Lazy Weekend

Since Baby Brasuell decided not to make her arrival this weekend, Dustin and I stayed home to get ahead on a few things since we know we'll be out of town next weekend for sure (we hope, Nicole really hopes).  Dustin fertilized the yard, and I ran a bajillion errands on Saturday. I wanted to show you my buy of the weekend. I found these while shopping for a birthday present for somebody else, go figure. I only bought one, then went back and got the other. They were only $20! I thought that was a pretty good deal! They add the pop of color I needed and look great!

My errands included the biggest Wal-Mart shopping trip EVER. Our fridge and pantry were pretty much depleted (especially since we gave away every can good and boxed dinner we owned to our teenage neighbors who came and ransacked our home for a food drive). Plus, I have been wanting to branch out and try a few new recipes, so there were things we didn't have that I had to purchase. Speaking of, I hate not knowing where things are in the grocery store. In fact, it has scared me away from trying new recipes for quite some time. I decided to be brave this Saturday and go for it. Two hours and $200 later....success! 

I made...

Bone Chillin' Breadsticks and a Cheesy Haalloween Dip

It was good football eatin! You just buy regular breadsticks (I used Pillsbury original breadsticks), roll them in the middle leaving the ends larger and round, and cut a slit about 1 inch down the middle of each end to make the bone shape. To season, melt 1/4 cup of butter and brush on the breadsticks, adding sprinkled parmesan and poppy seeds. 

To make the dip you need:

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 lb. Mexican Style Velvetta

10 oz. can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained

4 oz. can diced green chilies, undrained

In a frying pan, brown ground beef until completely cooked. Drain and set aside. Cut cheese into 1 inch cubes and melt on low heat. Add tomatoes and green chilies and mix well. Combine cooked ground beef with cheese mixture and serve warm.

Orange Chicken

The breadsticks and dip were delicious. The orange chicken was pretty good. Dustin loved it. I thought it was good, but I don't know if it's something I will crave to cook again. I also made cheesy chicken enchiladas one night, but didn't take a picture. It was a recipe I found in the coupon section attached to the Campbell's ad. Again, Dustin loved them, but I guess I'm just a sucker for my 3 regularly rotated favorites: spaghetti, chicken spaghetti, and cheesy chicken noodles. Can we say pasta lover? : ) I'm trying to branch out. I have a couple more recipes I hope to try soon. I'll let you know if they were worth eating.

Hope you had a great fall weekend!

 

It's Officially Fall Ya'll!

This was my front door fall decor inspiration from Pottery Barn. It's very full, over-the-top, and would've cost me about $400-500 out of the catalog.

Sooo.....here is my bare bones, cheap version. I plan on building it up every year, but I still love it just the way it is.

I got the lighted pumpkins and garland from Hobby Lobby, 50% off of course. These are lanterns we already had, although they are getting pretty banged up so may need replacing next year. I couldn't decide if I wanted to door the garland around the door....maybe next year.

It officially looked and felt like fall at Tenkiller this weekend. My Uncle David and his girlfriend came into town from Missouri. We went out for a ride on mom and Johnny's new mule. The trees are starting to turn and there was definitely a chill in the air. We watched the Hogs out on the deck with a REAL fire, crackling wood and all! It was very relaxing. We had a great time. Thanks, Mama!

We stopped in Van Buren on our way back home to see the Nicole and Jerry. Dustin's sister is about to pop any day now, even though she isn't due til the 22nd. She started having contractions this weekend, so we may have our 3rd niece by the end of the week! Everybody pray for a strong, healthy baby and easy birth!

Hope ya'll had a great fall weekend. 

Spiders are so NOT cool (Chandler voice)...especially when they have babies in your house!

Warning: What you see next might give you the hibbie-jibbies. 

As Dustin was watching football last night in the back room, he started yelling...or I should say stuttering/yelling for me to "get something". The yelling back and forth pretty much went as follows:

Dustin: "HONEY! HONEY! G-GE-GET SOMETHING! GET SOMETHING!"

Me: "Wha-What? Are you okay?"

Dustin: "YES. GET SOMETHING. A CONTAINER. SOMETHING."

Me: "For what? OH MY GOD, IT'S ANOTHER BLACK WIDOW ISN'T IT?!?!"

(we've found 3 in our garage)

Dustin: "NO. JUST GET THE BUG SPRAY OUT OF THE GARAGE AND A BIG CONTAINER. THIS THING HAS HUNDREDS OF BABIES ON HER BACK."

Me: "YAHUHUHUHUHUH!!!!!" (my hibbie-jibbie shiver)

Do not for one second think that I got this close to that spider even if it was in a container. I took this picture with some major zoom going on, and then zoomed my zoomed image with photoshop. Note the tiny babies in the container with the mama spider and Rudy's legs in the background. He was awful curious about what was making his mother scream like she was being murdered.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños Yessica!

Today was Jessica's (or should I say Yessica's) 25th Birthday! Happy quarter of a century, honey! Tammy, Julie, and I took her to La Hacienda for some official birthday embarrassment. She was sweatin' and lookin' like a tomato. Seriously, she made get hives worse than I do when embarrassed. It's quite a sight.

The 3 man mariachi band singing Happy Birthday to her!

Hope you had a great day! Or, the best birthday you can have on a weekday at work...

The Other Relatives Came...for Dustin's Birthday!

We finally got to have Dustin's side of the family come into town to stay with us! It was Dustin's 26th Birthday (September 19th) and his parents, Amber, and Morgan and Drew came to stay with us this weekend. They got here on Saturday afternoon and we went to eat Dustin's favorite local pizza for lunch. Then, as you could probably guess...the ladies went shopping while the men worked! Corky helped Dustin plant a couple of trees in our backyard while we ran a few shopping errands in Little Rock. 

I love having people stay at our new house. It truly makes it feel like a home. As much as I am a neat freak, I love having toys scattered everywhere, a full fridge, a kitchen sink full of dishes! 

I hope you had a great birthday, babe!

Morgan and Drew watching cartoons and eating popcorn in "The Razorback Room"

I got Dustin a cake from ColdStone...his favorite. He's an ice cream FREAK. It was Devil's food cake with peanut butter ice cream in the middle and Reese's peanut butter cups on top. It wasn't good at all.

DrewDrew and MoMo eating leftover pizza

Amber and Debbie hanging with the kiddos 

Why I've Been MIA

There are so many of you out there that read this blog. I'm terribly sorry I've been letting my fans down. It won't happen again. 

I've been busy as a bee during the day and a lazy daisy at night. Here are the top 3 reasons I've been MIA as of late:

Reason #1

I know I'm a little late at jumping onto this bandwagon, but better late than never. Addicted doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about this book. My thoughts and dreams have revolved around vampires for the last 3 weeks. I've been consumed. In fact, consider yourself important that I've set the book down, when I only have about 50 pages left to the end...the very end of the last book. Secretly, I think I'm putting the end off. I don't want it to be over. I'm so worried that someone might get hurt or I won't like the ending, and I just don't want to be angry! No matter the outcome, it is not a question as to whether I will read the whole series again, but I want to be this euphoria of the first reading to last! I've also watched the movie 2 more times and have a personal countdown for November 20th, the day the New Moon movie is released. Ahhh....

Reason #2

Can we just say 'nuff said? I don't even want to go there at this hour. 

Reason #3

Soakin' up the sun on my birthday!

I LOVE that my birthday is usually on Labor Day weekend. We went to Tenkiller for 3 days. It was suppose to rainy, but it ended up being absolutely beautiful! In fact, the water was unseasonably chilly. 

I turned the big 2-5, quarter of a century mark....insurance rate decreased. Mom got me a super cute new green purse and necklace with matching earrings. She and Johnny also got me some cash money....always a good gift. Luke and Tiff got Dustin and I both (his bday is this weekend) a Lowe's giftcard, which we used to buy 2 trees for our yard. Mom and Johnny also got Dustin some cash money which he used for a fancy new blower. 

The week before Labor Day, we went to Ouachita with the Collyge's. I haven't done very well at taking pictures at Ouachita this year. I forgot to take my camera on the boat, AGAIN. Corky and Debbie got me 2 new fancy lamps for my one-day entryway table, but for now I have them in the living room. Here is one of them...along with our new woven blinds.

Here are some pictures of Labor Day weekend. GO HOGS! I know that watching football on the deck is going to become one of my favorite things!

Mom's new curtains and mirror

Holly Belle 15, #1 Best Dog!

I also had a great time this last Saturday in Fayetteville with Hayley. She got me a woven tray for my ottoman (pictures to come in later post). Thanks, Hales! 

Dustin's Birthday is this weekend. I'm pretty sure Debbie, the grandkids, and his sisters are coming in town. Can't wait! I love company!

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DREW! Who turned the big "4" yesterday on September 14th! Geez we have some September birthdays between our 2 families! Johnny's is next!

Back to School...to Prove to Daddy that I'm not a Fool!

I will give YOU a shout out if you can name that movie. Exciting, huh?

Anywho...I had Open House last night, and once again, my turn out was rockin'. I had SO many students, parents, aunts, even 3rd cousins come! I don't even know who my 3rd cousins are. 

As many of you know, I LOVED my kiddos last year (95% of them anyway), but I had a very low group of kiddos (about 80% below proficient in math, literacy, or both). I had several of my students from last year come down to visit me, and I have to admit that I got teary eyed seeing them....even that other 5%. Absence makes the heart grow fonder I suppose.

I have another crew of boys this year (last year, 19 out of 27 were boys), and apparently these boys are quite the crew. They all play football, basketball, and baseball together every year AND they all live in the same neighborhood. The parents could not get over the fact that someone put them all in my room. They kept laughing, but it was this nervous laugh and they all kept making eye contact at each other and I felt like I was the only one in the room who didn't know what the secret message was. They said they would pray for me in fact. They were pretty fun, relaxed parents who all know each other well, so I don't know if they were just being goofy or if I really am going to have some problems with this crew of boys.  They are all very bright and don't seem to have the ADHD factor that took over my room last year, I just think they're a little on the mischievous side when they get together. But, I have been know to misjudge before! We shall see.

Here are some pictures of my room this year. A lot of it is the same as last year, just spruced up a bit. Most of you have probably already seen these on FB, sorry.

Cross your fingers that I sleep good tonight. I always have some crazy dream like I forgot to write my lesson plans or wear a shirt to school.