Change can be good

It is difficult--to say the least--to type with two snoring pugs and laptop resting on your legs.  Life could be worse.  I just loooooooove these three day weekends.  I accomplish chores that I would never tackle during a "normal" week without a complaint in the world.

As much as I miss the summertime (and the absolute freedom it brings) I'm really looking forward to the holidays.  Thanksgiving is a favorite of mine.  I hate to admit this, but I'm ready to put the Christmas tree up--honestly, I'll just watch as Jesse assembles all of those prickly pieces.  



Don't worry--that's from last year. I wouldn't dare to put up the tree until the day after Thanksgiving!!!

 

I don't know what the holiday season will be like this year.  My grandparents that live in Arkansas have sold their house and will be going to Tennessee to spend time with family.  Of course, my parents and brothers won't be going to Mississippi anytime soon.  I think the days of getting together with the whole family are long gone.  Oh well.  Things change.

This has been an exceptional fall.  The flower bed looked amazing (that's over too after this hard freeze), I have a fantastic wreath on the front door, I kept a planter of mums alive for over one month!!! We witnessed a double wedding--Billy and Laura got married!

Erin and JP came to visit for the weekend. We've enjoyed lots of football games on TV.  We went to a NASCAR race and were lucky enough to have pit passes and meet a driver.

Sadly, I didn't get to see Kevn Harvick... only the car, crew and pit box--oh and his wife.

 

Jamie McMurray before the race (obviously)

We went to see Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan in concert at the Q. 

It was a great show. 

We even made new friends--the two people in the picture that you don't know. 

Jesse got me the fabulous, white watch I've been wanting, a 350 and a new North Face jacket--but not all at once.  It's safe to say that I won't be opening any Christmas presents this year. Haha.

Andrew got a haircut so I can't call him Alan any more.

Peyton has been selected for a Pantene ad campaign.

 

Peyton has THE most perfect hair.  It's so straight and has a TV commerical shine.  He doesn't like it when I mention these traits... especially in public.

I just really like this picture.  It's frame worthy.

I could get used to this...

After rearranging my big hall closet and the other closet across from the washroom I had plenty of extra room on the shelves.  The only remedy to this situation was to buy things (that I don't really need) to fill those sad, empty spaces on the shelves. It's a good thing I had a trip to Sam's Club on the agenda. 

That chore was so much fun that I decided to tackle the never-ending task of sweeping the floors. I had to banish the puppies to the outdoors so they wouldn't run through the mini-mountains of salt and pepper colored dog hair dotting the floors. Naturally, being forced to spend time outside caused my male diva dogs to commence with their pouting routine. Toby is spread out "superman" style by the laundry room and Percy is sprawled out on the chair across the room from me. You know the poor things are so mistreated!

About fourteen months ago I walked into the house on Seacrest Drive for the first time.  I thought that hand-scraped hardwood floors, stacked baseboards and stainless steel appliances were the best features a first time homebuyer could ever hope for. 

Fast forward a few months to the puppy-scratched hardwood floors, chewed up baseboards, and covered in stains appliances and I am NOT so enthused.  While there's nothing (that I know of) I can do about the floors and baseboards at this point, I found the solution to my stainless steel problems at Sam's Club.  For the low, low price of $5.84 I purchased two giant (naturally) cans of "Sprayway Stainless Steel Cleaner and Polish."  This stuff worked so well that I threw away the other crap I had in the cabinet. 

Uh oh... more empty space!

Percy is modeling the superior shine for you!

Erin gave us a free trial for Netflix and I love it!!!  The streaming over the PS3 is highly addicting.  I'm currently watching Season 3 of Friday Night Lights.  I sure love that show!  I've watched a few movies... I haven't seen anything too exciting though. 

While I'm talking about things I love I HAVE to learn how to make these cookies!!! 

I think they are from Truman House at BCL.  It's an oatmeal raisin cookie sandwich (that's healthy, right?) with an incredible cream filling!  Jesse brings them home for me every once in a while.  On second thought, maybe it's best that I don't learn how to make them.  Between Netflix and these cookies I wouldn't fit into any of my clothes. I'd have to rearrange my closet and go shopping to fill in all the empty space.

The lull of the dryer is calling my name--Lord knows I'm not going to iron the clothes! 

Who knew?! I love housework.  I could get used to this! 

Sweet, sweet summer

What an eventful start to the summer!  Everything needs to sloooooooow down, or the summer will be over before we know it.  Here are a few pictures to recap some of the events from the last two weeks.  Okay, the pictures are really just for entertainment.

 

(please don't hate me, but these are too funny not to post!)

Check out this Mexican Guitar Hero Trio!  All of their songs were in Spanish.  It was magical.  Ok--in case you haven't guessed I'm lying about the español, but Jesse is really going to town on the maraca microphone!  Siiiiiiiigh... if only ROBERTO were there.

Las tres amigas!  I'm not sure when I became a giant?!  On a side note, this picture proves that I'm in serious need of another piece furniture and wall decor in the dining room! 

Toby found a friend even smaller than him to terrorize! Poor Lily!  Toby is in love.

**********

On June 6 we celebrated Toby's first birthday.  Peyton even ventured to Missouri to join in the celebrations--he had to go home the next day for baseball camp.  My lil baller! Haha

Sadly, Toby enjoys things like this.

We all enjoyed our baseball cupcakes. 

 Percy and Toby's cupcakes look better than ours!  Gotta love Three Dog Bakery! 

On  side note, the Rachel Ray peanut butter dog cookies are STANKY. Ew.

I looooooooooooove my boys!

Finish Line

Jesse and I went with my family to the Springfield Cardinals game.  The little kiddies from Harrison had their day at the ballpark today complete with "singing" during the 7th inning stretch.  Peyton was selected to throw out the first pitch.  He did an amazing job! My word's of advice before Peyton was escorted down to the field must have really stuck with him.  "Relax.  Just throw better than Obama."  He climbed up on the pitcher's mound (it looks SO much bigger than the mound he throws from at his field) and threw a fastball right over the plate.  I was proud of my little brother.  That's something that he'll never forget.  Unfortunately, the announcer called him Peyton Harris; Peyton wasn't too happy with this.

No surprise here-- Jesse had to leave in the 3rd inning to go to work, but he did leave me with $20.  After the scorchingly hot game, I introduced my parents and brother to the wonders of Pineapple Whip... and I got a pink shirt!  Now I only have $1 of my allowance left :(

We only have 1.5 days of school with the kiddos.  On Wednesday we have a celebration planned with our friends!!!  I can't wait.

In sad news, it's back to school tomorrow and I think my tree is dead.

Well, off to watch the Bachelorette with her nasty, fake hair! Ew.  I'll still enjoy it from the view of my newly re-arranged furniture! :)

Vent

10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... this isn't working... 4... 3... I'm still angry... 2... screw... 1...it!

Maybe I'm really just angry because I got home at 7:30 to find that the only people home were my furry children and they sure didn't cook dinner.  (Hey, thanks for returning my messages about that...) so instead of being able to stop somewhere GOOD while I was still in S'field I had to get my ever-so-important dinner in Ozark.
    
      On a Monday night.
      
             When the good places are closed.

Gardening-- Take 2

All of my hard work toiling in the flower bed almost turned to dust in the wind.  (I hope you're singing the Kansas song now)

However, after consulting with my friend/master gardener I think things are on the up and up.  She suggested a heavy dose of Miracle Grow... and planting a few model plants from Lowe's in hopes of offering the Home Depot plants a shining example of plant perfection.

After a 15 minute feeding of MG yesterday and adding more color and mulch today, the bed looks MUCH better... well, in my opinion!

Our new tree we (ok, Jesse) planted in the backyard--a Bradford Pear--in honor of JP and Erin

Shade-lovin' Impatiens in the corner

top-heavy violas

Quartz Scarlet Verbena

Big Blue Lily Turf

Yellowing Dogwood (above) and Golden Euonymus... whatever that means (below) These were both here when we bought the house... only they weren't trimmed and were overgrown with HUGE weeds! Ps- they're from Lowe's ;)

Gerbera Daisy--my FAVORITE! Yesterday it was flat on the ground.  It's looking much better today!!!

May Breeze Flox (one of Ted Keller's faves, haha) this is one of two exemplary Lowe's plants.  They're replacing the dead mums... not that we didn't believe that Jesus could bring the poor mums back from the dead. 

The final (for this weekend anyway!) product.  I <3 home improvement!

My Jess-Jess on the phone... imagine that!

Ughh...

I REALLY wish I'd taken pictures to document the disarray of my house when I got home.  Then, maybe Jesse would feel h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e for leaving me with such a mess!  On the same note, I don't want to relive that mess!

After a sucks-less kinda day, soccer practice sucked more.  The girls just didn't care and were soooo mouthy.  To make things worse, I had to hang out for 30 minutes after school waiting on kiddos' rides to show!  So I roll into the garage around 7:30 (boo!).  I noticed that Percy and Toby's faces weren't smushed into the [locked] doggie door; that should've tipped me off right away. 

I walk into a 76 degree house--no windows open, no fans turning. UGH!  Upon entering the hallway I find a trail of calculator pieces (yes, this IS the third one that's been destroyed) leading into the den. 

TIP: Don't feed your pugs calculators.  They cause diarrhea. gross.

ANOTHER Pilot G2 had bitten the dust.  Checkbook chewed.  Stamps licked.  Notebook paper shredded.  Allison pissed. 

Dear Jesse, PLEASE puppy-proof before you leave.  Especially when I won't be home until late!  I don't care if that scary s-n-a-k-e is still in the backyard or not!  Percy and Toby are staying outside tonight. 

How does your garden grow?

On our last grocery trip Jesse tried to convince me that we really needed to buy Lucky Charms.  I couldn't quite find the necessity in this high priced, non-generic cereal.  However, I gave in to his pleading...

I must say, three bowls later, I'm eating my words.  I had forgotten how wonderful a bowl of Lucky Charms could be.  I should clarify that I haven't eaten 3 bowls of magically delicious cereal in one sitting; this has taken place over the course of a week.

As wonderful as this marshmallow-filled cereal is, it can't take away the Sunday night blues.  Nor will this bowl of cereal grade papers or write a test.  I am exhausted and don't really want to think about going back to work tomorrow! Why are the weekends so short?!

Jesse and I decided to do yard work today, so we went to S'field to get plants from Home Depot.  (In the event that one of my dear friends reads this post I would like to clarify that we never choose to shop at HD.  We had a gift card that we had to spend.)  A cart full of plants and a truckload of mulch later, this is what we have:

Planter number 1

Unfortunately I didn't get enough potting soil to do planter number 2

The new flag locale (thanks Momma!)

I really hope these plans make it... and spread out!

Our house-- the front porch definitely needs something old and rustic! Ideas?

Business ventures

I'd like to think that my mother enjoys reading my ramblings.  Not only are they highly entertaining, but they would keep her updated without having to talk on the phone.  She hates the phone.  I'm not even sure why she has one.  While I would hope that she might find time to read these "blogs" (I should add that they are much better than another blog that shall remain nameless) I believe that she would refuse to comment.  Why?  I think it has to do with her old age.  That's right. Age.  In fact, my mother will be 47 years old in only six short days. Haaaaaaaaaaaa.

In her golden years she has picked up photography.  I hope that she'll start her own business and hire me as an assistant.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Hey Mom,  please hire me.

Awkward family photo NOT taken by mamá. 

She might say that the subjects aren't centered...

or paying attention for that matter! :)

I do consider this to be an example of my fine photography skills. 

OR maybe I could be a stormchaser?!?

Is KOLR 10 hiring?  Does anyone know Ted Keller?

Also, I have this young buck that I'd really like to stud-out...

other pictures are available; however, they are highly inappropriate. 

You should contact ANDREW.  He has those pictures. Sick.

It's over...

Spring Break officially comes to an end today. I'm devastated. Back to the doldrums of the daily work schedule, made even more grueling thanks to the addition of soccer practices and games. Having a break is fantabulous—no lie—it’s truly one of the best parts of teaching… I don’t even pretend that I’m one of those “I’m gonna change the world” people!!! My bestest friend, Jessimon, offered great insight on the detrimental aspect of the b-r-e-a-k. You see what life’s like on the other side—the side where you don’t have to get up and do things that you really don’t want to do. Breaks make going back to reality REALLY hard…especially this year.


Jesse took the first part of the week off from work, but I was more than ready for Thursday. It’s okay though. He knows my opinion on this and I think if you forced him to share his opinion, he would agree! Being around someone 24/7 has NEVER worked for me! Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I’m a “brat.”


Being home all week allowed me to spend lots of quality time with my precious puppies! I love those little guys. At 9 months, Toby is finally learning to shake. He isn’t the quickest learner, and truth be told, he’s probably a non-reader.

One of the fun things about living in Ozark (other than the fact that Sonic is directly across the street from the Jr. High school… mmm… dream job!) is all of the fabulous antique stores. Even better, Jesse doesn’t mind going with me, or he's a REALLY good actor! I loooooove looking at old things—particularly the furniture—I have two pieces picked out that I REALLY want…soon!  While browsing, we happened upon a John Deere riding tractor… like the kind I rode around on when I was a kid (such the tomboy!) if it hadn’t been $329.75, I might have taken it home to cruise around the neighborhood.

It made me think of my Papaw Bennie and spending time with him.  To put it bluntly, it sucks that my family all lives so far away!  I guess the Mississippi River is pretty wide... well, anyway, today is my papaw's birthday.

Happy Birthday Papaw Bennie!

No Sunday blues tonight!

Jesse says that I'm a brat.  So what if I enjoy the finer things in life.  I maintain the fact that this was FULLY disclosed before we got married.  To be quite honest, he was well aware of my tastes before he proposed.  Case and point:  Jesse pops the top on a canned beverage.  I frown.  I would have preferred the bottled beverage.  Hmm...

The weekend began in a fantastic fashion.  We enjoyed a dinner party at my--well, our--friends' house.  See, I don't always complain.

Of course the evening took a turn for the worse as my bracket began to (further) collapse before my eyes.  Upon further examination-- maybe basketball is the ruination of my life.  Let me explain:

1. I was forced to attend the old-timers basketball game at Omaha.
Some things are just better left alone.  I would have been more than okay to not walk through those doors again.  The 45 minute preschool-4th grade cheerleading show didn't help matters...

2. Kansas lost.
Bracket screwed

3.  The worst Wal-Mart checker [ever] had a basketball shaped head.
I think she was both deaf and mute.  AND she put all of my canned goods, pickled jalapenos and pancake syrup into ONE bag. REALLY?!?

4.  At Sam's Club, the old woman with the basketball t-shirt, demanded to see my membership card.
Suck it.  I have the premium membership.

I still love Sam's club.  What's better than buying 700 coffee filters, a gallon of whiskey, a year's supply of toilet paper or a month's supply of digestive yogurt?  This:  an old man driving the wrong direction in the parking lot only to meet a large, red truck.  With no where to go, the man decides to back into a parking space only to be met by a line of parked shopping carts. Haaaaaaaa.

All of my complaints have--seemingly--paid off.  After a lovely dinner of catfish, cornbread, sweet potatoes, and fried okra all is well again... except for the lemons in my water and the large piles of onion and tartar sauce on my plate. :/

Who really wants March 18th anyway?

I'd really like to remove this day from the calendar.  I can't seem to find the silver lining on this Thursday.  [Less than] One day into the tournament and my bracket is ready to be transformed into a blank page in a 100% recycled notebook.  I'm sure that environmental compassion is a part o the IB learner profile; one more step on the path to BTE enlightenment.  Georgetown AND Vandy.  Really?  I think the soccer team could have beaten them aaaaaaaaand
soccer practice was horrible today.  Enough said.

Valid points for removing this day from the calendar.

In 51.7 seconds I really need for Tennessee to win.  30.5 seconds better end with a Texas (gag) win.

I was the recipient of an awkward side-hug from kid's dad--complete with gold in his mouth, [hat turned sideways] thinkin' he's a cool cat.  Oh, well.  At this point in the year, I'll take a display of grattitude in (nearly) any shape, form or fashion.

Summer, oh summer, where are you?!

Cozumel... I love you.