Thanksgiving Break

OK, so I don't have any pictures to share on this post so I'll make it a short one. I know how boring it is to read a post with no pictures!

Wednesday morning we loaded the car up, picked up my parents, and headed south to Huntsville, Alabama to my grandma's house. We had a great Thanksgiving with tons of aunts, uncles, and cousins that I only get to see about every other year, and TOO much food! I think I ate more calories in those 3 days than I usually eat in a month. I gained the weight to prove it! We also got to make a trip to Birmingham to see my mom's side of the family that I haven't seen in about 3 years (since my wedding!). I even did a little Black Friday shopping, online! Amazon is the best invention ever! I got exactly what I wanted for the best price and free 3 day shipping. I bought a new camera (just a point and shoot) and some new luggage.

It was great to see everyone, but it sure did wear me out. It was about a 10 hour trip one way! And David did ALL the driving!

Even though it was really great to see everyone, I was still not in a very good mood. I was supposed to go on that trip with a baby belly and I was supposed to be sharing my excitement with my extended family for the first time. I'm not going to go on and on about depressing moments, but all I can say is that hopefully next year I will be Thankful for something. It just didn't happen this year.

So, moving on to the next...David and I are going on a cruise in 2 weeks! And the diet is on! I know I'm waiting til the last minute and Thanksgiving didn't help the situation! But I'm staying strong these next 2 weeks and I'm determined! I'm going to the gym EVERY day dang it! And I already have my meals planned out. It's crunch time! I've never had to be in a swimsuit in December before!!! Eek!

Chocolate Pecan Pie

There's a bake off at work today. And I normally wouldn't enter anything because I'm not very experienced in the kitchen. I do love to bake way more than cook but my baking usually consists of emptying a box of brownie mix into a bowl and added an egg and the end! And not to mention there are a bunch of very experienced bakers and cooks up here at work that are always bringing something homemade, especially around the holidays. But when I got word that almost everyone was taking off today for whatever reason (it's Friday and people usually take off to have a long weekend or for a quick weekend trip out of town somewhere), I figured I might actually have a chance at this. The bake off judging starts at noon today and as far as I know, I'm the only entry so far...pretty good odds, huh? :)

I also wanted to take this opportunity to attempt my first ever pie. I chose to bake Paula Dean's Chocolate Pecan Pie from Kelly's Korner. And here it is:

I apologize for the iPhone pic but I was ready to go to bed! And looky there...I even bought a special pie plate for the occasion! They're judging on presentation too!

This actually wasn't my "first" pie ever...it was my second. I had to make a test one for David to try out before I attempted the one that was going to be judged!

The first one turned out really gooey and not done enough (but it actually looks better this morning and I brought it to work to share with everyone that isn't judging). But I'm afraid this one might be a little over done. Oh well, I tried and now I know how to do it. I'll let you know the results!

Master Bath Re-do

A few weeks ago, I decided I needed a project. So I decided to start with what I thought would be a pretty simple one...painting our master bathroom. I felt like it was pretty boring in there and I figured if I messed it up it would be easy to fix and it's probably the most hidden room in the house since a lot of guests usually don't venture into your master bathroom.

All I'm lacking is a brown curtain for the window.

Before

After
Yep, that is a leopard wall. I did it with a stencil and I'm pretty happy with it. I know it might seem weird to some people, but if I get sick of it, it's a simple fix to get rid of it, just paint over it! But I thought I would at least try it out.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After


I'm pretty proud of myself. I did it all by myself, with the exception of David helping me touch up and take all of the tape off last night. I know it doesn't look like much because it's a small room, but it took a long time to tape everything off just right. And there are so many little things to paint around. And painting the ceiling was a horrible experience. I finished painting the first day only to realize that I would need to do a second coat to make it all blend in. The stencil was actually the easiest part of the whole thing.

I feel good about my color choices and I like walking in there now!

Weekend Details

First of all, I just want to say thank you again to everyone for all of the cards, flowers, notes, and emails we've received over the last 2 weeks. We really appreciate all of the support and love from our family and friends. It means a lot.

Friday night, we headed to Mathis Brothers Furniture to look at a console/credenza type piece of furniture we had picked out a few weeks ago. We've decided we want to make a few changes to the living room and our main idea is to get a bigger flat screen tv and hang it on the wall and have a bright piece of furniture to sit underneath it to hold all of the electronics (hidden). We had a big entertainment center with a flat screen that was a projection tv so you couldn't hang it on the wall for about 5 years and we are just ready to change it up a little bit. I also feel like every piece of furniture in our living room is brown and I really needed some color. So one night last week, we went looking at tvs and got really overwhelmed. We still need to figure out exactly which one we want. It's a big purchase and we all know how much tv I watch, I want it to be perfect!

But in the mean time, we did purchase the new piece of furniture for under the tv and we sold the old entertainment center on Craigslist in one day! We haven't set it all up yet, but I'll post pictures as soon as we do.

Saturday, I spent the whole day painting my bathroom. I know it probably shouldn't take 8 hours to paint a normal size bathroom, but I had to clean it first ( I think I shed more than the dogs do), and then I had to tape EVERYTHING off and there is a lot of random things to tape in there! Then I got my paint out and I like to go around all of the baseboards and everything I had to take off first and then get the roller out and go to town. I also painted the ceiling so that took a little more elbow grease and big crick in the neck. I got the whole thing painted but when I went in to look at it yesterday morning, I realized that it needed a second coat and I was too exhausted to attempt to get it done yesterday. David is supposed to help me finish it up this week. So I'll post pictures of this when I get it done to.

Saturday night, I met my friend Emily that I've known since kindergarten (that's 23 years!) up at the Hard Rock casino. She was in town for the weekend working with her sister and I'm really happy I got the chance to catch up with her for a few hours. David came and met me at the casino later that night and after Emily left, we did a little dancing, a few beers, and some gambling (at least I did some gambling while David sat looking at me like I was getting a little annoying and he was ready to go). But I'm glad we went out though. We haven't done that in a long time and I was happy to realize that I can still have fun and that I need to every once in a while. I probably won't do it again for a long time because I can only handle one of those kind of nights about once every 6 months or so! I'm getting too old!

So I spent the day yesterday catching up on my rest and just relaxing. I hope you all had a good weekend too.

I Did Not Expect This

This is natural, they say
It is all for the best
I cannot move past this heartache
This pain in my chest

Those days were surreal
Did this truly just occur
Happiness turned to sorrow
My life now a blur

This is natural, they say
I knew I was going to lose you
The most difficult emotion
There was nothing I could do
I am given no explanation

This is natural, they say
Were you pink or were you blue
My complexion is now grey

Trying to move on
A forward step everyday
I will always remember you
This is natural, they say


Poem Source: I Did Not Expect This, Miscarriage Poems http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/death/poetry.asp?poem=28508#ixzz14Eyv7MyL