Boost My Blog Friday - Blog Hop 04/29/11

Happy TGIF - WHEW we finally made it to the weekend! YAY!!! Today I am playing along with Design It Chic for her weekly Boost My Blog Hop Party again because (a) it was a lot of fun a couple of weeks ago and (b) because frankly, I am just totally and completely pooped out today.  It has been a really long week and my brain is fried so I can't even begin to think of a post this morning.  If you would like to play along be sure and stop by her blog today and add your name to the list and see who you'd like to follow. The best part???? The rules - there are none! Oh - except one - follow Design It Chic as the host then link up and play along and leave them a comment so they know you follow them and they will return the love back.  Then feel free to follow whoever you want to!

After that, be sure to come back here and let me know all about your weekend plans!  We are just doing much of the same as last weekend - a lot of running the kids back and forth to work, house projects and grocery shopping.  Oh, I hope to have pictures of my great finds for you on Monday - there are a LOT of awesome deals to be had starting this weekend and I plan to go snag me some (with my coupons of course) HA!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!  :o)

Lots of love and hugs,

Tuscaloosa Alabama Tornado Footage from 04/27/11

Happy Thursday my friends.  I hope that all of you are doing well and are staying safe after these monster storms that have hit the south since Monday night.  I ran across this footage on Belly Charms (one of the blogs that I frequent) and it's really scary and so sad to watch, but if you get the chance please go here to watch it for yourself.  A UofA grad in Alabama took this from his car and I just couldn't get over how close he was able to get to the tornado.  After growing up in tornado alley (as they call it back home) I would  never be able to do what these storm chasers do every time there is a massive and devastating storm like this. 

Thanks for stopping by and please remember all of those in the South - Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and others who have been hit by this awful string of damaging tornadoes since Monday night.  I know I was terrified on Tuesday because my family and friends back home were right in the middle of these storms as well.  Luckily, they are all safe but there have been a lot of deaths and damage left behind in it's path.

Lots of love and hugs,

Tuscaloosa Alabama Tornado Footage from 04/27/11

Happy Thursday my friends.  I hope that all of you are doing well and are staying safe after these monster storms that have hit the south since Monday night.  I ran across this footage on Belly Charms (one of the blogs that I frequent) and it's really scary and so sad to watch, but if you get the chance please go here to watch it for yourself.  A UofA grad in Alabama took this from his car and I just couldn't get over how close he was able to get to the tornado.  After growing up in tornado alley (as they call it back home) I would  never be able to do what these storm chasers do every time there is a massive and devastating storm like this. 

Thanks for stopping by and please remember all of those in the South - Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and others who have been hit by this awful string of damaging tornadoes since Monday night.  I know I was terrified on Tuesday because my family and friends back home were right in the middle of these storms as well.  Luckily, they are all safe but there have been a lot of deaths and damage left behind in it's path.

Lots of love and hugs,

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Administrative Professionals Day

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Lots of love and hugs,

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Administrative Professionals Day

{via}

Lots of love and hugs,

Updated Living Room Closet Makeover

Happy Tuesday guys and dolls.  Hope you had a great Monday!  Over this past weekend while we were doing our running around and getting things to work on in our basement, we also looked for doors to replace those broken mirrored sliding doors in our living room.  However, after a trip to both Lowe's and Home Depot, we unfortunately, were completely out of luck for doors.  We couldn't get any doors that would fit and if we special ordered them, they would have cost us an arm and a leg and we just didn't want to put tons of money into those doors.  Soooo... against my better judgement, we ended up having to put up a curtain - tell me what you think:

We put up a decorative curtain rod at the top to try and dress it up even more.  It was not what we wanted to do there but really had no choice.  Give me your honest opinion - do you think it looks bad?  We ended up also putting velcro down the right hand side underneath the curtain along the side of the wall to hold it shut as you could see the coats, etc. just by walking through the living room and we didn't like that either.  So now it stays in place nice and neat and we are able to just pull the curtain from the left side to get our jackets and stuff out when we need them.  Hopefully, it won't be much longer and we won't need those anymore.

I would love to have your thoughts and opinions so please feel free to pass them along.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! 

Lots of love and hugs,

Updated Living Room Closet Makeover

Happy Tuesday guys and dolls.  Hope you had a great Monday!  Over this past weekend while we were doing our running around and getting things to work on in our basement, we also looked for doors to replace those broken mirrored sliding doors in our living room.  However, after a trip to both Lowe's and Home Depot, we unfortunately, were completely out of luck for doors.  We couldn't get any doors that would fit and if we special ordered them, they would have cost us an arm and a leg and we just didn't want to put tons of money into those doors.  Soooo... against my better judgement, we ended up having to put up a curtain - tell me what you think:

We put up a decorative curtain rod at the top to try and dress it up even more.  It was not what we wanted to do there but really had no choice.  Give me your honest opinion - do you think it looks bad?  We ended up also putting velcro down the right hand side underneath the curtain along the side of the wall to hold it shut as you could see the coats, etc. just by walking through the living room and we didn't like that either.  So now it stays in place nice and neat and we are able to just pull the curtain from the left side to get our jackets and stuff out when we need them.  Hopefully, it won't be much longer and we won't need those anymore.

I would love to have your thoughts and opinions so please feel free to pass them along.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! 

Lots of love and hugs,

Couponing and Easter

Happy Monday my peeps.  It is a warm and muggy day today and is supposed to be this way all week.  I am SO happy about that (not the mugginess but the warm part - hee hee hee)   How was your weekend?  I hope that you had a wonderful and very blessed Easter Sunday and weekend.  Ours was very nice and relaxing.  On Saturday we did some running around getting supplies to work in our basement and did some grocery shopping, etc.  (in the pouring down rain)  Before we began the grocery shopping I started to go through collecting all of my coupons in order to save some money - even if it was just a little.  Well, here is what I got and how much I spent (after coupons):

Walgreens ($10 after coupons):

CVS:

Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the loot I scored at CVS - but I only spent $14 in total there after coupons and was able to get 3 Large jars of Ragu Spaghetti Sauce, and even 3 Large Jars of Skippy Peanut Butter as well in that total price.

Wal-Mart Trip ($20.25 after coupons):

This isn't even all of the groceries as my husband put some stuff downstairs in the garage refrigerator (yes we have 2 refrigerators - (one is a side by side)

This is 2 boxes of Velveeta, 3 boxes of Pop Tarts, one large Sugar, scented oil, Bleach, Hot Dog buns, rotel, snack cakes, Bratwurst, Computer paper, bag of chicken and pizza rolls.  Like I said, that doesn't even include the other package of hot dog buns, 3 loaves of bread or the other stuff he had already put away. Not bad for $20 huh? :)

So thanks to the economy AND the price of gas skyrocketing yet again - I think I am going to start doing the "extreme couponing" thing once I get it all figured out.  Have you seen that show on TLC?  All I can say is WOW - absolutely amazing!  One of the episodes I've seen showed a total grocery bill for $1,906.47 and she walks away spending ONLY $103!!!!  Now THAT'S my kind of couponing! :)  Do any of you coupon - what about to that kind of "extreme" couponing?  I would love any and all tips if you would love to share!

Now, here are a few pictures from our Easter celebration from yesterday.  It was actually a very beautiful and gorgeous day yesterday - sunny and 75 degrees.  It was the perfect day!  I made enough food to feed an army but there were only 5 of us! HA!

My girl and her boyfriend, D:

 My baby boy, M:

 Some of the grub:

 Yummy desserts:

 Then we had these cute little babies show up to visit us after dinner looking for their treats:

 Fighting over bread:

 Then one of THESE ugly things showed up and started stealing the babies food:

And this Mallard had the BRIGHTEST ORANGE feet I had ever seen before -

you can't really tell it in this picture but they were BRIGHT BRIGHT ORANGE!

Well, that's how we spent our weekend - hope that you and yours had a wonderful and blessed one as well.  Thanks for stopping by and please let me know you were here! :)

 Lots of love and hugs,

Hop Along Friday

Happy Friday my peeps and thanks for stopping by to say hi! We have woken up to 29 degrees here today - WTHeck man??!!!  Sheesh - this Mother Nature is really making me mad - I am in such need of warmer temps and Spring colors on the trees and such, that I can't stand it!  I hope that wherever you are today it is warm, beautiful and sunshining on you!  We are even supposed to have rain on Easter Sunday too - *boo*
:(

Anywho..... I have really enjoyed getting to know more and more people through these blog hops so I wanted to play along again today.  Along the way I ran across a new blog hop called "Hop Along Friday" and decided to join because of the CUTE and ADORABLE Frog as the button! Look - see what I mean:

If you'd like to play along and get to know more bloggy friends here are the few, but simple rules from their website:

"1. Please only link up blogs, only. Once you link up with other bloggers, please feel free to follow them on other social media outlets, but we ask you to leave this link up for blogs, only.

2. Please remember to return every week as the link list will start over each week. With that being said, the link list will be open from Thursday evening through Friday night at 11:49pst, but will be visible indefinitely.

3. We do not require that you follow each and every person on the hop, but we do ask that you take your time, have fun and follow the blogs that stick out to you. We will do the same.

{ TO PARTICIPATE }

1. Follow each of our hostesses:

The Crazy Life of Stuffy Nickel
Belly Charms
Chubby Cheeks Thinks
Living on Love & Cents

2. Add your blog link to our link list.

3. Place our button on your sidebar."

There you go - that's all there is to it!  Simple, easy peasy! :)  In the event I don't get to do another post over the weekend, I hope that you have a wonderful and blessed Easter weekend and I look forward to catching up with all of you on Monday. 

Thanks for stopping by to say hi and have an awesome Friday!

Lots of love and hugs,

Recipe Thursday - Breakfast Pizza

Good morning, my friends!  Happy Thursday!  Today I wanted to do a recipe because it is so close to Easter and this is a great recipe to whip up ahead of time (in case you're having Easter brunch or before church and you have a lot of people coming over or something. 

Breakfast Pizza:

1 lb. sausage

5 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup milk

1 (8oz) package crescent rolls

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup thawed hashbrowns (I use the cubed kind)

1 cup (4 oz) shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or your preference)

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp. parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook sausage, drain and set aside.  Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles, place triangles with points toward center in a greased 12 inch pan; press bottoms & sides to form a crust; seal perforations.  Spoon sausage over dough, sprinkle with hashbrown potatoes and cheese.  In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt and pepper and pour over the sausage.  Bake on 375 for 25 minutes.  Take out and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake for 5 minutes longer.

Sorry I don't have any pictures - I've not made this in forever but it has been a family favorite since I was young.  I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as we always have.

Thanks for stopping by to say hello and have a wonderful day!

Lots of love and hugs, 

Recipe Thursday - Breakfast Pizza

Good morning, my friends!  Happy Thursday!  Today I wanted to do a recipe because it is so close to Easter and this is a great recipe to whip up ahead of time (in case you're having Easter brunch or before church and you have a lot of people coming over or something. 

Breakfast Pizza:

1 lb. sausage

5 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup milk

1 (8oz) package crescent rolls

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup thawed hashbrowns (I use the cubed kind)

1 cup (4 oz) shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or your preference)

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp. parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook sausage, drain and set aside.  Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles, place triangles with points toward center in a greased 12 inch pan; press bottoms & sides to form a crust; seal perforations.  Spoon sausage over dough, sprinkle with hashbrown potatoes and cheese.  In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt and pepper and pour over the sausage.  Bake on 375 for 25 minutes.  Take out and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake for 5 minutes longer.

Sorry I don't have any pictures - I've not made this in forever but it has been a family favorite since I was young.  I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as we always have.

Thanks for stopping by to say hello and have a wonderful day!

Lots of love and hugs, 

Wordless Wednesday - Spring Flowers

To see more Wordless Wednesday fun - click here.

Lots of love and hugs,

Wordless Wednesday - Spring Flowers

To see more Wordless Wednesday fun - click here.

Lots of love and hugs,

Just keeping it real

Happy Tuesday my friends!  First off, I wanted to welcome my newest followers (hey you - yeah you - you know who you are - WELCOME!) :o)  Secondly, I wanted to say thank you to all of you that stopped by yesterday and gave me your thoughts and ideas for my closet dilema.  I think we are going to try and go with the curtain and see if we can make it look nice - even though it is in the living room.  *sigh*  Hopefully, it will turn out better than we expect.  We shall see and I promise to post pictures once it is complete.

On another note - do you ever get into one of those funks that you just can't get out of?  I hate those kinds of days and yesterday was one of THOSE days.  It seems that when I get that way, I go into a state of depression because I don't feel pretty enough or skinny enough, or stylish enough, etc.  And when I get that way, I get more depressed because I miss "home", family and my friends back in Arkansas, which only makes it worse.  I have a great couple of friends here that I adore and am SO thankful for them - otherwise each day would be even harder.  Also, when I get into that mood, I don't care if I eat a bunch of junk, etc and just blow up like a balloon - but then it gets me into that pattern and makes me even feel worse - see... a never ending vicious cycle - *sigh*   And, by no means do I have it "rough".  I actually have a great life, great friends, great job and even better husband and family who love me.  I know there are a lot of people out there who are much worse off than me and that's why I hate those days even more - because I know, in fact, how good I have life.  Which is another reason I feel bad when I get into one of "those" moods - because I truly have it good and have no reason to get down on myself and wish for more. 

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you to all of you who stop by and comment and leave me love each day.  I am sorry to be such a debbie downer today - it must be all of the rainy weather.  This has just been an awful and very long winter and I think I just need some sunshine - what do you think?! :)  I promise a much more happy post tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! :o)

Lots of love and hugs,

Just keeping it real

Happy Tuesday my friends!  First off, I wanted to welcome my newest followers (hey you - yeah you - you know who you are - WELCOME!) :o)  Secondly, I wanted to say thank you to all of you that stopped by yesterday and gave me your thoughts and ideas for my closet dilema.  I think we are going to try and go with the curtain and see if we can make it look nice - even though it is in the living room.  *sigh*  Hopefully, it will turn out better than we expect.  We shall see and I promise to post pictures once it is complete.

On another note - do you ever get into one of those funks that you just can't get out of?  I hate those kinds of days and yesterday was one of THOSE days.  It seems that when I get that way, I go into a state of depression because I don't feel pretty enough or skinny enough, or stylish enough, etc.  And when I get that way, I get more depressed because I miss "home", family and my friends back in Arkansas, which only makes it worse.  I have a great couple of friends here that I adore and am SO thankful for them - otherwise each day would be even harder.  Also, when I get into that mood, I don't care if I eat a bunch of junk, etc and just blow up like a balloon - but then it gets me into that pattern and makes me even feel worse - see... a never ending vicious cycle - *sigh*   And, by no means do I have it "rough".  I actually have a great life, great friends, great job and even better husband and family who love me.  I know there are a lot of people out there who are much worse off than me and that's why I hate those days even more - because I know, in fact, how good I have life.  Which is another reason I feel bad when I get into one of "those" moods - because I truly have it good and have no reason to get down on myself and wish for more. 

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you to all of you who stop by and comment and leave me love each day.  I am sorry to be such a debbie downer today - it must be all of the rainy weather.  This has just been an awful and very long winter and I think I just need some sunshine - what do you think?! :)  I promise a much more happy post tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! :o)

Lots of love and hugs,

Another Weekend Project Off My List:

Happy Monday my friends! Hope you had an awesome weekend!  Ours was great but very busy.  I was able to tackle another project and mark it off my on-going list.  My kids and husband were all gone to work among other things, so in between running the kids here and there, I decided to get the ugly sliding mirror doors out of my living room once and for all. 

                                    Here they are before in all of their glory:

  

 Taping off the doors for safety purposes before taking them down:

 After taking the doors off (already 100% better)

 Spackling:

During the painting:

                                                        And afterwards:

 And refilled with our coats, games, ski stuff and extra blankets:

So what do you think?  Better?  I think it's 100% better!  And so nice to finally get it done.  But now the hard part is trying to decide what to put up there in place of the doors.  I want something that is going to blend in and look very nice with our living room.  Any suggestions?  My husband wants to hang some sort of nice curtain and curtain rod up there - but I'm not sure how that would look.  I would like to have some nice doors to hang back up but not sure what, if anything, would look good there. 

Well... I'm running extremely late this morning, so I've got to run.  Thanks for stopping by to say hello and please let me know you were here.  I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the closet if you get a chance.

Lots of love and hugs,

Another Weekend Project Off My List:

Happy Monday my friends! Hope you had an awesome weekend!  Ours was great but very busy.  I was able to tackle another project and mark it off my on-going list.  My kids and husband were all gone to work among other things, so in between running the kids here and there, I decided to get the ugly sliding mirror doors out of my living room once and for all. 

                                    Here they are before in all of their glory:

  

 Taping off the doors for safety purposes before taking them down:

 After taking the doors off (already 100% better)

 Spackling:

During the painting:

                                                        And afterwards:

 And refilled with our coats, games, ski stuff and extra blankets:

So what do you think?  Better?  I think it's 100% better!  And so nice to finally get it done.  But now the hard part is trying to decide what to put up there in place of the doors.  I want something that is going to blend in and look very nice with our living room.  Any suggestions?  My husband wants to hang some sort of nice curtain and curtain rod up there - but I'm not sure how that would look.  I would like to have some nice doors to hang back up but not sure what, if anything, would look good there. 

Well... I'm running extremely late this morning, so I've got to run.  Thanks for stopping by to say hello and please let me know you were here.  I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the closet if you get a chance.

Lots of love and hugs,