Thursday Things

It's Thursday which means the weekend is almost upon us!!!  Obviously, I kinda live for the weekends now :)  Anyway, here is my Thursday brain dump:

• I'm thinking it's time to get back on Weight Watchers.  Things have just gotten a little out of control and I need something to keep me accountable.  I've also considered using My Fitness Pal (since it is free).  Has anyone used that app before?  What do you think of it?
• Speaking of "things" getting out of control, I had some bananas that were at their peak of ripeness and I found this recipe and, well, you can probably imagine what happened.  But, the cake is soooo good!
• I'm in a serious mood to redo something in our house -- big or small.  I'm ready to add some color and accessories to our kitchen, I'm ready to update our bedroom, I'm ready to accessorize our entry way, I'm ready to at least get some paint on the walls in the basement (even though we've hardly sniffed that area since Little Man has arrived)...the list could go on.  Now, if I could just find enough time to sit down and pull all of my ideas together.
• We are spending the 4th of July at home this year and not at the lake due to the 4th being in the middle of the week and my lack of vacation days.  It's going to be strange not being at the lake wearing matching outfits, but it will also be nice to have a quiet day with our little family.  We do have plans to go to a friend's house for a while, but are having a hard time deciding where we are going to watch fireworks because 1) we have a baby who likes to be in bed between 9:30 and 10 p.m. and 2) we have to get up and go to work the next day.
• Actually, I may not have to go to work on July 5 because I've been called for jury duty.  I'm going to fulfill my civic duty by showing up on Monday (did you know almost 50% of people do not even show up for jury duty??), but I'm secretly hoping I don't get picked.  I don't think I'd make a very good juror.  And, I'm a little scared!
• We weighed Mason this morning and he's almost up to 14 pounds!  That little piggy!  He also "made" his first craft project at day care yesterday...so cute.  And yes, it is hanging on our fridge :)



Thursday Things

• Yesterday, we had what weathermen were calling "non-threatening cold air funnels" hovering around the city.  Only in Kansas do we have these crazy "non-threatening" funnel clouds.  Here is a picture of one of the funnels, courtesy of a local news station.

• Easter is three days away and I do not have an Easter outfit.  It is suposed to be chilly which makes figuring out an outfit even more challenging.  Have I mentioned that I hate this time of year when it comes to clothing options??

• I have the day off tomorrow so my mom is coming to town and we are going to spend the day together.  I think we have a lot of shopping in our future!  I need some house stuff and she's needs to pick up her new sewing machine.  It will be so nice to just hang out with her!

• I'm sort of addicted to the new peach smoothies at Panera. They are so yummy!!



• 
  This week I've been hitting snooze at least twice every morning.  I just can't seem to pull myself out of bed and get moving.  By hitting snooze I obviously delay my routine and end up leaving the house later than normal, but surprisingly I still get to work pretty much on time (think 8:05 or 8:10) -- all of the school traffic has subsided so my drive to work is much quicker.  I think I kind of like this new sleeping pattern :)

• This crazy warm weather has caused me to develop some sort of allergy.  I've never really battled allergies before but the past few weeks I've been taking an allrergy pill every morning.  This is not fun!

• I made a version of this recipe for dinner the other night and it was a big hit with Brandon.  I obviously omitted the green peppers and onions ;)

Happy Thursday!! 





Thursday Things

• It was close to 70 degrees yesterday!  Yes, 70 degrees in late February.  So, we took advantage of the nice weather and took Koby for a walk in the neighborhood.  Have I mentioned how much we love our new neighborhood??  We stopped and chatted with a neighbor down the street who has a cute little Yorkie.  She remembered us from the Christmas party and commented on the work we've been doing to our house.  Things like this NEVER happened in our old neighborhood. 
• Speaking of the house, we are taking a break from house projects this week and weekend.  We feel like we haven't had much time to just enjoy the work we've done so we are going to do that this weekend.  Then, we plan to move on to the next project which is painting our kitchen cabinets!  Definitely ready to get the kitchen updated.
• Little Brooklyn was able to go home from the hospital on Tuesday!  That girl is pretty tough -- its truly a miracle how well she is doing.  We haven't talked to Ash and Justin, but we hear things are going pretty smoothly. 
• After our walk yesterday, we wondered around our yard trying to figure out what kinds of plants and flowers we have.  The warm weather definitely has us itching to get into the yard.  We already know of a few things we want to pull up and areas we want to revamp.  One thing is for sure, though, the ivy growing on our retaining wall is going to be the first item to go!!
• I got my hair cut last night and was lamenting to my stylist that I can't ever get my hair to look the same as it does when I leave the salon.  She told me it is all in the blow-drying process and that the key to getting my hair to lay right is to dry my bangs first.  Who knew!  So today, I did just that and I think my hair is looking pretty good. 
• I'm at the point in the season where I dread figuring out what I'm going to wear each day.  I'm tired of my winter clothes and feel like I wear the same outfits every week, but it is still too chilly to bring out my spring clothes.  So frustrating!!
• We are pretty excited about The Voice, which started airing a few weeks ago.  We have never been big American Idol fans, but for some reason we are really drawn to The Voice.  Maybe it is because we generally like all of the judges (except for Christina) and we like the suspense since the judges can't see the contestants.  It was also fun to see a different side of the judges than what has typically been portrayed in the public -- a softer side, perhaps, or their excitement to help new artists?  Anyway, it's a fun show to watch.
• Last but not least, here is a cute picture I snapped of Koby the other morning.  Look at that tongue -- he could catch flies with that thing!  Apparently, he was one tired pup :)



Thursday Things {aka "Catch-All"}

This is my first week in about four weeks to work 5 whole days so excuse my lack of posting.  I'm still adjusting to a full-time schedule ;)  Anyway, here is my random stream of thoughts for the day:

• We went to watch the Wildcats play in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.  We had an awesome time, despite the loss.  We also took a whole bunch of photos so I will devote a post to that trip soon.
• Brandon turned 32 on Tuesday.  He didn't want a big "to-do", but I still made him a birthday cake that we shared with our small group.  We are also going to meet a few friends for dinner on Friday night to celebrate.





• We have become mildly obsessed with yogurt parfaits.  We've been layering vanilla greek yogurt with fresh fruit, granola and topping it with regular strawberry yogurt.  In fact, I just polished one off for lunch (since I didn't eat it for breakfast because I remembered I had a Starbucks gift card...yippee!).
• Brandon started painting our wood trim and I'm sooo excited!!  However, I am having to contain my excitement because our walls are still all white so it is looking very sterile.   And the reason our walls are still white is because we haven't made a decision on our flooring yet so we can't pick paint colors without picking the flooring.  Such a vicious cycle!
• Koby has been very needy the past few days. Last night when we went to bed he sat on my side of the bed staring at me with his "Puss in Boots" look until I physically picked him up and put him in bed with us. Here is a visual in case you don't know what the Puss in Boots look looks like.  And yes, it is VERY pathetic.

• It's is so sunny and calm outside today, but the temperature is 24 degrees.  Totally deceiving!!
• I looked at our calendar for the next several weeks and we do not have to be out of town over a weekend for a really long time and I am really excited about that!!  I love getting away, but I'm always ready for a break at the first of every year.  We spend most of our Fall in Manhattan for football games (and I LOVE doing that, by the way) and then we transition right into the holidays and it seems like we are never home.  And then this year, we threw in a move which really made life crazy.  It will be nice to spend several weekends at home getting our house together, running errands, going to church, and just being around. 

That is all for now.  Happy Thursday!



Thursday Things

1. Tonight is our only night at home this week.  You'd think we would do something productive but instead we are curled up on the couch watching mindless TV.  Yes!
2. I ordered our Christmas cards today and I made the process much more difficult than it should have been.  I wanted to use our newest professional photo that we had taken when we did Brandon's family's pictures, but I was having heartburn about Koby not being pictured.  Brandon kindly reminded me that Koby is just a dog and will never know he was not included on the card.  Point taken.  But, if you receive our Christmas cards please know we still love Koby, even if he is just a dog.
3. I have only made one batch of my Christmas cookies so far.  See #1 for reasons why.  
4. We are doing all of our Christmas shopping on Saturday and I am so excited.  We have the whole day planned and I can't wait to hang out with Brandon and get our gifts purchased.  
5. We have not done much updating to the house yet and I'm getting a little antsy.  I can only handle our un-patched and un-painted walls for so long.  Not to mention the 12 foot light blue vertical blinds!  We plan to tackle one paint job on Sunday so that will be fun.
6. I'm still trying to figure out my morning routine in the new house.  It seems like it takes me longer to get ready each morning and I can't figure out why.  I haven't added any new steps and I'm not getting up any later.  In fact, I've set the alarm for ten minutes earlier than normal.  
7. I mentioned that we went to the Miracle of Christmas show in Branson over Thanksgiving.  For some reason that show really brought the Christmas story to life for me and I seem to be picking up on more details than I ever have before.  Our church is also doing a series called Simply Christmas which is focusing on the simple message of Christmas and the unlikely way God brought his Son into this world and the unlikely ways He works in our lives today.  
8. I had to break out my gloves and scarf today.  I'm afraid Winter has arrived and is here to stay.  However, it is neat to wake up to a partially frozen lake - it's quite beautiful actually.
9. Speaking of the lake behind our house, Brandon informed me he's been hitting golf balls into the lake to scare the geese.  Today the ball didn't sink...it just sat on top of the ice.  I hope we don't get turned into the HOA for pretending we live on a golf course.
10. I can't get enough of the holiday coffee drinks.  I love them so much it makes me want to get one of those Keurig machines so I  can make coffee drinks at home!  Brandon thinks I'm crazy but I do really think I would enjoy one.  Maybe I will ask for it for my birthday since we aren't doing gifts for each other for Christmas (we are only doing fun stocking stuffers instead).

Thursday Things

Yep, it's Thursday again and I haven't posted since last Thursday.  I'm not even going to make an excuse or mention how busy we've been, it's just life right now.  Here is what has been going on:

• Our house has been shown four times this week, which is exciting but we're ready for someone to fall in love and make an offer :)
• Since we do not know when our showings will take place, we have to keep the house looking pristine at all times.  Every night before we go to bed, we pick up everything on the counters/floor/table/etc, put dishes in the dishwasher, and sometimes I will vacuum.  Then, in the morning we make our bed, wipe down the bathroom, shut closet doors, open blinds, dump the trash, and do one last sweep through the house to make sure everything is picked up.  Except for yesterday!  We had a showing at 3:30 and when I got home I realized that a water bottle had been left on the floor beside our bed, the iron was on top  of the washer and not on its little hook, and we left the tractor sprinkler and hose strung out in the yard.  Brandon thinks the hose issue will show them we're still watering our yard, while I think it draws more attention to the fact we don't have a sprinkler system.  Either way, there was nothing we could do about it at that point.  We just hope the potential buyer was able to see past those few items :)
• We traveled to Manhattan last Saturday and watched the Cats beat Baylor!  It was a super fun game and we are definitely excited to watch them play the rest of the season. 
• Last Sunday we intended to go visit my friend in Oklahoma who had a baby a couple of weeks ago, but she called as we were getting around that morning and told us she was sick :(  I'm hoping to go visit her this weekend while Brandon and a friend go to the KSU game, but I hear there is a chance for severe weather and I don't think I want to be driving in Oklahoma during severe weather!  Let's hope it doesn't happen because at this rate, I think that baby will be 18 before I get to meet him!!
• We got to celebrate Brandon's dad's birthday with him this week.  Brandon's uncle is in the hospital so his parents brought his grandma to town on Tuesday to help his aunt out and Tuesday just happened to be his dad's birthday.  So, we all went out to eat to celebrate.  It was nice to see them mid-week, even if it was just for a couple of hours.
• My friend Ali and I are making bierocks on Sunday and I can't wait!  I LOVE homemade bierocks and we have a great time making them.
• Have I mentioned that every wall in our new house is white?  Well, it is.  Every. Single. One.  So, I've been browsing Pinterest trying to find paint color schemes that I like.  One thing I know for sure, I'm not going to paint every wall the same color like we did when we first moved into our current house. 
• Koby has been with my parents for almost TWO WEEKS and I miss the little guy so much!!  I think I'm going to go pick him up this weekend and then we're just going to have to make arrangements to get him out of the house when we have showings.  He just makes life around our house a little more exciting :)
• I need to start laying clothes out for my trip next weekend, but I honestly have no idea what to take.  I can't decide if it will still be too warm for boots and leggings, but I also don't want to take summer stuff, simply because I'm tired of my summer clothes.   

 



Thursday Things

Here is my Thursday brain dump:

• Since we have a contract on a new house, my Pinterest boards have been filling up with new decorating ideas.  I can't wait to get started but Brandon keeps reminding me that we have to pace ourselves (and by "ourselves" he means me...).
• I've been wearing my hair curly lately because I'm trying to grow it out and it looks akward when it is straight.  But today, my curly hair is totally out of control.  Totally!  I need to figure out how to tame it down on days like this.
• Koby has been staying with my parents this week while we got our house on the market and we miss him so much.  But, we also know he is having a great time at their house and won't want to come home.
• I'm loving this fall weather, but I'm not loving trying to figure out what to wear each morning.  It is still too warm in the afternoons to wear my fall clothes, but I feel like my summer clothes are too "summery".  Uggh!
• Speaking of fall weather, I can't believe September is all but over.  It seems like time is just flying by these days.  I was looking ahead at our October calendar and realized that my mom and I will be leaving for our trip two weeks from today!  Crazy!
• We bought our first batch of Honeycrisp apples last night and I have one sitting on me desk this morning just waiting to be consumed.  YUM!
• I got my new boots yesterday!  And I love them!  I decided to go with these:

Have a lovely Thursday!  It's almost Friday :)