lacey says Happy Mardi Gras and that she can't wait to try her first King Cake. She is after all French-Canadian!"  My Dad's response back was priceless:

"Yay. Glad it got there. Now you have to take that mean stuff about me off your blog. Happy Madi Gras and tell Lace I said to let the good times roll!"

So this is me, officially taking it all back.  That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake.  I have the best Dad in the world, and I may be married, but not cut off from King Cakes.  David enjoyed his first piece of REAL DEAL King Cake last night, and while he liked it, I'm not sure it held the same meaning to him as it does to me. It's a lifetime of memories with my Dad {and Mom too, just more Dad...sorry Mom}, and when I eat it, I'm back to my childhood.  I text David yesterday and said, "King Cake for lunch, dinner, dessert, and breakfast! Woo Hoo!"  This morning I ate breakfast in my sleepy stupor and went back to put my bowl up, saw the King Cake, and thought, what the heck?  You only get to enjoy it once a year!

So last night, we ate Red Beans and Rice, French Bread, and....King Cake.  And I have a nice, unopened tube of cinnamon rolls in my refrigerator.  That's what I get for not expecting my Dad to send me my very own, real deal, Gambinos bakery King Cake. 

Thanks to the World's Best Dad! I love you!

Mardi Gras

It's that time of year again!  Mardi Gras of course!  It's tomorrow, March 8th.  And with that comes one of my favorite things--King Cakes!

For those of you who have never heard of King Cakes or don't know the history, I did my homework. This comes from Mardi Gras New Orleans: 

"As part of our Christian faith, the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. We refer to this as the Feast of the Epiphany or Little Christmas on the Twelfth Night. This is a time of celebration, exchanging gifts and feasting. Today, the tradition continues as people all over the world gather for festive Twelfth Night celebrations. A popular custom was and still is the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings called "A King's Cake."

Inside every cake is a tiny baby (generally plastic now, but sometimes this baby might be made of porcelain or even gold). The tradition of having King Cake Parties has evolved through time, and the person who receives the slice of cake with the baby is asked to continue the festivities by hosting the next King Cake party.

Originally, King Cakes were a simple ring of dough with a small amount of decoration. Today's King Cakes are much more festive. After the rich Danish dough is braided and baked, the "baby" is inserted. The top of the ring or oval cake is then covered with delicious sugar toppings in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold.

In more recent years, some bakeries have been creative with stuffing and topping their cakes with different flavors of cream cheese and fruit fillings.

January 6, the Twelfth Night after Christmas, is also the day our Mardi Gras season begins. Mardi Gras Day is always 47 days prior to Easter Sunday (Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday)."

Back in the day, my father would mail me a King Cake from the best bakery in New Orleans, but considering last year he cut me off and only sent my brother one {cruel}, I had to do something to suffice.   Many of you reading used to come partake in my room.  The FedEx box would come with its purple, green, and gold beads on the box, I'd rip it open, we'd ice it in the middle of our dorm/XO house floor, and dive in.  Thanks for the memories Dad.  Getting engaged = cut off.

If you're like me and live no where close to New Orleans, you don't get good King Cakes. And honestly, the thought of spending $7 on one from the grocery store disgusts me.  1. Because they are overpriced for a nasty product.  2. Because they don't taste like the real deal.  So, in effort to make a cheaper version {thank you coupons} and moist version close to the real deal, my mom gave me this recipe last year.  All you need is food coloring, sugar, cinnamon rolls, and the icing that comes with it.

Directions: Buy a package of packaged cinnamon rolls--you know the kind in a can?  Note that you need to buy the kind that you can unroll and not the kind that come as single rolls.  Take an individual roll, unroll it, fold it in half and twist to create a braided look.  Lay in bundt pan.  Use three to form the outer ring and two to form the inner ring.  Cook on 375 for about 20 minutes {350 and less if you have a gas oven like me that tends to burn things if left in for the specified time}.

I forgot to take a picture of the product un-iced so this is last years king cake.

While the cake is cooking, you need to prepare your sugar.  Use 1/2 cup sugar for every 1/2 teaspoon food coloring.  I usually decrease this to 1/4 of each.  You'll have plenty left over.  Whisk in a bowl until color is dispersed then store in plastic bags. You don't think this is going to work, but I promise it does.

Cool, ice {with the icing that came with the cinnamon rolls--I usually buy cream cheese icing cinnamon rolls}, sprinkle, and serve!

The final product {make sure that you have a super cute cake stand to display on}:

Mmmmm! Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

I Have an Addiction...

I have an addiction, and it's called art supplies.  Yes, I know you think I'm exaggerating, but I swear to you I'm not!

You see, I've never had a place for my art supplies to call home. They've always been stashed in the closet at the Chi O house, a downstairs closet, or the bottom of the pantry.  They have been crammed together and it was only recently, when we moved, that they were able to claim an entire closet of their own.  Until recently, I've just been buying, collecting, accumulating supplies for projects I thought up.  Well...

After simply cramming my supplies in said closet at our home in Memphis, I decided it was high time that I organize my stash.  So I found a blog that suggested buying a clear over the door shoe organizer from Target for $7.  So I did, and I got to work. I also invested in a new 12 x 12 paper holder (I already had two).  

I really do wish I had taken a before picture, but I didn't.  Trust me when I say it was overwhelming!  The results can be seen below!

In case you can't tell, let me break something down for you.  I discovered two things about myself and craft supplies:

1. I'm an impulse buyer.  If it's cute or I think I might use it, I buy it.
2. If I plan a project, rather than go to my supplies and see what I have, I just buy everything I need.  The results are insane.

I did not count the sheets of 12x12 scrapbook paper I own.  However, you can fit a lot in those drawers.  1 drawer is stuff from the wedding {programs, invites, guest pages}, 1 is stickers, 1 is scrap paper.  So I have 6 drawers full of paper.  Nice.

Below details a list of what is organized in our shoe organizer in my craft room.

• 26 Rolls of Ribbon
• A bag full of left over ribbon
• 2 Bottles Rubber Cement
• 49 Paint Brushes
• 9 Foam Brushes
• 1 bottle glossy Modge Podge
• 1 bottle matte Modge Podge
• 1 fabric glue
• 1 elmers glue
• 1 wood glue
• 26 Paint Pens
• 22 Markers
• 8 Glitter Glue Pens 
• 3 hot glue guns {yes, three--I can pick from blue, white, or pink}
• 2 packs of glue sticks
• 2 packs of Stitch Witch
• 16 magnets 
• A bunch of clear glass beads that most people use for filling vases
• Enough cello bags to last till the end of my life
• 5 sandpaper blocks
• 4 4x6 clear magnetic picture frames
• 4 rubber stamps and 2 stamp pads

And this does not include the 2 BIG boxes that are full of bottles of acrylic paint. My guess would be around 60 bottles are in the top of the closet.  This is ridiculous.

Is there a rehab for a craft supplies addiction?  If so, someone sign me up.  My husband would be grateful!

Home Sweet Home

I promised to give an update of our Saturday in yesterday's post.  So here goes.  But trust me, you want to keep reading as I've finally fulfilled my promise of posting photos of our home! {eek!}

I had a morning session to go to with Downline {the ministry organization David and I have been doing here}. They were offering a session on biblical counseling.  Since I've had two youth girls in the past three weeks come to me with issues of friends and suicide, I decided I needed to go.  How on earth do you respond to that?  Maybe too heavy of a note to start our blog post off with, but it's the truth.  So I spent my Saturday morning learning how to counsel better.  It was SUCH a great morning.  I learned a lot.

David spent his morning raising money for the Junior Achievement organization by bowling with the International Paper team.  He didn't win, but I'm pretty sure he had fun.  He won a box of Rice Krispies?  Random.  Guess we'll be making Rice Krispie treats soon.

We spent that afternoon getting ready for David's parents and Grandmother to visit for dinner.  David helped by grilling the chicken and planning the entire menu.  It was so good! I wish I had remembered to take pictures.  We watched the basketball game and listened to Jack Cristill announce his last game.  Such a sad day.  If you're not an MSU fan, I'm sorry for this tangent, but Jack Cristill is a legend.  I've never heard a football or basketball game announced by anyone else on the radio.  And before you say, "24 years isn't that long," my mother {who shall remain ageless} has NEVER heard a game he didn't call either.  That is insane and wonderful all at the same time!  I would really like a Top Ten Jack Cristill quotes t-shirt. Someone get to work on that please!  It was so great to hear Jack say "Wrap it in maroon and white again."  I've heard those words my whole life.  In fact, I painted a piece of pottery for it this fall and blogged about it.  And you know if there was a game on and we invited people over that means we had to make Captain Rodney's.

One of my friends informed me that if I was going to have my in-laws over, that meant I was ready to put pictures of our house on the blog.  So, since I knew she was right...  I mean, let's face it.  I love my in-laws, but the cleanest my house is EVER going to be is when my in-laws come over.  And in second place is when my parents come.  So, I grabbed my camera about 10 minutes before they arrived and shot some photos.  I'll try to do a play by play of where you are in our humble abode.  Please know that it is not like I want it as I'm sure you'll be able to tell by the comments.  And it's too hard of a process to get these photos in order, so bear with me. 


When you walk into our house, you see the living room.  If you continue to the left, you'll see a hallway leading to three bedrooms and a bathroom.  Here is ours.

Walking into our bedroom

Our bed with the infamous decorative pillows that David SO loves.

Our dresser and mirror which was a pain to hang. Please pardon the fact that ALL of the pictures in our room are wedding/engagement pictures.  I had engagement pictures framed for our reception. They were packed and upacked that way, and I don't have time to frame other ones. At least that's what I tell myself.

This is a photo of one of the lamps I redid. Also, I have the best hubby who lets me decorate with owls on his nightstand.  And of course engagement pics from the wedding. And also my Gaudi cross that my brother brought back to me from Europe this summer.

The next bedroom is our guest bedroom that I can't WAIT to get my hands on to redo!  It simply has a bed in it.  Hoping to get my desk from home to put over to the side. I'm so proud to say it's not a junk room anymore!  This is my bedding from college.  It was on clearance from Target for $19.99 and came with a ton of stuff.  It looks way prettier than this picture, but I'm sick of it. And when you spend $19.99 on it, you can afford to redo it whenever you want.  Can't wait to show y'all what I'm thinking!

Our one and only bathroom.  It's not as bad as I thought it would be as we get ready at completely different times.  I can't wait to paint it brown, but sadly, it hasn't been a priority. I. Hate. Butter. Yellow. Bathrooms.  Plus my shower curtain doesn't match and that drives me insane!

This is our dining room. It usually is only set for four, but since we had five for dinner, the office chair is set at the table also.

My favorite piece of furniture!  Our buffet!  Ready for company to come eat.

Standing in the dining room looking back at the living room.  Please ignore the picture that is not centered.  It will be soon. We simply have not crossed it off our honey-do list.  And our couch always blends into the carpet in photos. It doesn't really do that in person so much as here. Please pardon my puppy dog who feels we need to photograph her.

TV with MSU game on. Please pardon my husband's phone and keys on the bookcase. They are supposed to be in the key spot by the door. But they are rarely there unless I put them there for him.

Our front door. Note the key spot below. How convenient that is!

I can't believe I'm posting this photo before I give it a post of it's own.  It's coming Mrs. Patti! I promise!  Our sitting area for company and putting on shoes.

And now we move into the office.  This is the space we threw together with what we had.

What you see when you walk into the office.  You can see the door to the left that connects to the kitchen. It's blocked so you can't walk through, but still great for passing things through to the other side of the house. As you can tell, this is our MSU room. All things MSU.

On top of the desk.  Please excuse the 5x7 picture in the 4x6 picture slot. It was the only picture I had printed out. Plan to replace with a Gator Bowl picture.

The monstrous bookcase. For the record, this bookcase came from the Union when they were moving out all of the furniture to redo it. David helped move furniture and they "gave" him this in return.  I'm pretty sure they were trashing it and he salvaged it.  I'd love to repaint it, but not right now. Currently it sits opposite the chairs and has a TV on it that we've yet to hook up.  Our entire 8+ months of marriage and we've only had one TV in our home. EVER. David says this shall change before March Madness! Guess he doesn't want to watch the Food Network with me! 

And now to the opposite side of our house!  This is the back door (to the right) and the dryer (obviously). Kind of the utility room but it connects to the kitchen so it has to stay clean...most of the time. The bookcase to the left is full of my cookbooks and the aprons are hung right above it!

You may recognize this from this post.  And of course, my two FAVORITE loves can be found on top.  My mixer that my parents gave me for Christmas two years ago and my coffee pot that grinds.  We thought my mixer had gotten lost in the move. I cried for thirty minutes before I found it.  Seriously.

This is Lacey who followed me around the house for 10 minutes snapping photos. Then she gave up and looked at me like...are we done yet?  I walked into the living room to find this!

Back to the kitchen.  My owl I painted. My friend Bethany painted one too.  Her's name is Chi and mine's name is Omega. They hope to be reunited one day soon.

Other side of the sink.  Love my Good Earth Pottery. But especially love that it was made in Starkville, MS. While my pattern is not this one, I loved the colors for my red and brown kitchen that was not supposed to include yellow walls.  Still haven't painted it brown.

You may remember this from this post.  Pardon the pot on the stove. I was cooking for my in-laws remember?

And finally, standing in the dining room and looking back to the utility room.

Hope you enjoyed the house tour.  I need to remember to take an outside photo for you.  Hopefully now that I've finally posted these photos, you won't quit reading the blog. It was all I had to hook you into reading!  I hope that you're hooked on reading and won't quit just because you know what our home looks like! I promise to write lots of posts with new craft ideas and lots of fun stories about the Adventures of the Adams. Hope y'all have a great day! Let me know what you think about our Memphis home!

P-Dub and the Marlboro Man

Well, I feel exceptionally behind on our blog.  Not that it's been a long time since I updated.  Simply because we had so many things going on this weekend, and it really doesn't seem like I should lump it all together.  So, I think I'm going to break it up a bit!  This post will have to cover my Friday night!

Thanks to my good friend Jenny, I found out last week that the Pioneer Woman was coming to Davis-Kidd Books in Memphis on Friday night to sign her new book Black Heels to Tractor Wheels which I'd heard about and planned on purchasing, but hadn't yet.  Not knowing anyone in Memphis who wanted to go or anything about it, I decided to go alone since the Book store is literally five minutes from my house. Maybe ten if you get stuck trying to cross Poplar.  For the record, my hubby did offer to go with me, but he needed to spend his Friday night "seasoning" our "new" cast iron grill so that we could grill out for his parent's Saturday night (more on that in another post).  And by "seasoning," I mean letting it roast for four hours.  And by "new," I mean his Christmas present from 2009 that was put together in our living room on Tuesday night of last week.  

Anyway, off I went to Davis-Kidd to grab a copy of my new best friend's P-Dub's book.  I assumed there would be a line, I'd jump in and be home by 8pm at the latest!  Just in time to help David finish off the grill.  Much to my surprise, no one was in line.  People were walking around the store everywhere, chatting, taking pictures, and holding copies of her cookbook and book.  I'm the kind of person that likes to survey the situation before rushing into something that will make me look foolish. I guess you could say, I'm overly cautious in new situations.  I searched all over the store to buy a book.  I could find NONE.  There were plenty of cookbooks, but no books to be found.  For a split second, I considered calling David and saying, "quick, run to another book store, buy me a book, and bring it here!"  But upon walking back to the front, I saw a table with about 10 books sitting on it.  TEN!  It was 6:03pm at this point and they were down to ten!  I grabbed one, bought it, and asked how this thing worked!  He gave me a "wow...where have you been look," and told me that there was a line ticket stuck in the book.  Great I thought as I walked back towards the center of the bookstore.  I pulled it out to see the letter.......Q.  As in Quilt. As in Question...do I really have to wait this long?  Maybe they were starting with the letter P for Pioneer Woman.  Or M for her hunky hubby Marlboro Man (more on that later).  SURELY, by the letter Q, they didn't mean we'd be starting with the letter A. There weren't THAT many people here!  

As I walked towards the middle of the bookstore, I spotted a cowboy hat.  That cowboy hat was a man dressed in a denim shirt, wranglers, and boots.  And of course, none other than Marlboro Man.  For you non-reading Pioneer Woman people, that would be her hubby and the reason she left her big town, city dreams to pursue a life on the ranch with horses and cattle.  He was covered up with crazed excited fans wanting photos and autographs.  I thought to myself, "I'll just wait till his line dies down and go meet him," and "I'm sure he thinks we're all whack jobs anyway for coming out here to meet his rancher wife."  And finally "bless his heart for coming all this way to be mobbed by married women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and yes, even 60s."  There were grandmothers getting their picture taken with him.  Pardon me, but I felt a little cheesy waiting in line for another woman's husband. So I didn't.

I went to the front where Pioneer Woman was signing books for her loyal, and plentiful, followers of Memphis.  A nice lady who worked for Davis-Kidd was collecting the three books they had on display on the table she was signing from.  Five minutes later, and I wouldn't have had a chance to purchase the book!  Thank goodness my house was only five minutes away.  I stood there as it took 45 minutes to get through the letter A.  Yup, crazy as it may sound, they had started with the first letter of the alphabet!  I thought, hm...I can stand here and watch and make my back hurt worse than it already does---I'd been prepping for 4 hours that day to get ready for my inlaws coming to dinner.  Okay...maybe not four hours, but it involved an hour and a half grocery store run {you know me..I can't get out any faster!} and making a pie, sauce for the chicken we were making, and cleaning my house.  So yes, 4 hours.  So back to my thinking.  Stand here and make my back hurt or go find a corner to sit in.  I walked towards the history books and found an unused bench.  I thought, well, since I've already bought the book and plan on reading it, I might as well start now.  

So I began to read into Pioneer Woman's world.  Her first dates with the Marlboro Man, whom I'd just seen at a distance moments before.  I read chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3.  All of a sudden, I looked up, and I was on chapter 8.  Crazy.  I looked up to hear them call letter D.  Then I sent David a text and told him he could join me after the 4 hours of roasting the grill and making it "seasoned."  In the meantime, a husband and wife had joined me in my hidden world of the history books.  She saw me look up and asked what letter I was.  She was K.  It was like a battle to see who would get to go first, and I'd just been defeated.  


Now, at this point, I just want to say...you who know me know that I could talk to a brick wall.  True.  But for the next two hours, I started talking to this woman and her husband piecing together every possible way that we could know each other, and talking about the wonderful ways God has been at work in our lives and marriages.  For a girl who sure needs new friends in this town, it was wonderful to meet such a fun new friend.   I'm not going to put up her name or any of the ways we figured out connections, but I know at least one of my readers knows her.  I'm sure she probably wouldn't appreciate us putting her name up, but I just wanted to show you a picture of a girl who could hang with me on talking!  It definitely made the wait worthwhile, and honestly, gave me reassurance that God had a plan for putting me at letter Q!

 My new friend and I in the history section

They called my new friend's letter, and I was back to reading alone.  I picked up my phone and called one of the people we had spent an hour talking about and caught up with her.  When I hung up the phone, I popped out of my secluded corner to see what letter they were on.  My luck, they'd have made it through the letters and be on 13 by now.  However, my new friend did share with me that they had been giving out line tickets for 2 weeks now.  Explains my 6:00pm letter Q.

I walked around the corner and saw my friend and her husband talking to none other than Marlboro Man.  The one and only. So I went over to where they were and met the man himself.  For the record, his voice is just like PW describes it in her book.  He was so nice and down to earth.  I mean think about it.  He's just a rancher man who happens to be famous in the lives of millions of women worldwide.  But you'd never know it.  We spent about 30 minutes with him telling us about cows.  Yup, cows.  I learned about protein cubes and grass losing it's nutrients in the winter.  He talked about Cowboy Josh like he was a person and not just some figurative character PW had made up on her blog.  He talked about how laid back it was for his kids to grow up on the ranch and how everything his wife put on the internet was all true.  We told him to go eat ribs at the Rendezvous since they were staying downtown.  Even if it was midnight before they could get there!  Then I asked him to sign my book and take a picture with me.  He was so nice and it definitely gave me perspective in reading her book since it's mostly all about him!

Yes, Marlboro Man is drinking beer in a bookstore.  A strangely familiar guy in an MSU shirt walked by and MM said, "hey man, thanks for the beer."  Haha.  Priceless.  I never did figure out who it was, but I was glad he had worn his maroon for maroon Friday as I had not.

FINALLY, they called letter Q.  FINALLY.  And right after they did, they said, actually if you have any other letter, go ahead and line up!  SERIOUSLY?  It was 10pm.  Not kidding.

This is my photo with Ree (that's her real name).  She was so nice and down to earth, and I'm glad I stayed to meet her.  No offense P-dub, but I could care less about the autograph.  I just wanted the chance to ACTUALLY meet you, and I got so much more than that out of my evening at Davis-Kidd books.

I arrived home at about 10:15pm to my handsome hubby in the driveway still working with the grill.  I helped him clean up {some}, and we came inside and set in our {finally} organized office.  This is how our Friday evening ended. 

You know you think she's precious!

Looking at me like, "seriously mom?"

 And that ends my eventful evening with the Pioneer Woman and Marlboro Man.


*Somehow, by the end of this weekend, I'd managed to make it through 2 parts of her 3 part book already, and I've barely had time to sit and read.  I would recommend this book to anyone!

Put Me In Coach

All is right in the world...Baseball season has begun, and we enjoyed a FABULOUS weekend for it! Even if the games only last 2 hours. I'm sure many of you are happy. I, however, am not.  I would like nothing more than to spend all day at Dudy Noble.  It's my favorite thing at MSU and always will be.  We're not going to talk about this anymore.  It just makes me mad. Very mad.

 I'm so ready for us to be able to break out the swimsuits and get a tan! I only wish we were still housesitting for a house with a pool.  Pool, dark tanning oil, a good book, a diet coke, and my friend Zax the cat.  Great memories of some wonderful summer days!  This picture is from our honeymoon last year.  Can you believe we've been married for 8 months?  Crazy, we know!  It's time to pick someone to honeymoon this year.  Ideas anyone?  I don't think we'll be able to afford St. Lucia again!  Though it was great fun!


Speaking of good book...  I know y'all have heard me talk about Pioneer Woman. Well, she has a new book out.  It's all about her relationship with her husband whom she titles Marlboro Man.  The book is called Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, and I have been anticipating its arrival for awhile now. Well thanks to a good Loving friend, I found out P-Dub is coming to...Memphis!  If ever I hated living in Memphis, today is NOT the day!  More specifically, FRIDAY will not be the day!  February 25, 2011, P-Dub is coming to Memphis.  And not only to Memphis, but about five minutes from my house!  I'm. So. Excited.  I'm going to bring my copy of her cookbook and get her to sign it too.  I cannot wait!  Check out where she is traveling in case it's near you!


Lacey and I spent the weekend in Starkville this past weekend.  My mom had all of her college friends come stay at the house.  They were so much fun and so much like my mom.  It reminded me so much of these girls.

Soon we'll have our reunion as well!  I did get to hang out with Brittany all Saturday in Starkville.  We had so much fun shopping around town.  Y'all will be excited to know that I bought Lacey the cutest outfit.  I've been looking for her a "Maroon Friday" outfit as we all know she is a Bulldog fan at heart {even if she is from Canada}. Well, Brittany and I found it!

Our little cheerleader is so cute I know! Someone tell David because he's in denial about it.  Actually, he's upset that our dog has clothes.  I must admit, I'm pretty sure this will be her only one.  She may get a Halloween or Christmas outfit, but you can bet she'll have this outfit on every game day.  Thank goodness there are a TON of baseball games! :)


I'm also happy to report, the hairy, ginormous, one winged cockroach from the last post was found dying in the bathroom this morning.  I took great pleasure spraying roach spray on him to execute him, and shivered when I sucked him up in my shopvac.  At least he's dead!

Disappearing Act

Things disappear from my house. They just simply go POOF!  And they are gone.  

This specifically is a problem with the laundry and pantry!  {currently I'm afraid to do laundry because I attempted yesterday and the biggest, fattest, hairiest roach crawled out.  I screamed, jumped over Lacey, and ran for the roach spray. When I came back, he was mysteriously gone.  He left a wing for me.  So what did I do?  Shut the door and waited for the hubby to get home.  The second he walked in the door, I made him shake out every article of clothing to find my pesky friend.  I. Hate. Bugs.  Lesson learned=keep roach spray  in bathroom.  But this is not the point of this post}

Back to the disappearing act going on in my house.

Every time I wash clothes, there are about 10 pairs of socks unmatched.  EVERY TIME!  They sit on top of the washing machine until the next load of laundry is run, and then some get matched.  Some get left until the next time in hopes that they will turn up.  But not only do socks disappear, I've yet to find tights, running shorts, and tshirts.  And I'm the sole person in charge of laundry! 


Within the past week, I have looked for leftover pasta, yogurt, plain potato chips, crescent rolls and cheese {among other things}.  Every time I do, I think..where did that go? I had a whole thing last time I looked!  I've even been in the process of cooking dinner only to realize, we don't have ANY of what I'm looking for.  Take eggs for instance.  Every morning there seems to be a new empty cereal box on my counter.  Poof!  Strangely, I don't remember having this problem when I lived by myself or when my roommates were girls. Hmm.


And my husband just hollered from the kitchen, "Babe, do we have a secret mozzarella cheese stash or are we out?"  To which I responded...POOF!  {not really. I gave him a nonchalant "nope"}  Now he's eating leftover bar-b-q instead.  Poof I'm watching it go!


POOF goes everything in our house.  That is everything except the coffee.  It's good to know somethings are safe in our pantry!  Thank goodness. I'm not a nice person without coffee.

I think it's safe to say, yours truly needs to go to the grocery store.