Kings of Leon

I haven't posted in a while, and a few days ago, my Lovie told me that every day he checks my blog to see if I have posted anything. It's been almost a month since I have written anything, but he still checks! :) What can I say, I am a lucky girl! And very, very thankful to be with someone who is so supportive!

I got all sentimental earlier, and needed a mood pick-me-up. So, I listened to Kings of Leon, 'Knocked Up'. I was in tears. It blows my mind how many memories a song can bring back. We used to lay around and listen to that song together when we decided to try for a baby! :) Such good memories! I love you sweetie and I hope that our love stays as strong and sweet as it has always been. You are my world! :)

That's it with the mushy stuff! Promise! ☺

Now, today is going to be a great day for the both of us. A new video game was released today called Shadow of Mordor. So, I am picking that up for my sweets after work. I have actually seen trailers of this game, and it looks good! *Side note: I am not usually one to watch trailers on video games...I am not a very good gamer.* HOWEVER, Since he is getting a new game, I am also getting a new game!! I am going to try out WoW again!! It has been 4 years since I last played, and I have missed it a ton. :) Not gonna lie: I am pretty excited!! I am going to start a new account and use the free month to see if I really even have time to play. Life is very busy with work, a baby, a man, and a house!!

Another subject that I can bring up (unwillingly): My sweet little baby chunk will be one in just 43 days. FORTY THREE DAYS!!! Where has the time gone? :( We have been shopping and saving up party supplies and decorations for some time now. I really hope her party turns out to be half as awesome as she is!!

Poor girl had her surgery last Monday, and you wouldn't even know it! She is in her last (hopefully) set of casts, that will come off on October 21. The afternoon after her surgery, she was pulling herself up and standing next to the couch. I really think I have a super-baby, and that if her feet were flat in the casts, she would be walking in them!! :)

Well, I am off to see the wizard! AKA: Work my booty off until 4:30!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

♥♥♥♥

Miss Ellie in the awesome Radio Flyer wagon DaDa got her!

Wacky Wednesday

So, I hope at least one person has looked at my post from yesterday, and seen my AWESOME fall decorations!!! Conceited, I know. But, I am just so darn excited about them!!!

Today is Wednesday...And what a Wednesday it is!! Lovie and I are on our third day of dieting. We are trying a low-carb diet...AKA: The Atkins Diet. And let me tell you...I fell like something that isn't very good right now!! But, I just see that as my body freaking out at the fact that I haven't had a Coke in 3 days! Quite frankly, I am ok with that, and it just gives me more motivation to keep on keeping on!

Everyone keeps telling me that I don't need to diet, that I am already skinny. Being 'skinny' means nothing to me. I want to be healthy and in shape. Right now, I am neither. I guess I shouldn't say that we are 'dieting', but rather are implementing a lifestyle change. We both need to eat healthier and be more aware of what we put into our bodies. You are what you eat, right? 

I will say that I have gotten Lovie to try asparagus (YUM) and he liked it!! YES! 1 point for Julie!! :) I also made cauliflower, and I did something wrong, because it looked nothing like the recipe picture. It was not very good, but I am still excited to try more new food and recipes.

Yesterday I searched the interwebs looking for low-carb recipes and I found this gem:

Omelette Muffins

Heath loves to get the Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls from the frozen section at the grocery store. It's a quick and easy breakfast for him. (quite pricey too) Well, after finding this post, I was super motivated and ready to make them!! I stopped and got some eggs on my way home and we cooked them last night, and they looked yummy! I am not a really big egg fan, so these were just for Heath. I get so excited when I have the chance to make him any kind of 'goody'. Anywho. When I got home, I cooked up some bacon we had left over in the fridge. I also cooked some breakfast sausage we had. Then we whisked up 12 eggs. To the eggs we added the cooked sausage and bacon, and also some cheese. In our excited-ness, we forgot to add seasoning, so don't forget the seasoning!! :) Then we scooped the egg mixture into greased muffin tins. I only had one regular sized muffin tin and one tiny muffin tin. Our mixture was enough to fill all 12 spots in my regular sized muffin tin, and 16 spots in my mini muffin tin! :) Then we baked them at 350 degrees until they were firm. The mini 'muffins' were done a lot quicker than the regular sized ones, so we took those out early.

After they were done cooking, I popped them out of the tins and let them cool. Then, we bagged them into ziploc bags and stuck them in the fridge. He took a few of them for lunch, heated them up in the microwave, and said they were pretty good!!

I know I can't take credit for coming up with the recipe, but I am pretty happy with the fact that I found a recipe for something Heath likes and that he will eat! :) I love to cook, and it's satisfying when something you make turns out well - because, in my case, it usually doesn't!!

One more thing I am proud of that I did today: I walked!!! I walked to my car at lunch, changed my shoes and walked up our looooong parking lot (uphill) and then to the sidewalk on the main road, back down to my car, changed shoes back to my sparkly cute ones - don't judge, then back inside! It was quite sunny today, so I got fairly warm. I think tomorrow I will bring a T-shirt and change before walking. It might not be much, but it's more than I was doing before :) It's all about the small things, right?!

Have a Wacky Wednesday everyone!! 

♥♥♥♥

Fall Decorations

So. Every year, I see all of these gorgeous decorations for the holidays EVERYWHERE. In stores, in other people's homes, on pinterest... And every year, I wish I could decorate my house. But, the truth is, it's expensive!! (Not to mention we have moved about a thousand times) Everyone always tells me to buy decorations after the holidays, when they go on sale. Well, that stinks! Because, who wants to wait a whole year, when everyone else's house is all cheery and fun?! Not me!

Well, at work last week a lady said 'September first is coming up! I get to put out all of my fall decorations.' I could have cried. I want my house to look all cozy and fall-like!!

I talked to Lovie and he said this year we can get some stuff and store it until next year. BUT, in the meantime, he let me get all crafty!! I made us a few decorations (pictures to follow!!).

Let me just say, glass jars are EXPENSIVE!!! I want to do a candy buffet for baby girl's party. But, holy moly! $10 a piece? Just to hold candy? No thank you! We have been going to thrift stores (Goodwill, Re-Store,etc.) to find these jars. I have gotten a ton of them at $.50-$1.00 a piece. I love going to thrift stores! We always find the most unique items for insanely cheap! And, in turn we are helping the community. ☺

Anyways, back to my fall decorations. I used a few jars that we got for Ellie's party. But, at $.99 per glass, you wouldn't be wasting much money to buy them solely for decorations!! 

Next, we went grocery shopping! My mom had the baby, so we got to spend a little more time meandering through the store. I bought 1lb. bags of dried beans to fill my jars. We got lima beans, black beans, split peas, red beans, and popping corn. To top off the decorations we got two fall colored floral arrangements from the 'fake flower section' as I like to call it. ☺

I wanted to take pictures of each section, but the baby was having a bad night, and it is sort of self explanatory!! :) Pour the beans into the glass containers in sections. You can do any color assortment you'd like, but mine went from bottom to top: Lima Beans, Black Beans, Split Peas, Red Beans, Popping Corn. After I had the beans/corn in my glasses, I slowly pushed the flower arrangements down in there. Once I had  the arrangements in, I had to add some more corn around the top (you could still see a little of the stems). You could skip this issue by measuring and trimming your arrangements. Here is the final product:

The jars look bigger in real life. This is kind of a wacky picture. I also had enough left over to fill a bigger hurricane type glass and I put a candle down inside the corn layer. Overall, I am ECSTATIC about my homemade fall decorations!! Also, while we were at Goodwill collecting cheap glasses, we found a stuffed turkey decoration and a little girl piggy bank. The little girl is wearing orange, and looks almost like a pilgrim. So, I thought it would fit the fall theme well. We also took a big glass bowl I got at Ikea years ago, and filled it with some fall potpourri I have been saving for the right time :) I will get some more pictures tonight and add them on here tomorrow.

I will say that I am no super-genius, and I did not come up with this idea on my own. I got it off of Pinterest. Click the link below. They made theirs into a sort of wineglass candle holder type thingy! Also very cute. But, I did what I could with what I had, and could afford!! I hope everyone goes out and makes their own fall decorations now!! It makes it so much more meaningful! Even if it's just beans in a jar. You made it and you should be proud of it!! ☺

My Inspiration!

For some reason, when I go to her blog, I can't see any of the pictures. So I just used that one as my inspiration, and I winged it!

Overall, I am very proud of my cheap decorations, and I feel so cozy when I see my fall living room/kitchen!! Please comment and share any of your own fall decorations!! We all need to get in the fall spirit!!!

I hope everyone has a very happy Tuesday!!!

♥♥♥♥


UPDATE:: Here are the rest of my Fall Decorations!! :)

Here are the little girl piggy bank and the stuffed turkey that we got from Goodwill. The Love sign is from Ross. I got it years ago.

Everything all together on my 'mantle' AKA: My kitchen island!

It's Fri-Day!!

Yayyy!! It's Fri-Day!!!

I wish everyone would get that joke. But on Power 96.1 (the radio station I listen to every morning on my very long, relaxing - yeah right, drive to work), Riley always says it's Fri-Day in a funny way on Fridays. It's silly, but it makes me smile. And that's all that really matters. Maybe nobody else in this world finds that cute, but I do. It makes me happy...

Anyways, today's new fad is royal icing and cookies. I think I will try to do some of these very soon, as I am sure Heath won't complain a bit!! I have been Pinterest-ing a lot today to get more and more ideas for baby girl's first birthday. Her theme is still a surprise, by the way!! I did get her invitations yesterday though, and I am getting VERY excited! I can't believe that in 2.5 months, my little pumpkin will be ONE!!! ☺

Anyways, back to the cookies. How STINKING CUTE are these guys?!?!

Cutest little monster cookies EVER!!!

Click the link below to get to her blog, you won't be disappointed. She has a ton of super cute cookie tutorials!! She's done all different holidays, but I figured Halloween was the closest! ☺ And, it's my favorite!! I hope that someone else can get some motivation from her site!! I will certainly be posting pictures of the cookies that I attempt!

Halloween Cookies

Go to her blog. ASAP. ☺ Trust me, you will want to make cookies all weekend! And it's the perfect time, because it's a three day weekend!! Woo hoo!!!

Everyone have fun and be safe!!

Crafties!!

So, they say that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Unless you are like me and work in the IT field, then the first step to recovery is to obtain the IP address from the terminal.... Ok, ok, lame joke, I know!! The best medicine is laughter, right? Even if it's just a chuckle? 

Anywho.. I have a SERIOUS problem. And it involves the internet. Anytime I have some free time on  my hands, I surf the web. Then I find these awesome craft ideas, DIYs for my house, the latest and greatest for baby girl, a new techy device, the list goes on and on and on!! And every time I see one of these things, I HAVE TO HAVE IT!! (or make it - whichever fits the situation) I am not kidding, guys. This happens almost every day. Yesterday I was completely convinced that I HAD to buy a new camera and one of these cool new photo printer thingys so that we could have an awesome photo booth at Ellie's party. It doesn't use ink and it prints out photos in just the right size for 'photo booth' pictures!!

Awesome Printer Thingy

Now, After looking more into it, I realized that I don't do much scrapbooking (the main purpose of this printer). So, it would be a waste. Then I thought, well then they must make another printer that will print regular 4x6 prints. And of course I found one.

4x6 Pocket Printer

Both printers had ok reviews, nothing fancy. A big complaint was that the colors didn't print out how they look on your phone. And then I was worried about what would happen to this ZINK paper once they invent something more awesome and great? That's usually my luck. I buy something new and expensive, and it gets outdated in a week...

Well, that was yesterday's big thing for me... Today I was playing around on Pinterest and I stumbled upon these bad boys!!! They are called KAM snaps... And you can use them to make just about ANYTHING!!! Any two things that you need to be put together, this thing can probably do it. You buy the KAM snaps, they are pretty cheap, and then you have to buy the pliers that actually attach the snap front to the snap back. It's a neat little gadget, and not overpriced for what you can make with it.. But, then my brain goes into overdrive and I have so many things I NEED to make right this second with KAM snaps!!! I forgot to mention before that I am always so behind on the newest cool things.. Some people have been using these snaps for years.

KAM Snaps

Tomorrow I will have some new obsession. I can't decide if it is good or bad that I already know this is how I react to things?! Either way, please tell me I'm not alone on this?? I have gone through all kinds of fads: cloth diapers for Ellie, wanting Heath to build some farmhouse tables for our living room, all kinds of new makeup tips, tricks, and brands, wanting to homestead, wanting to start my own business, and tons upon tons of crafting ideas. 

I really do want to start my own Etsy store. I feel like I could really make some cute stuff, and make a little money doing something I enjoy. Maybe I will bring out my sewing machine and Cricut and get to work!! Once I find the time, that is. ☺

This will be the end of my rant today!! Everyone have a Wonderful Wednesday!! 

♥♥♥♥

Transformation Tuesday

I said in my very first post that I am writing this blog to somewhat alleviate my pains of not having any social media accounts. Well, today would have been Transformation Tuesday. I would have posted a picture of Ellie when she was younger and compared it to now, would have gone hashtag crazy; the picture would've gotten a ton of likes, and maybe a few comments. 😄 On the flip side, if I posted pictures of myself I would have gotten 2 likes: Heath and my dad. They are my biggest fans. 😉 Ok, back to my story. I want this Transformation Tuesday to be about me and how much I have changed over the last 9 months and 14 days. Really even longer than that. My life changed on April 3, 2013. I found out I would be a mommy!! I can't explain how excited I was. Any mom knows what I'm talking about. You feel so many different emotions at once! My main ones were excitement and fear. I had never been around tiny babies before and I had NO idea how I would grow one inside of me!! Not to mention take care of her and keep her safe once I had her!! I was terrified. (And I still am, every day.) I couldn't imagine myself as a mommy. I didn't know how I could function on no sleep. That's really all people tell you about babies: they poop a lot and you will never get to sleep. I love my sleep. But the fact is, you just do. Everything feels like it's going to fall apart and that you are going to lose it. But it never happens, it always works out. And every time things get crazy, I learn something new. Ellie and I are insanely close. (Or at least that's what I think!!) I was fortunate enough to take a few months off and stay home with her. I learned a lot about being a mommy, but better yet I learned who my daughter is. One of the scariest things, to me, is that Ellie can't tell me what she needs, wants, or feels. Spending so much time with her and being her sole caretaker (Daddy helped after work - but taking time off of work allowed Ellie to be my 'job') helped me to really get to know her. I can tell, most of the time, if she's tired, hungry, has a tummy ache, or is just fussing. It has been stressful, but I wouldn't change one second of it for the world. My heart is a gajillion (that's the biggest number is Julie-land) times bigger than I ever thought it could be. My family means everything to me. And I have finally found my calling! Being a mommy and a partner. I love taking care of Heath and Ellie. I enjoy doing laundry, dishes, picking up toys, giving baths, changing diapers, cooking, making Heath's lunches, and a million other things. I don't get much me time. But, why would I want that when I have two amazing people to spend my time with? Some people would give anything to be sleepy and stressed out. Just to have a family. I am more than grateful for mine. 

I used to be so immature and irresponsible. I feel like life has lead me down a great path, and I intend to make the most of it!!  

Ironically, as I was typing this, poor Ellie woke up and started having a breakdown. Heath had school tonight and then work, so we were going to stay at my moms. Ellie fell asleep and I was laying next to her like I do every night. She woke up startled and was VERY upset. My mom, stepdad, and myself all tried to soothe her and calm her down. Nothing worked. So, we hopped in the car and drove 45 minutes home. She fell asleep in the car and is asleep in my bed as we speak. It's nights like these that will test you. I can't tell if she is in pain, had a bad dream, or is just upset because she misses Daddy. It makes me feel like I'm failing as a mommy. But I have to remind myself that this is how I learn. I have to figure out what works best for Ellie and just remember it for the next time!! :) 

Anyways, long story short, I feel like my entire mentality has changed since I became a mommy. I guess this post turned more into a big rant about me being a mommy, not how I have changed. The old me wasn't a lady like the new me, so we won't talk much about her!! I like this new me, I have a purpose in life now. And it's a great feeling!!! Here's a #tranformationtuesday for you all!!! 

Sidenote: I apologize if this post is a little all over the place. This is the first post I've done from my phone, and I don't have much time to edit!! 😁

❤️❤️❤️

The picture on the left is Ellie at 2 months old. On the right is about 8.5! I love her sweet face to the moon and back!!! 

Goodnight everyone!!

Manic Monday

Well guys, it's Monday. And oh, what a Monday it is!! 

I really wanted to post something on Friday, but it was such a hectic day! Then the weekend flew by way too fast... And here we are... 

I posted before that my daughter was born with clubbed feet, and that she has been in and out of casts. Well, Friday they decided that since she has been getting out of the 'baby casts' that they would put real, fiberglass casts on her.. These are the kinds of casts you or I would wear if we broke a bone... On my 9 month old child... It made me nervous to say the least. She has no way of telling us if something isn't right. And sure enough, a few hours after she got them on, one of her feet pulled up into the cast. This has happened before with the 'baby casts', but they come off after being soaked in water. Fiberglass only comes off with a saw. Long story short, my mom and I had to take her up to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (an hour drive for me) to have them take off the casts. This was INSANELY traumatic for all parties involved. Ellie was NOT a happy baby. Then, come to find out the casts were way too tight and the technician accidentally cut her leg with the cast saw. This sounds a lot worse than it is, she didn't need stitches or anything. But, the fact remains, they CUT MY BABY!!! I was upset, Ellie was upset, my mom was upset, the nurse and the technician were upset. I was crying with Ellie. It was just a bad bad bad night!!! Everything turned out ok, and she is doing just fine now. We just have to wait until her appointment on September 2 to find out about surgery.

As for this weekend, I had an awesome time with my family! Ellie got to play with her cousin Emree, who is 8 days younger than her. It was a lot of fun seeing her interact with another baby. ♥☺She loved Emree and kept trying to play with her. But, she is a big baby, and it seemed like she was trying to run her over!! LOL!

We went shopping, and got some awesome things to start up my collection of items for baby girl's first birthday. I can't wait to be able to post pictures of it all coming together. It's all still a big mess in my brain! 

Heath and I both got a few books. He bought Ellie a new toy and some sippy cups to make her feel better about Friday night's catatrophe!! She is so spoiled by her Daddy!! We also watched Law Abiding Citizen last night. It's insane how behind I am on movies. That was definitely a sad, but good movie. I enjoyed it! (and the cuddle time with my Lovie) 

Another thing that happened this weekend: Ellie went to sleep at 7:30!!! She has never been a good sleeper. Going to bed at 11:00 and waking up every two hours was our routine for a verrrry long time. Ok, I know, she's only 9 months old. But, it seems as if this has been going on for 900 months!!! Well, Saturday night and last night, that little girl was asleep by 8:00 and slept pretty well throughout the night. She sleeps with me, and wakes up a few times for a bottle. ☺ I felt so refreshed after getting some good sleep!!

That's it for me now, I am headed back to my crazy party planning mess for a few more hours!!! :)