A Recovering American Soldier & CHRISTmas Cards

Happy hump day my friends!  This was passed on to me by a really good friend of the family and I wanted to pass it along to others as well. When sending out your CHRISTmas cards this year, please add one extra to your list. Or if you're not sending any, please consider sending just this one.  There are a lot of recovering American soldiers who won't be home for Christmas this year but you could brighten their day just a little by letting them know you're thinking about them. Here is the address and please feel free to pass it along to others as well:

A Recovering American Soldier

C/O:  Walter Reed Army Medical Center

6900 Georgia Avenue

NW Washington, DC  20307-5001

Thanks and hope you have a wonderfully blessed day!  

Lots of love and hugs,

Happy Thanksgiving

from our family to yours. I hope that no matter how you celebrate the holiday that you have a very wonderful and blessed day.  Unfortunately for us, due to having to work on Friday (first time ever), we aren't able to go home this year for Thanksgiving, which means I also miss out on the time with my daughter. :(

On a positive note though, a friend of mine who's been a lifelong friend (since 5th grade at least) is coming to join us for Thanksgiving and I am truly thankful to have him with us and so very excited!! I am also very thankful for all of you, my few readers who do read this blog and take the time to comment to let me know you stopped by. It always brightens my day!  So THANK YOU!!! :)

I can't wait to see what all kinds of feasts you enjoyed and see the pictures of you with your family. Happy Thanksgiving my friends!!

Lots of love and hugs,

Letter to My Beautiful Birthday Girl

My Dearest Alliye,

19 years ago today..... Was one of the happiest days of my entire life!  I was blessed by God with you, my precious and adorable baby girl.   A lot of people say that you are a mini me and I tend to agree with them. You look a LOT like me.   Not sure if that is a blessing or a curse for you - however, one thing is for sure - you are WAY prettier than I could ever dream of being and that's okay by me! :)

I love that you have such a fashion sense and are always in style.  I miss you being here to dress me every day before work and telling me if my hair looked okay or not.  :)

Like normal mothers and daughters, we have butted heads on more than one occasion, but I am happy to say that since you have gotten older and grown more into yourself over the past year, we have became the best of friends and I wouldn't change it for the world.  We live in 2 different states and are 7 hours away from one another but it means the world to me when you call me every day to say hi or want to talk about your day or just things in general.  I love it that you are now at the age where you will call and ask me for my advice on something or ask how to cook something or just need direction at that very moment.

Lord knows you're not perfect (nor am I) and are already set in your ways A LOT (more than I wish you were when it comes to some things), but I am very proud of you and so thankful and blessed to call you, this young woman, my beautiful little girl and wonderful daughter and thank God every day for his entrusting you to me while we live here on Earth.

So Alliye, my darling and precious daughter, please know that I love you dearly and miss you terribly but will always be here (even from a different state) cheering you on in whatever you choose to do with your life and you can always depend on me to listen when you need an ear or a shoulder to cry on.  I wouldn't trade all the money in the world for you and our special bond.  I LOVE YOU and hope you have a wonderful and special day today.  I'm really sorry and very sad that I can't be there to celebrate with you this year.  But, we will get together very soon for a late birthday celebration, and a girls day out, just you and me - I promise!  :)

Happy 19th birthday my sweet and precious little girl!  You have grown into a very beautiful and fantastic young woman and I am SO proud to call you my daughter! I love you to the moon and back!

Love,
Mom

Under the Weather

I hope to be back in full force again tomorrow.  Have a great day everyone!

Lots of love and hugs,

Freedom to Vote

Yes, I know this post is late - so sue me!  HA!  Whether you agree with the outcome of the Presidential Election, or not, I personally am very thankful for the freedoms we do have, including the right to vote!  However, this post isn't going to be political because, I personally HATE and DESPISE politics.  But, what this post IS going to be about is the fact that we were able to vote this year with our son and I want to remember that day, so am posting it here.  :)  This was his first time to vote EVER due to the fact that he just turned 18 this past February.  

And though you can't tell it here (he was mad at us) - he was SO excited to be there and voting for the first time in his life.  He is very knowledgeable when it comes to a lot of Politics and definitely has his own personal views and will argue with the best of them about why his opinion is right - DRIVES.US.NUTS!   HA!  But, we are happy he has his own beliefs and opinions and stands up for his convictions and what he believes in.  

(Ignore my picture - this was before I got my bangs cut - they looked horrible and I'm obviously not one who can rock the "long" bangs look - sigh)  

Yes, I stepped out and away from MY voting booth to capture him actually voting.  I got yelled at by some lady who was watching over things - but I didn't really care.  It was a BIG day and I was very proud of my son for exercising his right to vote! :)  Besides, I made sure I didn't get any information in my picture, so I didn't capture someone's personal votes (including my sons).

See... he looks much happier here - LOL

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by to say hello! :)

Lots of love and hugs,

Weekend Recap - Lots of CUTE Stuff Inside!

Happy Monday my peeps!  How are you?  Great, I hope!  How was your weekend?  Ours was good, but very busy.  My honey had to work all weekend long overnights, which made for a long weekend for me.  I had a lot of running around to do on Saturday all day, so I was able to get some time to myself - which is few and far between, but I still missed him A LOT.  I guess all of the retailers decided to kick off the holiday shopping season a couple weeks earlier than normal, because it was NUTS out there Saturday but there were TONS of really great sales going on.  Here are a few of my favorite things I came across and would love to have:

I love the frills and girlieness of this one

I think this would be adorable with leggings and tall boots

And I loved these sweaters

Perfect for a CHRISTmas party...dontcha think

This sounds like as good of an excuse as any, to me

Thought these rainboot ornaments were cute

Looks easy enough to make

Lots of Reds and Greens everywhere

Another cute saying on a cup

Adorable measuring spoons

My absolute favorite - may have to go back and get for myself :)

Well.... that pretty much summed up my weekend - tell me about yours!  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Lots of love and hugs,

Happy Veteran's Day

Good morning my friends!  Wow - can't believe it's been another 2 weeks since I've been online here.  Time is just slipping further and further away and I just can't seem to catch up.  It is now 5:20 a.m. here in the South and I have been up since 3:45 this morning (Sunday) and just can't go back to sleep.  So... I decided to use my time wisely and thank my grandfathers and uncles and all of the other wonderful men and women who have served, are serving and continuing to serve for our Country, along with their families for their many sacrifices and selflessness so that others like myself can remain safe. 

 

Happy Veteran's Day!

 

Have a great week ahead and thanks for stopping by!  I am hope to be back to blogging regularly now.  Hard to believe the holidays are approaching so fast this year.  Enjoy your day! :)

 

Lots of love and hugs,

Happy 15 year anniversary to...

the love of my life!  I love you and look forward to many more wonderful years ahead with you, babe!

Lots of love and hugs,

Pumpkin Contest - Need Votes!

Good morning my peeps!  Hope you are all doing well.  The pumpkin contest is now being judged by our peers.  So I was wondering if you wouldn't mind - could you go and do a "LIKE" for me on my pumpkin?  That's how they are voting for the winners - whoever gets the most votes wins! 

Here is the link to click on (I think you have to have a Facebook in order to vote but not sure).  

http://www.facebook.com/DiscoveryAtKingwood?fref=ts#!/photo.php?fbid=509555439056396&set=a.308381082507167.86183.252346831443926&type=1&theater

Thanks guys and dolls!  Have an awesome day! :)

Lots of love and hugs,

Wordless Wednesday

Lots of love and hugs,

Pumpkin Decorating Contest

Happy Tuesday my peeps!  How are you?  How was your Monday?  Great, I hope!  Mine was good - nothing too special but not bad either for a Monday - so that's a win/win - right?! :)  A couple that I met on July 4th at the pool and have talked to off and on since then invited us to dinner last night but hubby was working so I went without him - ha ha   We had a really great time and it was nice to be so spontaneous for a change.  Tonight, however, the 4 of us are going to eat at Red Lobster or someplace like that.  Can't wait - looking forward to great company (again) and yummy food (again).  :)

 

On another note, our apartment complex decided to do a pumpkin decorating contest for the residents this year and we could do anything except carve - whoever the 3 winners were would be displayed there in the office until Halloween so they didn't want the pumpkins rotting - hence the no carving. :) 

 

I didn't have a lot of time available this weekend to do one - so I kind of threw one together at the last minute.  When I took mine to the office today there were some already there and displayed that were really cute.  I don't know that I will stand a chance to win or even place but I had fun doing it at least!  And... it's one that I found on Pinterest that I'd been wanting to try out for a while anyway. :)  The one on Pinterest was just of the Houndstooth design - I came up with the rest of this one here.

 

Sooo... tell me what you think - does it look okay or does it look "thrown" together - ha!  (excuse the office stuff - I had to take it to work and finish it up yesterday morning) And I couldn't get a bow to work on it so I had to do the ribbon this way instead. :)  Oh and for those who can't tell or who don't do pinterest - that is Houndstooth DUCT TAPE - yep - DUCT TAPE! :) 

 

 

So what'd ya think?  Oh - and the winners will receive as follows:  1st place - $75 off next month's rent, 2nd place - $50 off next month's rent and 3rd place - $25 off next month's rent.  Again, I don't think I stand a chance of winning - but had fun doing it anyway. 

 

Hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by to say hello! :)

 

Lots of love and hugs,

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday guys and dolls!  How was your weekend?  Great, I hope!  Ours was good but filled with so much stuff that we were super busy and it went by way too fast for my liking! HA!  Friday night we did our normal, weekly paying of bills, etc.  On Saturday we slept in until about 9:30 and got up and started on the housework, and running of errands.  We had planned to watch our beloved HOGS whoop up on the Kentucky Wildcats but unfortunately, for some DUMB reason, they had it blacked out in our area and we couldn't even get it on the radio.  We had to finally go to the Kentucky athletics website just to be able to hear the game.  Well they kicked some booty alright - they won the game 49 to 7 and it would have been an even bigger whoopin if the refs hadn't called the game with 5:08 left in the 3rd quarter due to thunderstorms and lightning! On Sunday, both the hubby and son had to be at work by 8 a.m. so I was able to get up with them about 7 and get my day started.  I got a LOT done with them gone! :) Here's the breakdown of just my morning:

 

1.  Start Coffee (first and foremost)

2.  Laundry

3.  Order Christmas cards (normally make them, but just won't have time)

4.  Refill Prescription online

5.  Total up checkbook from spending over weekend

6.  Cleaned out emails

7.  Worked on getting brother-in-law's graduation gift (from MAY) completed

8.  Cooked for upcoming week

9.  Made cookies for boss's day and

10. Put hot tub in paper and on craigslist for sale

 

Whew - I'm tired just thinking about all I got accomplished - but man was it nice to feel productive for a change! :)  It's amazing at what I can get done when I don't sleep my day away and have no one at home to interrupt me - LOL

 

How was your weekend?  Catch me up and tell me how you spent your time.  Oh and just because I hate having a post here without a picture - here's one for the fall to make you smile:

 

Would love for this to be MY driveway right now :)

 

Thanks again for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day! 

 

 

Lots of love and hugs,

 

Crockpotalooza 2

Happy TGIF!!! Today I am joining up with Kelly from Kelly's Korner for Crockpotalooza 2.  If you've not visited her blog yet, be sure to run - she has a great one and is a wonderful Christian woman who happens to also be from The Fayetteville area. :)

Anyway, today everyone is posting their favorite crockpot recipes.  Here is one of my favorite recipes that I make several times during the year for these upcoming Fall temperatures.  I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I do. :)

Hamburger Veggie Soup

Ground beef

McCormick's Garlic Salt (with Parsley)

Salt and Pepper

Paprika

Large bottle of V-8 juice

Diced potatoes (about 4 or 5 depending on how big your pot is)

Chopped Onion

Veggies

Brown the ground beef (however much you want to make), drain it then season it before you add your veggies and juice. (You can also add the onion while cooking if you prefer)

Throw in whatever veggies your family likes.  I use the mixed veggies and sometimes I add an extra can of whole kernel corn, green beans and carrots. 

Add the bottle of V-8 juice and mix everything together.  Cook in your crockpot all day and serve with cornbread or crackers - whichever your family prefers. :)

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by to say hello!  Be sure to check out the other crockpot recipes over at Kelly's blog today and join in, if you'd like to participate! :)

Lots of love and hugs,

Blog Day of Silence

For those who don't know him, he was a television anchor back home in Arkansas.  He was killed in a car wreck a few nights back.  Please pray for his wife, Julee Turner - today is Matt's funeral.

Thanks for stopping by to say hello and hug your loved ones extra tight tonight

Lots of love and hugs,

Happy Saturday! :) Final Portland OR photos

Happy Saturday my sweets!  Hope you are having a wonderful weekend thus far.  We are actually in Arkansas taking care of our rent house and visiting with our baby girl and her boyfriend.  However, as promised, here are your final pictures of our Portland trip.  These were all taken from the air and unfortunately, since they were taken on my actual camera, I wasn't able to tag them to know where we were over each place.  I hope you enjoy them though.  It was some gorgeous scenery to say the least.  But be prepared - today is Picture overload! :)

 

See... I told you - lots of photos!  I hope you've enjoyed all of the pictures over the past 2 weeks.  I always seem to take way more pictures than the average person - but I can never decide on which ones I want or like the best.  So I guess it's better to take too many than not enough and missing some beautiful scenery, right? :)

Have a great rest of the weekend my peeps!  See you on the flip side! :)

Lots of love and hugs,