Surviving Life

Attempts at Craftiness

2011-09-13T23:02:00.000-04:00

I don't know what has gotten into me, but lately all I want to do is sit around and make things and occasionally bake or cook. Gift baskets are something I've started making for my friends who are having babies. I try to find out their room colors of them and do something that matches. Here are some of my recent ones.

Ladybugs and sunflowers

Flowers for Rori

Argyle in brown and blue

Rock star girl in pink and zebra

I LOVE making these. They are useful because the baskets can be used for storage later, and they are hand-made which is special. I know my friends appreciate the time I put into making the decorations and picking out each gift off their registry to go in them. I've had a few people tell me I could probably sell these with the recent boom in diaper cakes. I don't know if I'll try that, but they sure are fun.

P.S.....I make diaper cakes too! :)

Sports-themed cake

Froggy cake

Never Forgotten. Forever Grateful.

2011-09-11T21:14:00.000-04:00

My feelings on 9/11 are different than others. It is certainly a day we will all remember in our own way. I remember where I was, what I was doing, who I was with. I had a professor in college that worked for FEMA and I remember the pictures she brought back and showed us after her work in New York. Some of those images will be with me forever. I hear the media pieces put together on the radio with audio of the 911 calls, cockpit audio and news broadcasts and I just can't listen. I don't like the remember the day in that way. I choose to pause and remember that because of what happened, our country became stronger and closer. We became more patriotic and more grateful for our armed services and public servants.

Today I simply say God bless the people that lost their loves and those that gave their lives. The link below is an audio my husband put together that was played on radio stations and in churches throughout the country today. Its message is very positive, and that's why I share it today.

Let's also remember today that there are still thousands of men and women overseas fighting every day to give a voice to the over 3,000 people that lost their life that day.

Silent Night Tribute

Hello Fall!!

2011-09-05T22:34:00.001-04:00

I woke up this wonderful Labor Day to 75 degree temperatures! It has been a beautiful holiday weekend. The Lord blessed us! We were pretty quiet...I was happy to dig out my fall/Halloween decorations in preparation for their placement among my new pumpkin spice/cinnamon roll candles throughout the house. In case you can't tell this is my favorite time of year. It is a sign that Christmas is getting closer! :)
So, I FINALLY had a successful baking venture....well, after another unsuccessful one. Saturday I thought I'd try red velvet cheesecake brownies for football munching. Total fail. Still not sure what happened, I followed the directions to the tee. Tonight I made a big batch of cupcakes with homemade buttercream icing and they were delicious! Thankfully I don't have to hang up my apron yet. I also invested in a new fancy Crock -Pot that is programmable for all the wonderful new recipes we're trying. I don't know why I haven't used mine more; it's so easy and my dinner is ready when I get off work!

In baby news, I feel like we're ready to start moving forward. Where we're going...not quite sure. A home-study is the first thing (we did not need one with a simple family adoption). I have spoken with an agency already, so we will be getting started in the next couple of weeks. I thank you all for your kind words and support during this time!
Next post I hope to have pictures of baking and decorating to share with you! Have a wonderful week-it's a short one yay!

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Goings-on

2011-08-30T22:42:00.000-04:00

First of all, my weekend baking disaster. So, I got the wild idea to bake a nice cake for a co-worker's birthday. It was a double-layer cake with homemade butter cream frosting and flowers down one side. It was pretty simple....well, I thought. The first cake I thought I overcooked. I later learned it would have been perfect. The second I didn't cook for quite as long, and when I took it out of the pan it completely fell apart. I had another mix, so I tried again, and it came out fine. I left them to ice in the morning before work. My icing by the way...perfect!!! So delicious. When I got up Monday morning to ice the cakes, I picked up one to put on top of the other........and it fell apart. Darn!!! After an emergency trip to Wal-Mart for cupcakes I decided to stick to cooking on top of the stove lol!!

On the food subject, I found this awesome website called www.crockpotgirls.com. They also have a Facebook page. It is amazing!!! I have already found a ton of recipes I want to try out. These ranch pork chops we made were so easy. Two cans of cream of mushroom soup, 2 packages of dry ranch seasoning and a few bone-in pork chops is all you need. We cooked them for 4 hours on high and they turned out perfect!

Ranch pork chops

So, I decided to go back to crafting since I seem to have better luck with these activities. This is the fall wreath I made....what do you think? It was really inexpensive; the wreath was $5 at Wal-Mart and the leaves were 40% off at a local craft store. I think it cost me about $15 total. I'll try to get some better pics when I get it put up outside. I am ready for fall, 66 days of 100+ weather is enough! I found some CUTE ideas for my Thanksgiving decorations, I can't wait to start on them.

Not bad for a first try!

College football season kicks off this week and as you know if you've read my blog, that means I am one happy girl! My t-shirts are out and ready for Saturday wear. :) Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Boring Ol' Me

2011-08-29T22:44:00.001-04:00

I wish I had something interesting to write about. I've been weak lately with interesting blogging! But, I'm working on a fun post about my weekend and the return of college football!!!!! So hang in there and I'll try and dazzle you! :)
On a cooking note, I discovered www.crockpotgirls.com. Ah-ma-zing! I am trying a couple of recipes this week, I'll let you know how they turn out!

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Thinking WAY too far ahead!

2011-08-22T22:53:00.001-04:00

So I know this is random, and I'm planning months in advance....but surely if you've read my blog for long, that doesn't come as that big of a shock! :) We are having Thanksgiving at our house this year, so I want it to be special. I've already planned my Christmas trees (yes, TREES!) out, and am searching for a new dining room table because the one we have is just too small for our dining room. Do you know of any good magazines, websites, etc. with some good table decorating ideas? I would love to incorporate fall colors to my table somehow, but I don't really want leaves and cornucopias on my table! Id like something a little more elegant. I'd appreciate any help on ideas!! Thanks!

I am off to bed, work was CRAZY busy today! Have a wonderful week!

Blog Swap

2011-08-17T10:27:00.007-04:00

I participated in 20 Something Bloggers Blog Swap. It's a really great chance to get to know a fellow blogger and gain some new readers. Here is my guest post from Amy!

Hiya I'm Amy, I am 23 and I am thankful to Candice for her blog post and for allowing me to post here. I am from Dudley which is a town right in the middle of the UK.

I would like to say I am the typical 'English Rose', I love the summer but my skin cannot take it and I burn, and I love afternoon tea. I am by no means high society or anywhere near the rich and famous but me and my partner live a comfortable life in our own house which in the UK is a rarity at our age. I started my blog that I am swapping with today not so long back but I have been blogging for a fair few years. I started with one blog which was about everything in my life, my on-line diary so to say. Then I realized there was so much going on with my life that I I decided i would get more of a select group of people reading if I split it up and made a few different ones. I had a wedding one for when I was planning my wedding with the dreaded ex-boyfriend (so glad I finally saw him for what he really was in time). At the same time I had one about my struggles with my fertility just like Candice which was also with the ex. That was about my journey from being diagnosed right up until we signed the forms for IVF but as the relationship fell apart so did my dreams of being a mother. Not all is lost though as now I have 2 active blogs, the one I have swapped with today which is mostly about my adventures with my fur baby Mimi who is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, there are a few other bit and pieces in there too but mostly lots of pictures.

Then my other blog is about how my life has changed since I met my current partner who has weekend custody of his 2 children and how I am coping going from a 23 year old who thought she may never have children, to jumping right in there with a 5 year old and a 1 year old, it is hard work so I need somewhere just to lay down my thoughts.

Sorry about my waffling on, now to the post.

So, the post is about Summer and as it is almost over it is fair to say it has been an eventful one. I have moved out of my family home for the first time earlier this summer to live with my partner, which was such a shock to me after having my mother there everyday who is my bestfriend, to there just being the 2 of us. Well I say the 2 of us if you count the children at the weekend and our pets there is plenty of company to go around. We have my dog Mimi, then we have my partners dog Daisy, my rabbit Bob, a snake called Mython (named by my 5 year old step daughter but its not a python) then our 2 fish called Fish and Chips.

I have also had to aid my dog in recovering from major knee surgery too which has been hard with the move and all but we are doing good.

As I do work I have much of a summer vacation I just had 2 weeks away from work to settle into the new place and read....a lot.

I love to read, it can be blogs, magazines, books, newspapers anything that will broaden my mind I am so there. I have read so many amazing books this summer. The ones I am on now are a trilogy of which I will finish the last half a book today, called The Hunger Games, a little bit about these books, it is set in the not too distant future when there is the down fall of north America and there is a new civilisation, they live in 12 sectors with a main capial. Every year each child from the age of 12 to 18 has their name entred into a 'game' called the hunger games, 2 from each sector, one boy and one girl, are placed into a huge arena and they have to fight to the death to become the victor and bring wealth and food to their sector. Any more and I will spoil the books but these are a must read and right now if possible as next year they are reliecing the movie. I would hope they do it justice but, as with the Harry Potter books, I do like to read the books first as the movies are some what condenced and dont seem to have the right depth as a book and your imagination.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Candice for giving me this space and for sending me a great post too. If you would like to read some more head over to mimicaviwavidoodah.blogspot.com and theyoungstepmom.blogspot.com to read a bit more and to check out Candice's post. Again thank you and enjoy what is left of your summer.

Cocoa Beach/Orlando Trip

2011-08-14T22:41:00.000-04:00

We made it back from our FABULOUS vacation! After the last month, it was much needed. We had a beachfront room in Cocoa Beach. This was our first trip here, but my mom loves it there, and I am in love! It's much quieter and slower than places like Miami and Daytona Beach.

Our beautiful room with an ocean view


Not a bad view!

We spent the first two days going to the Kennedy Space Center and doing some of the Disney Parks. The hubs is a NASA nerd (my nickname for him) and I still love Disney at 30! I totally recommend Animal Kingdom, it was incredible.

External gas tank and rocket boosters

Rocket Garden

Hippos at Animal Kingdom

The safari through Animal Kingdom

Hollywood Studios

There are a million pictures, but I'd take up all my space! It was definitely what we needed to have a good time and reconnect and figure out what our next step was. Plus, spending a few days by the beach and coming home with a nice tan is always good.

A lot of friends have asked how I'm doing. The first week was a lot of crying. A LOT. After that was acceptance and disappointment in people that we called family. The past few days have been hard, I've noticed the waterworks seem to be popping back up every now and then. I can't bring myself in the room with all the stuff yet, but I'm sure I'll get there. Now we are just going to move forward and basically start from square one again. The hardest part to accept has been dealing with knowing that there are members of my family I will probably never speak to again due to their lying and coverups. I don't know how I can forgive someone that is supposed to care about me and knows how hard these struggles have been for us when they ignored our phone calls and emails and covered up and lied for my stepsister. We are strong and we are in this together so we will come out the other side!

Cocoa Beach

2011-08-08T20:46:00.001-04:00

Vacation is going great so far! I am sitting on a boat 3 miles off the coast right now! I have tons to post, but here's a quick picture of us on the Cocoa Beach Pier last night.

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Proof I Do Cook!!

2011-08-02T18:00:00.001-04:00

I am really starting to enjoy cooking the more that I am doing it and finding things that we enjoy eating. These are the easiest enchiladas ever!

I ground one pound of turkey and added one can of mild enchilada sauce and about 3/4 cup of shredded cheese. I spooned 3-4 large tablespoons of the mixture in 6-inch tortillas. I also added some refried beans to ours at hubs request. In case you haven't noticed, we eat pretty bland! :) I rolled them and put them in a greased glass baking dish and brushed them in olive oil so they stayed soft. Cover with another can of enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Delicious!

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T-Minus 6 days!

2011-08-01T22:50:00.001-04:00

In 6 days we will check in here...

Hilton Cocoa Beach

And then we will go here...

Pier at Cocoa Beach

And here....

Disney's Animal Kingdom

And here....

Kennedy Space Center

Hubs thinks he is going to talk me into doing this, but I think he is wrong....

Source: Google images

We are so excited, this is exactly what we feel like we need to relax and recharge before we dive into the adoption process again.

Moving on from devastation

2011-07-28T21:55:00.000-04:00

I delayed this post until I could write it without bawling my eyes out. Our greatest nightmare came true....our adoption fell through. We had known in the back of our minds for the past couple of weeks that this may be a possibility because we had not had any contact from the birth mother. We are still short on answers, but from what we know, the dad found out it was going to be a boy, and refused to sign the papers. We also believe he may have never been 100% behind the idea. We are, of course devastated, but I've cried enough tears now I feel like I can start to heal and move on to a new path in our adoption process.

The hardest part of all this is the effect on my family. I guess now I can reveal that the birth mother was my step-sister (my dad's step-daughter). I trusted her when she told me that she had seen how much we wanted this baby together, and that she couldn't give away a child to anyone else but us. I trusted she would never betray us. I am sad that instead of calling me, her sister, and telling me that she had changed her mind (we would have been hurt, but I would have understood), she chose to just quit communicating and put my dad and step-mother in the middle. I am most upset that I can't give that baby a better life and help my other nieces and nephews have a better life by taking some of the financial and emotional burden off my step-sister of raising 5 children. And I'm sad that it will effectively end our relationship as sisters.

We are going to keep all the wonderful gifts and store them for now, because we know we WILL have a baby to use them for someday. We are going to go to Florida a week from Sunday for 5 days thanks to my amazing mother and just relax and recharge. Then, we will come home and decide what our next step is. I've actually been researching embryo adoption. It's just like a traditional adoption as far as paperwork and procedure, but you adopt a couple's frozen embryos. They pick you just like birth parents do, and you sign papers just like you were adopting a live baby, and then the embryos would be transferred to our fertility doctor for implantation. This actually could be a very viable option for us, but I still have a lot of research to do. It's also much more cost-effective; it starts anywhere from $3,000-$8,000 and then whatever fees the doctor charges (ours charges $1000 for the procedure). Most of the rates I've researched show a success rate of about 45-50%. You get one year to use the embryos, and if you don't get pregnant they re-match you with another couple. I figure if it's something that works out, we can at least try it while we are in the waiting process for a domestic or international adoption.
Thanks so much to the wonderful ladies of the blogosphere, my extraordinary friends and family for their support during this hard time. We know it's not the end of the road-we will keep moving forward!

Couponing/Stockpiling/Saving Every Penny

2011-07-17T21:30:00.000-04:00

As I've been writing about, I've been making every effort possible to keep our grocery bills as low as possible, eat at home a LOT more, and stockpile as many things as I can in anticipation of being without my part of our income for a couple of months. This is week 1 of my serious effort at keeping track at how well we do. I started out with transitioning from 2 expandable file folders of coupons to a coupon binder. It was fairly simple-a binder, dividers and baseball card holder plastic sheets.

I put extra coupon inserts and store ads in the front pocket

I will definitely need more dividers for quicker access, but these got me started

I tried to organize by expiration date to make it easy to see which ones to use first

I have to say, the binder made the store trip much faster. There was less time fumbling and sorting through stacks of coupons looking for one in particular. I wish I had done this much sooner!

In preparation for my trip, I start out with the local sale paper when it comes out on Wednesday. The first thing I usually check out is the meat. I can see what's on sale and start planning my menu around that. My menu this week was a combo of things I bought and what I already had on hand. Next, I make a list of items I have to have after going through my pantry and fridge. I try to get a rough estimate of what the cost of the "must-haves" are going to be. After that, I come up with a budget for what I can spend of some good finds (good sale items, clearance meats, etc).

Right now I'm sticking to about $60 a week. That is still a lot, but I'm buying up extra thing while I can (paper towels, detergent, meats, breads), so that I can drop down that budget to about $40 a week in the months I am home.

Now onto my progress at stockpiling. Here's a look at my pantry.

It's not much yet, but I'm working on it! :)

Yes, I stockpile Diet Dr. Pepper. I'm sorry, I can't go without it....I don't drink coffee! :) And it was on sale last week 4/$9 which is pretty good.

I have to say, there are times I have to tell the hubs, "Just go with it" when he sees me putting things in the basket, like 2 huge containers of Miracle Whip or 3 cans of Pringles! The cookies in the baggies are my snacks I take to work every day. I bought a box of them at the dollar store and separated them so I can just grab one each morning. This saves big bucks over vending machines, and I get them ready on Sunday so I have no excuse to not bring them from home.

I always make sure I have canned vegetables, tomatoes, beans and soups on hand. These are great staples to have when you are trying to come up with something quick with things you have at home. I know some "thumb their nose" at canned goods, but I am away from my house 11 hours a day; coming home and making everything fresh would mean eating at 8 every night!


I don't keep my freezer quite as neat!

I freeze a lot of stuff! Meat, of course, but I also buy bread, lunch meat and sometimes even yogurt and freeze them. My Kroger has bread BOGO almost every week, so if it's a good price, I stock up. Well, hopefully, I haven't bored you to death!! We are patiently (well, sorta) waiting for that all-important phone call! Please keep us in your prayers, I don't think I'll rest easy until this baby is here!

One step down

2011-07-13T11:45:00.001-04:00

Well, we reached one big hurdle. All of the final paperwork has been sent to the lawyer to hold until the birth. This is a huge relief to know it's ready and waiting. Could you keep us in your prayers, me especially? I have been increasingly stressed these past few weeks, worrying about anything and everything that could go wrong. I'm trying to remember that God got us this far and he will see us through, but some days are really hard. Thanks!!

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Decorating 101

2011-07-11T22:31:00.002-04:00

Ok I am NOT a decorator. I can match stuff and hang pretty things on the wall, but that's about it. So, I am asking for advice. Our master bedroom is rather large, so I have an entire wall that is empty. I have NO idea what to do with it. Any ideas?

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Yum-o!

2011-07-05T23:07:00.000-04:00

As we have been trying to save money by cooking at home, I've been trying to find some things that we can make that are close to some restaurant favorites. Tonight we made some amazing pizza. It's really simple, with just a few ingredients.

California Club Pizza (makes 2 small pizzas)
2 pre-baked thin pizza crusts
2 chicken breasts, baked or grilled, sliced into strips
1 large avocado, diced
1/2 can roasted tomatoes, sliced or diced
1 bag mozzarella cheese
ranch dressing

Brush pizza crusts with olive oil. Cover crusts with chicken, tomatoes and cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes directly on oven rack until crusts are golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack or cutting boards. Sprinkle diced avocado on top, and then drizzle ranch dressing (I use a plastic squeeze bottle) on top. Done! It is delicious!!

p.s. I omitted bacon because we don't care for it in our house, but the restaurant where we order this does use it.

On a side note, I hope you are completely bored with my blog these days. I lost a follower! LOL......these past few weeks have been trying with adoption happenings and moving. There have been many highs and lows, some of which I'm not quite ready to talk about, but being able to share my feelings and thoughts with my blog family are part of what keeps me going. So please hang in me with me, and I promise I will get back to some better blogging! :)

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T11:33:00.001-04:00

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend! I am working on unpacking boxes and getting settled into our new home. I can't wait to show you some pictures! I think we will take a break tonight and watch some fireworks before it's back to reality tomorrow!

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Chaos

2011-06-27T21:47:00.001-04:00

So my life is complete chaos this week as we prepare to move to our new home and await the arrival of our little one. So while I wait until the point where I can put a coherent thought together again, here is my life in cell phone pictures the past few days.

We received a ton of gift cards at my work baby shower so we made a trip to Target over the weekend. I love the bouncy seat-I got it on clearance for $19!

This is what I have been looking at for the past week. I hate packing!

Moving has been very tiring on Maggie. I don't blame her, I've been going to bed early every night too.

I took a tip from Extreme Couponing and took advantage of a great sale this week. With doubled coupons I got 10 packs of baby wipes for $.80! I'm trying to buy up what I can now so I don't have to spend as much when I'm not working.

My sinuses have been knocking me down, so my wonderful hubby made these yummy fajitas tonight! Love him!

Well we move in 2 days so I will definitely post some pics of the new place! What is everyone doing for the holiday weekend?

Summer TV

2011-06-22T12:59:00.001-04:00

Is it just me or does summer TV stink? I really don't have that much that I watch on a normal basis anyway, but man, I am missing my shows! Here's what I AM enjoying right now.

Source: Google Images

I know, weird huh? I LOVE this show. I never miss it. Why do I love a show about crab fishing? Who knows....but it's pretty cool. These guys are tough. They work long hours in sub-zero temperatures doing work I can't even imagine surviving. Last week, one of the captains put stitches in a crewman's elbow and another crewman worked with a broken nose after a metal hook flew up and hit him in the face! Maybe I like it so much because it's so opposite from my own life. :)

Source: Google Images

If you have never watched Modern Family, you really should. I rarely find a sitcom I have to watch every week: this one is must-see. It's in reruns for the summer, but I find myself re-watching them anyway, and laughing as much the second time around.

Source: Google Images

This is a cool show because you get to see more of the "casual" side of Oprah. I happen to LOVE her and I think she is greatness. One one episode last week, Gail King was making an appearance and they were both deciding what to wear. Gail was wearing a dress and fancy heels, and Oprah decided to wear jeans. When Gail questioned her casual attire, Oprah quickly replied, "I can wear whatever I want, it's the Oprah Winfrey show!" Love it!! :)

Ok, sorry for the random TV post, but as of late, I have NOTHING interesting to blog about. I find myself in two very different places emotionally about the upcoming adoption. Most days I'm very excited and filled with anticipation.....others are spent feeling worried that the paperwork is still being completed, and how am I going to get there in time when they call to tell us it's time. I know that it will all work out, I think I am just focusing too much on the little hitches and hiccups that may occur between now and then. I'm just trying to stop myself and pray a quick prayer for strength when this happens. In some good news, my sweet co-workers are throwing me a shower Friday! YAY! I will remember to bring my camera and have someone take some pictures this time! :) AND we are moving into our new house one week from today! I can't wait!

Adoption Party

2011-06-16T23:09:00.001-04:00

We had such a blast celebrating our adoption with friends. We held it at the same country club where we had our wedding reception, so there was a lot of sentimental value. My sweet friend Hannah and my mom hosted it, and we had a great time. The crazy part: me, the person who never goes ANYWHERE without a camera left mine at home!! I had about a million things on my mind that day! :) But my friends were gracious enough to take pictures on their cell phones. Here are some of my favorites.


Cheyanne and Jackson getting to know each other

Making onesies at the craft table


Chey helping me open presents

One of the amazing diaper cakes my friend Diana made!

Another amazing cake my friend Carrie made!

Desserts...Ah-mazing cupcakes!

One of the games-seriously hysterical!!

We feel so blessed to have friends and family that took time out of their lives to celebrate with us. We got so much stuff!!! We are moving in just a couple of weeks so we will finally have a nursery!

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Learning to Budget

2011-06-14T14:04:00.000-04:00

In preparation for the arrival of our little one and me being off work unpaid (!) for 8 weeks, we are in the process of cutting down on our monthly budget in whatever way possible. We are very blessed that the hubs makes a nice paycheck so we don't have to go the bare-bones minimum, but we still need to save every penny we can. I know we have lots of family that will make sure we have whatever we need, but we still need to do what we can. Plus, with moving into a bigger place there will surely be more expenses to come.

The biggest hurdle has been eating out. I can cook, most of the time I would just rather not. So first I had to trim the grocery budget. I have made a point of sitting down on Sunday evenings and cutting coupons and organizing them into 2 file folders. My store of choice is Kroger; I seem to have the best coupon match-ups with them. Last Saturday my bill of $101 was dropped down to $73 with coupons and in-store specials. This is still more than I want to spend on a weekly average and I'm certainly not ready for Extreme Couponing, but I'm trying to keep our monthly average around $200 so I think so far I'm doing pretty good considering I had to stock the pantry this week. It's so funny-the hubs and I have both commented on how much better home-cooked food tastes, yet we never eat it! :) I've been trying to find some simple recipes to incorporate every week so we don't get bored, and I've been using the Crock-Pot a lot!

Next up are household bills. We were able to talk to our current cable provider and they dropped our monthly bill by $25 AND added wireless internet for staying with them after our move. I was paying $43 a month separately for internet, so we are saving some there. I also renewed with our electricity provider and our bill was reduced from 12 cents/kwh to 9 cents/kwh. It's not much, but every penny helps!

I have to admit, living on a budget is not something we have really ever had to do, so this is a big hurdle for us. I know we can do it though! I have asked my friends to send me gift cards when they ask what to buy us for the baby. I'm hoping to be able to just use those for formula and diapers during my time off. Do you have any other suggestions for some simple things we can do to trim our budget?

Trip To Nashville

2011-06-09T23:07:00.000-04:00

This post could not be more overdue! This month has already been so busy. We went on our trip, came home and worked 2 days, had family come to town, had a baby shower then went right back to work this week. Plus, I've spent every night this week editing photos from a wedding I shot a few weeks ago. NOW we have to start packing because we found a house and are moving two weeks from Saturday.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time in Nashville. Hubs got us these great backstage passes to the Grand Ole Opry. It was amazing to see the pictures and dressing rooms backstage.

This marker represents the water line from the 2010 flood

The floor in front of the dressing rooms

Backstage in the "green room" area

Some of the amazing photos on the wall backstage

We had seats onstage during the show. I in awe the entire time. Little Jimmy Dickens and Vince Gill were the hosts that evening.

View from the sidestage

The lights coming up

Little Jimmy Dickens


Vince Gill waiting on his turn to host

We had a wonderful time just walking around and exploring. It definitely is one of our favorite cities.

Broadway

LP Field

Another view of Broadway

James Otto playing @ Musician's Corner

Do you have any good weekend plans? Mine are thank-you notes, packing and catching up on my coupons. Exciting, huh? :)

The NAMES

2011-06-06T22:51:00.000-04:00

Please forgive me for my lack of blogging! What a crazy past couple of weeks!! We went on vacation/meet-the-birth-mother, then came back, worked, and then had our adoption shower yesterday! I hope to sit down in the next couple of nights and catch up, BUT I have about 300 more pictures from a wedding shoot to finish first!! AAAGGGHH!

So we think we FINALLY (Praise the Lord!) decided on names. I can't promise I won't change my mind, but I think we're pretty set.

For a girl: LANDREE

I have to give the hubs credit for this one, it was all him. He is a die-hard Cowboys fan, so it comes from Tom Landry. I am playing with the spelling, but so far I like the EE ending the best. The middle name will probably be Lynne (mine and my mom's middle name), but we may change that as well. My mom joked the other day it makes the perfect name for a future Miss Texas!

For a boy: JAMESON

A boy's name has been SUCH a struggle, which makes me believe it will be a boy! :) I have always known that I wanted to use one of my maternal grandfather's names (James Andrew). James rhymes with our last name, so I wanted something a little different. I actually found the name Jameson in a baby book during a car ride to Oklahoma. I like it because it's simple, easy to spell, and not too common. Middle name possibilities are David, Luke, William, and whatever else we add or take away! :) Like I said, this one has been hard.

Like I said, I hope to catch up in the next couple of nights and show off all the goodies we have received!

Vacation Surprise

2011-05-31T11:22:00.001-04:00

So we are enjoying our time in Alabama visiting family and we had a wonderful time in Nashville. We went to the Grand Ole Opry and I got to meet Vince Gill! The hubs got us in backstage and we got to walk around and see the dressing rooms and some really neat old pictures. I'll have to do a longer post with the pics off my camera, but here's my pic with Vince off my phone.

We also got to see our good friend James Otto play while we were there. He is an amazing musician and songwriter and we were happy to get to see him.

So on to the baby news. We met with the birth parents and got the shock of our lives....the doctors think she is further along than anticipated and that the baby could be here in two to three weeks! Needless to say we were floored!
We are still trying to process it all! Our baby shower is next weekend so we are praying she can at least hold out that long.
We are headed back to Nashville tonight for a night out on the town! I'll post more updates as we get them!
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Good Book

2011-05-26T15:43:00.000-04:00

In all my trip preparations, I decided to download a couple of books to read on the plane and car rides. The only problem is, there are about a million books and I don't know where to start. There are a couple of great recommendations I have received from some kind blogger friends.

Source: Google Images

I want to see this movie, and I love to read the books that go along with movies to compare. Plus, in my opinion, the books usually turn out better than the movies anyway. If anyone has read this, let me know what you think. It's $12 on iBooks, so I want to know it's a keeper before I get it! :)

Source: Google images

I have heard GREAT things about this one as well from a couple of girls in the blogosphere. The title caught my attention right off the bat. I am going to start this one on the plane Saturday, so I'll let you know what I think.

My brain is in total vacation mode, I am ready to GO! I still have a million things to do before we leave, and the hubs decided we need to go see Tim McGraw in concert tomorrow night, so I guess we'll fit packing in somewhere. :) I'll try to blog from the road. If not, have a wonderful weekend!