This & That...My Silly Life

Do you ever just sit back and look at your life and wonder...what the heck is going on?  For me it's something I do all the time.

Lately I have been in one of my moods where I am just thinking screw it all.  Does anyone else ever feel like this?  Seriously, I could just lock myself in my house and exclude myself from most of the world.  I am tired of everything!!!  Tired of work, tired of drama and really just tired of people.  I don't mean it ugly, but sometimes it is just too much.

Am I Depressed???  NO, I am not...my tolerance for people is just at zero.  I go through these phases where I just feel like everyone is trying to push me to my edge, so for me I choose to escape the situation and be by myself.  Being by myself makes me happy...it's quiet and peaceful and I can just relax and nothing in the world can bother me.  These feelings exclude only my sweet husband and my Momma.

Just yesterday I was sitting talking to Mark and just bust out crying.  Most of the time he just thinks I am crazy he knows I have my little melt downs occasionally so I guess he is use to them.  I think there are just a lot of things going on in my head....I just need time to process.

My job is super stressful, and it has been stressful to the breaking point the past few months.  People act like butt holes every day and I just have to deal with it, my work load is enormous and I am just exhausted.  The past two months I have been having a hard time sleeping at night, I am so tired but I just can't sleep.  I just had my 29th birthday.  I don't know why but this was the whole thing that started my crying the other night.  I just feel like time is flying by and that I have just woke up and realized I am getting older.  I feel like I am behind on everything.  Most day's I just joke about how old I am.  All of our friends are several years younger than me, but for some reason this birthday hit me hard.  It's like a slap in the face!!!  In 350 days my 20's are GONE!

I know there are way worse things in the world that are going on...I am not an idiot.  Your probably thinking I am a selfish person...I'm not!  I am just stressed.  I feel like I just can't get things accomplished at home because I am tired.  I feel like I am just going through every day and my life is just passing on by.  I spend so much time worrying about other people, trying to do everything right and over analyzing every situation and it makes me MAD!  I am tired of wasting my life on all this stupid stuff.  I am done worrying over trying to keep people happy...duh April this is your life.  Can someone pinch me now?  I need to realize the only people I need to worry about is my family and my husband.  I need to leave work at work and do what I want to do and not what others expect me to do.  I just wish I could...I say it, I know it in my heart but doing it is a totally different story.

I need to try to start doing better.  I need to stop worrying over dumb stuff and realize that I have to do things for myself and 2012 is going to be the year it will happen!  I'm done with so much of this krap floating around in my life.  Next year I am forgetting about all this stuff..people, work, and life is not going to continue to bring me down.  Call me self centered...call me what ever you would like, but next year I am going to do what I WANT to do and if anyone doesn't like it then that's their problem :)  They can get over it or get out of my life...

Anyone else planing on making 2012 the year that they start doing things for themselves?  If so good for you!!!

Are you a loyal person?  I think I am for the most part  :)  Tonight I sit and ponder a lot of things about life, but especially my employment.  We all know economic times are hard and companies are squeezing everywhere they can....it's expected.  Where does it come to the point that enough is enough?

I consider myself an outstanding employee.  I am at work every day (sick or not), I am on time, I work my butt off and I try to schedule any appointments when I am on vacation.  Seriously the only day I called into work was last year when I had the Flu and I only missed one day! I can not think of any other time that I have called into work in the over 8 years I have worked there!!!  In my opinion that is dedication.  You don't find many people with my work ethic, without a doubt you can count on me.

Over the past few years things have really changed at my job.  Our company went bankrupt and we were bought out by another company.  I was thankful because I got to keep my job.  However over the past few years things just seem to be pure craziness (in my mind).  First we lost our 401K match, then our health insurance premiums went up, no raises in 3 years, we go through phases where they cut our hours (because we are slow), and the work load has exceeded what any one person is capable of handling in a work day.  Honestly, I am a understanding person and most of this stuff hasn't bothered me too bad.  Where my problem comes from is the every day stress.  I am talking about to the point that it is not unusual for me to sit at my desk twice a week and cry because I just feel like I can't take it anymore.  That is my breaking point!  I hate waking up each morning knowing what I am about to deal with for 8 hours.  Sometimes it gets to the point where I have to come home from work and take a nap because my stress level is so high I just can't do anything else.  It's very depressing.  So what do you do?

For starters there are not a ton of jobs out there.  Most are not paying what I make, and they are a longer drive for me each day (right now I have a 15 min drive to work).  The next thing is despite the conditions I really love what I do....  It's tough!  I will start looking for new jobs and then I stop.  I like being great at what I do, if I go somewhere else I have to start all over.  Wonder if I take another job and hate it?  Wonder if it is boring?  Wonder if I don't like the people?  Then what do I do?  It's so stressful.

I am at the point of seriously  looking for other options.  Some things have gone on recently that have just made me sick.  I feel like I am not valued and I feel cheated.  I know we all feel this way sometimes.  I am by no means saying I am not thankful to have a job because I am.  I just don't think your job should make you cry all the time and feel helpless.  I don't think you should work your butt off each day and be a poster child of a loyal and great employee and not be thanked for your hard work.  I have worked hard at this place for over 8 years and I think I deserve better.  We all have bad days at work, but when bad days turn into weeks, months and years there is a problem.  Trust me I am not the only one who feels this way.

So I try to make a list of pros and cons in my head....  My main thing about taking another job is Mark.  I don't want to leave him alone at that place.  I am the one who talked him into working there and I feel guilty to leave him there.  I love working with my husband, and if it wasn't for him I probably would have been long gone.  Even he feels my stress and has given me his blessing to look for something else, but at the end of the day I don't want to leave him.  The next thing is like I said earlier I love what I do.  It's not the same thing day after day and I have to stay on my toes and think which I love.  For the most part I love our customers who I have come to know so well after working for them for so long...they always sing my praises and I would miss them.  I would miss some of the people too, most of us have worked together since I started over 8 years ago.  I don't like change and that really scares me.  Being the new person freaks me out.  Maybe I could find a better job with more benefits or better working conditions. I just don't know.

Now that I am 29 I have to start looking at things differently.  In years to come my life will be changing.  One day I will have children and with the way things are I worry that the stress I deal with on a daily basis will affect my home life.  I have to think about how the older you get the less likely you are to get hired by companies.  If a change is to be made now is the time to start making a plan....  Decisions decisions, oh life....why do you have to be so hard?

So now that Christmas has come and gone and you have actually had a chance to breath what comes next?  For most of us we are sitting down and taking a hard look at our budgets, checking accounts and credit card statements...Oh Joy!

Are you the person who stuck to your budget or did you over spend and now find yourself scraping the bottom of the change jar for extra cash?

I admit that I have a hard time sticking to my budget, especially when it comes to my brother (he is so spoiled).  This year I promised to stick to a budget on all the family and it worked well.  I wanted so bad to buy more stuff for Winston...it was really hard!  But after Mark and I put in 1/3 of the money for his truck this year I knew I had to.  To my surprise he still loves his sister who spent less money on him for Christmas this year  :)  He is my money pit, but only because he works hard in school and is for the most part (he is a teenager) a good kid.  He will be getting his license in about 2 weeks so we will see how good he does with a little more freedom....LOL

Back to the story....  I stuck to my budget this year Yay for me!!!  It's hard to do for all of us...  You always feel like you might look cheap or the Christmas tree has less under it, but trust me your family will still love you even if you don't spend every dime on them for Christmas.  The only place where my budget had an issue was with our friends....I think we spent a little too much this year, but it is what it is.

What I can say is that it is the last week of December and all the bills are paid and we still have a little cash left.  I think that is more than most can say!

If you are one of the people who spent a little too much it's ok, it happens to the best of us from time to time.  Now you have to start working on getting your budget back on track.  You don't want to start the new year in a financial bind.  If your budget is tight find fast money on your wasteful spending...Starbucks, fast food, manicures, and picking up items that are not needed when you go to store.  Stay AWAY from your favorite shopping spots!!!  This time of year sales can be tempting which will make you buy stuff you don't really need because of the low price.  If you over used your credit card over Christmas lock it up or if you really went out of control CUT IT UP....you can always get a new one once you have tackled your balance  :)  As most of you know I am anti credit card unless you are able to pay your balance in full every month.  Our credit card bill is going to be outrageous next month due to end of the year dental work and I used the credit card on stuff for Mom to give her some extra time to pay off her Christmas debt, but either way I can guarantee it will be paid in full!!!!  Keep in mind if you don't pay your card in full you are paying interest on everything you bought which means you spent even more on your Christmas gifts :(  Tackle your budget shortfall as soon as possible and work hard to get back on track even if it means going without some of your favorite things!

Now if you are like me and done well and have some money left over why not start planning for next Christmas.  I have already picked up a few gifts for next year, and put them away.  I usually never do any Christmas shopping before Black Friday, but for once I am making a change.  Why?  Because even if you have a budget and stick to it you can still have a hard time will the extra expenses at the end of the year.  Case in point for us we had some stuff come up...Our AC unit had to be repaired to the tune of $200, and then my car had to have breaks $50 both unexpected right here at Christmas time.  Stuff like this can stress you out in a hurry!  So I am going to pick things up here and there that I know the people I buy for will like and save myself a little hassle at the end of the year.  Of course only when I find them for AWESOME prices :)

So how was your Christmas?  Mine was exhausting!  I have been missing my blog, but I have barley sat down since I left work last Thursday.

Thursday evening I had to go grocery shopping.  Then I came home to start cooking the things I could start on (which wasn't much).  Then Friday Mom and I got up to do some last minute shopping/browsing around.  Then Friday night we had Christmas at Mark's parents house.

Saturday was the most stressful by far and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown before the end of the day!!!  I got up to start cooking and preparing the food for Christmas Eve.  We had to go to my Grandparents house.  We spent most of the day there...  I missed Christmas at Mark's Grandma's because I got home too late.  Then when I finally got home it was a mad dash to finish cooking and get everything ready for Mom and Winston to come over to eat and open presents.  I was jumping for joy when Christmas Eve was over because I had no energy left!!!

Up on Christmas Day to watch Winston open his Christmas gifts from Santa (or Santa Mom as my Mom would say).  He got a new phone which I spent most of the day trying to activate.  After trying to activate it all day and calling Verizon it never started working until today.  Apparently their system was overloaded.  Note to self...next time activate the phone before Christmas!!!!!  Mom and Winston had decided they wanted to burn an old deck in the back yard...I had to supervise.  Luckily nothing was burnt down.  Then we ate dinner at Mom's (thank goodness I didn't have to cook).  Christmas day flew by and I could feel myself needing sleep!!!

But then there was today...  I wanted to get up early to go do some shopping.  Mom was mad because I said we were leaving by 7:00.  I wanted to hurry get everything done so I could take a nap this afternoon.  Well  I didn't wake up until 7:15 so Mom was ill with me because she had got up so early : (  Sorry Mom!  I bought her Starbucks at the mall so I am sure she forgives me.  I got everything I needed for the most part.  I just wanted some jeans from Old Navy (who can beat $15.00), and I wanted to stop by Bath and Body Works.  I also wanted to go to Wal-Mart and pick up some new ornaments but I decided to just go home because I didn't feel like dealing with the people at Wal-Mart.

Came home then Mom called...Winston needed help with his new phone.  Mom's Christmas tree fell over twice today, I think she finally just threw it in the back yard...LOL!  I tried to get the house clean and done some laundry.  Still exhausted :(  I did squeeze in an hour nap (WOW).  Did I mention my car has no brakes and I can't drive it???  Geeezzz  So I am sitting here now, feeling sorry for myself because tomorrow I have to go back to work.  I am tired, unorganized, carless, and broke....yep I am sure I am going to be in a lovely mood tomorrow.  Hopefully it won't be too busy!!!

All in all it was a great Christmas  :)  Usually I would be off this week but since I have a pain in the rear job I have to work because they wouldn't allow us to use vacation this week (eyes rolling).  So I really ran myself ragged and tried to spend a lot of time with Mom and Winston because I usually do a lot with them this week while we are both off.  So Thank You job for ruining the time I like to spend with my family!!!! 

::::::::and to all my friends::::::  I miss everyone  :(  I have seen no one over the Christmas break nor had the chance to talk with anyone.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and hopefully I will see you all soon!!!!

Hope everyone has a great week.  It's a 3 day work week for us because we have Friday off for New Years.  I hope it flies by!!!

Thank you Lord for this wonderful husband of mine :)  I have been so stressed lately and he just makes me happy.  I can't even look at him without saying something stupid that makes me break out into a laughing fit!!!  Life is so much easier when you have an amazing person to share it with.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Mark he may not be perfect but he's perfect for me....

So a short post tonight because honestly I am worn out and need to get to bed.  It has been a hectic and busy weekend.  I don't even feel like I had any time off work and tomorrow it is back to the grind.  Not to mention Christmas is right around the corner and I am feeling the STRESS!!!

So Saturday morning I got up and headed out to the grocery store to get the necessities for two things to cook.  My sweet potato rolls which are in demand as Christmas presents and a pot of vegetable soup which I had desperately been wanting to cook.  No problem...out the door I go and grabbed everything I needed and back home to get to work in the kitchen.  My plan was to get the sweet potato rolls and soup done on Saturday...that didn't happen!!!  I spent all day cooking sweet potato rolls, I didn't even have time to finish them!  4 hours of just mixing a baking them...WOW!  Now I remember why I only do them once a year.  I managed to get my beef cooked for my soup but that was it  :(

Saturday evening was busy for us and we were out the door at 6:30. Mark and I had a lovely dinner at Wendy's (LOL)  Then we went out to Mellow Mushroom to watch our friend Joey play some music.  We left there a little after 9 to head to a Christmas party.  We arrive home at 2 am...geezzz 

So I was tired and slept in today until 10.  I woke up to breakfast in bed from my sweet husband (awww).  You would think I would be happy, but NO!  I got out of bed ill as a hornet.  For one, I had 15 sweet potato rolls that had to be iced, packaged and put in the freezer, two I needed to make my soup because it is not possible to do that during the week, and three we were suppose to eat dinner at Marks parents house for my birthday.  I was feeling overwhelmed and so stressed.

First I start working on the sweet potato rolls....nothing goes right!  They are super sticky and I cant get them to wrap right which is the most important part after you fill them.  They were sticking to everything and I had really lost my cool with those stupid things  :(  I had to stop half way through to meet Nena to pick up my Pampered Chef stuff I had ordered and then back home for more frustrations.  I was so ill I told Mark I didn't have time to go eat at his parents house for my birthday...  So he called them and told them I was just too busy and won't going to have the time.  I am sure they probably think I am a butt hole...but I had all I could take and didn't need anymore stress.  I knew I was stretched for time today and I didn't have time to go sit and eat dinner.  After all it was for my birthday so who cares if I didn't want to eat?  I really hope they won't mad, but my sanity is more important.

So I finally got the sweet potato rolls done.  For those of you expecting them I hope they taste ok...  They just didn't fill right and I had cream cheese filling smushing out the sides (yikes).  So I dunno???  Then I called my Mom over to help me get started on my soup.  Why you ask?  Well several years ago I attempted my Momma's famous soup and burned it all to pieces.  I had enough stuff to make a huge pot and didn't want to ruin it.  So Mom comes over and gets me started and writes out a time line for all the ingredients to be put into the soup.  You can't cook everything at once or you have certain things that get over cooked.  I started my soup at around 1:00 this afternoon, and it wasn't finished until 6:30 this evening.  I really didn't know I would spend my whole day in the kitchen Saturday and Sunday!!!!  The soup has to be stirred every 5 minutes to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom.  Believe me...if you don't stir it your stuff will stick and them you have ruined not only a whole pot of soup but a lot of money worth of ingredients.

Anywhoo...the soup was a success (thank goodness).  Mom was proud of me, she said it was really yummy!  Tomorrow I will be freezing some since I cooked the biggest pot in the whole world!  I already gave Mom a bunch, and I think I am going to take my Grandparents some for Christmas...my Grandma doesn't cook so they will appreciate it  :)

Last day of vacation and how was it spent?  At the dentist...fun stuff!  2 hours and 15 minutes in the chair to be exact.  I had to have an old crown taken off and start the process of getting a new one.  I think they made 10 molds of my teeth, whew!  And when it was all said and done my face was covered in wax!
and then mashed and ready to be made into something yummy...at a later date
Sweet potatoes are one of the hardest potatoes I have ever seen.  A trick if you ever need to do this...if you boil them until soft with the peeling on them you can just pull it right off.  It is much easier than peeling them before you cook them!

So that was my Friday...  Now I am sitting back enjoying a cup of coffee and waiting on this laundry to be done.


HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!

That' right...today I turned 29 years old.  WOW is all I can say.  Time is flying by and I just don't feel like I should be starting my last year of my twenties today.  I have been dreading this birthday, but it has actually been a pretty good one :-)

My day started off with Mark waking me up to tell me Happy Birthday.  I wanted to get up early, but I decided to sleep until 8:30.  After all I am on vacation and it's my day.  Once I got up I went right out to the shop to get my hardware on my dresser so I could move it inside tonight.  Mission accomplished!
dresser finished and in the house WooHoo!

Then Marks Mom stopped by and brought me my gift and a gift from Marks Grandma

 my favorite...Chocolate Pie from Marks Grandma and a Pecan Pie from Marks Mom...yummy!!!
Marks parents also got me this cute necklace and earrings that match  :)

Then I came inside and started cleaning.  I know that sounds lame on your birthday, but a birthday is no excuse for a dirty house!  Actually I didn't get much done...got the kitchen cleaned, swept and mopped but it is dirty again already (((sigh))).  I also vacuumed and done a little cleaning in the bedroom that is a mess from having the furniture painted.

After that Mark came home from hunting.  We were both starving since we hadn't ate all day (it was around 2:00) so we decided to go to dinner early.  We never do gifts for birthdays we always just go out to eat.  My choice was Milton's, they have a salad bar that is to die for and the Stromboli is so yummy.  But first Meg was going to stop by to bring my birthday gift on her way back home.

Isn't this purse so cute?  OMG I love it :-)  Thanks Meg!!!  It's perfect!

After Meg left me and Mark headed out for our dinner.  There was not a sole in Milton's which was nice.  We ate and headed out before traffic got too bad.  It was perfect.  Also Milton's had sent me a coupon for a free entree so it didn't even cost that much.  Thanks Milton's!!!  Free Birthday Stromboli for me YAY!

Then back home. My sister stopped by and brought my present on her way to work.

 Matt and Dusty ended up stopping by to bring some deer, but I am going to pretend they just came to tell me happy birthday (LOL).  Then Mommy came and brought my birthday cake and it was sooo cute :)
a Princess cake for a princess (me) of course!

 Winston, Me and Mom
Winston and I trying to light the candles...there was A LOT of them :)

Bronson and his girl friend stopped by too, once again I am going to pretend it was just for my birthday ;)

It's my Birthday and it's been a lovely day!!!  Happy 29 years to me...
This was suppose to be me blowing out my candles...as you can tell by all the smoke Mom was a little late with the picture.  If you know my Mom that's not surprising.  LOVE YOU MOM!

and last but not least...my birthday present to myself.  A NEW pair of Sperry's, these were so cute and if you read my post here  you will understand why these shoes are necessary.  No more wet socks!  One of the lady's I work with will tell me "April don't wear them shoes with the holes in the bottom, it's suppose to rain tomorrow"  HA HA!  I can't live with out my Sperry's!!!  Well I can, but I love their shoes and I prefer not to be without a pair :)

Do you ever just have days where you just want to throw your hands up in the air and scream?  I do all the time, but today has just been one of those days where I feel super aggravated.

I woke up early this morning to start painting bedroom furniture.  I really wanted to sleep in, but I knew I needed to get to work so I could complete my painting today.  So out to the shop by 8 am to start working.  Painting is aggravating to me...I call it "paint and wait".  You have to wait for the paint to dry before applying your second coat and so on.  Furniture got 5 coats which makes it an all day process.  Anyway, after getting 2 coats done I had to come inside to get a shower and meet some girl friends for a early birthday lunch for me :)  As I was walking in the house and I was already ill because I ruined a pair of jeans priming last night, and a new pair of sweat pants this morning when I accidentally brushed up against the furniture after applying a coat of paint (errr) I noticed that our AC unit had started showing signs of freezing.  Oh my...we had a feeling last week something wasn't right.  It was coming on and staying on and the house still seemed cold.  We thought our duct work had maybe come loose again but walking in the house and seeing frost all over the outside of the unit I figured it was something else.  I called Mark and told him we were just going to go ahead and call someone out to take a look at it (just great).  So I have been ill all day.

Furniture is painted and should be dry enough to drill the holes and put my hardware on tomorrow so I can get that back in the house.  Still one more piece left to do and hopefully I will get that done while we are off work next Friday.  What can I say it has been a slow process. 

This afternoon the guy came out to look at the unit.  We were right about the duct work, our main line had fell so that was one problem.  Now the big problem...in the summer when they came out they told us we had a leak in the coils on the inside of the house.  The leak didn't look too bad and they said we could wait and keep and eye on it.  The reason for this is the new coils cost $1,000.00 (OMG)  So it looks like this will have to be replaced sooner than later which makes me very unhappy.  Anyway, for now it is still working.
I am not sure how much the repairs were today, they said they would mail the bill to us and this will drive me insane because I don't know how much this lovely little visit will cost.  I am guessing more than I wanted to pay.  On a good note we have a warmer house ;)

Maybe tomorrow will work out better.  It is my birthday, and tomorrow is my free day.  Friday will be spent at the dentist....blah!

Ahh, so today was my last day of work for this week...thank goodness!  So anyone want to guess what I am working on during vacation?  YES...this dag gone furniture  :(  I must get it finished because Mark is ready for me to get my mess out of his shop aka man place!

Today I went ahead and primed my drawers, tomorrow they will be ready to paint.  Then all I will have left is my big dresser.  Who knows if that will get finished before the weekend is up, but I sure hope so.  This project sure has been a lot more time consuming than I ever imagined.  I had wanted to repaint the bedroom the furniture was in, but that is not going to happen this year :(

I will keep you updated on my progress, but I have spent my night out in the shop priming and I am pooped.   I just want to sit back and relax a bit before bed.

Caiti, I had to steal this from you it is SO cute!!!  My letter to Santa ;)


Dear Santa,




I have been a good girl.



It really wasn't my fault what happened at Megan's Christmas party. It was Katie who spiked the punch with too much vodka. I can't help it if I drank 12 glasses. It was so good---smelled and tasted just like apple pie.



I thought it was funny when I put Mark's undies on my head and danced the copper head road on the night stand while singing `Teach me how to Dougie'. I didn't mean to break Megan's blender and don't know why Megan would sue me for murder.



I don't remember calling some guy's wife a jumping donkey---even though she looked like one with purple eye shadow and green lipstick!



And when I threw up on Amanda's husband's nose, it was only because I ate too much of that pizza.



After all that fun, I admit I was a little tired. So I fell asleep on my way home and drove my Honda through my neighbor's bathroom. I don't think that was any reason for my neighbor to call me a stomping deer and have me arrested for streaking!



So, Santa...here I sit in my jail cell on Christmas Eve, all sleepy and scratchy. And I'm really not to blame for any of this dumb stuff. Please bring me what I want the most---bail money!



Sincerely and sideways yours,


April (Really a nice girl!)



P.S. It's only 29 bucks!

you can make your Santa letter Here!!!

So it's the end of the year and for most people this time of year is tough on your budget!  Me included  :-(

Between trying to buy Christmas gifts, paying house taxes, home owners insurance and trying to get last minute dental work done before our insurance changes at the beginning of the year...it's been tough!  My budget has been blown out of the water this month, and it drives me crazy.

Of course I had planned on the Christmas gifts, I had set the budget for those things and have done an excellent job sticking to it.  The taxes I save for all year round but it still sucks to pull all that money out and pay it, especially during a time of year where it seems money is just flying out the window.  As far as the dental expenses they were not really planned.  We found out our insurance is changing in November and since the new insurance kicks in on January 1st we have been in a mad dash to get things done before it switches.  Mark has had to have some fillings done and for me I will be getting a much needed crown before the end of the year.  Crowns are VERY expensive all I know is I will be paying between 400-600 dollars depending on what the damage is once they get the old crown removed.  My old crown was not put on properly (by another dentist) and it has been leaking for awhile.  Hopefully it won't be too bad, but that is a huge chunk of money right now!  Then we have the issue of Mark's truck desperately needing tires (ugh), but we are going to try to hold off until after the 1st of the year because we don't drive that on a daily basis.

All this stuff at one time just makes my head spin....I feel like I am drowning in expenses!!!  I don't like to have more money going out then coming in...  I have some money saved up, but it stresses me out to have to dip into my savings.  Is anyone else like that?

On another note, I have made a promise to myself to be a SUPER saver next year :-)  After these things have been taken care of I am going to work hard to save extra money in 2012.  I am going to work harder on my coupon shopping (I have been slacking), I am going to try to use Ebates more to get a little cash back on the things I do buy, I am going to stock up on credit card points for gift cards to use for next Christmas, I am going to try to save a little extra money out of each pay check, and I am going to stop spending money on things I don't need (I don't do it too often anyway).  I am ready for December to get out of here and all these expenses that come with the end of the year...whew!

In the mean time this is going to be a GREAT week!!!  I only have a 2 day work week and then I am on vacation for the rest of the week....and Thursday is my BIRTHDAY :)  29...yuck!  Last year of my twenties, so sad.  Time sure does fly!!!

Well you guys, it has been a very very long week.  However, we have a busy weekend ahead and #1 on my list tomorrow is going shopping with my Momma.  I love her Sooo much!!!  So I haven't made my way out to the new outlet mall (well not really new anymore), but Mom wanted to go so we decided to go first thing tomorrow morning.  I am excited.  Really I don't plan to buy anything...unless some great deal pops out at me, but I am sure I won't leave empty handed.


Will definitely be checking out the Gap outlet :)

I am really only going cause Mom wanted to.  I am done with my Christmas shopping and I don't really need anything.  We are going out there to check on a few things for Winston and just to have some fun Mommy and FAVORITE (lol) daughter time :-)

So tonight I have been working hard to get the house clean and things done around here since I know my Saturday is gone.  Tomorrow evening we have a party to go to for our neighbor and friend Jonathan's birthday. (Happy Birthday)

Have a good weekend everyone!!!

OMG!!!  I was reading stories on the Internet today and came across one that was unbelievable.  This small town in TN where the people who reside outside the city have to pay a fire fee.  The fee is $75.00 and if you don't pay it and your house catches on fire then the fire department won't come to fight the fire.

Read one story here and then a different story but in the same area here

Ok here is my problem.  In both stories the fire department was at the scene but only to make sure the fire didn't spread to properties who had paid the fee.  How does this happen?  I understand it is a rural area, but how could someone who dedicates their life to fighting fire just stand by and watch this.  I looked up the city and compared it to ours and there are not many differences.  We live outside the city but still have a volunteer fire department.  I wonder if there were people inside these homes and couldn't get out if the fire department would still stand by and watch....this is ridiculous.

Make no mistake, if I lived there I would have paid the fee, but I also could afford to pay it.   I have a feeling most of the people who don't pay the fee are people who are living under or at the poverty line.  Where 75 bucks wont make or break me for some people that is a lot of money.  I also assume these are people who can't afford home owners insurance so they are now probably homeless and  have nothing.  It's ashamed that a town could sit by and watch someone loose everything for 75 dollars.

Some days I just don't know what this world is coming to...

Geezz this week is already turning into the longest week ever.  Do you ever have trouble sleeping?  For months I have not been sleeping well and it is driving me CRAZY!!!  I am so tired  :(  Last night I tossed and turned all night.  The last time I looked at the clock it was 1:18.  I don't know what my deal is with these sleepless nights, but hopefully it subsides very soon.

I am too tired to think of a good post for you guys tonight.  I am going to order a Christmas gift for my Mom online and then I am going to hopefully fall asleep fast tonight.

Have a wonderful Wednesday :)

was almost an epic fail!!!  Some how I managed to get it done, with a little help from Mark (((sigh))).  If there is one thing you should know from reading this blog it is that I believe I can do everything by myself.  I like power tools, and when I want something done I do it...  First of all I wanted Mark to put them up on Friday, but he didn't  :(  So on Saturday I decided to take the task on myself.  I am going to take you through the steps, and then I will tell you how to make it easier if you decided to take the task on yourself.

First I would like to say the directions for these blinds were garbage!  All it had was stupid pictures with no words so you had to imagine what to do...did I mention I don't have much of an imagination?  LOL

 Before picture.  Our blinds have been broken for a year and a half but the window is an odd size and the price of blinds was out of this world!  Lucky for me I caught an unbelievable Cyber Monday deal on new ones :)
 If you are replacing old cheapo blinds (like mine)  You will slide the plastic piece out and then you will be able to slide your old blinds out of their mount.You will pull the blinds straight out towards you.  Be sure to grab them from the top and it will also be easier if you draw the blinds up.  I couldn't do this since mine were broke.
In my case I had to put my mounts a 1/2" over on each side (that would total the 1" difference and you want the blinds to be centered)  I used the mount from my old blinds to be the guide for my new ones.  I took the mark and went over 1/2" and made my new mark to mount the new hardware.  If you haven"t removed your old hardware go ahead and do that now.  You should be able to remove it with a standard screwdriver.

:::Side Bar::::
Up until this part everything was going smooth.  It was the next part that sent me into a melt down.  So here I am going to explain what went wrong and save you from the same mistakes.  First of all these mounts are really tight since they mount inside the window.  It is very hard to turn the screw driver which lead me to getting the screws crooked.  So I decided to go get the electric drill (MISTAKE)  I ended up striping the screw and couldn't get it out.  Back to the shop to try a different tool...this time a ratchet wrench once again fail.  So back to the shop for another tool...a different drill which I decided to put a drill bit smaller than the screw to make a guided hole.  This would have worked except I had a screw stuck and half way hanging out of the hole which wouldn't allow the blind to slide in the mount.  So I decided to try the second mount.  In the mean time I had texted Mark in the middle of a melt down over getting the screw stuck and stripped out.  At this point I had stopped and took a few minutes to yell and scream, then I decided I needed some food to get my strength back up (LOL).  Needless to say Mark came home from hunting and fixed the first mount.  I had already got the second one in correctly by this time...so we will fast forward to the correct and easy way to do this.

:::Back to installation:::
So after you get your old mounts down it is time to put the new mounts.  For you ladies you will need a electric drill with a wood bit (gold bit) that is a little smaller than the screw you will be using.

Take your new mounts and hold them where you will be installing them.  Then take your drill and then drill your holes where your screws (probably 2) will be going using your mount as a guide.

After you drill your guide holes it should be easier for you to screw the screws into the casing of the window.  It makes a WORLD of difference!!!  (it took me just a minute to get the second mount on compared to all my problems with the first)

Now that you have your two mounts installed you can slide your new blinds into them.  Hopefully you will read this post before you start the process and you wont have to have a melt down like I did   :)

Now to the next step which I sorta messed up...yet again.  Since my window is an odd size my blinds were way to long and there was no way around not taking slats out  :(  If you buy your blinds in the store you can usually get them done at the store.  (please do this if at all possible)  I ordered my online so I didn't have that luxury.  As you can see they were excessively long.  Once again the directions were no help at all, so I had to wing it...YIKES! 

Seriously this situation was just as bad as the first mounting bracket, but once again I think my hard time can help you :) 

First of all make sure you are not cutting the main cord that links the blinds together.  It will be the one that goes all the way around and into the bottom of the blind.  There are rubber clips at the bottom of the blind that hold those cords in place.  Trace them and make sure you do NOT cut them.  When you are looking at your blind you will see you can pretty much slide the slats right out of the cords.  Take out as many as needed.  In my case it was 16 slats.  After you take all the slats you need to out you will see there are pieces of string that hold those slats in place they run horizontal.  You will need to cut those so you can move the bottom of the blind up.  Be SURE to leave the very last horizontal one so you can slide your base (the bottom piece that you can see in the picture under the gap where slats have been removed) 

After you have them out you will pop those plastic pieces on the bottom out and the cords will be exposed this is ok.  you will then have to take the bottom piece and slide it into the last horizontal strings. 

Now that you have that done you will pull the excess cord and tie the bottom into a knot.  You will take the other string (from the pieces you cut) and tie it around the bottom of the blind (make sure it's even on both sides)  Trim the excess string.

You will also trim the extra from the mail cord that you tied (knot it twice) and then place your plastic pieces (the ones you popped out) back on.

the only place where this caused me a problem is on one end I had to totally remove the main cord out of the guide holes (holes the cord feeds through) to move my main bottom piece into the last horizontal string.  I had a very difficult time getting the string back into the hole.  Finally I found a paper clip and used that to guide the string back through the hole.


it turned my house into a mess!!!

But they are way prettier than the ugly old ones :)  Completed!!!

I hope this will help some of you ladies if you ever decided to try to this yourself.  Did I mention these blinds were $120 bucks and I only paid $17.99 that right there made it worth all the troubles!!!

It has been a full weekend!  Friday night I had a get together to go to and then stuff to do when I got home.  Saturday night we had a birthday party and a Christmas party to go to.  Today I had to grocery shop and try to get things back in order for the week ahead.  I feel like I have been running the whole weekend.  It's good to be busy, but sometimes you just need down time.  Right?  Gezzz...back to work tomorrow  :(

So here are some pictures from our Friend Adam's Christmas party.  We had a great time!!!

Megan, Katie and Bronson

The boys (ha ha)

 everyone enjoying the entertainment  :)  (the guy singing...not the tv)

Do you have a drawer in your kitchen full of utensils???  I really use all mine...they all have a time and place to be used.  The truth is my drawer was so full that I could barley fit everything.  It was a pain in the butt when I needed one and I was digging through everything to try to find what I wanted. 

Problem solved...with this little gadget  :)

This is the Bamboo Turn About and it is $39.50 from Pampered Chef.

I have SO much stuff in this thing, it is unbelievable!!!  My drawer is empty and I still have a little space in this nifty gadget to put some more stuff.  It works perfect because it turns for easy access to all your utensils.  My old one was the box like style and since it was so tall I had to pull it out each time I wanted to get something out of it and wouldn't hold much stuff (which is why I had a drawer full of stuff).  Since this one is shorter it makes it easy to get the utensils out.  Another WIN for Pampered Chef and their products.  I think these folks are the smartest people on earth when it comes to the kitchen. 

Oh and I got a little Christmas present for myself...they arrived last week!


Sorry had to take the pictures with my cell phone...

My Pampered Chef knife set is here :)  I never knew I would be so happy about some knives.  It didn't come with the green ones.  Those are my color coated knives from Pampered Chef that I use daily.  The block had a few empty spaces for the steak knife set but since I don't have those yet I am using it for my color coated knives.  Eventually I will have the steak knives, but they are also very expensive so it will have to wait just a little while :(

I can't complain, I got a GREAT deal on these thanks to my favorite Pampered Chef lady ;)  Retail is $415.00.  These are going to last me forever...they make me very very happy!

Last week while we were on staycation I herd my husband on the phone with our dear friend Dusty.  He has been applying for jobs in the fire service and had just found out he was HIRED!!!!  We were extremely happy for him because he wanted this so bad.  So they decided to meet at a restaurant in town to celebrate.  I was in my pj's for the night at the time, but this was worth getting dressed and heading out.

CONGRATULATIONS DUSTY!!!!
The boys having a celebration drink :)

and this one is not from the other night, but it makes me laugh...I don't know what any of them are doing (LOL)