In This Crazy Life...

Power was restored yesterday late afternoon. We decided to wait til this morning to lug everything back. It's New Year's Eve and I am sick with 100.7 fever! Ugh! This has been a hell of a Christmas break. Just left the drug store and stocked up on Kleenex, the kind with lots of lotion, and cold medicine. May be ringing in the New Year at home this year. Here's to 2013!

Day five in the dark! 111 hours. I really hope they get it on soon. I'm so glad I have a warm place to stay that my animals can stay too, but I want to be at my house. The dogs want to be able to run and not be confined to a small space on a tie out. I don't want to spend my Christmas break like this!!!! I did this puzzle last night. Even though Kev has power he doesn't get cable or Internet service. You may get two bars on your phone if you stand close enough to the right window. So we are having an Entourage marathon.

Christmas Day we had lots of ice topped off with snow. Our power went out about 4:00 that afternoon. Luckily, I had already made a huge pot of chili. About two hours later, it came back on just long enough for us to eat dinner and shower (since I have a well, I don't get water when there's not electricity). By 10:00 it was out again and that's the last time we had power. I have a fireplace so keeping warm wasn't a problem. Kev split some wood and we were good to go. I pulled the camping cookware down from the attic. I cooked sausage, eggs, and toast for breakfast.  Warmed chili up for lunch. And made grilled chicken and cheese sandwiches for dinner.  I even pulled some cookie dough from the freezer and grilled cookie dough. We had to flip them like pancakes to cook them thoroughly, but they we delicious.  After sleeping on the mattress in front if the fireplace and still no power, we got the ok from his dad to bring all the animals out to his land.

So my brother asked what I wanted for Christmas. A few weeks before I'd seen these owl Tervis tumblers in Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I love Tervis tumblers! I use the big one everyday for coffee. It also gets usesdfor cocktails by the pool, tailgating, and camping. I opened the gift to find a layer of duct tape.  Now this is because I love to peek at my presents and my brother knows this. He usually stops me. Once I'd cut threw the layer of duct tape, there was another layer of gift wrap. After all the unwrapping, I find a box stuffed with pillow inside and these. I cracked up. He had drawn owls on Red Solo cups. He then handed me another box. It contained these! I can't believe he got me four. He said he couldn't decide. I love the tall ones and Kev loves the short ones so it works out perfect as long as he doesn't mind drinking out of owl cups. I love my brother and he gave a great gift. My mother added all these to my shoe ornament collection

Another thing I can't wait to have is city water! There's city water where I live now, but my landlord never paid to have the rent house put on it. Don't get me wrong, well water doesn't totally suck. I've lived with it eight years. It's the water pressure! I'm sure some of it is just the well pump being older and them not wanting to spend the money to replace it. I can't complain my rent is dirt cheap. There are car payments more than my rent. I can't wait to be able to run the dishwasher and the washing machine at the same time, or flush the toilet and immediately get in the shower. As it is now only one water source can be used at a time. Just another thing that I can't wait to have.

Hatfield is so strange. I know I've said this before, but he is. Sometimes he will NOT go outside in the morning before I leave for work. I try everything! Food doesn't even work. I feel bad leaving him because it will be at least eight hours before I get back home and its already been all night since he's been outside. Anyways, today was one of those mornings. In fact he's not gone out any morning this week. Here he is this morning laying on the couch. When I asked "wanna go outside?" He just rolled over. Such a weirdo!!

My animals think they own the place! Kev and I are sitting on the couch watching TV, when all of a sudden Hatfield jumps in between us. Lilly wasn't having that. She leaped up here too. Needless to say, the new house will have a bigger couch that can hold all of us

This morning it was 28 degrees outside! I warmed my car up for 20 minutes and all the frost still wasn't off the windows. I can't wait til next winter when I will have a garage to park in. Not only for winter months but all months truly. In the fall I always get acorns and leaves stuck in my window. In the summer my car is always covered in bird poop and hot and in spring it's covered in pollen. Just one of the reasons I'm so excited about building a house. Having garage to park in!

So today was the worst day ever at work!! I won't go into details but it started out first thing this morning, and this afternoon I received an email that took my bad day and made it worse. I called Kev and told him I was going to happy hour with a friend. I got home about 5:45 and he was cooking dinner and there was a vase of flowers on the counter. He really is the best and I love him bunches! He knows just how to turn my terrible days around.

Sunday afternoon we decided to take a drive. When it was time for the dogs to get in their pen, Hatfield refused. He just stood at the car door. He wanted to go to. So we loaded them up and headed out. Our drive took us to a small lake about 20 minutes always. I didn't even know it existed. Anyways, we let the dogs swim. They loved it! Watch Lilly leap like a dolphin. Hilarious! Or at least it is to us.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show! I love how they take their lingerie (bras and panties) and add on to create amazing outfits. The whole show is up beat and showcases great music. It's what in watching tonight!

Well I did it! 2 hours 40 minutes. Not as fast as my other one but I'll take it since I've been sick and it got hot today. Kev is the best! He always comes and hangs out til I finish. Now to relax and Beale Street tonight. I bought Kev this shirt to wear. Lots of people commented on it and liked it. It sat "I don't do half marathons but I do a half marathon runner". I thought it was cute and funny.

I'm packed for the St. Jude Half Marathon. Hoping this race doesn't suck too bad. I've been so congested and wheezy, I've not ran since last Wednesday. My body literally produces more snot than sweat. Here goes nothing!

Although this recipe is on allrecipes.com, I came across it on Pinterest. It's super easy. Just cook 8 slices of bacon and scramble 4 eggs (leave a light egg mixture to brush on top of the croissants). Use refrigerated crescent rolls. Place egg, bacon, and cheese on each piece of dough and roll it up. Brush the tops with egg and bake according to the package. They were yummy and easy! As you can see I had already tasted mine.

While the crazies were shopping today, Black Friday, I decided to get out the Christmas decorations. I absolutely love decorating for Christmas. I have two trees in my attic, but I only have the room for one. When I got my own place in college my grandmother gave me a pencil tree she used for twenty plus years in her old home. It's still a beautiful tree (it needs a new stable base), I bought a bigger one a couple of years ago. So now I have two trees. Anyways... As I was decorating this year I kept thinking about this being the last year I decorate this house. I'm looking forward to having the room to put up multiple trees in my new house and even putting up one on the porch outside. Over the years I have collected tons of ornaments that I do not use anymore and want to use. When I first tree decorating years I decorated with snowmen and have enough snowmen ornaments for a snowman tree. Then I used purple ornaments for several years so I can have a purple tree too. Right

Wondering what to do with the leftovers from taco night? Make taco pizza. I got the idea from Pinterest . I know right. Like most recipes, I looked at it and made it my own. I started by cooking the crust (I used the refrigerated pizza crust) in the oven. I cooked mine a little longer than it said because I like a crispy crust. While it was cooking, I mashed the leftover black beans with leftover onion, garlic, and taco sauce. When the crust was ready I spread the bean mixture over it and topped it with leftover taco meat, salsa, jalapeños, and cheese. I cooked it about ten minutes longer or until the cheese melted. A little leftover lettuce and scallions and wahla taco pizza. It was actually quite yummy.

I want to keep my candy "money" too!!!!!

I feel like crud! I've blown my nose so much this weekend that my face is raw and red. I can't imagine how I have this much snot in me. Anyways. I didn't get my Thursday 3 miler in or my 9 mile long run this weekend. How can I run when I can't freaking breathe?!? I've been taking medicine and using my Nettie Pot, so here's hoping I feel like running towards the end of this week. So glad this is a short work week and a field trip on Wednesday. I NEED a break!!

My Lilly Lou is one today! This is her a week old. Probably about 6 or 7 weeks old. She weighs 65 pounds and is full of energy. She loves Perla and Hatfield and always wants to be close to me.  It's hard to believe around this time last year I had Perla and Hatfield along with Bella and her 11 puppies living with me. I wonder what has happened to those presious babies. I made sure each and everyone one of them was loved and held while they were here. Bella and her puppies on the way to my house. Everyone playing outside.

I kept putting this run off because it was freezing Saturday morning, literally and we had to leave by 9:30 for the game. Sunday morning was in the thirties too, so I decided to wait til late afternoon. Dressed in my cold gear compression and a jacket, I set out. By mile 1 I was pulling up my leggings. I find if my ankles can get air I stay cooler. Mile 2 my jacket came off and mile 5 I pulled up my shirt so my stomach could get air. Guess it's not quiet cold enough for long clothes yet. I felt great the whole time! I know it's not my usual race time, but it's better than the 13 minute mile I've been averaging. Since this was my first long run and I ran faster than normal, I decided to take an ice bath. It keeps my muscles from being sore or should I say as sore the next day.

I got this idea from Pinterest. Waffles made from cinnamon rolls. I wanted to try them so I picked up some at the store. I got small ones so I put two on at a time. I cooked them a little longer than I would a waffle. For the icing I used the cream cheese icing that came with it and thinned it out with some milk and powdered sugar. They were pretty yummy!

Arkansas v. Ole Miss game at Little Rock

I've been totally obsessed with house plans. I have finally decided to leave the comfort of my rent house and get my own house. I absolutely love my rent house and landlords. They have been so good to me and taken care of whatever I have needed in the last 8 years. I kind of get sad about leaving my neighbors. I like most of them and my aunt and uncle live at the end of the road. Anyways. The land have found is absolutely perfect! It is on the bottom part of a ridge I have been telling Kev for the last year that I want to live on. There's a back road we drive down frequently to get to West Little Rock. It crosses over a ridge that has beautiful views. Well, this road is parallel to that road. It's at the very end of the street on top of a hill and backs up to a gated community's lake (Lake Florence according to Google Maps). So I will look out my kitchen window everyday and see a wooded area with a pond. No neighbors, well the houses on the other side of the pond in t

Sunday was my Aunt Donna's 60th birthday and it was a surprise. A month ago my Uncle asked mom and I along with her daughter-in-law to plan and organize everything. He just gave us the credit card and we had a blast using it. It's always more fun spending someone else's money. Right?  Anyways the theme was "Blast from the Past". We made all kinds of banners displaying pictures of her and popular people, songs, and shows during her lifetime. We decided it would be fun to have a photo booth set up and since it is Halloween season, we were able to find all kinds of fun props. Here are a few pictures from the photo booth. My CRAZY brother  My mom and her two best friends  Christian (Spencer's girlfriend's son) He loved it!  Kev and Me Aunt Donna and Uncle Mike (her brother)