never say never

A lot has happened since my last blog entry.  My (work) life as I know it will forever be changed.  Starting tomorrow morning I report for duty in Tuscaloosa.  This is a place I thought I would NEVER work.  Being an Auburn graduate, I have never enjoyed going or thinking about "the armpit of Alabama" also known as Tuscaloosa.  I thought it was fairly ironic when I first started working at Valmont that I occaionsally had to visit that place for certain events considering that is the location of our concrete plants. 

When I was a sophomore in college, I remember taking a roadtrip to Tuscaloosa.  It was one of the worst weekends of my life (for more than one reason), but mainly because of having to be in the "enemy's" territory.  I vowed that weekend that I would NEVER have anything to do with that city again. 

Never say never.

With Daniella's departure to Dallas, I was offered her position....located in Tuscaloosa.  (oh my.  open mouth and insert foot.)  It was an offer that I couldn't refuse for more than one reason.  Time-wise the commute is the same, but it is more than double the miles.  That is the only (other) down side.  I will manage though.

Along with Daniella's departure which was last Thursday, Whitney said good-bye as well.  Frankly, it was hard for me to think about leaving Whitney in Birmingham, but she turned in her notice shortly after I made my decision to work in Tuscaloosa.  I wish Whitney and Daniella all the best in the future, and I will miss them greatly.

In happier news, Lisa is coming back to be the Office Manager again.  Talk about blast from the past!  I am so excited to work with her again even though we will be miles apart.  It's funny how things work out.

me, Daniella, and Whitney

June 10, 2010

always something

This past weekend was Jane's Retirement party hosted by the ever wonderful Daniel and Leslie.  (ha!)  And it was a blast!  I am pretty sure that Jane had a great time as well.  We had a full house and it doesn't take many people to fill it up.  I am so glad that some of Jane's co-workers were able to come and celebrate too.  The sun was shinning, and it was extremely hot.  I wish it would have been a tad bit cooler so we could have enjoyed thoroughly enjoyed the games that Joe and Betsy brought before the sun disappeared. 

The best news of all was that our backyard makeover is officially complete!  We do have one more step to do in order to fully complete it:  paint the patio and pavers.  I am happy with it being like it is for right now though.  I didn't even do an eighth of the work and I am so tired from all of the hard work that Daniel did.  He really busted it and completed it in high style.  It looks beautiful!  I hope to have pictures posted this week.

Yesterday we were completely lazy...well deserved lazy.  It felt weird not having to clean the house or work in the yard.  We had been so focused on Jane's party for so many months that when we didn't have anything to do, it made us feel like we wasted the day.  I know Daniel is thinking of the next project, but honestly I hope it is nothing expensive or hard to do.  I don't think I (or our wallets) can take another (mentally and physically) exhausting project.

And then I started thinking of the next "inside" project.  I have my huge wall art that I need to do this summer, but before that I have another project in mind.  I went through my closet a few weeks ago and decided it was finally time to rid myself of my college AU armpit-stained T-shirts.  I had been hanging on to them because it is so hard for me to let go of something that brings back great memories.  So bye-bye, college T-shirts.  It has been nice knowing ya. 

...or so I thought.  After talking with Mom, she suggested that I not give them up.  But what was I going to do with T-shirts that I can't even wear anymore?  And that got me to thinking and searching...I could make a beach blanket out of them!  I saw a blog about someone making a beach blanket out of bandanas and I can use my T-shirts.  I have no idea how it will turn out, but as I like to say "I have a vision".  I doubt that I will be able to even start on this project before this weekend's beach trip, but hopefully by the 4th it will be complete.

resolution update, not forgotten

It's just 2 and half weeks late.  There's a reason for that.  At the end of April I was pretty much still sitting at needing to lose 4 pounds.  I didn't feel the need to update since nothing had changed and clearly wasn't motivated enough to change it.

However, change did come in the form of a horrible, lingering stomach bug.  In fact, I still have a small trace of it still sitting nicely on my stomach.  It has been with me for about a week and it hasn't been pleasant.  I will spare the details as I am sure you can imagine. 

So thanks to my little "bug friend", I have about 1 to 2 more pounds left to shed to meet my goal of "down 10 in 5 months".  A guess there is always a small blessing with every hardship.

brief update

It's been a while since I have updated about our "eventful" lives.  We really aren't super important people, but we tend to stay busy every weekend.  Let me recap:

Yesterday concluded Sissy's 6 week stay in the States.  Daniel and I traveled to the beach to surprise her the night that she flew in.  Needless to say, Sissy was VERY white and sleepy.  I didn't feel her excitement that we were there to see her, but I understand what it is like to be tired.  We had a great weekend and were able to spend time with Jane as well.  We didn't do much laying out since it is pretty cool in mid-March, but we sure did shop.

Sis and me at the Boardwalk

March 19

Towards the end of her stay, Josh was able to "surprise" her by flying over for a couple of weeks.  He was a few days getting in due to the volcanic ash, but we were thankful for his safe trip.

The first part of April was pretty busy between Easter and my 26th birthday.  We were able to take Barkley over to Granmolli and Granddaddy's house on Easter.  She is a good little girl when she visits other people's houses.  She is extremely calm and quiet.  It figures.  Don't let her sweet face fool you.  She can be a pistol, as Daniel and I like to call her.

We are in the final stages of our backyard makeover!  What a relief!  It has been quite the project especially trying to decide what pavers we wanted.  We didn't want to spend $500 on these mugs so we settled on plain gray with the intentions of painting them along with the patio.  Daniel has done a fantastic job digging up plants and planting new ones.  He has even planted a couple of trees!  Sadly, the before pictures were lost with the computer virus so just the after pictures will have to do.

The last weekend in April we took Barkley to Mentone to celebrate Daniel's dad's birthday.  It was a nasty Saturday with severe weather and tornado warnings.  Thankfully all of our family was safe during the deadly outbreaks.  We even had to take cover late Saturday night, which only sent me into a total freak-out mode.  Ever since driving underneath that tornado at the end of March, I have become more terrified of severe weather.  Besides that little episode, we had a wonderful time playing games, watching The Blind Side, eating, and visiting.  I would say that Barkley left with a 4 new cat friends, but I would be lying.

Other than busy weekends, Daniel and I have been doing our usual routine of working and resting as much as possible.  Daniel finished up the spring semester of classes last night.  I am not sure how many more hours he has left to take, but it's not too many.  I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished so far in his schooling.  I know it's not easy working 40+ hours a week and then go to class/do homework.  When I was in college, I only worked 15 hours a week (at best) and was a fulltime student with hardly any responsibilities.  He never lets me down and always surprises me at how much he can handle at once.  He is my hero.

As for me, I have been cleaning up Barkley pee and poop.  Well, mostly...Daniel does help with that too.  She is now going outside and LOVES it!  We have significantly cut down on the use of paper towels and carpet spray.  For the most part, she pees every time she goes out.  She is learning very quickly and it is quite shocking.  I know there will be accidents for at least another year or so, but hopefully her brothers can teach her as well.

And now the dreaded resolution update:  I am still needing to lose 4 pounds before the end of May.  I know it can be done, but I am not motivated to lose it as much as I was at the beginning of the year.  I am just surprised that I have lost 6 pounds and have been able to keep it off!  I need to kick back up "The Biggest Loser" work out. 

Hope everything is going well in your neck of the woods.  Or as Sis use to say "in your naked woods".

not for the happy people

Can this entire post be nothing but things that are currently bothering me?  Oh, sure it can, because it is my blog.  So if you are anti-"Debby Downers", then stop reading.  I need to vent.

Yesterday I got home and found out that our computer had a virus.  UGH!  not good.  Thankfully, Daniel was able to rid the virus, but EVERYTHING was lost.  and unretrievable.  And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING!  Nothing is left.  After I felt like puking, I wanted to cry.  I still want to cry!  I had just gotten done orgaizing all of our pictures into cute little folders.  Everything was so neat and perfectly organized.  It was simply Leslie.  So those are gone.  And all of our documents are gone.  And my iTunes is gone.  We have a back-up external hard drive, but it hasn't backed up the computer in almost a year.  So not everything is a complete loss.  I am really upset because our backyard makeover pictures are lost.  There will be no dramatic before's and after's.  And most of my organizing Jane's house is gone as well.  (Is there a puke bucket close?)  Daniel and I learned a valuable lesson:  Back up everything at least every day. 

Today Sis and Josh head back to Germany.  Six weeks is longer talked about than it is actually lived.  Her time here flew by and Josh only stayed for a couple of weeks, but his stay flew as well.  We had some good times while she was here.  No fights too big.  We just wouldn't be Leslie and Sissy if we didn't argue about something.  I am glad that they were able to come.  There are more talks about their coming back in August.  Until then, I will miss them. 

Why are some people so different?  This is something that Sis and I were actually talking about one afternoon.  How can some people be so completely rude and impersonable?  Does this stem back to their upbringing?  not entirely true.  Do friends play a role in how you will treat others?  possibly.  Are people just born with a rude gene?  I would say yes, but I need to form a formal hypothisis.  It's hard to be nice to others when all they ever do is keep proving my research to be correct.  It's like no matter how sweet I try to be, there's no way that I will ever catch those bees.  Maybe my "honey" isn't sweet enough, or just has a bad flavor.  Whatever the case may be, apparently I need to learn to move on.  I am not the one with the rudeness problem, but they are.  And they will realize one day, just how close we could be, but aren't.  Will that change them then?  Who knows, but by the time that happens, I will be the impersonable one to them. 

savings mania

Ever since I got a taste of the "savings greater than paying" bug, I have been a mad woman trying to find/research the best deals with coupons every week.  It's no easy task and reminds me of a word problem.  I always hated word problems in school, but as I have aged I have learned how solve "real life" word problems.  My "real life" word problem for every week:  How many grocery items can Leslie buy on a discounted price just by using coupons and sale prices?

The answer:  around $60 to $70 worth of items on a weekly basis...which leads me to more questions.  How in the heck were we spending close to $100 a week at Wal-Mart after getting married?  Isn't Wal-Mart supposed to be the discount store?  And the real question is why did we put ourselves through that torture of going to Wal-Mart every week?  Ugh, now I cringe every time we have to make a stop by Wal-Mart.  It's hard to beat $17 for a 44-pound bag of dog food.  Thankfully Jackson and Tyson have serious tummy problems when switched to the more expensive brands.  They must have part of their "human" mommy in them...the cheap side.

And my word problem makes me think every week about how many people refuse to clip coupons and don't research for the best deals.  Honestly, there is no point in anyone not saving as much money as they possibly can when making their grocery run whether it's weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.  I mean you can't get in the habit of eating your favorite cereal every week when trying to save money.  And you will have to become creative when it comes to making supper.  Can't have the same ol' same ol' every Monday night. 

Ironically, this process has taught me a lot about cooking.  Because we buy a different buggie load every week, our meals change.  If you are having a hard time finding recipes for your sale items, go to kraftfoods.com and search under the ingredients section.  You can input up to 3 different ingredients and several recipes pop up just like magic!  Kraft Foods has been a source of my cooking for several meals.  They are so easy to make, and some recipes don't require a lot of ingredients, which is super handy.

Please:  don't take my word for it when it comes to savings.  I challenge you to start saving.  You will be happy that you did, but I have a warning:  once you start, it's super hard to stop.

mission: kitchen art

Just about every wall in our house has some kind of art or picture filling the voided space, or rather "sky" as I like to call it.  There is a huge "sky" in our kitchen that needed to be filled a-sap!  It was driving me (and Daniel) nuts not having a picture to hang in that area.  We even tried to motivate ourselves by hanging a stockings painting for our kitchen Christmas decorations.  All that did was establish where the naked nail would be in the wall for the next 4 months. 

Our ideas were sparse:

1.  Buy four 5x7 or 8x10 pictures of the different seasons.

2.  Buy a huge (and I am talking ginormous) frame and a cute smaller canvas picture to hang inside.

3.  Buy pretty much anything large that would match.

So we went with the 3rd option, because it has nearly been a year of moving in and I am tired of looking at a green sky.   

Now to unveil the kitchen art masterpiece....drum rolll.....TA-DA!

What is it?  (you may ask.) 
Well, it's a cloth napkin from the World Market in a 16x20 frame.  Am I creative, or what?

And if you recall, I hate buying something at full price and this, already cheap project, was no exception. 
WM cloth napkin:  $2.99 with a 10% off coupon making it $2.69
Target 16x20 frame:  $14.99
Total kitchen art price:  $17.68

Not the best savings ever, but hey, 30 cents is 30 cents.  Plus we have less green sky to look at.

Up next....the GIGANTIC blue living room sky behind our chairs.  I have thrifty project in mind for that area.  I am still collecting my "suuplies" so it might be a few more months.  You will see what I mean...