Shadow

Our beloved fat cat, Shadow, died today. We've had him for about 11 years... he was truly part of the family.

He was a great cat. Sam and I would play with him and dress him up in ridiculous clothes. Dad would always share his cereal milk with him in the morning. Mom would let him sleep on/around her face. He was a friend to all of the pets... and an even better friend to me.

I love you Shadow. I miss you already. I hope you are catching those bed mice in kitty heaven.

Aren't You Glad He's Not Your Neighbor?

This guy does this every year, but it never seizes to amaze me.

I'm just glad I don't live next to him!

Christmas Light Display

We are headed up to visit Mike's family tomorrow...so let the festivities begin!

I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

12 Days of Christmas: A Scavenger Hunt

My sister and I came up with a fun little Christmas treat for our parents... a scavenger hunt based on the 12 Days of Christmas.

We made little clues and hid prizes around the house. After much searching at Walmart, we decided that our 12 Days would have a food theme.

This is what they ended up finding!


On the 12th day of Christmas, my daughters gave to me...


12 drumsticks drumming



Oops! Typo! 11 peppers pepping.


10 Lords A-Leaping (Get it? Ultimate popcorn... it leaps when its popping... okay, kind of a stretch)



9 Ladies Dancing (see the lady... she's a-dancin'!)



8 Maids A-Milking



7 Swans A-Swimming (Swanson... get it?)



6 Geese A-Laying


5 Golden Rings!



4 Calling Birds



3 French Hens (My favorite! See their curly French mustaches?)



2 Turtle Doves



And a partridge in a pear tree!

New Phone=Awesome

I got a new phone today! Wooooooo!

AND it's IU red! Woooooooo!

Juke

New Friend

I met the most beautiful little man tonight.

Keegan

I finally got to hold this highly anticipated little guy today. What a cutie. I love him already!

House Update!

So we called our landlord again today, asking about that wonderful little contract again.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems that we have made progress.

She said that she will have it to us at the beginning of the year and she will back-date the contract to June.

That means everything we've paid since June will go towards the cost of the house. That's 7 months of rent going towards our house... a whopping $4200 going towards our house. A wonderful, most unexpected surprise!

So that's the scoop. Mike keeps saying good things will happen to those who wait. We shall see!

Twas the Days Before Christmas

This little poem just about sums it up.

‘Twas the days before Christmas,
And all through the school,
The teachers were trying
To just keep their cool.
The hallways were hung
With Christmas art.
(Some made in November
To get a head start!)

The children were bouncing
Off ceilings and walls,
And seemed to forget
How to walk in the halls.

When out of the teacher’s lounge
With “holiday shirts”
And “jingle bell jewels,”
The teachers looked festive
Enforcing the rules.

There came such a chatter,
The principal went in
To see what was the matter.

The teachers were hiding
And trying to refuel,
On coffee and cookies
And treats from the Yule.

When what to their wondering
Ears do they hear,
But the ringing of school bells
It’s the children they fear!

More rapid than reindeer
The little ones came,
And the teachers all shouted
And called them by name;

Walk Vincent! Walk Tanner!
Walk, Tyler and Sammy!
Sit Jamie! Sit Laura!
Sit, Tara and Tammy!

To your desks in the room!
To your spots in the line!
Now walk to them! Walk to them!
No running this time!

So straight to their places
The children all went.
With fear of detention
Where they all would be sent.

With manuals of lessons
Cradled in arms,
The teachers began
To use all their charms.

But the lessons presented
All fell on deaf ears.
The children were thinking
Of Santa’s reindeer.

With a toss of their hands
They put manuals aside,
Went straight to the cupboards
Where videos hide.

And laying their finger
On the TV remote
They sat back to write
Their last Christmas note.

But you could hear them exclaim
At the end of the day–
Have a wonderful, happy and
L-O-O-O-O-O-NG Holiday!!!!

Class dismissed!

Meow

Here's a picture of Mr. Marley Cat.

End of a Season

Today was my dance team's last performance. They were a pretty good group of girls, but I'm definitely not sad that it is over. No more rushing back and forth to different schools and hopefully I'll never have to hear "Getcha Head in the Game" ever again.

It was the first time I've ever coached anything, so it was a good experience. I learned a lot about wrangling pre-teen girls and how to deal with parents and just how extra-curricular activities work from an administrative view point. While I'm very glad to be taking a nice long break from coaching, it's something Ill definitely consider doing again.

6 Months Ago...

At this time, 6 months ago, I was getting all dolled up with my friends and Mike was hanging out with his buddies, all in preparation for our wedding.

I can't believe it's already been six months... but then again it seems like we've been married a lot longer than that.

Of course we've had our ups and downs, but all in all, I think marriage really suits us.

On the 1st day of Christmas...

Happy Early Birthday to Me!

My sister is the most impatient gift-giver ever.

She went out shopping for my birthday present today, found it, and brought it straight over to me, even though my birthday is only a mere 7 hours away. Impatient, but I'm not complaining!

She knew we've been looking everywhere for some neat stuff to put on our walls, so she got me these! Cool, huh?


We hung them over the fireplace and they look awesome. Now we just need to find something for that middle spot.


Mike is taking me out shopping tomorrow, then we're heading over to my parents' for a birthday supper and perhaps a movie. Fun fun!

HAPPY THANKSGIVNG!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone stuffs themselves silly with obscene amounts of delicious food and takes a little time to give thanks for all the blessings in their lives.

And while you're at it, enjoy some of these Thanksgiving jokes!

What is the turkey's favorite black tie celebration?
The Butter Ball

Did you hear about the X rated turkey?
It was served with very little dressing.

Which side of the turkey has the most feathers?
The outside!

How does a turkey drink her wine?
In a gobble-let

What is the difference between a chicken and a turkey?
Chickens celebrate Thanksgiving!

And my favorite...

A few days before Thanksgiving, a lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at her local grocery store, but she couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked the stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?" The stock boy replied, "No ma'am, they're dead."

Yesterday's Sunset

Yesterday I was going to the grocery store to get stuff for my Thanksgiving dishes. On the way there, I noticed the sunset, pulled over and grabbed my camera. Good thing too, because by the time I got to the store, the cool jet lines were gone and so was all the pink. That, my friends, is why I take my camera everywhere!

Some Things Never Change

When my sister and I were little, we would play for hours in any over-sized box that would come into our possession.

Some things never change.


Here we are, not watching the new awesome tv, but playing in the giant box it came in. With creepy eyes.


Miraculously, we fit Mike in there too.

Some people just never grow up. I hope I'm always one of them....

Recipe of the Week

More like recipe of the month. It's been awhile since I've tried anything new, and it's been even longer since anything new I've tried was something to write about.

So in efforts to get this recipe of the week thing kick-started again, I'm busting out one of my favorites that we use pretty much every week.

My Favorite Garlic Bread

For this, you will need:

1/2 stick of butter
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 T parsley (more or less)
1/2 loaf of French bread
Parmesan cheese

First soften your butter in the microwave. Try not to totally melt it or make it explode like I have done in the past. But even if you do, it will be okay.

Next, chop your garlic and add to the soften butter. Then add your parsley. Give everything a good stir, then spread it onto your French bread that you've cut in half long-ways. In the event that your french bread has gone moldy without you knowing it, the garlicky/parsley butter goes just as well on regular sandwich bread.

Put the bread in the oven @ 400 degrees and bake for 7-8 minutes.

Take the bread out for just a second, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and pop it back in the oven for another 2-3 minutes until crusty. Then enjoy some of the best garlic bread ever!

Christmas Came Early!

Instead of buying each other gifts for Christmas, Mike and I decided to pool the money we would have used, plus any other Christmas money we get, to buy something we've been dreaming about owning for a long time.

And being the impatient, highly excitable people we are, we went out and bought it today...

Here it is!!!



It's a 42" LCD super awesome tv. Mike was actually skipping down the aisles at Walmart as we were buying it.

We hooked it up and it's amazing. We broke it in by watching IU beat Purdue at the last minute in football. It was so clear we could actually see the players sweat and the Purdue fans cry. Well, I made that last part up, but if they showed the Purdue fans, I'm sure we would have been able to see the tears.

Best present ever! Merry Christmas to us!

Lost and Found

My Grandma Nancy was a wonderful cook. She made the world's best fried chicken and meringue pies. She also had the coolest cookbook ever, full of recipes she collected throughout her years in the kitchen. When she passed away two and a half years ago, I decided I should start making a cookbook like she did. And I have... it's been one of the only self-assigned projects I've actually stuck with. So far I've filled one and a half notebooks and am still going strong!

For the last few weeks, I haven't been able to find one of the notebooks. The first notebook. The completely handwritten notebook with 100+ recipes in it. Needless to say I was a bit distraught. I searched high and low, every nook and cranny, and still couldn't find it.

So today, I was just randomly cleaning up a bit and I saw a papery corner sticking out from behind the fridge. The light bulb clicked on in my brain... there it was! I must have put it on top of the fridge "for safe keeping" and it fell off. Hooray! So now I can enjoy my recipes again... except now I have in mind to digitalize them all so I won't ever lose them. A new project awaits!

STRESS

I've been a bad blogger recently. It's just I've had other things on my mind.

Warning: venting about to occur...

I've been stressed about my job... it seems I was hired in the middle of a office political hail storm. I still LOVE working with the kids, but the snarkiness is getting old and it seems I'm having to pick up a lot of the slack.

I've been stressed about the dance team. I've had to suspend two girls from the team due to grades, and now the routine has fallen apart. And to top it off I've had to deal with snarkiness from a parent. Principal involved snarkiness. Oh my.

We had Marley neutered/declawed/vaccinated yesterday. That was a large chunk of change and was I worried about him because we took him to a different vet due to cost issues with our regular one. My normal love bug of a cat is kind of grumpy and shaved in awkward places, but all in all he's doing fine.

We also had to switch Mike's car insurance because his policy with his parents is over. We've been fighting for two days over it because Mike agreed to coverage that is waaay too expensive for what we are getting. Not only agreed, but put a 2 month down payment on it. Now I have to get my dad to help fix it because it seems that Mike can't manage to do it himself. Sigh.

And to make things worse, I'm out of my medicine that helps me deal with stress. So all these stressors that most people could easily deal with seems like huge, monstrous ordeals to me and I end up falling to pieces over everything. I go to the doctor on Friday, but for the last week I've been falling apart over stupid little things. And the thing is I know they are stupid... I just can't help it. I'd say I'm somewhere between a nervous break down and a horribly foul mood. Friday never seemed so far away.

Venting complete.

So in conclusion, I'm a nutcase who hasn't had time to blog. But I promise I'll do better! New recipe coming soon!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Today we had the afternoon off work, so I decided to do some heavy duty Christmas shopping. Some may think I'm crazy, others might think I'm ultra-prepared. But really, I just really really really hate the Christmas crowds. They make me irrationally angry. Irrational anger is not a good thing for me, so I try to get it done as quickly and as soon as possible.

I got a lot done today. We got Mike's entire family and my mom's side of the family's presents bought and wrapped. All I have left to get is my parents' and sister's presents, and of course, Mike's.

Not too shabby for only being Nov. 9.

My Little Marley Cat

Here's a little video that reminds me so much of my little Marley cat. All you cat lovers out there will appreciate this too!

The Wake Up Call

Boo Patriots...

That is all.

Drat you, time change!!!

So we woke up, showered, got ready, etc. to go to church this morning at our usual time. As we were putting our shoes on and taking the dog out, I happened to walk by our digital cable box and saw the time. The following was my internal dialouge.

"9:15? That's not right. It's 10:15. Wait. It is 10:15, isn't it? Am I going crazy? Oh wait, it IS 9:15. Time change! Drat you, time change!"

It's just a good thing our cable box changes on its own! So now we're enjoying our extra our before church. Mike is cooking bacon and I'm browsing for Christmas present ideas on the internet. I'm kind of disappointed that we didn't get the triumphant sleep in... I love that smug feeling... the feeling like I've beat the time system or something. But it could have been worse. We could have sprung ahead and totally missed everything this morning. Or work tomorrow. EEK! Someone was smart to declare the time change on Sundays... a dum dum mistake buffer of sorts!

Candy! Glorious Candy!

My mom and I volunteered to help out with the promotion of our church's education center by stuffing treat bags for our town's annual trick or treat walk. We had to take a little break to relish the huge amount of candy that we had in our possession.


Check out Mom's face. She looks like a candy eating lion lady. It's so nice of her to keep supplying me with all these wonderful blackmail pictures!

First Performance

My dance team girls had their first performance today. It's been a long time in the works.

When I first signed up for the job, I wasn't totally sure what I was getting myself into.

When I had to come up with the dance on my own, I was like "WHAT HAVE I DONE?? WHY ME??? WHY????????"

And then I had to deal with the t-shirt people and slow orders. IIIIEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! I finally got the shirts in yesterday afternoon. I hate cutting things close, so I was just a tad bit stressed!

It was a lot of hard work and a lot of practices, but also a lot of fun. I've got 16 wonderful girls to work with and a fabulous assistant (who also happens to be my mom) that helps me out when I can't be there because of my other job at my other school.

Today's performance was GREAT! It was the best job they've done so far! I was nervous for them all day long because the last practice didn't go so well, but they got it together and just blew me away!! They crowd cheered and the principal gave us a good review. I'm so proud of them... it's like my little baby birds have flown from the nest!

Happy Halloween!

I'm too tired to really post anything... I shall updatetomorrow. But for now check out these incredible pumpkin carvings!

Pumpkins: Part Deux

The week of rain washed our pumpkin faces off. Aww sad times.

Until we busted out the knives! (Horror movie sounds: ree ree ree ree)


Mike chose to stick with Laughy McDracula.


I decided on a plain, old fashioned, scary face... perfect for a headless horseman if one should happen to come around.

They've been out like that for 2 nights in a row on our busy street without getting smashed... wonder if they'll make it to Halloween? Bets, anyone? :o)

Potatoes:1 - Meagan :0

The mashed boo-tatoes didn't work.

They were supposed to look like this:

Extremely cute and seemingly easy.

Seemingly is the key word here, people.

I totally screwed up the potatoes. I forgot to peel them, they were undercooked and wouldn't smash, and the mixer shot them all over the kitchen.

Instead of cute little ghosties, I got this:

A really lumpy bowl of potatoes. They weren't awful, but definitely the worst batch of mashed potatoes ever.

So I'm trying it again this week. Maybe for Halloween!

Just a few pictures

Here a few pictures that I've been working on here and there.


My kitties. They are best friends. Not a great quality pic, but they make up for it in cuteness!


Sunset at Wal-mart. Seriously. Look west from the parking lot and you'll see it. I cropped out that Christmas star they have on top.




One of my favorites! That's at IU. The campus is so pretty this time of year.


Another IU tree.


My other favorite. Who knew roses still bloom in late October?

Chuck Norris World

Instead of doing anything productive, I stumbled across this.

Chuck Norris World.

It's so weird. It's a Mario/Sonic/Streetfighter inspired game (literally) where you are Chuck Norris. You make your way through different levels jumping on and roundhouse kicking your enemies in the face. And the sound is in French. But the subtitles are in English, except for his name. They call him Tchaqui Nouris.

And while we're on the random subject of Chuck Norris, here are some jokes about him. I love these... they crack me up! Chuck Norris Facts.

MIA

It's been an incredibly busy week, and as you can tell, I've been slacking in the blogging area.

Sorry.

I'll be back soon.

I promise.

On a side note, I'm making Mashed Boo-tatoes for dinner. I hope they turn out as cute as the picture!

Fall Break!

We're officially on Fall Break, the best four day weekend in the whole year! You can't ask for a better job than one that gives you weekends, summers, and random days off. God bless the school corporation. (A moment of silence for my college friends who do not get fall breaks...)

So this morning we're headed off to Bloomington, where we'll get to see friends, family, and Bob Dylan! We're only staying until tomorrow night, so we have a lot packed into two little days.

Mike is especially excited. When he woke up this morning, he said it almost felt like Christmas. Silly boy!

And the thunder rolls...

This afternoon a big line of severe storms rolled through our area, along with some pretty wicked looking clouds. I'm terrified of storms, but I just couldn't get over those clouds. I got the courage to run out and snap a few photos of some of them.




Here it comes...


Gloomy clouds.


And even gloomier clouds.



Eek.

Cliche Buster...

Get code for this picture Funny MySpace Comments

House Update

Bad News: No contract yet. Sigh.

Good News: Everyday we are living less and less like the Beverly Hillbillies gone to college!

Today we got curtains! Ooh la la!







Next on our list is to get some artwork on the walls and maybe a new coffee table. We'll be headed up to Bloomington area next weekend (for the concert yaay!) so maybe we'll find something interesting up there.

PUMPKINS!!!

Mike and I painted our pumpkins today.


A gruesome twosome for sho!

Let's play a game! Can you guess whose pumpkins is whose?

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Have you made your guess yet?
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Hurry up!
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Alright, time's up!

Here's Mike's creation. He named it Laughy McDracula.



And mine. The Old Hag.



I hope your guess was right!

I heart Halloween!

More Useless Trivia

It's been a busy week and my brain needs a vacation. But since it's only Thursday, a little useless trivia will have to do for now. Enjoy!

Rabbits love licorice.

A humpback whale's penis can be longer that 10 feet.

As a young and struggling artist, Pablo Picasso kept warm by burning his own paintings.

Tuesday is the most productive day of the work week.

Cows give more milk when they listen to music.

Peanuts are an ingredient in dynamite.

Armadillos can be house-trained.

The yo-yo originated in the Philippines, where it was used as a weapon in hunting.

Eau de cologne was originally marketed as a way of protecting yourself against the plague.

The human body contains enough iron to make a 3-inch nail.

Nintendo was established in 1889 and started out making playing cards.

From "This Book of More Perfectly Useless Information" by Mitchell Symons

Cooking Misadventures

Being the baking extrordinaire that I am, I decided to make the world's best cupcakes for my pregnant friend Andi. I've made them before, so I thought it would be a breeze to do again.

Wrong!

First off, I miscalculated the strength of my mixer. We got a new one as a gift for our wedding, and boy is it strong. It's like a power drill with little whisk thingies. Anyways, I forgot how strong it was and ended up shooting sugar all over the kitchen. It was like an explosion. What a mess!

After I regrouped, I kept on my merry little baking way. I made the batter, poured it in the little cupcake things, and started to put them in the oven. I took a little taste and BLEH!

I forgot the sugar. Duh.

I had to dump it all out and make it all over again.

So my new batch is in the oven, almost done. We'll see if these turn out to be the world's best cupcakes, or yet another cooking disaster by yours truly!

4 Things

I got tagged by Perri, so here it is... four things about me.

Jobs I've had:
1. Kennel Assistant at a veterinarian
2. Cashier and display designer at a craft shop
3. Housekeeper
4. Teacher/Aide

Places I have lived:
1. Boonville, IN
2. Bloomington, IN
3. Um...
4. That's all.

Food I love:
1. Pasta- any kind
2. Pizza
3. Mexican food
4. Diet Coke

Websites I visit daily:
1. Bank
2. Weather.com
3. Facebook
4. Any updated blogs on my Google Reader

Places I'd rather be:
1. Visiting friends in Bloomington
2. Hawaii
3. Laid out on a beach with pina coladas (in Hawaii)
4. Snuggled in bed

Movies I love:
1. 50 First Dates
2. Talladega Nights
3. Monty Python & the Holy Grail
4. Empire Records

TV shows I watch:
1. House
2. The Office
3. CSI
4. LOST

People I tag:
1. My mom- who never updates her blog... slacker!
2. My sister- who writes some of the best blogs ever
3. Jada- who takes really cool pictures (I want to see more!!)
4. Heidi- who I'd love to know more about!

Ah, the great outdoors....

Ahh... the sun's shining, the birds are singing...


And the Emersons' are camping.

So after work on Friday, we packed our gear and headed up to Lincoln park to camp our little hearts out. Actually, it was Mike's heart that wanted to camp. Mine wanted to be at home watching CSI, painting my toenails. I cannot stress enough that I am soooo not a camper. Or an outdoorsy type person at all, really. The only reason I was going on this trip was to appease my husband.

That being said, I didn't really have that bad of a time.

But we didn't have that great of a time either...

The possible reasons?

1. As we were unpacking the stuff at our campsite, we realized Mike forgot to load up our clothes in the jeep. Crap.

2. Deciding we could make do without our clothes for a couple days, we continued to unload the car. We shortly realize that Mike also forgot to pack all of the blankets. Double crap.

3. An hour's round trip driving home and back to get said clothes and blankets and some forgotten firewood, I cooked dinner with one knife and a plastic fork by lantern light.

4. As we were a bit tipsy that evening, we decided to go to bed and didn't think to put all of the food up properly. We found out that raccoons like chocolate. Alot. Needless to say, no smores for us.



5. At breakfast, I made an oh so delicious omelet that I promptly dropped on the ground. I scraped the top part up and ate it anyways.




5. It was hot, Don. Very very hot. Why is it 90 degrees in October? Why?

Despite a few (well, a more than a few) setbacks, and my pre-established feelings about camping, we did enjoy ourselves. We cooked a great campfire dinner on Friday and had a great time just talking, reading and relaxing. We brought Scout, who had the best time in the world. I think she thought she was in doggie heaven. It was fun to watch her sniff and romp around. We went on a hike on Saturday and sat by the lake for a while. It was really really nice.



But in the end, the heat got us. We were hot and miserable. We were ready to go home.



Even Scout was.



So we packed up and hightailed it home where we lounged on the couch like slugs the rest of the afternoon.

Not horrible. But I don't think I'm ready to go back and do it again anytime soon...