Wednesday Ramble

This week's ramble is about my ornery grandpa Elrod.

From telling me my hair was purple to green he always had something to say and with a smile. One story that all of us grandkids have grown to know, is the wampus cat in the barn. For years I was scared to go play on the hay bales by myself so the wampus cat wouldn't get me. I'm proud to say that it comes in great gratitude to pass on his ornery sayings by habit/nature.

It's been 3 1/2 years since his passing. It was very sad to see him go, but at the same time it was also the first time I could actually say about someone that he was going to a better place. I always hated that saying and with grandpa's death it made more sense. His life just wasn't complete anymore after grandma's passing in 2003 and the loss of dear friends. R.I.P. Grandpa Andy, we love you very much!

Fads of the 90's

1990 - Spandex Shorts.
√ Check, that was the majority of my wardrobe.

1991 - Rolled pant legs.
√ Now looking back this was a very dumb fashion trend, unfortunately at the time I loved it and always wore my jeans rolled up.

1992 - Fingerboards on a keychain.
√ Mine was a peace sign shoe that I carried everywhere with me!

1993 - Beanie Babies.
√ Owned several and loved the mini's that McDonalds came out with.

1994 - Koosh balls.
√ I loved them and went through several since they got dirty and tore up very easily.

1995 - Pogs, Power rangers, Pokemon...
√ I had several pogs and loved collecting and trading them. As for Pokemon and Power Rangers, wasn't a fan.

1996 - Tickle-Me Elmo.
By this time I was 11 so this was out of my age range to play with.

1997 - Dancing Baby. (it was originally known as "Baby Cha Cha")
√ Haha, yes I am quilty of watching this over and over. Completely forgot about the dancing baby.

1998 - Tamagotchis (Giga Pets).
√ Owned a green frog. Come to think of it what fun was it? Had to feed it, play with it etc... I remember sneaking it into my pocket at school so I could feed my frog during recess or bathroom breaks.

1999 - Aloha shirts.
Wasn't into them and still don't like them.

Free Stuff

Got to love free stuff! I was in need of a watch and love this one with satin black material for the band along with a red case which would work great for my glasses.

If you come to the Lipstick event this Thursday you will receive both these items for free!

Weekend Recap

Saturday Mike and I headed to Doug & Beth Kleffner's wedding. The wedding was at her mom's house which is located about 5 minutes from my house. They had the most gorgeous view for their wedding, perfect setting for a perfect couple. I, along with everyone else was very shocked that at 75 degrees we were about to burn up in the sun. Her brother sang a song before walking her down the aisle, he did a great job. I was a little sad I had to miss our annual molasses making and family reunion but at least there is always Iron Works to look forward to this year in just a couple weeks!


We picked up my friend, Malinda before heading to the reception in Brinktown. She was my life saver, I was hoping and figured she may have had baby wipes at her house for her nephew Tyler. I was right, she came to my rescue! After sweating like crazy at the wedding, I was a little self conscious my arm pits would stink. :) I had the honor to serve food to the wedding party and helped with cutting the cakes. Which I have to say was the best piece of cake I've ever tasted!! Ended the evening dancing and catching up with friends.

Sunday Mike and I met his uncle Junior, a friend Dale, his wife and daughter to eat at the Visitation Fall supper. Came home and took a nap while Mike watched the race. Woke up feeling refreshed so I got a lot of cleaning done and even started packing some of my stuff for when we move in a couple of months. I was so relieved I bought several plastic bins/tubs a few years ago. Makes it much easier storing items and not having to worry so much about moisture getting in and ruining most of your belongings. Ended the evening watch the season premiere of Desperate Housewives.

Birthday Pictures

A few days late, but here is some pictures from Sunday of grandma Feeler and I's birthday dinner.

Birthday girls, grandma and I.
Standing in line waiting while my aunt Judy says the prayer. Me, grandma, Judy, my very TALL cousin Cody Elrod and Zachariah.
Getting ready to blow the candles out on my cake. White cake with strawberry icing.... yummy!
My brother Chad and I. I called him Ray Charles with his dark glasses since I'm such a nice sister! ;)

First Day of Fall

This is my favorite time of the year with the cooler weather, leaves turning it's color, molasses, church's fall supper and best of all our new house! Seems like Fall always goes by so quickly, especially with the way this year has flown by. Hopefully that won't be the case this go around!

Have a great first day of Fall y'all!

Wednesday Ramble

Since my birthday was a few days ago.. I'm going to ramble on about some random things I used to say or do as a little girl.

- I used to say floters for folders.

- Goldilocks pooped on the curtains. As mentioned in my previous post about keeping grandma and grandpa Feeler up too late, this was the story I would be telling. I still remember to this day how I was losing their interest in the story and they were falling asleep. So I ended it with the first thing that popped in my head, Goldilocks pooped on the curtain as she was running out of the 3 bears house.

- Jars of food was my snack of choice, or as most of you know better as baby food. Even at the age of 4 I still loved eating it. Of course I knew they were for babies so I would make sure mom didn't tell my daddy. Heavens no could he ever find out about his little girl eating baby food. Little did I know at the time, he always knew from the start.

- When we went through mud puddles in the car I would start singing, splish, splash I’m taken a bath.... boom boom boom.

- I decided to be anorexic when I was four after watching a segment on Oprah. Did I do this? No! Are you kidding me... I love food!

- I cried when I got in the car to turn the heater(meaning the AC) on because I was sweating and wanted my mommy to make it stop. I would always want it on hot/cold just like the bath tub! ;)

- When asked how many eggs I wanted for breakfast I would always say 12 20 40, not realizing the large amount I just said. Probably thought I was meaning just 2.

And the list could go on and on...
Happy Wednesday! Half way through the work week!

Birthday Weekend Recap

Friday I met Mike at the bowling alley where we watched his team bowl. Later we headed to a friend's shed to play cards and to eat fried chicken.

Saturday I came home and got my cleaning done before getting ready for that evening. Mike took me to Benton Square for my birthday. Food was very good, to my surprise even Mike was stuffed and couldn't finish his steak. Those who know Mike, know he never leaves a drop of food left on his plate! My Chicken Alfredo was about 3 helpings!

Sunday Mike and I headed to church. Karen had a great sermon about faith and trust in God's will. There has been so much tragedy throughout my life, so this sermon really hit home for me. Not sure if everyone got the same message as I did out of it. It's always hard to focus at our church with the constant commotion of kids running back and forth. But the fact of the matter is I did get something out of it whether that was the intended focus or not.

After church we headed home where mom and dad were getting together a family dinner for our whole family to celebrate grandma and my birthdays. I'm much too old to celebrate birthdays in my opinion like I used to. Which I think is great, that way everyone can focus more on grandma and cherish her birthday, health, and most of all her life and how we are so blessed to still have her with us. It's nice to share a birthday with such an amazing woman. I spent many nights with her and grandpa having sleep overs and keeping them up entirely too late. To this day they still can tell my version of Goldilocks and the three bears. To most that don't know me, I was quite the talker when I was little. To some, I still am!

Monday I took the day off from work. It was nice to have nothing planned and for once to sleep in. Anymore my sleeping in is 8 or at the latest 8:30. To my surprise I slept till 11:30! Felt like I wasted half the day away. Watched the Young & the Restless then headed outside to mow the yard. Later I met mom at her work and we headed to St. Elizabeth to watch Zach and Ashlyne's basketball game. Hard to believe that my hometown Vienna Eagles will now be St. Elizabeth Hornets once we move.

Birthday Dinner

Last night mom, dad, Mike and I meet the Allens at the Vichy Wye for Nathan and I birthdays. Since Nathan's birthday and party falls on our molasses making next weekend at grandma's and I have a wedding to attend that day, we decided to get together early. Had a nice evening and to my surprise mom helped with my gift from the Allens by putting in some of my favorite recipes along with pictures of myself cooking when I was younger.


Hey big brother that's my present!

Hmmm what do we have in here?

Nathan giving the gift a funny look since he couldn't get the tractor out.

Dad, Nathan and I

My Cookbook

Pictures of me cooking when I was younger.

September 30, 2010

Here is our Save the Dates for the Lipstick & Purse-N-Ality event my work puts on. This year we are giving away 2 free tickets to Vegas! Runway shows by Chic Chick and JCPenney along with performances by MO S&T Performing Arts Department, Salon de Bella and Lois Ann Marler. There will also be a purse auction and all proceeds go to the Russell House.

Food Obsessions

Here is just a few of my food obsessions that will never get old in my book!

I love cereal and could eat it for breakfast, lunch and supper. My favorite is Banana Nut Cheerios, love it dry or with milk. One box lasts me about 2-3 days! :)

I've recently been on a juice kick and love this White Cranberry Strawberry juice. Usually I'm not much of a fan of strawberry stuff, but love this.

My favorite pancakes are chocolate chip! Mom has made them for me as long as I can remember. It was a real treat / tradition for when my friends stayed over to have that for breakfast. Always went over really well and still does.

I'm a huge tortilla fan. Love making a small meal with two flour tortillas and shredded mix cheese, pop in the microwave for 30-40 seconds and served with salsa to dip it in. Yum!

Chocolate covered cashews are still my delicacy!

Grilled cheese with a couple of slices of pepperjack cheese.

What's your food obsessions?

Wednesday Ramble

I think I am going to change my Wednesday Ramblings to just one topic a week. Hope I'm not boring anyone with my exciting* life!

This week's topic is about my career. Next month I will be starting a class on Wednesday evenings to learn more about QuickBooks. I like what I do, but I'm ready to expand my career to something that will challenge me more. Is it bad I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up*? At almost 25 years old, yes I think it is! Nothing and I mean nothing has really caught my eye to something that will excite me for the rest of my life or at least until retirement. ;) I know the majority of people out there don't like their job, but suck it up to make a living. I would love to find a job I love and no matter what would come my way it wouldn't stress me out so much because hey I love my job! So we shall see!! I do know that when I worked in St. Roberts I would fill in when others were gone in billing, I really liked it. I like graphic design, but it's not something I want to stick with. So with all that said, I'm hoping this QuickBooks class will help my decision more and better yet get me a better job that I will enjoy.

*Said with sarcasm. :)

Freebies

For awhile now I've been wanting to get one of these water bottles. Well on Friday we received at work a bunch of free items from monster.com, so I took the water bottle shown in the picture. So far it's keeping my water very cold!

Weekend Recap

Friday I stayed home and got caught up on my sleep.

Saturday was my friend Beth's bachelorette party at the Lake of the Ozarks. There was about eight of us that went. We stayed at her sister-in-law mom's lake house. It was a very nice lake house with a view to die for, right on the lake with a diving board and slide on the boat dock. Played some games and ate pizza before heading out. Had a great evening dancing the night away and watching Beth get embarrassed a lot.

Sunday we all slept in then headed to Bob Evan's for breakfast. It was my first time being there, very good food and at a cheap price. Came home and finished up my laundry before taking a nap. That evening I fixed Mike and I round steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. First time making round steak myself, have to stay I did a dang good job! As my brother Todd would say, "Of course you did, we're Elrods and all Elrod women know how to cook really good food"!

More of Benton Square

Was able to find these pictures from their facebook page.

Entrance in the restaurant.

Formal dinning area.

Salon

Benton Square

For lunch today mom picked me from work since she had the day off. We decided to try Benton Square here in Rolla on 6th Street. It had an old Hollywood feel to it. Chandeliers, tin ceiling, glossy old wood floors, cloth napkins, lounge etc. Made you feel like you were in another world. Food was great as well and wasn't too pricey like I had imagined. I had the 1/2 & 1/2 lunch special for $8.99 which consisted of 1/2 turkey, spinach and artichoke panini with 1/2 principal's salad (mandarin oranges, grapes, pecans, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onions, mozzarella cheese, bacon pieces and croutons). Benton Square also has a Salon & Spa, boutique and a floral shop.

I wished I would of took pictures with my camera phone of the restaurant, but was too chicken. Here is a couple of pictures of the bathroom! lol ;)

My NEW ring tone

My new ring tone for my phone is Blake singing Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean. His mom sent it to me and it made my day yesterday. According to Blake that is his and his April's song. It's a little hard to make out what he is saying in the beginning, but towards the end you can tell what song it is... followed by "Mom it's over"! lol

Wednesday Ramblings

- My birthday is in 11 days. It's a great honor to share my birthday every year with my Mrs. Wonderful (grandma Maxine Feeler). A good excuse to bring our whole family together for a big Sunday dinner.

- Friday night the men's league starts up for Mike. Due to another team joining, their games will most likely start at 9pm on Fridays. Going to make for a long late nights.

- Speaking of those long late nights, this is where our house would come in handy once we are moved in. I can walked a block or so and be home when I am done watching them bowl instead of waiting until they are finished.

- Sometimes I really wish I had a sister. I know in the future I will gain sister-in-laws but that isn't the same as a real sister. I would love to have that bond and constant go to person like my brothers have for each other. But I do like the "only" girl attention I get at home and on the Elrod side being the only granddaughter as well! ;)

- Today is my cousin Elizabeth's 9th birthday. She is quite the hand full. Sunday she healed us all with her healing hand. She is quite the character and knows it too. She always finds a way to make everyone laugh.

- I'm really wanting a different job, but that is very hard to come by. Everything is either the same distance I would already be driving or pays less.

Labor Day Weekend Recap

Friday Mike and I headed to the Maries County Fair for the truck and tractor pull.

Saturday we got up early for our 2nd annual jon boat float trip on the Osage. I figured it would be cold on the river so I prepared myself if it got chilly by bringing a hoodie and pants. Luckily the weather warmed up enough and ended up being the perfect day for a float. Not too hot and not too cold. Had about 6 jon boats with 15 people. Mike's cousin Matthew and brother Steven along with their friend Justin kept us all entertained. Thank goodness they were in a separate boat since it was flipped about three times. Ended the evening going to Trevor and Emily's for a BBQ. I couldn't believe how cold it was, felt like Fall weather!

Sunday I headed home and went to church with mom. After church I headed to my grandma and grandpa Feelers for dinner. We had grandma's famous meatloaf with mashed potatoes & gravy. Afterward I headed back to St. Elizabeth to Mike's uncles house where they had a family meal consisting of chicken, cheesy potatoes, and other side dishes. That evening we went to Randy and Elizabeth's to watch the race.

Monday I came home early to get a start on my to-do list. Ended up mowing for 3 hours, I think mom and dads yard keeps getting bigger and bigger all the time. Was going to push mow the fence row since the weeds are getting ridiculous under the fence, but couldn't get it to start. It was also time to take the pool down. It wasn't too much bitter sweet since we haven't been using it the past month or so. Our concrete on our basketball court had settled during the middle of summer causing the pool to lean too much and dumping about a foot or two of water out of it. Only allowing a little under 3 feet to stay in. Got my basement cleaned, dishes and laundry finished. Mike and I ended the evening watching the Bachelor Pad.

Wednesday Ramblings

- Looking forward to the long weekend consisting of our local fair, a jon boat float trip and family time.

- Cannot wait for Fall to begin.

- Next weekend I am spending it at the Lake for a friend's bachelorette party.

- Molasses time is coming near! I'm a little sad I will have to miss it this year due to a wedding. But there is always Iron Works at St. James that I look forward to every year! A busy time for my family.

- Already thinking about Christmas! Yes I know it is early but I would like to get most of my gifts bought in the next month so I don't have to worry about it come later this year when we are moving into our house plus all the expenses that come with it.

- Speaking of Christmas gifts, I am almost finished with my memory ring for my grandma and grandpa. I've also started on scrapbooks for my brothers.

- Looking forward to a Miranda Lambert concert in October! ;)

- I was super excited to have Goody's back in town, but very disappointed its still Stage with Goody's name. So much for that!