Leaving On a Jet Plane...

We are leaving in the morning to go to Texas.
Houston to be exact.
I've flown in and out of Texas quite a few times, but I've never seen outside of the airport.
This should be fun.
I wonder if I can take home an armadillo as a souvenir?
I think that would be an interesting pet.
What are armadillos anyway?

Funning looking creature.

I'm hoping to see lots of cowboy hats and boots...not the kind of boots you see in SC (you know the ones the girls try to pair with a itty bitty skirt. Taylor swift style.). No I hope to see chaps, wranglers and boots with spurs on them! Open fields and wild horses too!!

I probably won't see any of that.

We're going to be staying in the suburbs and I'll be spending my time helping to paint a baby nursery.

Baby Bambino is on the way and Uncle Sev and Auntie Linds want to help prepare for the little rascal before it gets here.

That is why we're headed out to Texas!

I hope to take pictures and share them soon!!

Adios blog world!
I'm leaving on a jet plane, I'll blog when I get back again =)

I DID IT!!!

I grew some herbs!

They may not be fit to eat once they reach full size, but I did it!!

I really didn't have much faith in myself.

I didn't have much hope in the herbs growing after I was informed that I had waited too late in the season to start them from seeds.

Then, after we had a huge rain storm, I walked outside and realized that my herb pots had been sitting too close to the house and the rain had run off of the roof and dumped right into my herbs, causing the soil and seeds to splatter all along the house siding. I scooped off the dirt, as best I could, and dumped it back into the containers. At that point, I had no hope left.

Though low and behold....look what I saw the other morning!









Those are chives you're looking at!! Baby chives! How cute are they?!

Well, at least I think they are chives, after the rain washed all of the soil and seeds onto the house, I really didn't know what was what after I scooped it up and tossed it haphazardly back into the pot. However, I'm fairly certain those are chives. I guess technically it could be parsley or oregano...technically...but who cares, I got herbs to grow!!

Is that not the cutest little parsley you have ever seen?

So far I have baby chives and baby parsley. Yesterday I looked and could actually see baby oregano poking out of the soil!

Below are my cilantro and dill plants!! I grew the cilantro from seed too. You're impressed, I know you are!!

The dill was already in plant form when I planted it, though I still have just as much love for it.

I'm a proud herb mamma.

Here we have basil and sage. How pretty are those babies??

I have absolutely no idea what to do with these herbs. We all know my cooking skills. I just wanted to see if I could grow them! and I did! I grew some herbs...and aren't they darling?!

Commitment Intervention

This past weekend went by so quickly, they all do.
However, this weekend I was actually productive! (just don't ask my mom if she agrees, she will probably tell you about the times I spent fussing about all the work she had me doing and then she will tell you about my commitment problem).
So, I'm going to go ahead and blog about my commitment problem.
I have a commitment problem.
When I make a purchase, I have a hard time removing the tags. Removing the tag means I HAVE to keep the item purchased. It's so final. After the tag is removed, there is no going back! I lose the feeling of "I can change my mind at any moment!" and move into the "I'm now stuck with it!" stage.
I once kept tags hanging from a brand new couch for 3 months. True story.
Who does that?
Me, that's who.

Mom and dad came into town on Saturday. My dad came to go fishing with Sev (imagine that) and my mom came to hold a commitment intervention. Well, she thought she was coming to help decorate and add the final touches to our new living quarters. Really, she was there to help me remove tags, finally decide where to hang pictures (after the pictures had been sitting on the floor below the spot where I was pretty sure I wanted them for over a month) and pick out items such as rugs, lamps, bedding and towels (because every time I thought I had found the item I needed, I couldn't commit and never made the purchase).

It took me over a month to finally decide on the furniture I wanted for our new living room.
We sold our living room furniture when we sold our house. For over a month I had a futon sitting in our new living room, serving the purpose of a couch.
This proved to be very inconvenient when we had guests over.
Something about four adults trying to share a futon just doesn't work.
Mom, with a huge push from Sev (basically he said "get in the car we HAVE to find a couch and chair today!!"), helped me pick out furniture.
Furniture shopping is hard for me. I'm afraid I'll decide on something and then run across something a day later that I like better. Therefore, I just don't buy anything...I'm always waiting on the best thing to come along. It's really just a commitment problem...have I mentioned I have one?

Saturday we got our new mattress and couch.
Mom made me remove the tag from the mattress, though I still think it's illegal (it says so right on the tag!).
I struggled with removing the tags from the couch.
I just couldn't do it. I was in commitment overload.
Just like with any disorder, you have to handle it one small step at a time people!
Mom finally had me hang all of the pictures, mirrors and decorations that had been adorning my floors. We had a minor set back in my intervention when we hung something and then gasp!!decided we didn't like where we had hung it! I knew it would happen! I'm just now getting over the nervous twitch it caused me to have ;-)

My problem runs deeper than with just house decorations and furniture.
Oh yes, it runs much deeper.
I also have a hard time committing to clothing!
I am notorious for buying clothing and leaving the tags on up until the second I'm actually running out of the door WITH that article of clothing ON!
Mom and I were actually in the parking lot of target when I had her remove a tag from the blouse I had on.
Oh yeah, it's that bad.

Mom and I accomplished a lot this past weekend.
I think the intervention went well.
The final test came when mom had to leave right after we picked out, purchased and placed the rug in my living room. My crutch had left. I had no one to help me make a commitment to the rug. I sat on the couch (the couch that still had tags hanging from it) and stared at the rug. I wrung my hands, I tilted my head from side to side, I squinted my eyes, I thought long and hard about it...and finally....I allowed myself to throw away the tag that was my ticket to returning it if I changed my mind. I made a decision to keep the rug. I was free! It was liberating! I had made a commitment!

Mom called awhile later and told me to keep the tags for the rug, just in case we ran across one we liked better....

**sigh**

I have a commitment problem, I think I got it honest.

I am no food blogger...

Nor will I ever be.
Well, I've already stated that I can not cook.
I've also made it known that I'm horrible when it comes to picture taking....oh I can take pictures just fine, I just forget to upload and share them.
I tried to make this recipe for dinner two nights ago.
Here is why I could never make it as a food blogger.


First, I forgot to take a picture of all of the ingredients that went into making the meal. I had already begun cooking the chicken when I realized that first important step...so I tried to hurry and catch up...


but how dumb and unorganized does that look?! **sigh**
Moving forward, I remembered to take a picture of the chicken during the cooking stage! But look at that chicken!! My chicken even looks yucky and all I've done is tossed it in a pan!

Then I tried to take pictures of the chicken as it was being cut into nice, thin, strips! However, someone (not naming names, but there are only two humans in my house and my arms are NOT that hairy!) kept stealing the chicken...


but then, even when I did get a picture of the chicken I had managed to cut...I realized that some things never change. Like the fact that I can-not-for-the-life-of-me cut meat! I can't do it. The night of my senior prom I actually had to have my best friend cut my steak for me, thankfully she and I had talked our dates into double dating, and she knew my lack of meat cutting skills. True story. I, obviously, still don't have the skill. My chicken just looks sad.


and the finished product!!!

Yeah, I forgot to take a picture of that....
it's why I'll never be a food blogger.
I skipped ahead and took a picture of the root beer floats we had for dessert instead...and even then I messed up the order of float making...I thought the ice cream went first. Sev informed me later that it goes in last, that is why I ended up with such a creamy mixture of foam. Whatever. The End.

PS. You may have noticed that the original recipe calls for GRILLED pineapple...don't judge me, okay, I'm trying!!

This Makes Me Smile

He is not ashamed.
He even sleeps with his tongue out!

Good Eats

I can't cook worth a flip.
I can't.
It's just not in my genes.
I love to look at pretty pictures of foods.
I love to flip through cookbooks and read all about different dishes.
I even look at some blogs that talk all about cooking.
I'm just no good at it.
I've come to terms with that fact. I'm OKAY with it.
So, if you read a recipe on my site or see me writing about some meal I have prepared, take my words, opinions, reviews with a grain of salt.

I came home from work yesterday and realized that I had not planned for dinner, haha..I'm laughing because I actually NEVER plan for dinner. Dinner just sort of happens for us. One of us finally gets hungry and starts to cook something or we each grab a bowl and pour some cereal in it. I've tried to follow the whole "cook every meal in" thing...I've blogged about trying to cook more...I have good intentions, it just doesn't happen for me.
Last night was really no different.
However, last night I had some veggies that HAD to be cooked, they were looking a little limp.
So, for dinner, I chopped up some green peppers, red peppers, potatoes and onions. I happened to have some left over sausage that we grilled last week, I cut it up too! I threw it all in a pan and warmed it up. Then I transferred the pile of chopped up yumminess onto a plate and beat together a few eggs, with milk, I don't know why I put milk in with the eggs I've just heard somewhere along the way that you're suppose to do that. Then I poured the eggs into a pan, I let them cook for a second and then dumped the chopped up goodies on top. Then I sprinkled on some cheese.
I had every intention of folding the eggs over nicely and creating an omelet of sorts, only, my egg didn't fold. My egg kind of creased, cracked and crumbled. Whatever.
I threw it all on a plate and handed it to Sev.
He smiled. He ate. He smiled again.
He called it "a whole bunch of good stuff wrapped in an egg".
It was a hit!

Does anyone out there have any yummy omelet recipes they want to share??

Mothers Day Weekend

Sev and I had a very nice mothers day weekend.
We spent Friday afternoon furniture shopping. We enjoyed dinner at the olive garden and then we came home and went to bed early.
We got up Saturday morning, before any normal person would willingly get up on a Saturday morning, and headed to the upstate.
We got to my parents house, after a quick stop at starbucks for me, just in time for Sev to hop in the car with my dad and take off to the lake for a day of fishing.
I can't stand fishing. It's too quiet of a sport. It's boring.
If I'm going to be out on a lake, strap me to a tube or ski's or a wake board...but pleasssse don't strap a fishing pole in my hands.
Something about waiting, quietly, for some slimy, bug eyed, scaly, fish to bite my hook...does nothing for me!
Now when I was younger, because I'm such a big daddy's girl, I would go fishing...JUST to spend time with my dad.
I hated every second of it, but I would go.
Strangely, the trips never lasted as long as the fishing trips dad took with my brother.
Our fishing trips typically went something like this: Dad would find himself unloading the boat by himself. 5 minutes after sitting quietly with our lines in the water, I would ask him a question "why is the sky blue?". He would tell me to "shhhhhhhush". 5 minutes later I would ask to go to the bathroom, dad would maneuver the boat to shore and try and hold the boat steady while I hopped out and "dad I can't find a good spot...dad what if a snake bites me...dad is this poison ivy?". 5 minutes after we got back out onto the lake I would ask him a question "why is the water green?". He would tell me to "shhhhhhhhush". 5 minutes later I would tell him I was hungry. I would sit and poke at the can of vienna sausages that dad had just handed me. 5 minutes later I would tell dad I didn't like vienna sausages. He would say "shhhhhhush". 5 minutes later I would be watching the little fish swim to the surface to eat the vienna sausage pieces I had begun to toss into the lake. 5 minutes later I would ask dad a question "Why aren't the fish biting?". I would get another "shhhhush" sometimes he would throw in a "you're scaring the fish away!"...which was silly because there were still plenty of fish eating on the vieanna sausage pieces. 5 minutes later I would tell dad I needed to go the bathroom again. This was usually when we would head back to the dock and load up to go home.
I can't stand fishing.
Severyn loves to fish. So Saturday he and dad went fishing while I got to spend the whole day with my mom and grandma.
Sometimes even daddy's girls need there mommy days!
Mom and I had a blast, just hanging out and shopping, talking, laughing, driving, eating and talking some more. Never once did she tell me to "shhhhhush".
Fishing is so overrated.

We slept in on Sunday morning and then went to my church with my grandma. It's one of her favorite things, her kids and grandkids going to church with her. She loves to tell everyone that "these are my kids and these are my grandkids...well no, that one is my granddaughters husband, you know he spent two tours in Iraq, it's sad you know the country is in a bad shape. You know I watch the news every night and it's just bad. These are just half of my kids, the other ones are with their other family. I'll see them later today with my great grandkids. You know I have great grandkids! I worry about the bad shape the world will be in when my great grandkids grow up. Did you hear about.....". Thankfully, everyone at grandmas church is very patient and very sweet. They all appeared to be very interested in who grandma had brought to church and they all agreed that the world was in bad shape. They all looked shocked that grandma could have great grandkids and still look so young, and usually they had even heard about whatever it was grandma had asked them if they had heard about ;)
I'm also a pretty big grandma fan. I love that I still get to spend mothers day with two women in my life that helped make me the woman I am today.

I'm definitely blessed and thankful that God gave me the mom he gave me, I know he hand picked her just for me!
I'm a day late but Happy Mothers Day to all of the mothers out there. I pray you had a wonderful weekend and I hope you got to spend it doing whatever it was you wanted to do....even if you spent if fishing (which I just don't know why you would, fishing is so overrated but whatever)!

The Person I Am

Just some random rambling, if for no one else but me. Just to keep my fingers busy and my eyes open.

It is currently slow at work.

That happens from time to time (ya think!? how else do I blog, the little that I do) slow moments at work.

I. Hate. Them.

I'm too much of a day dreamer. If I can't stay busy, I start to day dream. It's not healthy, at least, it is not healthy when you're suppose to be focusing on work.

Therefore, if there is a dull in my work day, I'll start to day dream, if I start to day dream and suddenly there is something for me to focus on, it is hard for me to get out of the day dreaming daze! **sigh** I realize now that I'm not a very good desk sitting-office dwelling-phone answering-order placing-computer staring person, it's just not me.

BUT I don't know exactly what kind of person I am called to be...so office dwelling person I'll remain, until I figure out what kind of person I am. ha.

ANYWAYS....

Sev and I planted a small garden, a little over a week ago.

We now have two tomato plants, one green pepper plant and one red pepper plant. We have room for a few more plants, but I can't decide what I want. I only want to plant what I know we'll use. I'm thinking, maybe, a strawberry plant.

I also planted some herbs; basil, dill, sage, chives, oregano, flat parsley, and cilantro...I ADORE cilantro. Sadly, I started the chives, oregano, flat parsley and cilantro from seeds and I heard (okay, my cousin actually informed me, after she laughed at me for not knowing) that if you're going to start from seed, you need to start earlier in the season...and start the seedlings indoors. We'll see how well my herbs grow...I have hot apple pie in the sky hopes! (I do not know where that came from, it's been years since I've heard that song...it's crazy how my mind works,lol)

I was also doing so well saving up for my compost! My only problem, I was doing great when it came to saving the scraps...just not so great at finding a compost bin...and you can't let fruit rinds and veggie clippings sit for very long before you get gnats! Therefore, all of my compost savings went directly into the garden. haha. Severyn put up a bit of a fuss, but then, when he realized there was no arguing with me, he just tilled the garden up...soil, fertilizer,fruit rinds, veggie clippings and all.

I looked out the window this morning, after we had a nice little rain last night, and thought someone had thrown toilet paper in my garden!...alas it was the corn husks that had come unearthed. **sigh** I should really save the gardening for someone else! I'm definitely NOT a garden person either.

I attempted this recipe last week.

A baked lemon pasta maker...I am NOT.

It did not turn out, whatsoever, as delicious as I had hoped.

Though, the recipe has received very high ratings...therefore, I think maybe it was just me and maybe the way I made the pasta, that turned out not so delish.

I was sad, I LOVE lemon! (just about as much as cilantro, possibly more). A cook, I'm not. A lemon lover I am!

I purchased this ring, in the below picture, over the weekend.

At first I thought it might be a bit too...I don't know...over the top.

I even had to ask Stephanie 3 (or 4...maybe 5) times "are you sure it's not too much?" before I would commit.

However, I must be a blingy-on-the-verge-of tacky ring wearing person...because I like it!

(note: the ring is actually prettier in person, I think anyways)

I am also addicted to Starbucks...yes, I'm definitely THAT kind of person. It's sad really, the level of my addiction, but everyone has a vice! I'm working on mine, promise! okay not really...but I've thought about it!!

So, there is a little bit of random information on the person I am =) Happy Tuesday!!

Cousins, Camera phones and a Concert in Columbia

Sev and I had a great weekend, well aside from the fact that Sunday afternoon Sev took a nasty little spill off of his dirt bike, and now has pretty nasty strawberry on his arm....other than that, we had a lovely weekend!

Friday night Sev and I grilled steak and corn on the cob for dinner, it was delish. After dinner, I tried to rush around and pick our house up as best I could. We have yet to get everything unpacked, but we were expecting Jon and Steph to come in sometime Friday night.

I went ahead and prepared the first part of baked french toast, a recipe I stole off of my cousins blog. We stayed up fairly late on Friday night, ust chatting and hanging out. For some reason, Steph and I never run out of things to talk about when we're together. We found ourselves crawling in bed @ 2am!!

The next morning, I got up and prepared the praline topping for the french toast before popping it into the oven and then the four of us went outside to lounge on the back deck. We had been on the back deck for no longer than 10 or 15 minutes when Sev went to open the door, to go back inside, and realized.....we were locked out!!

Here we were, Steph and I in our PJ's, and barefooted. For a split second I panicked. WHAT were we going to do!? Then I remembered leaving a window open, just the other day, for no reason what-so-ever only, when I went to shut and lock it I thought "I should leave this window unlocked, it's up high and it will come in handy if we ever get locked out of the house!" (No I can not predict the future, I just got lucky on that one!).

Sev and Jonathan were able to get the window open, then I crawled onto Sevs shoulders and he lifted me into the window. It was a SITE!! We were all laughing and I was so thankful we did not have a camera!! That is...until I realized that Stephanie DID have a camera phone....and she DID take pictures...and that was the moment I cursed camera phones!

We enjoyed or breakfast. I was pretty pleased with the new recipe! It reminded me of a cross between french toast and cinnamon rolls. YUMMY!

Steph and I took our time shopping on Saturday. We met the boys at the mall and shared a food court lunch. Then the guys left and Steph and I continued picking out clothes to wear to the concert that evening. We headed home around 5pm, got dressed, and headed out the door around 6pm. We had a quick dinner at Wild Wings and then walked to Colonial Life Arena, in downtown Columbia, for the Carrie Underwood concert.

Steph and Jonathan right before the concert started:

Craig Morgan:

Craig Morgan walked directly in front of us, on two different occasions. It was pretty neat, I just wish I would have gotten a better picture of him when he was right in front of us. The below picture was after he had gotten a few rows down from us.

Sev and I right before Carrie came out! (I don't know why I have that silly look on my face, but it's the only picture I got of the two of us.):

Carrie Underwood!!! I can't blame Sev for having a crush on her, she really is a beautiful person and her voice is amazing!!

Sevy, blowing Carrie a kiss, hehehe.

We really did have good seats!!

Carrie changed outfits...a LOT! Here she is swinging from a huge tree limb (sorry I didn't get a better picture of the tree limb she was swinging from).

This was probably the coolest part of the concert. She got into the bed of a truck and was lifted out and above the audience. She flew right above our heads, we could only see the underside of the truck, it was pretty neat:

Carrie really is a talented singer. I love how real she is and how she really appears to be grounded in her faith, even with all of the fame. My favorite part of the show was when she sang "Temporary Home" and "Jesus Take the Wheel". I think it takes a lot of guts to sing songs like that, in today's society, and Carrie belted those songs out perfectly, obviously not a bit afraid of what people might think of her! (of course it probably helps that she could sing "I'm a little tea pot" and people would still adore her, ha).

It was a GREAT weekend! We had a blast spending time with our cousins/friends. Sevy said he can now die a happy man, LOL. I wish I had gotten more pictures, but my camera died before the show was over. Sev, however, used his camera phone to capture a few more pictures and videos...and that was when I decided camera phones weren't all that bad.