Wednesday Ramblings

...Hard to believe today is the last day of August. This year is really flying by.

...Does anyone watch the Bachelor Pad? I am so ready for Vienna and Kasey to hit the road. They are both crazy, obsessed people so no wonder they work perfectly as a couple.

...This weekend is a busy one. Not sure if we're going to the fair or not. I know... big deal to NOT go to the world's largest fair! Saturday we have a wedding in St. Thomas, 3rd Annual jon boat float trip on Sunday and Monday we may make a trip to Menards to get Mike a new shower.

...Some of my followers has me hooked on PINTEREST.COM! I'm addicted.

...Can't wait to break out my fall decor. I didn't even get it out last year since we thought we were getting the house in October. So it all stayed packed away.

...Our dryer quit drying again! Luckily once again it's a cheap fix but I'm getting tired of it being out of commission for a 3-4 days at a time. I feel laundry deprived. So tonight is laundry night! Can't wait.

The boys

Again my pictures aren't the greatest in quality. :(

Nathan liked putting his hands in his pockets.

Nathan looking for the soccer ball.
Blake after hitting the ball.
Nathan had to do everything Mike was doing.
Watching big brother bat.

Are you done taking pictures now, April?

Nathan taking a break from playing outside.

Mike and Blake playing with the tractors.

Saturday afternoon Nathan got his blankets and went over to the rug in front of the stove. He was there probably a good 20 minutes just watching his reflection and laying down. I thought for sure he would fall asleep there. lol

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday
I met Shelley after work to kidnap her boys. Nathan was not a happy camper and literally gave me the death stare the whole way with little sobs until he fell asleep. How dare this lady take me from my momma! Poor guy. Luckily after we got to my house he seemed to be just fine and got a big smile when he saw More (Mike). We planned on going fishing but by the time we got home and ate it was starting to get too late for that. So we just played outside which Blake loved playing ball with his Mike.

Saturday
Mike had to work again so I spent the morning watching cartoons and playing with the boys. After Mike got home we went to his mom and dads so Blake could play with more tractors, etc. I think if it was up to him, he would just stay at their house the whole weekend. Took a four-wheeler ride then headed back home. Not long after mom showed up to get the boys. The house seemed deserted after they left. I took full advantage of the quiet house to watch Ree's new show, Pioneer Woman. Two words: LOVED IT!

Sunday
A day of rest. I accidentally snoozed in so no church for me. Did manage to still have time to get the house pretty much clean before headed to Mike's parents for dinner. Had roast, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and gravy. Played some with Kylie, she insisted I had to play grocery store with her. Then headed back home to tackle the elliptical or at least supervise! ;)

Pictures from the weekend to come later today or tomorrow.

Kitchen Table

Finally found my table online so here is a sneak peak!

Random thoughts...

Is it bad I am craving cinnamon rolls after going to the bathroom here at work? lol Everyone here thought I was nuts until I let them know there is a new cinnamon air freshener. :)

Cannot wait to take the Allen boys fishing tonight.

Yesterday Mom bought Mike and I an early Christmas present... a new KITCHEN TABLE! It's exactly what I want and I never could find one until now. I haven't found one online that looks exactly like it so I will post pictures as soon as it arrives. It's a tall table in espresso.

Got one of my Christmas presents completely done and little Nathan's birthday present finished. Now I just wish I could have the rest of my Christmas finished! Somehow money always stops me from this. Darn.

Mike's shower has been leaking or from what it appears. Found one at Menards that would work great and at a very low price. So we may look into this in the NEAR future.

This weather feels like it's time for Molasses at Iron Works. Only a couple more months...

I can't believe I'm going to be 26 soon! Yuck. Four more years to 30! Crap.

There has been four child deaths in Missouri this summer where the child finds a gun. Sad.

Madison's Cafe was okay yesterday. I had the clam soup with salad which was good. My sprite on the other hand, not so much. It tasted like the smell of a dirty rest area bathroom. No joke!

Tongue-tied Thursday - A DAY EARLY

Wednesday Ramblings

...This weekend is my 'custody' with the little Allen boys! :) Starting to forget what they look and sound like.

...Since I have the boys this weekend, I'm sure the TV will be taken over with Spongebob Squarepants. Luckily I have DVR so I can record the Pioneer Woman's first episode on the Food Network! Can't wait to see it.

...Google.com is my go-to site for tech support. About 98% of the time I can find the answer I am looking for!

...Tomorrow I am off work, so I'll post my Tongue-tied Thursday picture later this afternoon. Mom has a doctors appointment so it's a good excuse for us to both take the day off and GO SHOPPING! :) Planning to eat at Madison's Cafe. I've seen a lot of people's facebook post this year about it so we are going to try it out.

...Wish there was 'like' buttons on blogs. :)

Found!

I posted back in January about losing my necklace that Mike bought me. It's found! My mom found it last weekend under the couch cushion at her house in the basement. I swear I looked there at least a dozen times for it. So glad she found it!

Sorry this is very blurry and the necklace is NOT gold, it's silver! lol I need a new camera SOON!

Storm

After they cut up the limbs Saturday I realized the only picture I had doesn't look like that big of limbs. lol Guess I should have took a picture from the other side of it. Anyway here is a picture of the two limbs that fell early on Saturday morning.

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday
We met Randy & Elizabeth at Kitty's for supper.

Saturday
I woke up at 5:30 to the sound of a severe storm followed by a big thud! I wasn't sure I wanted to check what that thud was, but I did. There was two fairly good size branches that fell right in front of the bedroom window, barely missing the house. Thank goodness! Mike was already gone and at work at this time. Unfortunately we were out of power from around 6am to 1pm. Never realized how lost I would be without electricity. That evening we headed to a wedding reception then ended the evening going to the pub for a bachelor/bachelorette party.

Sunday
We headed to my mom and dads for BBQ. Todd was in charge of the BBQ and Chad fried up the potatoes, Elrod style! It was all way too good. Visited for awhile then headed back home for yet another BBQ. Randy barbequed pork burgers at our house. A good relaxing Sunday spent with family.

What a waste

I cannot tell you how many times I along with about five other people have looked and looked at this project with constant proofing. We received this magazine yesterday and it looks AWESOME! Great colors, excellent quality, but... if you look closely to the cover it says 2010-2011! lol It's suppose to be 2011-2012. Amazing how so many people including myself missed that! At least it's not too big of a deal. Still makes me furious to no end.

Sushi: Yum or Yuck?

Yuck! Overall it wasn't too bad, but it's not as great as I thought it would be.

I only had the California roll which consisted of avocado, cucumber and crab. I love all three so I just knew I would really like the roll. Luckily I did the lunch combo and got chicken teriyaki to go along with it so at least I had something I knew 100% sure that I liked. At first my sushi experience wasn't too bad, somewhat okay until... I grabbed a piece not knowing it had wasabi stuck all to the bottom of it. Lets just say it quickly ended up in the napkin and I was on the verge of barfing.

All in all, never ever again. At least I can say I tried it. My stomach on the other hand isn't very happy with me. It was a neat experience. We got to watch them at work with the hibachi grill, which was entertaining to watch! So if you are a sushi buff, the Koi Sushi & Hibachi is a good place for that. Just not for me. :)

The picture to the right is Shelley's plate.

Tongue-tied Thursday

Quote of the Day

Came across this quote while browsing pictures online for an ad I was building. Thought it was kind of cute and decided to share...
I thought it was a little cute, so I printed it out and taped it to my computer. :)

Wednesday Ramblings

...Living in St. Elizabeth, everyone takes different routes to other towns than I am used to. Saturday we drove through Eldon on our way to Sedalia for the State Fair. Eldon has a WALMART! Yippee! It's only about 30 minutes and it beats having to deal with Jeff City traffic on the weekends.

...A good way to make chocolate ice cream "April style" is to add cocoa to vanilla ice cream. It's an acquiring taste that I got used to as a kid when we were out of Nesquick and no chocolate ice cream. I'm not a vanilla ice cream fan if you can't tell. I know I'm an odd duck!

...Seems like everything always happens on the same weekend - same day. This weekend we're invited to a wedding, TWO bachelor/bachelorette parties AND it's the Truck & Tractor Pull in St. Anthony. Which Mike has to work Saturday moving stuff to their new building at work. So I may attend the wedding that day if I can get someone to go with me then that night who knows what!?

...I can finally wear my hair curly without my head looking like I poked my fingers in a light socket! So glad because it's sooo much easier to fix through the week. Not to mention I can snooze in. :)

...My wonderful momma purchased an elliptical for an early birthday present for me. Found a good deal at Sears so I hope it works good. Should be in store for me to pick up in a week or two. I'm ready to get in the habit of using it and to kick this never ending heart disease gene out of my system! lol Well I can get rid of it completely obviously, but at least I can do my part on making sure it's as healthy as I can get it. Sucks that heart disease runs in all four generations of my family!

...Online shopping is my weakness.

...I browse Etsy.com in my free time.

...I've posted a few weeks ago about loving peanut butter and honey mixed together as a snack. Well.... I am done with peanut butter for a very LONG time. I thought I would be smart and buy the Kroger brand since the name brands are so high. Well I didn't realize I bought the stir and refrigerate kind. Never heard of that! So I did just that, then when it was ready I had some with honey. Never. Ever. EVER. Again. I was so sick to my stomach for 3-4 days. Guess I got a bad batch of peanut butter or it was contaminated!? Just thinking about it makes me want to gag.

...My Scentsy stuff should be coming in this week. I cannot wait!

Rug

UPDATE: Well after I got home last night I put the new rug down. It doesn't look very good there so I am taking it back. lol

I hate having to 'settle' on things like this rug I bought today. I washed my rugs on Sunday and the one by the back door didn't hold up very good after I washed it. Oops. Good thing I wasn't too crazy about it, I had to settle with it too. I just haven't had any luck with finding cute durable rugs for my back door. If I do, it's usually in a red color scheme which I need it to be in the blues and tans. Darn the luck. So I had to settle with this rug today from Walmart. I vacuum the back rug every other day since it's also the walkway to the laundry room and second bathroom. Therefore, if I don't it tracks all through out the house. Well after washing the one I current have to make it no longer smell like a locker room, it lost it's hold. I can no longer vacuum it without the vacuuming sucking it up. Not a good thing when it needs vacuumed a LOT. lol Guess it's good it was a cheap rug.

Eek I am turning into my mother. She is always washing her rugs and regretting it later because it messes them up. lol

Sushi

Are there any sushi lovers out there?

Thursday my mom, Shelley and I are going to be brave and try it out for lunch. I'm a little unsure about this and hope my stomach can hold it down. Luckily for me, Thursdays are my slowest days at work. lol My question to you is, what would you recommend for first timers? Not sure if any of my readers eat or have ever eaten sushi, but if you have please tell me your thoughts on it! I'm sure I will like it, I think!? Maybe I'll just stick to the non raw fish rolls. :)

When the three of us went to St. Louis for Ree's booking signing, we stopped in at the Galleria Mall. There was a girl eating sushi there at the food court. It was all she could do to hold it down. So every time I think of sushi now, I think of that girl about to barf it all back up. lol Lets just hope we don't have that same experience. Fingers crossed!

I'll have to do a follow-up post later this week!

Totally AWESOME & COOL fort

Okay so it's not that COOL of a fort, but Jake thought so.

Love this picture! Jake in his fort.

Morning Sky

I was surprised to see a rainbow on my way to work this morning. I couldn't get the whole rainbow in the picture. The sun was directly in the middle of it.

State Fair photos

Mike had to take pictures of the tractors.


This one was 'only' around $300,000. lol

This was the section Mike's sister was in. Lucky girl!

Me, Andrea & Megan waiting for the concert to start. Ignore my do, I had it fixed but the muggy sweaty weather got to the best of it. :(

The boys: Mike, JJ & Aaron.

Thompson Square singing "Are you going to kiss me or not".

Chris Young

JASON ALDEAN!

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday we stayed home.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to take my shower before Jake got there. I watched him while Steve and Mike went to help with moving turkeys. Jake and I had another fun morning and even made a fort. In his words, "it was AWESOME and soooo COOL". lol Steven came to pick up Jake and Mike had 15 minutes to get ready. Wish I could get ready in 15 minutes, oh the perks of being a darn guy! Our neighbors Aaron and Andrea came to pick us up and we were State Fair bound. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't as 'grand' as I thought it would be. Mike was in heaven with all the John Deere tractors. I think that was the highlight of his day. Well I did get to see a 2012 EDGE SPORT which made me grin from ear to ear, it was only $38K. lol Looked at some really nice campers with a neat layout that made it look more roomy. More importantly the air was on and we were able to cool off some. It was a very muggy day when the sun was peaking through the clouds, but at least there was a breeze throughout the day. That evening was the highlight of my day, Thompson Square, Chris Young & Jason Aldean! Aldean put on one heck of a show, 10 times better than when I saw him in Columbia last year. There was a little boy in front of us that reminded me of Blake. He had to be around three and sang every Jason Aldean song word for word. Our section ended up being a bunch of St. Elizabeth people. There was probably about 20 of us with each groups just a row away from each other. Pictures to come.

Sunday was a lazy morning of sleeping in. Headed to Mike's mom and dads for dinner then came home to scrub my floors. Made BBQ chicken pizza for supper. Thank you Sarah for posting it! I skipped out on the cilantro since I knew Mike wouldn't like it. Instead I just added a few bell peppers and home-grown tomatoes. It was delish! Got everything done in time to sit down to relax and watch Big Brother. It ended up being held back an hour due to golf which ended up being a good thing. 60 minutes was on and featured Albert Pujols and his wife. I was very shocked to learn he has never smoked or drank in his life. He seems very genuine and doesn't let the fame get to his head. His wife had a daughter before they met who has down syndrome, who they honor through a foundation to help other down syndrome children. Too bad more players aren't like him and make a difference with their fame and money.

BBQ Chicken Pizza. Very filling!

Tongue-tied Thursday

Blogger's block

I've been having blogger's block here lately. Sorry for that. I will try my best to blog more than just my weekly usual. I've attached below a few project covers that has been consuming A LOT of my time this past month. I love how my work looks in magazine publications, but boy it's a job to get it done. I've been keeping all my favorite projects in a plastic tub at home. Well it's now full to the max. Guess I will be purchasing a new bigger one in the near future.


2011 Phelps County Fair magazine.



2011 Grape & Fall Festival, St. James. In advance, yes I am aware of where the "&" sign is placed. The lady in charge of all of this wanted it there. Looks retarded to me and I even tried (begged) her to change it to have a dark green banner behind the text. She insisted on it being this way. Ugh!



2011 Beyond the Campus magazine.

Wednesday Ramblings

...My treat on the scorching-hot days has been Wendy's fresh lemonade! Love it!

...So glad the weather this week feels like FALL! Better yet, the State Fair will be more enjoyable this Saturday while watching Jason Aldean, Chris Young & Thompson Square!! :)

...Work is finally slowing down, which I'm not sure I like.

...I ended up test driving a 2012 Cruze on Monday. Oh my goodness was it small. It did drive good, but the claustrophobic feeling won out. I may just have to deal and stick with my Edge. I know it's not terrible gas mileage that I am currently getting. So I will just wait and see my options.

Sunday

The sky looked so fake with these clouds that I had to snap a picture after the storm on Sunday. I should have walked out in the street so the telephone pole wouldn't be in the way.

Tongue-tied Thursday

Wednesday Ramblings

...My favorite snack lately has been peanut butter crackers, Frito Lay brand called Munches. It's tastes so much better than the other brands in my opinion.

...I'm a die hard Mountain Dew lover, but here lately I've been on a Dr. Pepper kick.

...Hopefully the part will come in today for our dryer and I can do some laundry. It's been pulled out so I can't even use the washer. I usually put a load or two in every two days give or take. I hate the feeling of knowing there is laundry to do.

...Oh and FYI I posted a couple weeks ago about our dishwasher not working (same issue - wouldn't heat plus no water was coming out when it ran) Well Mike's uncle came the next day to check on it, the darn thing worked fine for him. So far it's been working like a charm! KNOCK ON WOOD!

...I got my Scentsy bars in last week and so far I am loving the Blackberry Vanilla scent. I usually just get the Baked Apple Pie and Vanilla. This time I got those plus 5 other kinds PLUS I just ordered two more warmers. I think I am addicted! :)

...So last Thursday my mind was made up. I was officially selling my Edge and buying a Cruze. Well as I was driving to the dealership to test drive one on my lunch break, I saw one on the lot and realized how small (narrow) it was. So I kept on driving... not sure I can make the move from an SUV to a small car even if it does save me on gas.

Weekend Recap

Friday after work I headed to mom and dad's for Dad's birthday supper which consisted of lasagna, corn, salad, broccoli, and Hawaiian rolls. Visited for awhile then Mike and I headed back home.

Saturday Mike had to play ball in town for the coed tournament. I had already planned to skip the first game then come up for the one in the afternoon. Ended up watching Jake since Steve was playing as well and his mommy had to work. So we had a fun day of playing farm, catch and watching Spongebob Squarepants while enjoying the AC. He was such a character to watch and a very polite little boy.

Jake giving me his cheese face.


Sunday we went to Mike's mom and dads for dinner then came back home to get everything ready for Mike's uncle to come today and to look at our dryer. We thought the heating element went out, but that looked okay so now we are crossing our fingers it was just a breaker inside of the dryer that flipped off. At least I do have my back up washer and dryer at mom and dads if I need to get it. I feel so deprived with laundry around that house that needs done. That is my biggest pet peeve, to always have it caught up. Made ham and eggs for supper then watch Big Brother.

By the way it rained all around St. Elizabeth Saturday and we still didn't get any of it. I will be glad when this heat wave is over and we get some much needed rain.