Fill in the blank Saturday...

February 26, 2011

...because I rarely get my act together on Friday.

1. I am currently obsessed withthis iPad Jeremy got me for my birthday! I honestly had no clue he was getting it. I thought I was only getting my new cross body purse from Vera Bradley. Needless to say the purse an iPad made this the best birthday ever. I'm using it to blog now by the way.

2.Today I amhappybecauseI am getting to spend the weekend hanging out with my family and my husband I rarely see.

3. The age I am is25and the age I feel is17. I don't feel this old at all, but love the idea of being 25! For some reason I feel like I'll get treated like an adult an not like a kid at work. I'm also in a new age bracket, no longer 18-24, I'm now 25-31 whoo hoo!

4. My favorite place is, right now, wherever Jeremy is. Sucks not seeing your husband but every once in awhile. Other than that, anywhere with snow.

5. Something I've been procrastinating ishomework. I despise doing grad school assignments. I also need to clean my car.

6. The last thing I purchased wasgas. And I nearly cried pumping $45 worth of fossil fuel into my Mustang that only holds 12 gallons. Gas is going to cause me to need a second job.

7. The thing I love most about my home is, this is a hard one with the hubs being gone an having two roomies. But I love all my antique furniture, it makes me happy just to sit in my Lincoln rocker an do my devotion every morning.

Hope you guys can read this, it only let me use HTML mode...
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{weekend before last}

February 24, 2011

 I can't believe I have put this post this far off. Procrastinate much? Here are the pics from V-Day weekend. Let's start with the snow day, Thursday 2-10-11.
{thursday}
 Why the guilty look Maddie?
 Oh, that is because nothing says boredom like eating my boot/slippers.
 I got payback though. I ate my Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich next to her, and didn't share.
{friday}
 We went back to work on Friday even though there was still a good 2 inches of snow everywhere. I took this pic at 3:20pm after most of it had melted and the temperature was around 40 or 50.
 My ever so classy husband gave me my VDay present early. He told me not to post but I thought it was hilarous! {I had told him not to get me anything but a card} He walked into my parents house holding a WalMart bag he had tied the handle into a bow on. It contained the following, the bear, some strawberry marshmallow candy, my card, and fuel injector. Priceless!
{saturday}
 While watching the baby wander around the back yard with my Dad I realized he was now breeding pigeons, or doves. Whatever the heck they were. I had never seen a baby piegon though, so this was really cool...and really ugly. I was young enough that its beak was still soft.
 {sunday}
 Nap time, my dogs are always looking for someone to nap on.
 I thought this was just as weird as can be. Ellie has never wanted to sleep on me like this...at least since she was a 4lb puppy. But that is what Ellie wanted, so Ellie got it. I had the worst neck cramp afterward by the way.
 Valentine's dinner at Biscuits & Blues. We had their crawfish & mushroom stuffed beignet.
 Aren't they sweet? They love to share. Gross.
 This my friends is a picture of jealousy. When Laura picked up Ellie, Joshua walked up...bent over...and stuck his head under the dog as a means of pushing her out of the way. I think he has watched Ellie do that to much.
 It kind of worked.

 But he wasn't content sharing a lap.
 So out Ellie went.
Now someone please explain to me why you can't share your Mom's lap but you can share your cookie?

Hope you all had a good weekend before last...or that you at least managed to post about yours sooner than I did! Ha!
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{what i wore wednesday}

February 23, 2011

Guess what...my demonic phone didn't lose my picture:)
Welcome the the 2nd edition of {what i wore wednesday} at Louisiana Bride.(you can join in at The Pleated Poppy) Hope you enjoy my attempt to dress cute and not have to drag out the ironing board. (Because no one want to iron at am)Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think...or give a suggestion to salvage this lazy teacher's wardrobe.
................
Thursday
The "I just hadn't worn the new top to work yet" outfit.
Orange ruffle top-Target
White long sleeve shirt-Target
Mary Tyler Moore denim{ish}pencil flood pants-Gap
Burlap Toms
...........
Friday
Breaking the law...Breaking the law
{you know what song I'm talking about}
Old Navy jean jacket-
a staple for this teacher lady with a crazy AC.
ULM Week of Welcome tshirt circa 2009
Purple whistle-Teacher mart:)
Brown cargo pants-Target
Burlap Toms
{this was pre-spilling red liquid down my shirt and running into the head honcho wearing a non-dress code top}
Bad Hair day-humidity
...
After a few hours at school drenched in humidity I had to make a hair appointment. My fav hair guru Millicent fixed me right up and on cut the mess so it was on track to grow back out.
Someone needs to clean this mirror.
.......
Saturday
Mental Floss
"A friend when you're in hot water" shirt-Mental Floss
Jeans-American Eagle circa 2007
Toms
..............
Sunday
Spring is in the air
Blue dress- Gap
Brown wedges-Gap
Necklace-Forever 21
The beloved jean jacket-Old Navy
...............
Monday
Heart to Home Night
Green VNeck-Forever 21
Tank-WalMart
Long & Lean Gap jeans
Burlap Toms
.................
Tuesday
Staff Development=Breaking the Dress Code
ULM Indians shirt circa 2005{I can't let it go}
Gap Jeans
Burlap Toms
..................
Wednesday
Uber comfy duty day in the PreK room
Yellow VNeck-Danskin
Tank-WalMart
Brown cargo pants-Target
Burlap Toms
................
Holy cow I had no idea I had been in jeans and a T for a week straight! Oh well, it was comfy. Today's outfit looks kinda military in the pic to me. 
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{sad face}

February 22, 2011

     Needless to say my "What I Wore Wednesday" post may be a no go this week. As well as a few days of Project 365. 
     On my way into the house after work today I dropped my Droid. That didn't go over well either. Everything works fine, except the screen. People can call, I can  answer. I just can't see a darn thing. Not good. Because of this I have been trying to connect my phone to my computer, blindly. Without being able to see when I am clicking I am afraid I won't be able to save my pictures before the new phone comes in. 
     Perfect example of why no one should procrastinate, I thought about working on both of those posts yesterday,but completely put them off. So let's see how getting a new phone goes, the Verizon guy swore the phone would be in tomorrow. I thought about explaining to him how I live in this town alone and my only way to contact anyone in case of an emergency would be with my now broken phone. He didn't even want to do what I needed at first because for some reason Jer is the primary and that means I mean nothing to them, I had to have his social # and his phone #, I know neither. Sad right. He wanted me to call my husband, after I had just told him I didn't know his number...oh how technology has demolished my need to remember phone numbers. I would have had to call my Mom to get his number, because the only number I know is my parent's home phone number. Lord help me is they ever get rid of it! I will be entirely lost. 


Point of this being. No phone = no pictures =no posts for the next few days. {sad face}

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Consider it pure joy.

February 20, 2011

***warning long post that goes on and on. 
That phrase has been in my head constantly since our Life Group did a study on James. (we are supposed to have it memorized by March 31 Oh no!) Consider it pure joy. Consider it pure joy. The other phrase that stuck with me was "In the same way" from James. But "consider it pure joy" just ate me alive.

Why you ask? Because I am a pessimist, a huge pessimist. I see the cup half full, people for who they are and not who they want me to believe they are, & take the world at its cynical best. I can't entirely help it, it's my nature. My undergraduate advisor (since I was a Psych major he was a Psychologists...a clinical one at that. Hence the evaluation of my personality) told me I was the most cynical college student he ever met. He intended it as a compliment. He also said that most people from small towns see everything as flowers and butterflies...but I didn't.

Now I can't take away my cynical view of people, but I can tuck it nicely away and allow myself to be more positive. It is hard to be positive. The world makes it hard to be positive. The world is hard, mean, and vicious and would love to steal your joy every second of every day. I tend to let it.

There are so many things that allow me to have a sour mood, but recently I finally had a positive thought towards one of my most pessimistic thoughts this year.

School is hard and work is hard. This generation of kids is very apathetic. Nothing makes teaching harder than apathy. If I could erase all the apathy in the world everyone would have an easier job. Especially teachers. 


But then I head my husband say it back to me, agreeing that the situation I'm in is hard. Once he agreed with me the negative popped out of my head for some reason and my thought changed to:

Even though this is a hard year it will make me a better teacher. It will make me 100 times more grateful when one day I have it easier. I thought last year was hard, but it was way easier. Yeah, first year of teaching with zero experience and zero education class anything, but there were things that made it easier. (like having the best partner teacher ever) Maybe, I will learn a way to break the apathy. 


That is my new goal. If I can change one apathetic person this year, be it some random dude on the side of the road, I have completed my goal. I pray everyday that God gives me the wisdom to deal with the things thrown at me that day and to open the students hearts to allow them to learn that day.

I know teachers probably thought we were apathetic, and their teachers thought the same of them. But it is a fact. Teen and preteens are an apathetic group of humans. There has got to be some sort of trick to break that trend.
...................................
Want to know something else I have had to consider pure joy.


 Jeremy moving for graduate school while I can't leave. I could sulk until I am blue in the face. But God knew what he was doing by not letting J in the program in the Fall. Had he entered in the fall I would have gone as well, putting us on one teacher salary and forcing me to drive nearly 5 hours once a month and pay to have my supervisor drive to me once a month to observe my class. Expensive. To expensive for one poor teacher salary. At the time I didn't understand why he didn't get in at the time. But today it hit me, schools down there want teachers with Master's +5 years experience. Had I gone last year I would have had 1 year experience and working on a Master's.

Did I see any of that then. Nope. Hindsight is something else.

So...
Consider it pure joy, my brothers (or sisters), whenever you face trials of may kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 NIV


Shouldn't there be some sort of side note in that that say "because you have no idea what you're doing and God will show you why you went through this later". Lately I've been thinking back a lot (maybe because of all my alone time) and realizing that things went they way they did so that I could stand where I stand today with the beliefs I have. Had things gone a different way I'd be a different person. I may not understand why right now, but I will see why later. Because this all develops perseverance.

If your still with me...sorry for the crazy long post. I've just been thinking about this today. Had to spit it out. However, I think this is one random hodge podge of considering. I need to work on my flow...because my thought took a turn big time.
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meat-free/man-free wk6

Here we go, week 6. Surprisingly this weekend was meat free as well. I thought about ordering out last night but instead decided to make a vegan Pad Thai, that just happened to also be gluten free. Funny how when you eat something with that much peanut butter in it you don't really miss the meat. I'll put my recipe for Pad Thai at the bottom of the post. Now for this upcoming week's menu.


Breakfast:
Odwalla Chocolate Protein Monster (protein shake)


Snack:
Banana
Light Yoplait yogurt


Lunch:
Spinach salad w/ fat free honey dijon dressing
Salad add ins: shredded carrots, croutons, dried cranberries


Dinner:
Mushroom and Spinach Quesadilla


I am cutting back on my massive carb intake from last week...I gained weight. Now if only they would invent a pasta that would cause you to lose weight, I'd be in business.


Now for that Pad Thai
.....................................................................
Vegan Pad Thai
Ingredients:
Brown Rice Noodles
1/3 c reduced fat chunky peanut butter
1/4 c water
1/4 c low sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp chili paste (sriracha) or a few dashes of cayenne pepper (whatever you have)
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 c shredded carrots
1 c bell pepper julienne
1 c yellow onion julienne
1 c mung beans (bean sprouts)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1 bunch of green onions for garnish


Directions:
Boil pasta as according to package directions. 


Saute onions, bell pepper, and garlic until softened. Add carrots and saute for another minute. Until carrots are beginning to soften, but still crunchy. Set aside.


After pasta is done, removed from pot and strain. While pot is still hot add remaining ingredients and stir until peanut butter is melted and ingredients are mixed well. Add in pasta and vegetables. Combine and garnish with chopped green onion. 


**This is my basic recipe, when I make it for J I usually add shrimp or chicken, but beef would be tasty too.
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FITBF-on a Saturday...again

February 19, 2011


{If you're wondering what this espresso shot has to do with this week's questions, 
you can stop.  It has no relevance.  I just liked this photo I took :)}


1.   I am       loud, opinionated,and bossy. I love my dogs more than most people. And recently stress has caused my eye to twitch every time I get irritated. I like to cook and love to eat. I wish I could be rail thin and eat carbs like it was nobody's business everyday. I think Flan should be a food group, and a healthy one at that. I adore my husband and think my family is functionally dysfunctional. I come from a crazy bunch, but they have helped shape the crazy person I am today. More than once in a conversation my husband will tell me to not talk so loud   .

2.  The bravest thing I've ever done was    let a nurse draw blood for a flu test. If any of you even remotely have the low pain threshold I seem to maintain you will understand how brave this is. My mother didn't feel my pain though, she told me a {at the time}21 yr old should not cry over getting blood drawn. That won't be the last please don't draw my blood hissy fit for this chica  .

3.  I feel prettiest when      my  {long} hair was curled, I had on makeup, and some cute outfit. But now a days I am just happy when this short hair looks like I want it to. Like Tuesday   .

4.  Something that keeps me awake at night is    Everything! I have, since August, morphed into a 3 month old. I wake up constantly during the night and never sleep past 4. Today I made it 6am PTL! I have self diagnosed as having a stress problem, hence the eye twitch at work   .

5.  My favorite meal in the entire world is     depending on my mood, Johnny Pizza, Pasta, Fro-yo, or any dessert in general. I don't have a "favorite" because my favorite changes monthly  .

6.  The way to my heart is        through food and the understanding that I need occasional retail therapy. Guess I am lucky to have a husband who doesn't mind that I need to buy new clothes every once in awhile {even though we are on a major save streak due to college}.    .

7.  I would like to       be out of school, settled down, living in a house with my husband that we bought, and for both of us to have jobs somewhere we want to be that make us happy more than irritated. But that is in the 4 year plan. We are apparently professional college students     .
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{what i wore wednesday}

February 16, 2011

I have been reading OOTW posts forever and decided to document my teacher/lazy wear. Maybe this will give me some motivation to dress prettier more often...other than just for work. If you want to participate you can link up at The Pleated Poppy.
.............................
Thursday
Snow Day Styling-I like to be comfy when I am not going anywhere. Whitney would kill me for this (after I read her tweet about legging the other day).
Sweatshirt-Bayou Diseard Country Club(stole from an ex)
Oversized TShirt-ULM
Leggings-(cause they are so dang comfy)Target
Shoes-Old Navy (may they RIP, Maddie ate them that night)
***to justify my actions my shirt covered my butt and I was spending the day cleaning, watching tv, and doing homework.
..................
Friday
Jean Day
Sweater-got it thrifting
Black Cami-Charolette Russe
Jeans-Gap Long & Lean (most comfy EVER)
Ruffle Flats-Payless
..................................
Saturday
Kelly's Kids Warehouse Brawl
No pic
Gap Jeans
Toms
Meriwether band tee
...................................
Sunday
Church & Date Day
Gap Jeans
Rossette flats-Payless
Ruffle top- Target
Blank Shirt-Target
Watch-XOXO
Same for VDay dinner except with a white shirt & burlap Toms
.................
Monday
Jury Duty Day got cancelled--so I drove back to Funroe
Natchez ballon festival shirt
Old Navy workout shorts
New Balance tennis shoes
...................
Tuesday
Back to the Grind of Work
Not the most creative outfit ever...but so comfortable! I may not be the most fashionable person ever...but I had a great hair day.
Old Navy jean jacket
Forever 21 white v-neck
Target-brown cargo pants
Toms-burlap shoes
................................
Wednesday
Duty Day
Owl Headband (ie bad hair day)-Claire's
Cowl neck purple top-Target
Gap Favorite Khakis
Nothing says I don't have a ponytail holder and I woke up to early like trying to take a rubber band out of your hair when you get home.
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meat-free/man-free wk5

February 14, 2011

Another meat free week. Considering how little groceries I had in my buggie I was shocked when it totalled $30. But over the years I have noticed groceries going up and up with no end in sight. Oh and after this past weekend of Valetine Dating, pizza date with the parents, and Mom and I making Pioneer Woman Sliders with fried onions and potato logs....don't think I have had no meat what-so-ever. I eat a bit on the weekends, but week days are totally meat free.

Now for what I am eating this week.


Breakfast:
Whole wheat toast w/ pumpkin butter
Odwalla Chocolate Protein Shake

Snacks:
String cheese
bananas
apples w/ caramel sauce (70 cal per serving)
dried apricots
Flan (I had a calorie splurge issue)

Lunch:
Pasta Salad- carrots, red bell pepper, green onion, corn, peas,(sauce) ranch packet, 6 oz nonfat greek yogurt, 2 oz fat free mayo, whole wheat pasta
**yes I know mayo has egg in it...but you really can't get completely away from the mayo taste without missing something in pasta salad.

Dinner:
Raisin Bran w/ Almond Milk
or
Boca "Chicken" Sandwich w/ baked sweet potato fries

After eating a 1/4lb of cracklings again this weekend it became very apparent that I could never be more than a week day vegetarian. However, today for lunch I ate an entire Kashi vegetarian pizza all by my lonesome...but I didn't eat breakfast so that explains the hunger. Oh & I think I should clarify...if it doesn't have a face I will eat it during the week. Eggs in my flan and mayo mean nothing to me since I don't eat much of them. I am basically just cutting out animals that had legs. To date I've lost about 6 lbs just by cutting out meat 5 days a week.
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Day Late & a Dollar Short: FITBF & SUYL

February 12, 2011

*if you are here from FITBF scroll on down, I did a 2 in 1 post:)
Today at Kelly's Korner the Show Us Your Life topic is Beauty Secrets.
Now I don't have a ton, but there are a few things I do, like for instance:

1. My Nanny told me on my 21st birthday I had to start using Pond's Cold Cream at night to remove makeup and wash my face. And I have ever since, because Nanny said so. My great great aunt has been using it FOREVER and looks no where near her age. Who knows if it is genes or what...but I use it to take off my makeup.
2. To get more volume in my ever so flat hair I part it the opposite direction I wear it when I am letting it dry, blow drying, and (now that it is shorter) straightening it. At the last minute before I leave I flip it the right way. Otherwise I am way flatter way faster. 
3. Face masks. There is one cheap mask I find at Fred's for $1 that is an astringent, it clears up blackhead like crazy. I also use a mud mask. Basically any mask that swears to get rid of something and is cheap. They relaxes me...and helps clear up my skin that belongs to a 15 yr old once a month.
4. Don't drink soda. I rarely drink any cokes, only when J is around and I don't have a drink so I sip out of his. Anyway, back to the point. I only drink water or those sugar free flavored add in things for water. I didn't think it was doing much other than saving calories until I went for a facial in January and the first thing the lady said to me when she started was "you much drink a lot of water". Apparently people who know what they are looking for can tell a difference when they look at your skin. I sure can't
............................................



1.   The TV show/website that I watch/read that I would be embarrassed to tell anyone about is       My husband is all the time on my case about watching Real Housewives and that show about the polygamist family, basically any reality show. I'm not embarrassed, but he is for me .

2.  An item of clothing that is worn and torn but that I love far to much to throw away is    my "skinny" jeans. They are in good shape, but I am not. The only time in my life they fit perfect was when I had my wisdom teeth out and lost 15lbs. Since then I wore them once. My goal is to fit in them, but I like food to much   .

3.  My grocery store impulse buy is       Snickers, or Reese's, I can not resist chcolate. Those are my two favorite candy bars, but I am not biased...chocolate (decent coco) is chocolate   .

4.  Something I do at work to pass time that I wouldn't want my co-workers to know about is    I make lists and paint my nails. I also play on my phone, big teacher no no  .

5.  One thing in my life that I could give up, but never will is     TV, it has gotten pretty trashy (&expensive)but I love watching food shows and History Channel to much .

6.  A little indulgence that I have is        Orange Leaf fro-yo, it is to expensive but I love it none the less.      .

7.  The junk drawer/area in my house is       two drawers, a closet, and some cabinets in the laundry room. Lord help me! It all has to go when we move. PTL for moving, without it my house would never get cleaned haha. I love the purging that comes with moving     .

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My email is cracked out.

February 10, 2011

I just realized, after not recieving hardly any emails saying I had blog comments, that my email was sending everything I would actually read to spam. It has sent friend emails to spam. And even ULM emails to spam. What on earth?!

I just spent the past 40 minutes un-spaming a ton of emails.
I also spent that time reading emails and blog comments I never got to read and just laughed out loud. (Especially at Nicki who said her son also says "feels like junk" to everything, and Mrs. Cristi who said she has been married so long she no long has single behavior!)

Which brings me to this...PTL for the blog and Twitter community. You ladies are so encouraging and hilarious. On bad days it really is a pick-me-up to read blogs, comments, and tweet sweet URL friends.

I love reading your blogs, and love getting comments and reading them too. Thank you all for reading and taking the time to comment on my little blog. It really makes my day.

.............................
On another note, I am planning to go to Beth Moore's Living Proof Live in Little Rock, AR in April. If any of you are going let me know, we could make this a blogger meet-up.
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