Joke on My Boss

So, my boss is a big Alabama fan. I have been collecting toilet paper rolls for months now to do this little gag. Since their common call is to say, "Roll Tide!" I used that as my theme with the rolls. I put up these two in his office. He hasn't said anything yet...

Thanksgiving Fun

With Papa
Such a big boy!

Scoping out the good food with Nana.

There's all the yummy food!

The ceiling fan caught my attention.

We went down to Cleveland to be with my sister and her family. Since we had just seen them two weekends earlier, it was good to find out how the events had transpired as we had talked to them then. My parents had to leave Friday night and then we left on Saturday, mid-morning. We found some good deals and enjoyed ourselves watching football and hanging out together.

Some Video of Aaron

So, I decided to take some video of my nephew as he was sitting in his chair today. He makes some funny noises and faces, don't you think?! What a cutey! You can check out his very own blog here. We got to spend Thankgsgiving with him, his parents, and grandparents. It was a great time.

Pecan Pie

It's my job to make the pies this year so in order to get it all done before we leave after work on Wednesday, I had to get this made last night. It looks pretty nice and smelled delicious! I just used a Better Homes & Gardens cookbook recipe and it was easy.

Hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Thanksgiving Cards

I decided I wanted to make up some Thanksgiving-ish cards for our family that we won't be with this year. I used some envelopes that I had and then cut the paper to fit. I left the right edge open and put punched out leaves along the edge.

On the back I wrote:

God's blessings abound each and every day -

We may need to look to see the many ways.

He works and provides people like you,

To fill our lives with riches beyond our view.

I got them all written up and sent out tonight so hopefully everyone will get them by Thanksgiving.

Birthday "Pass it On" Cards

Three birthdays of co-workers and thougt I would make these little cards up for them. They weren't what I expected and I am not totally sure why they don't look right to me, but this is the best I could come up with. I made the candle out of green paper and wrapped it with green organdy ribbon. I used a yellow striped paper that I wrote "make a wish!" on. I put the initial of the person with a yellow sticker on the candle. Guess they worked, just not what I thought.

What savings!!!!

Here are my receipts from the 3 stores we went to:

Kroger we saved $10.39, Target we saved $27.43, and Publix we saved $32.82

for a grand total of $70.64 in savings!!!!!

Here are most of the items that we purchased... We also got 4 12 packs of Coke & a 24 pk. of Aquafina. We have all the items for Thanksgiving and some other good deals to make it during the next few weeks. We spent $92.98! What a deal! :)

SO, I recently attended a coupon saving class with some co-workers and heard some interesting tips on how to shop and get more for your money. This weekend was our first try at it. Now, I've always been a coupon cutter and look at all the flyers to see what's on sale each week. I plan out meals for 2 weeks so that we're not going to the store all the time, but I'm willing to try this new way if it'll save more money.

The key to it all is to stock up when things are on sale. Then, you eat out of your pantry. You only buy things to stock up and then the occassional item here and there for recipes. Therefore, if you're buying when they're on sale and using coupons, you're getting the best value for your dollar. Of course, you have to build up your pantry at first, but I think that as I start getting into it, I should be able to add a few things each time I shop and build it up.

There's lots of places to get coupons on-line as well as the ones that you find in the newspaper. We'll see how it goes!

Gideon Cookie

A convention city that we will be using in the future sent a box full of these cookies! We shared all around our side of the 3rd floor. They look cool and they taste pretty decent. Cool, huh?!

Unexpected Visitors

Really?! Do I have to smile?

I have some fun hair!

Just hanging around... Aren't I a cutey?!

Hanging with Barry

My sister texted Friday afternoon to ask if it was okay to come to our place for the weekend. So, we had Andrew, Katie, & Aaron come for a visit! We started off at Dunkin Donuts (because they don't have one) and then went to the Outlet Mall. The rest of the day we spent hanging out and watching football. We went for a little walk in the afternoon and later in the evening we went to Maggie Moo's.

Sunday was fun at church. Right before we were ready to leave, Aaron had a blowout and we had to totally change his outfit. Since Barry & I help at the 2nd service, they had to hang around for a while. We came home and watched some football. The Titans won! The day was beautiful so we went outside for a little bit in the afternoon.

It was a great, unexpected weekend!

Birthday Card for Julie

Made this card for Julie, Barry's sister. It's her birthday today. I used a design that I've done before with the diamonds. I put them all on a piece of green paper. I used one more diamond in the middle, added the purple organdy ribbon, and the J (attached with 3d tape). I wrote, "Wishing you..." and then inside "a happy birthday." Wishing her a great and wonderful day!

Saturday fun?

This is the pile in the back yard

(notice how there are leaves that have fallen already in the foreground).
It took over an hour to suck up all those leaves.

I tried to get some of the stragglers that had fallen in the mean time.

WOW! It was a big day of yard work on Saturday. We started in the backyard and ended up with 3 construction sized bags of leaves. In the front yard we blew them into the ditch and it's full. The sad thing is that the yard looks like we didn't even touch it. I could spend every day working on it and still have leaves sitting around. Arg!

Pics of the Family

Barry held Aaron for the first time - 10/11/09

Bath time! Aaron had a hard time. (I held him the whole time & what a wiggle worm!)

Luke knows when to put on the charm!

Caleb enjoyed a balloon from Emma's party.

Aaron hanging out with Nana.

Of course, here's the birthday girl -- sweet Emma!

I've been meaning to add some pictures from that weekend in October, but hadn't gotten around to it. The kids are getting big -- to be sure and we had a good time hanging out with them. For some reason Aaron has a hard time with red eye -- Katie says he takes after her!

Today is Caleb's 1st birthday and we didn't get to be with him. We're hoping to see them at Thanksgiving, but it may be a while before we do again.

Couple cards

I found this tag that says remember in some of the supplies that I have. I did a white circle underneath it to mimic the circles on the paper. I used black grosgrain ribbon across the short side of the card.

This card has green paper with circles as its basis and then another paper with various colors of circles on it. I used a complimentary colored burgundy ribbon across the card and then added a bigger circle that I rubbed the edges in organge ink. The froggie sticker is in the middle and I wrote thinking of you on it.

This last card is exactly the same as a previous one in the set except that I used a green tag and wrote thank you instead of happy birthday. This has two pieces of ribbon -- a wider blue and a skinnier green that I tied the tag to.

Since I was making the set of cards for my co-worker, I decided to duplicate my efforts and make similar cards while I had the supplies out. So, the colors are similar as well as the styles. I have people in mind for all the cards and have already sent out 2 of them. Hopefully I'll get the last one out this week.