Where have you been?

Give away at Monogram Me!

Monogram Me has some great new gifts. Go check her out.
Also, she has a give away this week. Good Luck!
http://mpmdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/09/giveaway-time.html

Weekend Getaway

In exactly 24 hours we will be loading up "the truck" and head to the mountains for the weekend. Who will be there with us... two of my best friends from college. Not only my best friends but practically my first friends. These two girls were my neighbors in the dorm. Best friends from a small town in South GA. We have kept in touch all these years. So the weekend is just for the three familes. Now you know where I am going and who with. Looking forward to telling you about how we spent the time together.
Enjoy your weekend!

Taco Pie

1 pound ground beef
1 can crescent rolls
1 pkg taco seasoning
1/2 cup water
1-1/2 cup of crushed Doritos
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 cups shredded lettuce
1 chopped tomato
taco sauce



Brown ground beef, drain. Add seasoning and water. Simmer for 5 minutes.
In a 9 inch pie pan, make a crust from the crescent rolls. Sprinkle with one cup of Doritos.
Spread on meat, then sour cream.
Cover with cheddar cheese.
Sprinkle remaining Doritos
Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Do NOT over bake

Top with onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and taco sauce.


We tried this recipe over the weekend and it was yummy! I am sure you could make this with ground chicken or ground turkey.

Lucky me

Saturday night one of my girlfriends called me and asked if by any chance I would like to go and see Grease at The Fox Sunday night. A group of girls were going and they had an extra ticket. She also mentioned they had reservations at The Melting Pot for dinner before the show. So I thought a minute: is this a good use of our money, what about hubby and the Bug and then my answer was What the Heck ... let's do it, I am in. I will meet them downtown for dinner and a play. But then, my friend said there was one more little detail... they were going in a Limo. HA! Really?? (one of the girls flew in from Wilmington, N.C. and she is accustom to going out with a driver so she made sure a driver was part of our night.) Very thoughtful.
Then my hubby was also thoughtful and said he would drive me (south a good ways) to meet the limo so I could arrive in style downtown as well. It was a fun night meeting new ladies. We counted up... seven moms, thirteen children between us all (Guess who was the only mom of one for now. Ha Ha)
It was a fun night, part of the fun was because it was a spontaneous invite for me. I will say I had more time to plan for the night then one of the girls. I'll go ahead and tell you that story too.
My friend called another one of my friends "N" first to offer her the extra ticket. but she declined. So then I got the phone call next on Saturday night. But as we were all loading in the Limo someone asked where is "Joann" and they said she is just not going. Do you know of someone else that would want to go and be ready? So we immediately got out the cell phone and called "N". (Her second chance at an extra ticket.) She lived in the subdivision just across the street so it would be no problem to pick her up. Her little girl answered the phone and said mommy is sleeping. We said wake her up... this is worth waking her up for. And we went and picked her up. Less than 10 minute notice and she was on her way to the FOX in a black stretch Limo with us. "


"N" was still wearing her sundress from church and a cute bead necklace so all she had to do was grab purse, add lipstick and she was set. What Fun to share a spontaneous evening with two of my best friends and four other super nice girls.

This is my blog

so this is my blog, got a little buzz, unusual for me these days, but let me tell you how much fun it was to see my girl Sara Evans tonight. A blast! I know her songs, I can sing along, I will buy her new CD. She inspires you to have great calves and makes you want to share this night with your best girlfriends. I guess becuase she seems like such a COOL GIRL. I will tell all my girls about it and hope we get to have some girl fun soon. But in the mean time, i am going to enjoy this night, knowing my baby is safe with my parents and I am home with my man.
Did i mention we were front row? Pictues tomorrow ;) Good Night!!!

Date Night

Date night tonight... Hubby, me and this fun girl.
Hope you have a fun night too!

SWAP...

I know of a Fall Preppy swap going on in case you are interested. It sounds like fun. Yesterday when I looked there were 40 preppy bloggers already signed up. Today there are 98 comments on her blog.
Check it out over at Monograms and Manicures

Let me know if you sign up. You have until 5pm on Monday, August 3rd.

What's been going on?

Seems like I went a while without posting so this is just to fill in the blanks...

Our sweet boy is potty trained! I feel like I did nothing. It just happenend. How about that. Seriously...per his teachers request he started wearing pull-ups when he turned two. He would potty several times over the months in all the different positions and places. We had a school change or two but the process remained the same. Then in the Spring I guess we started asking him more regularly if he needed to potty. We started seeing a pattern to his behavior of tucking away to hide and poop alone. A few times we were successful to get him on the potty to poop. He did great on our beach vacation and in June he just started staying dry. And he would tee-teeing when we took him. When we went to the Braves in June and we did not even go to the bathroom to avoid the hassel and he was still dry when we left. I declared potty trained! Big Boy underwear ever since and he poops nightly on the potty like a grown man, asking me to "give him a minute". What luck!



My hubby found a new job and he is a new man. (He hates me sharing info about him. He is a private person.) That is beside the point. I think his potenial is huge with this new opportunity. I continue to hope and pray that the other folks out there needing a job find one soon. Now if he can just get a paycheck we will be even better. LOL!

Our Neighborhood had a old fashion Field Day at the local park last weekend and it was a blast. Just like you would imagine... Egg Race, Egg Toss, Water Ballooon Toss, Three Legged Race and Tug of War. It was so much fun. We can't wait until next year.




I think that is a good update for now.
Enjoy the rest of your week.

A Nice Thought

I hope you have enjoyed the month of July. It is almost over.
I wanted to share a nice thought..
Yesterday we had a Baby Shower in honor of the youngest of my generation in the RT Gang. What is the RT Gang? It is the street I grew up on. The Gang is made up of four families that have more in common then you would believe. Just to name one thing... all the families had three kids each. We lived in four houses right in row and growing up, we spent our days running from one house to another. Looking back, it was a blast and something I could only hope for our son to experience.
Anyway so today in the year 2009, we have all graduated from college, all but two are married, new babies are on the way, etc. I could go on and on but it would bore you.
So the baby shower yesterday was held at The Strobles. And G (the mom of the Stroble clan) had been through old pictures recently and had all of the pictures from the RT Gang through the years sitting around for us to review. It was hilarious! Pictures of us as kids at Christmas, in the snow, at birthday parties, weddings, and more recent gatherings as we have grown up and moved away but get back together for occasions(weddings, births, graduations). So as I am looking at the pictures, MeMaw (91 year old grandparent to us all) asked me if I knew who everyone was in the pictures. And my response was "I sure do. I have known them all my life and all of their lives too." How about that! I just found that to be truly AWESOME!
Two more things I found neat about these pictures.... 1)some of the pictures were so old that the Dad-to-Be that we honored yesterday was not even in a few of group shots because he was not born yet (23 years ago). and 2) I saw a picture of my youngest brother when he was maybe 3 and had to point out to my mom how much my son and he resembled.
Family and Friends are great. And I am a Happy Sap for both!!

The Holiday Weekend

So Saturday morning we will be up at the crack of dawn to "participate" in the Peachtree Road Race. I had a deal with myself that if I was not on my way to being a "mom of more than one", then I would be ready for the Peachtree. Well I am neither. Regardless, I am going from start to finish down Peachtree, but it will be my least prepared race yet. Oh well, I will dwell no more.
We do have two family cook-outs planned for the weekend and that is something I am looking forward to. I am in need of some quality family time, when we are all together to let the kids run around and play and be kids.
Here's wishing you a Happy 4th of July weekend!

Birthday Sandals

A little bit of this and a little bit of that going on. But not anything worth telling you about today. I will share with you the new sandals my husband helped me pick out on Monday. I now have these in black. Since owning a home, becoming a wife and a mom, I do not splurge on shoes near as much as I use to. That all could be about to change. I am already enjoying these not so practical shoes.
Hope you have a great weekend and treat yourself to something not so practical.

So, on Facebook last week my status read something like... "lot on my mind, I need to make a prayer list." So heck, let me make that prayer list. It is about the same as the list would have been last week, order does not matter.
1. My sweet hubby is so unhappy at his job. He needs a new one with a good company! This job has been a great opportunity for him to get into sales. He is awesome at his job. But the stress is huge because of the top leadership.
2. Help me be a supportive wife and not just worry about the unemployment rate and money.
3. My family... Paw Paw to feel better (he is home for the hospital). Brother to feel better and get good news tomorrow. Little Brother to find a job and be productive.
4. Praise report that SIL is AOKAY at one year anniversary appointment. God Is Great!
5. Bug to not poop in his new underwear. I think we are really close to being potty trained. How do you know for sure?
6. My new medicine to work...
7. Friend's marriage to be better and to regain the trust and for her to be happy no matter what.
8. CB and DM, two other good husbands to find a job they like.
9. Repeat # 1.
We truly are blessed and have so much to be thankful for. I think our personality quirks give us more challenges and worries then anything. (wanting things now, wanting to know the plan or the future). I just need to be patient and let God lead the way in his time. Thanks for letting me share my prayer list with you.

Something uplifting coming soon. I know of some give aways going on this week.

To recap for you our vacation... we really had a great time. The weather was perfect. We met nice people to chat with on the beach and for our son to play with. CBug is really a social butterfly talking to everyone we pass.
We are bad about taking pictures and once I found the camera cord to download the pictures, I realized we did not have many but here are just a few pictures to share.

Two things to improve on for next time... a less crowded beach and take some friends with us. I think having another family with us would have doubled the fun for us and for our outgoing 2 and half year old. Do you vacation with friends or extended family? Anytime you want us to join you , just let me know. LOL.
We have been staying at the Pelican Beach Resort in Destin now the past five times we have been. But this year we noticed the umbrellas on the beach were so close together, everyone cramped into the resort's beach area. A little more elbow room will be nice for next time.

Back to Reality

We are back from Vacation and it was excellent! We stayed longer then we have stayed in a long time thinking we would be ready to come home but we could have stayed even longer. We were all three having a nice time. I want to post my pictures but I can not find the cord to download them. But when I do you can see how much fun we had.



I started reading this book on Vacation. It is my first book in nearly a year. The free time is just not there for reading these days. That's okay. Since being back to work I found myself thinking that I have got to check on something but really it is the characters in my book and where I left off.

Hope your week is going well. Looking forward to posting my pictures. Wonder what will be in store for us next now that we are getting back to reality.

Just a few days between us and here.
Yep.... sun, sand and surf, here we come. It will be nice to get away and take it easy. What are you looking forward to?

A quick funny

Tuesday night as we are getting ready for bed, our son said he wanted sleep in his bed. (This does not happen often and is an area of parenting we would do over.) But in effort to grant his wish and get to sleep next to his Daddy, I went to his room to prep him for a night's sleep. He said he wanted to listen to "Sally Scarecrow". I had no idea what this meant but soon realized he meant Sheryl Crow. How about that? I think he got Sally from the Cars movie because that is the Soundtrack he regularly listens to and he has heard his Daddy say Sheryl Crow. But the only Crow he knows is a scarecrow. Maybe?
I thought it was cute.

Party... just right!

We were invited to a sweet little girl's second birthday party on Saturday afternoon. I am happy to say the party was "just right"!

Lately we have been to a few parties that "surprised me". The parties were lacking in organization, preparation, food and effort. I was being to wonder if people really don't care that much to show their guests a nice time. But my faith has been restored, new friends in adult life do know how to throw a get together. As we grow up and meet new people I realize that we may not have all had the same up-bringing i.e. party planning skills and etiquette. Not that I am an expert but I know enough...
We went to one party a while back, a one year old birthday party... there were more choices of beer there than at your local Taco Mac. But no food there fit for a toddler's stomach. Not a kid friendly party but you could have hit on a chick or too at this "pretty party". At another party we were having Hot Dogs. Only hot dogs and buns... no chips, no mustard and no ketchup. Seriously.? Then there was the party where the guests (family members) arrived an hour late and we waited on them! Also, at this party they "might" have been unpacking the groceries when we arrived(15 minutes late). And finally a birthday party with not enough cupcakes for the the party guests. Oh and hot canned Coca Colas.
The party this weekend restored my faith in a good ole home thrown birthday party! The carport was full of party guests and their lawn chairs. The coolers were tucked neatly under the folding tables. The folding tables were covered with cloths, stocked with yummy food... homemade coleslaw, potato salad, chicken fingers, cheese tray, fruit tray, iced tea, kool-aid, balloons, kids playing and running around in the yard. It was a great afternoon in their neighborhood and we were grateful to have been invited to share in their day and celebrate her 2nd birthday!

Great Giveaway over at My Monogrammed Tahoe

Beach Bucket Giveaway

Look what My Monogrammed Tahoe is giving away. These cute personalized beach buckets. Go on over and leave her a comment to be entered in the drawing. Good Luck!

And if you need any other monogrammed gifts, check out her store here...
The Monogrammed Gift

Mother's Day gift idea....

Smile Tiles

I hope the above link works for you. This Smile Tile would make a great Mother's Day gift. This is actually what I picked out for my mom (Nana) from her grandsons for Christmas. It turned out great and she really liked it.

Here we go... quick updates and a Self Discovery

Thanks so much for your feedback on my random questions. Just a few updates for you... we are going on vacation in May and decided not to stay at a Sterling Resort because I found a good deal on VRBO for a one bedroom condo where we have stayed in the past. A comparable deal at the other resort was a studio and not a real one bedroom. So we are taking advantage of the real condo (full kitchen, bedroom, two bathrooms, and living room)
I did buy a scale. The dial has not moved down or up so I can not complain. I start my boot camp on Saturday. The group received an email today from the trainer saying to be ready to have our "camp booted".
As far as the house situation goes, I think we should move. Adding on to the house, we risk not getting our money worth at time of resale and you know some additions look tacky. (not that I would approve of tacky, but that might get expensive.)
And finally about the hair... right now I am blending conditioner and gel.

Now on to something else -- the self-discovery.... I am a shy person and I need to come out of my shell for the sake of my family. I need to meet new people and new moms and make friends for my family. I am still new at this wife and mother thing. I could easily fall back into being the daughter and sister. But I must make a family of my own. Have you ever struggled with this concept? Now, I am the quiet one in the group of girlfriends. And listen more then share or speak up. But I also wonder if I have been in the wrong groups. I don't mind hearing about decorating your child's bedroom with all that is from Pottery Barn or what you are going to do at their next birthday party. But it seems like you are competing with one another instead of sharing something of value. I am not sure if this is even making sense. I do think I will write more on this topic as it is close to my heart and I want to be a good wife and mother. And this is a way I can share, document and check back on myself.
Hope you are having a good week. I know the spring weather has got to be around the corner...

Random Questions

I've been thinking in so many different directions lately and just thought I would reach out and see if any of my blog friends could answer some questions for me or share your thoughts on the subjects... Here goes...

If you are trying to loose weight, should you purchase a scale?

Is Six Flags over Georgia a safe place to take your family and 2 year old son? Do you recommend a visit to the amusement park? (This maybe an option to test what my son thinks of rides and characters before investing in a trip to see Mickey Mouse at the Magic Kingdom.)

Are you familiar with any Sterling Resorts in Destin or Panama City Beach? Can you recommend any? (My company offers a discount to Sterling Resorts.)

Should we remodel (add on) our existing house or purchase a new one? (I know a lot of factors really factor into the question, but again some of my random thoughts these days. )

Do you have any hair products you recommend for curly hair? My curls are just not predictable these days.

Thanks for your help and recommendations. More soon!

Spring in my step...

So, I have a little spring in my step today. Today is my Friday, I am taking a PTO day tomorrow and I am the only one that has it off. Bug is going to school and My Man is going to work.
I just signed up for a Boot Camp for six Saturdays starting April 18th. My walking class starts on Tuesday.
I just thought to research when the Cotton Pickin Fair is this year.
Cotton Pickin Fair is May 2nd and 3rd. http://www.cpfair.org/index.html
I always seem to miss it or think of it after it passes.
So I am ahead of the game this year and have it on my calendar.

Do you want to put it on your calendar too?

That is what has me skipping along today. What about you?

Sunday Recap

The weekend was wet in Atlanta. It made for a nice Sunday to have tickets to the afternoon basketball game. We were not missing the weather outside by being inside the Arena. Our poor boy was so confussed. He knew we were going to the Hawks game but kept wanting to see Hockey. Hockey and Basketball are played in the same arena in Atlanta. He loves Hockey, loves the Thrashers and loves Thrash, who he calls "Big Bird". It did not take too long after the guys started playing that he was enjoying the basketball game and over not seeing hockey.
Turns out, it was the birthday celebration for the mascots, Harry the Hawk and SkyHawk. So to help them celebrate, other mascots were at the game too. My boy got to see Big Bird (Thrash) after all.
One other funny from the game... I was sure to get a little program from the game for us because Bug likes to look at them over and over again, and ask what is that man doing in all of the pictures... anyway... in the Hawks program the dance team is pictured together, full body shots in two piece outfits. Bug says...."look at their bellies. tickle tickle. Daddy... I tickle their belly." Too funny and daddy was proud!

Peactree Road Race

So, there is a new way this year to get your number for the Peachtree Road Race... Registration online beginning at 7:00 AM. So in preparation, I have the alarm set and I have reviewed the sample registration screens. We should be ready to go. Don't forget to log on and get your number. Mail in applications are available in the March 22nd Sunday paper. 10,000 numbers will be mailed out. So this will be an alternative if we don't get numbers tomorrow. "Participating" in the Peachtree Road Race is something my husband has done for years and we began doing it together in 2002, our first summer together. It is really just something fun to do. Anyone can complete the race. People of all ages, shapes and sizes do it. Come on and join in!
Also, tomorrow afternoon we are going to the Atlanta Hawks game. We have not been to a game in years. My little guy has been talking about it for days. It should be a lot of fun. I will let you know.

I am Back...

Not that there are many of you to miss me. You might have even seen me a time or two on Facebook. But I am still around. Even though I have not given you much to stick around for I hope you will check back every now and then. Most importantly, I have been keeping up with you. We are in a new year and it seems everyone is doing okay. Also, I am still a mom of one, no bun in the oven yet. Not sure what to think of that because I know my sweet boy would be such a great big brother. He is growing up so fast.