Life Recap and Update

WOW! Hi friends! I can't believe it's been almost 2 full weeks since I've been in the bloggy world. I'm SO far behind and can't wait to catch up with all of you on your blogs and see what you've been up to the past 2 weeks. There's been so much happen since I last "saw" you that I don't even know where to begin. Well, let's start at the beginning, shall we?! :)

As of my last post on March 2nd, things kind of went into a full blown spiral mode immediately. I was given 3 different offers, and which I accepted one, and was told I could start on the 21st of March, however, the next day they called and asked me if I could start on Monday, March 7th instead. But, after thinking it over more, I ended up declining their offer and accepting a different offer with a different firm that I felt was a much better fit and one I could see myself with for the rest of my career, which is what I wanted to find. Anywho, once I accepted their offer, instead of starting on Monday, March 7th, they wanted me to start on Wednesday, March 9th. Like I said, this sent us into a complete tailspin as I had to literally give my notice on Thursday, March 3rd as being my last day, and hubby and I had to go home that night and start packing everything up that I was absolutely going to HAVE to HAVE to start my new job, plus things I needed to have to live with my brother-in-law while trying to figure out what location we are going to want to buy a house in the next month or two as well. And on top of that we are in the process of finding my husband a job here in Arkansas too.  ACK!!! Can you say stressful!? OMG it has been STRESSFUL!!! Also, my husband not being here has been tough too. We've been married almost 19 years and never been apart that long so it's really been hard on us in that regard but thankfully, I get to see him again this weekend - yay!!! 

Needless to say, things have been completely crazy the last 2 weeks and I'm ready for everything to settle down once and for all. But, I am happy to say that I have officially moved back home to Arkansas and am thrilled with my new job and look forward to actually going to work each day, which is something I've not been able to say for a very long time. It feels SO GOOD to be "HOME" and back with my family and friends. Once my hubby is here full time then all will be as it should be again. 

So.... what's new with you and what have you been up to? I can't wait to catch up! Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by and please let me know you were here. I'm off to read your blogs and see what you've been doing the past 2 weeks.  :)

Lots of love and hugs,

Weekending.........

Happy Monday sweet friends.  I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Ours was truly so nice and relaxing and I can't remember the last time we had so much down time on a weekend.  

Friday -- I actually got off work early (about 4:15), which was a nice surprise. Ran and got my eyebrows "threaded" on my way home. Have you ever done that before?! Yikes- it hurts but they are supposed to last a lot longer than waxing and I HATE plucking because it hurts too, so...... anywho, got home and ran to Dollar General with my neighbor across the street to get some more cheap goodies, came home and snuggled in bed with Mr. A and played with the babies the rest of the evening.  

Saturday -- got up early and started running some errands, cleaning house, minor cooking, etc. At 4:30 we left and took our son and his girlfriend, to the Sam Houston Race Track for a night of fun. He will be 22 years old next weekend and this was the only time we were going to have to celebrate his birthday in between his work and college schedule.  None of us won any money, but we all had a great and relaxing time.  Came home and stayed up a while longer catching up on our DVR shows.

Sunday -- literally slept in until 10 a.m., which is SO unheard of for us.  Hubby had gotten up earlier and fed our furbabies and let them out to play for a bit so I could sleep in.  We did absolutely nothing the entire day practically, but lay in bed and catch up some more on our DVR and watched a movie or tow. I managed to get up later in the day and prepare a few things for my lunch this week, but that was truly the extent of it. We went to bed about 9:30 last night and even after all of the rest we got yesterday, it was still SO hard to get out of bed today. I'm so tired still and don't know why, as it's not like I had gotten no rest all weekend long. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

This is literally me this morning - laying down with my cup of coffee in hand, just trying to muster up some energy to get my butt moving this morning - LOL

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So what about you? How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun and exciting?! I can't wait to hear all about it so feel free to leave me comments below and let me know how your weekend was. :)

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

Lots of love and hugs,

What's Hap-"pinning" Wednesday

Happy Hump Day dolls! Hope you've had a wonderful last few days and a great weekend.  You know what today is and the rules, so come play along..... :)

Jessi's Design / Going the Distance

Whew, I feel like I've been away from the bloggy world forever, but it's actually only been a few days. And a LOT has happened over the last few days, so let me fill you in. :)

*Friday* - went to work like normal. About 2:30 was pulled into the office and informed that as of March 31st my job would be dissolved and I would need to find another position between now and then. They are letting me interview and/or job hunt however necessary so that I'm able to have secured another position before the end of March. Ironically enough, I had already started looking because after being in the legal field as a paralegal for over 18 years, and only being in banking for a little over a year, I have decided that I HATE banking, so I'm good going back to my old roots even if it means driving back downtown to Houston. However, some changes are possibly coming that would have made us leave this job in the very near future anyway, so again, it's a Win/Win for me. 

*Saturday* - got up early and drove to Arkansas for the long weekend.  Got to brother-in-law's early afternoon in Little Rock, unloaded trailer and headed to Fort Smith to visit with my in-laws.  Mr. A and I stopped off at the Texas Roadhouse and had dinner, just the two of us for Valentine's. Afterwards, we got to my in-laws and mil and I went to Dollar General and I made another very impressive haul and only paid $1.18 out of pocket. I will post a picture of it on Friday as I've not gotten it uploaded yet. 

*Sunday* - got up early again and drove back to Little Rock to my bil's house and picked up the trailer, and headed to Hot Springs to visit for the day and night with my mom and her husband. We ended up hitting the horse track while there and though we were planning to only be there for a couple of races, we ended up staying all day there.  I hit one race and won $35 and Mr. A hit the last race winning $20, so not to shabby of a day, I'd say. :)  Afterwards, we went back to my mom's and hung out for the remainder of the night. 

*Monday* - slept in until 8 something and then got up to visit with my mom before heading back to Texas. We left about 11 and started making our way back home. Made a couple of stops along the way, but got home, unloaded, grabbed dinner out, and then laid down to relax for the night.

*Tuesday* -  took a vacation day, slept in and then got up and started doing a few things around the house, went to lunch and then hubby ended up having to run into work for a couple of hours. While he was at work, I made a quick run back to Dollar General and stocked up some more and only paid $1.84 total out of pocket for my latest haul, then ran to Wal-Mart to get a few groceries and called it a day. Once hubby got home, we had some dinner, and laid down to catch up on our DVR shows and just relaxed for the rest of the night as we had to go to work the next day.  

Though it's only been a long 4 day weekend, it has really felt even longer for some reason and I'm okay with that. It was SO nice getting out of that office and getting away for a few days with friends and family. I'm even more excited that it is Wednesday already and we are on the downhill side of the week and heading into another weekend.  I can't wait to catch up on your blogs, I've missed seeing what's been hap-"pinning" in your worlds the last few days.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by to say hello! :)

Lots of love and hugs,

Weekending......Superbowl Style

Happy Monday sweetums! I hope your weekend was awesome and you had a great time relaxing or being productive, or whatever your heart desired to make it a great one. I'm linking up today with these beauties, so check them out! :)

B Loved Boston / Champagne and Suburbs

Our fun weekend consisted of the following highlights:

-- Friday night Mr. A. had to work late so I came home and started the laundry, took care of the babies, and relaxed.

-- Saturday morning Mr. A. had to be at work at 7 a.m. so naturally I was up with him, sigh... However, I was able to get a jump start on my day. So it started out that I ran to the gas station up the road because they were charging only $1.39 a gallon and I had Kroger points which brought my total down to $1.29 a gallon. Filled up my car, which was on a quarter of a tank for a total of $13.25 - can't beat that! :) Then I ran across the street to Walmart, got a few groceries, headed back home and then to the mall.  I have been in dire need of new makeup for a while now, and I wanted to get the exact match for my complexion instead of always feeling like my makeup was too dark.  However, I wanted to do some more shopping, but started feeling really bad and drained, so I went back home and laid down in bed about 12:30 or so and that's where I stayed the rest of the day/night.

-- Sunday me and Mr. A slept in until about 9 (still not feeling too good), then got up and started working around the house and running some errands.  Later that day we went across the street to our neighbors that we hang out with a lot and enjoyed some Super Bowl festivities:

Mudbugs

Enjoying the feast

The Chef hard at work

  

Jumbo Jinga

This was my game and as you can see, Ms. C was contemplating her next move

 

I lost and this was the result- LOL but it was a lot of fun  

 

Of course, then there was the football - which I won $25 for having the right numbers at the right time on the game board :)

So what about you? What fun did you have this weekend? I can't wait to hear all about it! Happy Monday beautiful and thanks for stopping by! Be sure to say hello :)

Lots of love and hugs,

Weekending.....

Happy Monday beautiful ladies! How was your weekend? Awesome, I hope! :) Ours was nice and relaxing, so that was very welcomed.  We are constantly on the go, so I welcome nice and relaxing any chance I can get it. :)

Here are our weekend highlights:

-- Friday night made a quick run to Kroger to get some little items on our grocery list. I had been sick all day at work so it was a very quick trip, then I was home and in bed for the night.

-- Saturday morning I slept in until 9 - could have slept all day, but hubby woke me up. He had been up since 7 taking care of our pups and starting on our taxes. I HATE Tax Season. Afterwards we ran a few errands, grabbed some lunch at our favorite spot, Rudy's BBQ, and then came home and relaxed the rest of the night.

-- Sunday morning we got up at 7 because Mr. A had to be at work, so I ran and did some couponing. It's been FOREVER since I had couponned so I wasn't sure if I would even remember how to do so. But, I ended up getting some really great deals and I was SUPER excited.  Here are a few of my finds yesterday:

CVS Deal - $19 out of pocket cost to me. Started out around $50 before coupons. Basically, I got the 2 sets of diaper wipes, 2 newspapers and 2 lotions totally FREE, because the Rewards I received back from the other items paid for those in the 2nd transaction. :)

Walgreens - $1.80 out of pocket - started out around $12 before coupons 

Best Buy - all free. I had a $15 rewards gift certificate that I had to use. Their cases were running $1.99 to $2.49 each and I had to have a filler so I threw in the candy for fun. I can't wait to use all of these for each season - don't they look FUN :)

After I returned from my shopping spree, I worked more on my Valentine's Day mantle and my Valentine's Day table.  My mantle is complete, but still want to tweak my table.  What do you think? Any suggestions for the final touches on my table?!

Cheers to another Monday and another week.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! :)

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Linking up with B Loved Boston and Champagne and Suburbs for Weekending. 

Lots of love and hugs,

Weekend Happenings

Happy Monday beautiful friends! I do hope you had a wonderful weekend. My weekend was SO nice and relaxing and restful for a change.

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My weekend consisted of the following:

-- Friday night Mr. A was pretty worn out from a hellacious work week, so he came home early and went to bed to sleep and rest up.  I went to the grocery store after work to get a few things we needed and then came home and cooked us a healthy dinner, did a few loads of laundry and relaxed the rest of the evening.

-- Saturday morning we slept in until after 9, which is VERY unlike us! I woke up with a major pain in my neck and just couldn't function for a while, so about 7:30 I took an Advil and went back to sleep hoping that the pain would go away.  However, at 9 it still hadn't gone away, so I had to force myself out of bed and into the shower to run some hot water over my neck.  Hubby and I got ready, left the house about 11 and went to grab breakfast and run errands.  

-- Saturday afternoon late we decided to go to the Race track and check it out.  We have lived here for over 4 years now and had wanted to go but never made it until now.  They do night racing here in the Houston area, which is completely different than back home in Arkansas. Luckily, it's only 30 minutes away from where we live, which made it an even nicer trip! Here are a few pictures from our extra fun date night:

Me and Mr. A

Watching the horses take the track for Race 1 

Counter seats with the perfect view 

Race 5 was ran on the inner grass track 

Not only did they run on the dirt track, but as you can see above, they also had an inner grass track that they ran on as well for one of the races.  We had never seen that before and not sure why they did it and only for one race. Either way, it was really neat to see! :)  We cashed a couple of tickets out of the 8 races we stayed for, but one of the tickets that we won over $40 on, the lady didn't put it as a box and I didn't realize it until it was too late, so we got screwed out of that money. Needless to say, I was quite bummed. :(  I had boxed the three horses, which means they could come in, in any order, however, because the ticket didn't have the word boxed on it, and the horses didn't come in the way on my ticket, then we lost out on the money. 

It was a hard lesson learned and I will definitely be checking my tickets before leaving the window from now on.  I guess that's why there are signs posted telling you to do so. I have been to the track most of my life and never once had to double check my tickets. I know we are all human and make mistakes, but needless to say, I was pretty upset over the error - with myself as much as the lady who didn't do what the instructions were that I had given her.  Live and learn I guess, right?! *sigh*

-- Sunday was a complete lazy day and when I say lazy, I literally mean lazy. We slept in again until after 9 and then got up, made breakfast and went back to bed and watched movies and just rested up to prepare for another long few weeks ahead.  

Even our sweet furbabies got in on the action with mommy and daddy. :)

Well, there you go my friends. My quick little weekend roundup.  Hope you had a wonderful and relaxing weekend too and I can't wait to see what your weekend consisted of! Thanks for stopping by to say hello and please let me know you were here! If you want to play along, feel free to link up. You can link up here or here.

Lots of love and hugs,

Weekending...............

Happy Monday friends! How was your weekend? Was it relaxing and fun or busy and productive?Ours was good but extremely busy to the point it felt like we never stopped until 6 o'clock Sunday night -  and we still didn't get everything finished.  *sigh*

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Weekend Highlights include:

 -- Friday night we went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner and drinks - Sharky's. We sat at the bar (a first for us) and we got better service than we ever have, plus we were able to watch a couple of the games on the big screen while enjoying conversation and relaxing - SCORE!

-- Saturday morning we took my husband's truck to be serviced, went to breakfast and started house hunting. In between house hunting, we ran home and gathered our donations and took them to be dropped off before doing more shopping and house hunting. The service on my husband's truck took over 5 hours - which was ABSURD! (They had over 100 vehicles there that morning but we were in the first 20 and it shouldn't have taken that long to rotate tires and fill the fluids - it's a new truck for cripes sake!) Luckily, we live close enough to where the truck was being serviced that we could run home in between our errands while waiting for the call.  After our errands, the truck service dibacle and house hunting, my husband was feeling ill and extremely tired, so we ran and picked up dinner and took it home, ate and then laid down and caught up on the dvr and just relaxed.

-- Sunday morning I got up and started cooking breakfast, which then turned into cleaning out my refrigerator and freezer (which was a chore in itself and took a couple of hours).  We decided after that, to get cleaned up and run a few errands and get some new sheets. Ahhh... there is nothing better than NEW SHEETS - am I right, ladies?! :)  I don't know about you - but our absolute faves are the Sateen Cotton.  They are SO super soft and the more you wash them, the softer they get.  We usually buy the high thread count (like 800 or 1000), but they didn't have them this time around, so we purchased the 400 thread count and we will see how they do.  So far, so good.  The best part is that Kohl's was having a sale on them and instead of paying the $120 for them, they rang up $50! WHOOP WHOOP!!!  Here are the ones we bought:

(front of package - just different color)

Beautiful Plum Color that we bought

Afterwards our desktop computer decided after 6 years to go out, so we ran to Best Buy and bought a new one and that in itself turned into a HUGE ordeal. They have changed computers so much since we purchased our last one 6 years ago that it literally took me over 3 hours to get it put together and set up. Then when I thought I was finished, I realized that the monitor we have wouldn't hook up to the new computer - OMG I thought I was going to scream.  Apparently that had changed too and I had to make another trip back to Best Buy to get an adapter so that I didn't have to buy an entirely new monitor for it! 

All in all, a pretty good weekend, though super busy.  I hate when you're so busy constantly that the weekend just flies by.  But, on a good note, this coming weekend is a 3 day weekend for me - thank you bank job! :)  So what about you? What fun things did you do this weekend? I can't wait to hear all about it!  Thanks for stopping by to say hello.  

Linking up with these pretties today.  You can link up here or here if you'd like to play along:

Lots of love and hugs,

Weekend Recap - New Year Style

Happy Happy New Year friends! I do hope you had a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve and celebrated in style! Wow, talk about a FAST holiday weekend.  I just can't get over the fact that today is already Monday again! This is SO me on Mondays:

Blah... I HATE Monday's! *le sigh*

NYE we went across the street to our neighbors and hung out with everyone, like every weekend practically.  There is always a big get together. There are about 4 of our houses all in a group that hang out and it's SO NICE! I love having good and FUN neighbors to hang out with. :)

And one of our neighbors just had a precious baby boy, so I got in some snuggle time with him since my new grandson lives so far away: 

Fireworks of course were involved: 

The Rockets Red Glare - The Fireworks bursting in air

Even the kiddos got in on the action 

One of our goofy neighbors who was hosting the party 

Of course good drinks were involved 

And selfies with my man 

Friday I got up early and went to Hobby Lobby and got some KILLER deals! I only spent about $75 total and saved over $250!! Here are my finds, which also include finds from Hallmark, Kirklands, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Home Goods. (Those deals weren't as good, but Hobby Lobby's were AWESOME)

Stockings - $2 each (Reg. $12 ea)

Hog Ornament - $1 (Reg $9) - I'm going to spray pain this Red for my HOGS

Merry Christmas garland that I will also be spray painting red and green - $3 (Reg. $14)

Santa ornament - $1 (Reg $9) 

I don't know why but I fell in love with this ornament - $3 (Reg $12) 

 Wrapping paper -$1,60 a roll (Reg. $8 ea) (This has TONS of paper on it and I bought about 5 or 6 rolls last year too - I just wish they had other colors in this style, because it is AWESOME paper)

11x14 Picture - $6 (Reg. $30)

Curly q ribbon - $.60 each (I bought 10 - Reg $2.50 ea)

Stocking Gift Card Holders - $.40 each (they only had 2 - Reg. $1.99 ea)

Santa Gift Card Holders - $.40 each (I bought 10 - Reg $1.99 ea) 

Cute Santa Clause ornament - $1 (Reg. $9 ea)

Bought this house at Home Goods - $7 (It lights up - Reg. $15) 

LED Picture that lights up (bought at Hallmark - $12.50 - Reg. $25) 

Sign - $10 (bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond - Reg $20) 

LED Light Up Wine Bottle Stopper - $2 (Hobby Lobby - Reg. $11.99) 

Tissue paper - $.60 each (Hobby Lobby - Reg. $1.99 ea)

10x13 Santa picture - Hobby Lobby $5 (Reg. $24.99) 

Christmas Card holder bought at Kirklands - $15 (Reg. $30)

Saturday consisted of running errands early morning and then getting home in time to watch our beloved Hogs whip up on Kansas State in the bowl game. While we were watching, I was busy taking down all of our Christmas decorations and putting them away. This is what it looked like once I started getting everything down and in one room:

Oh and see that sleigh below? I got it for $12.50 on sale at Home Goods (Reg. $25) (I plan on adding a string of white lights around it) I think it will also be cute for Winter Decorating)

Here is the after:

Looks SO much better, right?! ;) As sad as I was to see it all go, and for the holidays to be officially over, it felt so good to get it all taken down and put away. Sunday, we ran more errands and then we came home and I started prepping and cooking for my next round of Whole 30, which starts today. SO... how was YOUR holiday weekend? Crazy busy like mine or nice and relaxing?! Can't wait to hear all about it!  Thanks for stopping by to say hello and Happy Monday! 

Linking up with these pretties today, here and here. :)

Lots of love and hugs,