#100 & a plea for help

This was the first time I've used the random number generator and I must say that it was fun! I was going to have Aaron pull a comment out of a hat {or bowl or box or whatever} but he's tooooo busy packing tonight to worry about trivial blog business.

Anyway

The Random Number Generator chose...

TINA! Congratulations! I can't wait to share Leslie's earrings with you {and the other odds and ends I happen to like} and I'm absolutely positive that you will enjoy wearing these!

I'll email you to get your address!
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School starting 2 weeks from tomorrow is REALLY starting to play tricks on my sanity. But not in any normal ways. To the naked eye I appear completely cool, calm, and collected. I'm not freaking out that my class is not all put together or that my lesson plans for the first week are not in order. Instead I randomly lose it when my mom calls and tells me she lost a box of cereal. This makes no sense on so many levels - and I KNOW that, but I still cried over it tonight!!!

If the blog is quiet over the next few days, just know that it's probably because I'm curled up in the fetal position crying over burnt out light bulbs or something as equally ridiculous. But this too shall pass and I'll be back to normal in no time!
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Before I go though... I need a little help from you lovely blog readers who know their way around the kitchen. On Wednesday morning we are having a pot-luck BREAKFAST {I've never done breakfast pot-luck style before - lunch, sure. dinner, all the time. but not breakfast.} and this will be the first time I meet a good portion of the faculty and staff I'll be working with this year. I'd love to make a good first impression. Wow them with something yummy. Win their hearts through their stomachs.

Any suggestions? To-die-for recipe from your grandma? Please share!

Otherwise I'll just have to stop at the Krispy Kreme and get a hot dozen.... mmmmmm... ooey, gooey hot glazed doughnuts. Excuse me while I dry drool off the key board. I'm not suppose to be eating that much sugar so something healthier would be MUCH appreciated!

When Hubby is busy....

.... I go to quilt shops with my mom!!!!

.... and spend lots of money on fabric!! ~~~~~~~~~~

I finished these 2 sets of 9patches for the quilt along before I went back to school. I haven't been sewing at all this week... and quite frankly... it's been making me grumpy!

I've got more squares cut and ready to go though, so hopefully it won't be too long before I can get some more made!

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This is post #99. Consider yourself warned: THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE to enter my giveaway!! Simply go to this post and leave a comment letting me know which Piece of Chic from Leslie's shop is your favorite. EASY! And don't forget that Leslie has free shipping on all orders until she reaches 1,000 sales! Now is the time to get some Christmas shopping done. NOW GO! The winner will be announced in my next post!

I'm not grumpy - just thinking

A few things I've been pondering over the last week or so...

*How many years is it safe/effective to be on pre-natal vitamins without actually having a baby?

*Should I continue playing my Primary Care Physician and OBGYN off of each other to get what I need, or should I just find a new OBGYN?

*Why won't my husband open up about his feelings concerning all these issues more often? It makes me feel so much more connected - like we really are on the same page - like I'm not doing this by myself - when he tells me how he feels, so let's talk buddy!

*Is it even possible for me to stay cheerful after 3 new babies, 1 baby shower & 3 "we're expecting!" announcements in less than a week?! Seriously folks, seriously!!!! {disclaimer - I really am happy for all the blessings that my friends/family are receiving! And I promise not to cry in front of them & to always say Congratulations!}

*Are the financial decisions we are making in regard to all these procedures sound for the future?

These are mostly rhetorical questions, just needed to ask them so they'll stop rattling around in my brain.

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There is still time to enter my giveaway! Simply go to Leslie's Etsy Shop, pick your favorite "Piece of Chic" and then go leave a comment on this post! Good Luck!

right back on the bandwagon

I have an terrible way of coping with my own failures. Especially when it comes to dieting or "lifestyle changes" - I'm trying to make my good eating habits stick around longer than a month or two - hence the "lifestyle changes."

However, I've had several *high five* moments in the last few weeks!

I have to tell you where I started or my accomplishments will seem very trivial. In the past {and I'm talking 15 years kind of past} whenever I was on any type of diet or healthy eating kick or exercise routine one tiny little slip up could cause the entire thing to come crashing down around me. If I was doing Weight Watchers and went over my points, even for one day, I would instantly declare the entire week to be a waste AND THEN go get a milkshake because "these aren't allowed on my diet so I'd better get as many as I can before I start that diet again." It never mattered what program I was on. You could just as easily replace Weight Watchers with South Beach or The Zone {or probably anything else you can think of}.

The same thing happened with exercise. If I missed a day/routine that I had been planning for that week, I just skipped the rest of the week and wrote it off as another failed attempt.

Well, I did great sticking to my plans all through July. I was eating what I was suppose to be eating, my cravings had all but stopped, and I was being rewarded with (small) decreases on the scale. I had the motivation of our cruise to keep me going so strong that whole month. But the cruise became a catch-22. I was so motivated to stay on plan to get me to the cruise, but I KNEW I wouldn't have the kind of food control while on the cruise that I would need to stay on plan during the trip. {And really who wants to be completely strict while on vacation?!} So I gave myself a break. I didn't completely write the week off... I stuck to plan for breakfast & lunch, but ate more like everyone else for dinner. I still didn't go overboard at dinner but I did have dessert most nights.

The best part was that when we came home I jumped right back to being on plan. I didn't give it another thought. I didn't give myself a grace period or promise to do it the next week or make excuses, I just got back to my "lifestyle changes."

Yesterday I had a meeting at school and the Principal ordered lunch for everyone. Of course it wasn't something that was on plan for me so I ate a little {it was my first time meeting these people, and I didn't feel like explaining my food choices to them the first day} and tried not to feel too guilty. But as soon as that meal was over, I got right back on plan. I didn't throw away the rest of the day simply because of one little glitch in the system.

It's not much, but I'm proud of it!

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Make sure you check out the end of my post from Monday. I'm doing a giveaway of some of my favorite things!

Not Me Monday

MckMama started this blog carnival to give us all a safe place to come and admit all the things we did ... or did not ... do last week that could possibly cause shame and ridicule {or just big hearty laughs}. Keep reading past all my embarrassing adventures because there is a giveaway at the end! Enter my giveaway and then head on over to MckMama's and read what everyone else has been up to over the last week!

*Last week was NOT my last week of summer before going back to school. I am NOT simultaneously dreading and looking forward to starting a fresh new school year. The automatic re-set of being a teacher is NOT a huge bonus for me!

*Since I'm going back to working full time today, of course I spent last week being very productive and most certainly did NOT wake up on Thursday at 6:30 with hubby, read blogs and surf the internet until 9:30, eat breakfast, take a shower, watch Rachel Ray, do a load of laundry eat lunch and then take a 3 hour nap until hubby came home. I have much better time management skills and I am NOT looking at a long to-do list that did not get done since I was so lazy.

*I do NOT have a pattern and I am NOT now collecting fabric to make a quilt for our child... which is not even conceived yet. I did NOT go to the quilt shop on Tuesday planning to pick up less than $10 worth of fabric and walk out after spending $100! My husband does NOT think I am losing my mind!

*I am a great multitasker and do NOT get distracted easily. A perfect example of this did NOT happen on Sunday night when I was NOT trying to make boiled eggs. Seriously, how easy is that?! I did NOT leave the kitchen while waiting for them to boil just to forget that they were even there. I did NOT only remember them when one of them EXPLODED after all the water had boiled away. Aaron did NOT laugh at me for a solid 10 minutes {after making sure I hadn't burned down the kitchen}! I then did not have breakfast this morning since I did NOT singe and explode all my eggs =/

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It's GIVEAWAY time! I will be hitting 100 posts this week! HOLY GUACAMOLE! I've enjoyed sharing a piece of me and getting to know some wonderful people. I've made some friends and learned a LOT!

For this little giveaway I've put together a little box of some of my favorite things. Most of it is just little silly things that I'm positive you could go to Target and pick up yourself, but as you are looking through your treasures you will come across a little brown box tied with a ribbon. This is the real gem that you've been looking for and you probably didn't even know it. The box is from LesChic Boutique.

I first found Leslie through her Etsy shop when I was looking for something for my sister-in-law's birthday. She had a pair of earrings that were perfect, I bought them, and I've been a repeat customer ever since. Most of the orders I make these days are for 3 or 4 and sometimes 5 pieces of jewelry. I have earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and most recently I've made it my mission to grow my wire-wrapped ring collection. {They are seriously cute and comfortable!}

Leslie is fabulous to work with! She is quick to get back to you if you have any questions. She's fun to chat with and she's more than willing to work something out if you have something specific in mind that you want to see in her shop. I bought a bracelet and then ask her to make some earrings to match. They turned out beautiful. Just last week I ask her to make matching earrings and a bracelet to go with a necklace I bought almost a year ago. They turned out amazing as well!

Now it's your turn to win a "Piece of Chic"!

These earrings are some of my favorites and Leslie was kind enough to make a pair just for me to give away to one of my blog readers! If you want to win these light weight, sparkly beauties just go over to Leslie's Etsy Shop, browse around (if you see something you want, snatch it up! we'll wait) then come back and leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite thing is. It's that easy. I'll place everyone's comment in a hat and have Aaron draw a name and post the winner in my 100th post. You have until then to leave a comment here {in this post only}, but since you don't know when that will be.... I'd get your bootie in gear and do it soon!

*Just so ya know, Leslie is offering free shipping on everything until she reaches 1,000 sales. Help her get to 1,000 AND get yourself something pretty to wear... its a WIN-WIN!*

Thankful Thursday

I haven't done a Thankful Thursday post in awhile, but I was reminded of several things I'm especially thankful for and it's time to share them! If you want to share what you're thankful for today head on over to Sonya's. You can read about what everyone else is thankful for this week and link up to her site.

1. I'm thankful for the relaxing week of vacation I got to spend with my husband. He's been stressed at work and it was rejuvenating to see him happy and stress free! We had a wonderful time and it was great to get away from the day-t0-day routine and reconnect.

2. I'm thankful that I've felt calm and patient over the last week. Several things are getting ready to change and I'm waiting to find out about several others. In the past times like this would have me in a tizzy of anxiety, but I have been calm and patient. That's definitely GOD!

3. I'm thankful that 3 friends have had happy healthy pregnancies that will all come to an end tomorrow. I can't believe they are all going to welcome their babies into the world on the same day, but by tomorrow evening there will be 3 brand new precious lives in this world.

4. I'm thankful that I have a fantastic sister who sends me coupons in the mail. She LOVES searching for and cutting out coupons, but always ends up with some she can't use. She lovingly sends them to me because she knows I'll use them... but that I hate the task of cutting them out!

5. I'm thankful that we finally got some rain here that broke the absurdly hot streak of days we'd been melting in.

Vacation photos

I'm a girl of my word, so even though Blogger won't let me upload photos today for some reason, I'm determined to keep my promise from yesterday and show you our vacation photos!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2403678&id=6215652&l=94cbbccf8b

Here's the link to the album on facebook. I've never shared pictures this way before but since they are already uploaded there, I might as well take advantage and not spend the rest of the afternoon fighting with Blogger and having my computer seize up and flash me the blue screen!

Enjoy! =)

hellooooooo random!

It's only Tuesday and I already have so many random things to share with you that I'm going bullet style today! {These are in no particular order!}

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First, I had a very scary encounter while showering today. Don't worry, I'm not going to share TMI! I was rinsing conditioner out of my hair, almost done in the shower, head leaned back, eyes closed, enjoying the icy cold water (it's suppose to feel like 110* here today!) when all of the sudden the shower curtain rod crashed to the floor knocking over shampoo, conditioner & cleansers. Water is spraying all over the bathroom now because there is no curtain hanging up to contain it. And my first thought was... there's a burglar here to take all our stuff and kill me! Why didn't those lazy dogs bark and put up a fight!?

Turns out the tension in the tension rod just gave out. My heart almost gave out too!

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Second, it's suppose to feel like 110* here today! Dang!

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Third, I'm going to share more tomorrow, but wanted to give you a sneak peak of my vacation photos.

This was taken at the Atlantis Resort in Nassau, Bahamas. This was on the second day of excursions from our cruise. I'd go back right now if I could!!!

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Fourth, I actually ventured out of my house today in this 110* heat and when I came home there was a lovely package waiting for me! Before we left on vacation I had the privilege of winning my very first blog giveaway done by my friend Tina. She sent a lovely package full of a ton of things to make me smile! There is a candle, recipe box, recipe cards, a magnetic frame, a cute little balloon frame, note cards, a magnet, binder clips & number ribbon! I love it all! Tina, you certainly made me smile! Thank you!!!

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Fifth, I'm going to be having a giveaway of my own pretty soon! I'm getting super close to my 100th post and I'm putting together a giveaway of some of my favorite things. It's going to be super easy to enter and I'm willing to bet you'll find something that will become one of your favorites too! Check back!

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Sixth, and final point for today. I'm actually keeping up with Amanda Jean's 9 patch quilt along! I *think* I'm still a couple days ahead even after being gone all last week. But I'm a little obsessed with seeing how all these little squares will come together, so once I get started it's hard to stop me! I'm going to work on some more in just a little while!

I've got one more batch that are together but that I haven't taken a picture of. I'll be sure to get those when I take a picture of the ones I do today! Then you can see the first batch here.

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That about sums it up for today. Have a terrific Tuesday! =)

Not Me Monday

MckMama invites any & every one to share things from the last week that may have been a little too embarrassing or simply unbelievable. Stick around and read what I most certainly did NOT do last week and then head over to MckMama's and get to know some other folks over there.

This week I'm back from vacation and it's just too much for me to remember all the things I did NOT do last week. If I remembered them all, I'd wish I was right back in that tropical paradise. So let me share with you some things that were NOT included in my wonderful vacation. {This is NOT going to be pretty long!}

*We did NOT get to take 4 flights over the last week. I'm NOT a total geek and this was NOT a major part of my vacation. We did NOT leave out of a port in Florida simply so that I could fly to get there. I am NOT ready to get back on a plane already!

*There were NOT 24 hour buffets on the Carnival Fascination. I did NOT enjoy some foods that I have not had in the last 6 weeks due to a 'lifestyle change' that was working wonderfully. The formal dinners did NOT serve dessert after every dinner. And I did NOT gain 5 pounds back that I had lost.

*I did NOT swim in crystal clear seas where I wanted to stay forever!

*I did NOT already make plans to take a longer vacation to The Atlantis Resort in Nassau Bahamas. That place was NOT amazing!

*We did NOT walk across the entire width of the island of Key West Florida... TWICE!

*I did NOT take pictures of all the towel animals that our stateroom steward made during turn down service each night.

*I did NOT completely enjoy being waited on hand and foot all week! It was NOT amazing to not only not have to worry about my own needs, but know that my husband was completely enjoying himself too.

*I did NOT make a few super nice friends on the cruise. We did NOT enjoy having dinner with them every night!

*The bed on the ship was NOT the most amazingly comfortable bed I've ever slept in. I did NOT take a nap almost every day just to spend more time with that lovely cloud of comfy.

*We did NOT stay up insanely late most nights watching shows, playing bingo, listening to R rated comic skits, enjoying frozen beverages, talking, and eating.

*We did NOT attend an art auction and we did NOT win a free piece of art!

*We are NOT already planning another cruise! We are NOT trying to convince everyone we know to go with us next time. Nope NOT ME! =)

I will NOT be posting a bunch of pictures over the next couple of days, so check back... unless you really do not want to see some pictures of paradise!

Unplugging

Cruise '09 starts tomorrow! I'm giddy with excitement. Aaron is wracked with worry. He's mostly fretting over what will happen if our luggage doesn't make it to Florida in time for us to get on the ship, that he'll screw up the safety drill, or that we'll get left at one of the destinations when we get off the ship for excursions. He's a big 'ole worry wort, so I'm not surprised. He'll be just fine by the time we get to Florida tomorrow night!

Since we'll be out sailing the open sea I'm going to be completely unplugged for an entire week! No blogging (or blog reading!), no twitter, no texting, no cell phones! OH MY! Honestly, this is the only thing I'm actually worried about! HA! I guess that's a sign that I'm a little too dependant on modern technology for keeping me connected to pals.

The good news is that I've got an entire week to concentrate simply on enjoying and loving my husband! That makes all the worry about lack of technology fly right out the window.

{mostly}

And when I get back you will be subjected to TONS of pictures and hopefully some interesting stories! =) Enjoy the week!