Thursday, March 31, 2011

Look Out, Ashlyn...

So we all know what tomorrow is- April Fool's Day.
This is mine and Ashlyn's favorite day to play horrible, mean tricks on each other, but we can't get mad because it's April Fool's Day.  Ashlyn is actually pretty good at getting me- but I can't for the life of me remember what she did to me last year- I just remember being highly pissed off and there being nothing I could do about it.  And I can remember her evil little laugh.  I'm so getting her good this year! Last year, I had Ashlyn up at 6 a.m. in the backyard looking for a monkey in the tree.  Man was she mad to learn she woke up 30 minutes early for nothing!  You may think that Ash and I are mean to each other, but we're not! It's all in good fun.. until someone starts crying.  Which I hope doesn't happen.  About a week ago, Daniel and I started brainstorming some ideas for a good prank. Ash woke up this morning and the first thing out of her mouth was, "Tomorrow is April Fool's Day!".  I just know she has something good up her sleeve.  HOWEVER, Daniel came up with the BEST PRANK EVER.  I just hope Ashlyn is still speaking to us this time tomorrow.  Check back tomorrow to find out how our family's April Fool's shinnanigans plays out... hint- our prank may have a little something to do with having the baby early... :)

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Woo Hoo!!

Look what Ashlyn lost at school today!!



Baby, Baby, Baby

No one ever told me making a baby registry online would take so long! There is just soooo much to choose from!  I've been working on it for 2 days and I'm still not done.. and no, I'm not over-doing it at all.  I learned with Ashlyn that there is just so much baby stuff that you don't actually need- plus if you do get too much, where are you supposed to store it all?  But I do hope I get everything I register for!! (hint, hint)  Which reminds me, can you register for home decor while doing a baby registry? Just a thought.  
(oh yes- I'm registered at Walmart.com in case you were wondering...)  But, it's still a work in progress, hopefully I will be done at the end of the week.  I'm trying my best to get Ashlyn on here to pick some stuff out for Kittrell, but she loses interest way too easily.  Like, yesterday- she was more interested in what Daniel was doing outside on the tractor than helping me pick out baby stuff... She'll come around eventually!  (Maybe because I told her I wasn't taking her to Mary Neff's birthday party/ fish fry Sunday if she didn't cooperate with me) (O.k.- so I'm not really gonna not take her home for the party,  she looks forward to the fish fry every year, as do I.) 
Time for me to get off of this computer!  My eyes hurt only after a short while on here- how do you guys work in front of one!! I guess that's why I decided years ago that an office job- sitting behind a desk- was just not for me!
Happy Tuesday, yall!

I'll leave you with a pic of the laziest dog in the world- this is what he does every single day-
(yes- I try my best to get him up and go outside and play, but it just doesn't work!)

Monday, March 28, 2011

Let's make a deal...


I told Ashlyn if she could play the Wii and keep her tongue in her mouth at the same time I'd see about getting that new kitten she wanted... (shhhh! don't tell her I put this picture on my blog!)


Sunday, March 27, 2011

Lookin' Good!

Ta- Da!


We are even building Abel his own door!
Now we need furniture.. and an outdoor area rug...  and gotta get started on the landscaping!


Jealous?

After a long day of working on the porch Saturday, we treated ourselves to one of these-

My sausage and cheese plate is better than your sausage and cheese plate! Why? A few reasons...
 1) Cajun andouille sausage
2) homemade BBQ rub on top
3) Daniel's homemade (AND award winning) BBQ sauce

It's ok to be jealous.

On another note, do you think this guy was worn out Friday night?
(talking about Abel, of course...)

OH! Guess what else??  The porch is almost done... we got all the screen up and all of the painting finished, all we need to do now is put up a few more boards on the outside and finish Abel's dog door, then it will be absolutely complete! Anyone want to come visit and actually see it???  Jeannie??!? Anyone??

Friday, March 25, 2011

Too Cute!!



I WANT TO RESCUE THIS DOG!!!  DANIEL......

I'm so over.....

I'm soooo over...

1) Painting the porch

2)The bees, wasps, and hornets that think they have part ownership of my porch- sorry guys, but those nests you had here last year are long gone..

3)Some people's laughable facebook statuses (who are you trying to impress??)

4) My belly itching 24/7

5)The backaches!!

6)Telemarketers... and they guy that called today looking for the Danny Smith that owns the tractor store in Rose Hill- who when I said I didn't know a Danny Smith that owns a tractor store proceeded to argue with me about why the name in the phonebook next to our number says Daniel Smith and when I told him there were several Smith's in the world and several other Danny/ Daniel's just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he had the wrong number!! I ended up telling him to get a life and to please not call back- but I did wish his dumbass luck with his search. 

 (I've been painting ALL day, and I'm tired, so a few profanities may slip out- but it doesn't matter because it's my blog and I can say what I want!)

7)The damn dog next door that comes to my house to eat things... for example, my rug, Ash's shovel, our extension cord....  The dog has a date with my b.b. gun)

8)Always wanting to rearrange every room in my house because I get bored with the rooms so easily

9)My feet hurting after only being on them for 2-3 hours... I used to work 12 to 14 hour shifts on my feet!

10) Well, as you can see this could go on all day.. I'll have to add to this list later on!

Have a great weekend!!!!


Thursday, March 24, 2011

Shopping Success

Ok, so I went to the Treasure Hunt yesterday and picked up some poster frames.  For 60 cents each.  Yep- 60 cents.  And although they aren't super fancy frames, they did actually help me get some things done around my house.  I've had 2 of Ashlyn's pieces of art hanging out just waiting to go up on the wall- they've been waiting since she was in kindergarten last year.... and I've had some old posters from High Cotton and Balloonfest in Greenwood just waiting for some frames.  Also, I went to New York City years ago, and have had a few little souvenirs just hanging out in a plastic bag- I kept saying I was going to make a collage of some sort with them... at some point.  Well, I finally got Ashlyn's art, at least one of the posters, and my New York memorabilia ready to hang in my hallway of memories! I'm still patting myself on the back.  I'm also seriously considering driving back to Meridian later and getting the other 4 frames they had left....


Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Another day at the doctor.... and some shopping!

 It's been another long day!  Daniel and I spent the day in Meridian for another doctor's appointment.  I had the awful glucose test in which I am still trying to figure out why they have the right to call it fruit punch flavored.. I didn't taste anything fruity! (oh yeah- I passed!)  Afterwards, Daniel took me out for the chef salad I was wanting.. then on to shopping at Lowe's for a few more porch supplies.  And after that- the Treasure Hunt!!!!! (If you can't tell, I LOVE that store!) They have all of their spring stuff out- fun outside supplies... I was in heaven!  And now- I'm inside enjoying some peace and quiet... quiet until Abel starts making his little yelp noises from his dream he has been having, (It's soooo cute) Ashlyn is in her room watching a movie that she "just absolutely has to watch, mom!!"  And Daniel is outside finishing priming the porch so we can paint and put up screen tomorrow!!  I am pumped about it-  the moths are multiplying outside and I am so ready to get rid of them!  Nasty little butterfly rejects... 

Here's a pic of the pretty flowers Ashlyn picked for me from the tree in the front, and a pic of the picture of Taylor Swift she drew for me on a piece of scrap wood Daniel gave her...


I'm heading to bed soon- I didn't sleep much last night due to the continuous nightmares of alligators taking over our house- I blame the commercial for Swamp People I saw right before bed..

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Spring Break 2011: Recap 3-19-11

 Ahhh... Saturday- a.k.a- Shopping Day!
 Mama got some new clothes to fit over her belly!
And, of course, who goes to the mall in Memphis and doesn't ride on the carousel???

After a long day of shopping, and a fantastic steak dinner back at Kiki's apartment, we packed up and headed back to Greenwood so Daniel could get up bright and early Sunday morning to do some turkey hunting.  Sadly, I still haven't eaten any fresh fried turkey yet this year. 


Spring Break 2011: Recap 3-18-11

Friday- The Zoo!



 (Although it looks like it, the horse did not bite Ashlyn's hand...)




  (Yes- I got my 7 year old a stroller- I did not want to hear one complaint out of her about having to walk everywhere.... and yes- a few people stared... but at least we were all happy!)




Funny story about this fountain.... I left to go get a funnel cake, Kiki and Javs went to look at the bears, and Daniel was left to watch Ashlyn play in the fountain.  I left specific instructions for Ash to "only get your feet wet".  Well, this is what happened instead- under Daniel's supervision.  SOAKED.



A fun day at the zoo!!  And I like to think I'm a good mom who's really on the top of my game... well, I packed sunscreen in my bags for Memphis, only I forgot to put it in my fancy Alex and Leo tote that I took with me to the zoo... so we all got sun burned.  Oops.

(P.S.- Laura Merrill- I really hope those Alex and Leo bags come in a smaller version and double as a diaper bag...)

Anyways, after the zoo, we were all hungry and set out to find a place to eat.  We went back by Hoot+Louise to see Ben, Anna, and Finch- who, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is the cutest little boy until Kittrell comes along.  Ben recommended eating at Pearl's Oyster Bar, and we were so glad he did!  I want to go back and order one of everything... The atmosphere was great.. and Ashlyn said her fish tacos were the best thing ever!! Daniel's oysters were amazing!! And my seafood was a whole lot of fried goodness!! 

 (you can tell it had been a LONG day)



Bonus Pic:  My baby's favorite thing to do is swim- if there is a pool, lake, mud puddle, etc, she will be in it.  There are 2 pools at Kristin's apartment building.  Ashlyn wanted to swim.  It was FREEZING.  But, we were on vacation and told her to go for it.  And she did! She hasn't yet started showing signs of pneumonia, so I think we may be in the clear!



Spring Break 2011: Recap 3-17-11

It was a great week!
Here is how Thursday started out:

We finally made it to Kiki's!!! We all went for a walk to check out where she was living.  A great area downtown, I might add. I made my family stop for a few photo ops-


Yes, that is the Mississippi behind us.  Kiki lives right off of Riverside Drive.  How cool is that?  Next we took off for a walk heading towards South Main.  We stopped to eat at Arcade Restaurant for lunch and I discovered that the best sandwich on the face of the Earth was hiding there this whole time.  It was the 'Memphis Thang'- Roasted turkey, roasted red peppers, brie, red onions, and spicy mustard.  I will be reenacting this sandwich at my house in the near future.  They have these huge pictures hanging on the wall of Memphis years ago and to occupy Ashlyn's time I told her to go see if she could find her Papa in one of them.



  Also- we discovered that Hoot+Louise was right there! So, we went shopping. AWESOME store.  AWESOME. It is your true blue vintage store- clothes, accessories, and even some neat little just 'things'.  (And of course, in honor of Finch, the cutest baby boy until Kittrell comes along- they even have some baby items; I've got to get Kittrell a H+L onesie!)  After our little outing, we went back to the apartment to freshen up for our trip to Beale Street.  Our first stop?

Alfred's!
For this:


The BBQ nachos and.... wait for it... the sausage and cheese plate!
O.k.- so who doesn't love a sausage and cheese plate? Alfred's has the best one on earth.  You can just save it- don't even try to argue with me. It is the BEST hands down. BEST.  I mean- just look at it!

And here is Ash and Kiki with their matching St. Patty's sunglasses...

After dinner- Silky's to catch some beads!!!  Here's the thing- this is Ashlyn's first trip like this.  And we determined that she loves to catch beads way too much.  After it all, Daniel informed me that Ashlyn will never be allowed to go to Mardi Gras, because- well, she was having way too good of a time! ha!  But it was precious- Ashlyn up on Daniel's shoulders, and both of them yelling for some beads. PRICELESS!

Here is Ashlyn in action-

 (Told you it was precious)
(Notice how noone else is screaming for beads at this point, because the "throwers" were taking a break- but Ash- she doesn't take breaks)

And here are all her beads!
(just turn your head sideways- I don't have time to crop photos)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

SPRING BREAK 2011!

First off, Happy early St. Patrick's Day!!!



(It's my FAVORITE holiday!)

I'm busy packing up today.. we are heading to Greenwood this afternoon to see this girl!
(And to order me a veal picatta from Giardina's that I have been craving for 2 months now!)
I. Can't. Wait.

And tomorrow- Memphis!! Ashlyn wants to leave at 3 a.m., but I told her nothing would be open for us to do when we get there.  So, don't worry, Kiki.  We won't be knocking at your door at 5 in the morning.
I am fully looking forward to having a green O'douls on Beale Street tomorrow.  What's better than St. Patrick's Day in Memphis??  I also can't wait for the zoo! And shopping.... We are so excited!

I don't plan on getting on any computers while we are on vacation, so no posts until Monday.  I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!  And again, I hope you have a very lucky St. Patrick's Day!! Remember- if you don't drink a green beer tomorrow, you're not human!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Abel!

Today, I have done nothing.  But here is a cute picture of Abel watching his daddy mow the yard.  He was whining the entire time... He wants to go outside and help so badly, but too bad he is grounded! (He's not allowed to go out without being in his pen or on his leash- he has to learn that being able to run free does not give him permission to be gone for days at a time- I bet he sure does miss his girlfriend!)  Kids these days...
Isn't he soooo pretty??!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Rain, Rain Go Away!

This nasty weather has put an abrupt stop to Daniel's porch progress.  And tractor playing time.  So my yard hasn't gotten mowed... Anyway- here's the progress so far.. It may have to stay this way for a while, seeing as how we will be in Memphis later this week!!
Wood and doors are in place- next up, screen!