Seriously - I don't win these things. But - Now I do! Yay!!! I can't believe I actually won a giveaway! And over 100 people posted for this thing. I am in total shock! Happy shock!!! Wendy over at Shabby Nest had a 50th post giveaway for this gorgeous barn star! Go check her out! She's got some great ideas for Halloween decorating up now.
On a side note, I'm sorry for being a bad blogger. I'm afraid I have not been reading my blog subscriptions, commenting on blogs, or responding to your comment love lately. My great friend came in on Friday and we had a wonderful weekend together. I'll post stories and pictures later. Then, I had to come in on Sunday and work for 7 hours! On Sunday! And work is so crazy this week. I have seriously never been this busy at work. At least the days go by quickly. Oh, and did I tell you I'm training for a marathon? I ran 10-freakin miles yesterday! Unfortunately, my blog has suffered. This should be my last chaotic week (actually I'll be very busy through the first of November but hopefully not this busy) and I'll be back to posting regularly. Hopefully I can get a few posts in this week. I just had to come celebrate my victory with all my bloggy friends!!!
Is it Friday yet? I am always excited for the weekend to be here but I am more than ready for it to get here this week because my best friend Candice is coming to town. Yay! She is currently in graduate school in D.C. I miss her so much! But she is coming to stay with us Friday and Saturday night. Woohoo!
(Hopefully when she graduates she'll move back *hint**hint* if you're reading this Candice)
Today was the first day of renovations on the building next door. Apparently, even though the wall is brick it isn't very insulated because we hear everything going on over there. So this is what I've heard all day...... times 20. Pair this with a very busy work day and you get one very aggravated employee (actually I'm sure several of us are but I'm only speaking for myself on this one). I hope this doesn't continue much longer (I say, knowing that it will).
Aida and I decided that Saturday night would be our girls night out. Unfortunately, none of our other girls could make it out. But we had a pretty good time anyway! Aida came with me to a fundraiser then we moseyed on over to Brandon's house to see what the guys were up to. We finished watching Auburn lose (haha!) then headed downtown to share a few drinks and some laughs. I captured this perfect moment on camera!
I don't remember what was so funny.... but after all the drinks (thanks Lucas, for driving) we headed to the Waffle Hizzy for some good hashbrowns - scattered, covered, smothered!
So although it didn't end up being a girls night out exactly, it was a lot of fun. Thanks Aida for attempting the girls night out. This will give us an excuse to try again - and SOON! :)
By the way, Saturday night's festivities led to a sleepy Sunday. Needless to say, I'm still working on that laundry.
Mel over at A Dramatic Mommy is participating in a cool program where she has "Adopted a Soldier". They correspond back and forth and she sends special care packages to 'Sgt. R'. During some recent correspondence, Sgt. R commented that he knew some Americans supported troops but it would be nice to know that there were more of us around the country who felt the same way. So she decided to let him know there were supporters from across the country by sending him postcards from every state! How cool! So, I'll be sending one from Alabama. Please go on over to her blog and check out how to get involved. Even if you're from Alabama or one of the other states that have already sent postcards - the more the merrier.
Click here to read her original post and then go on to her update for her inspiration on this project.
Also, go on over to Blog Around the World where I originally found out about this project!
Remember - you don't have to support the war to support our troops!
As those of you who've been with me for a while may know, each month I use a new desktop calendar from Shabby Princess Scrapbooking. Also, as you may have noticed the first of September came and went with no desktop update. That is why it is now the 19th of September and my computer desktop still has an August calendar up. Work is crazy! But don't worry, I couldn't even see the calendar because it was covered up with files (I know that is really bad to keep saving things to my desktop but it just happens overnight and I have to do a cleanup every other week or so - but there has been no time). Anyway, so I'm finally getting around to changing the desktop. Now, SP has a really cute calendar. Check it out: BUT - this is my desktop for the month of September and most likely through mid-November at least. (Aww, heck - probably all of December to celebrate)!
anything with lots of meat and cheese, bacon is a bonus - also likes grilled chicken sandwiches
PIZZA
Chocolate Krispies, although I don't let him get this very often
plaids, maybe. I got him this really cute pair of madras plaid shorts but he wasn't too amused with them.
49ers I think, but he likes the Colts, too. And Auburn just to drive me crazy.
He can't vote yet but you can bet when he does it will be for a Democrat - Oh, yea! :)
No clue... I could look it up but I'm lazy!
bite my nails (I know it's bad)
3 in the U.S. - 1 in Colombia
Colombian
He isn't a huge fan of cake but he loves icecream. I'd probably bake a plain vanilla or butter cake with lots of icing. But all the icing would be for me since he doesn't like it. I love birthday cake, icing, and ice cream. Yum!
Tennis, of course! And soccer I think.
watching television, working on the yard, staring at his beautiful wife. Haha!
car, I'm guessing. He needs one for sure.
Journey.
Hehe! Make my turkey noise - it's awful!
Yes, very well. I joke that my mom loves him more than me!
a Rolex or a big piece of land with a brand new house designed just the way he wants (he's somewhat picky about those things).
*in my best imitation of John Stewart imitating Dick Cheney*
Well, we were supposed to have W and now we have Cheney. I think I honestly would have rather had W. I'm a little creeped out knowing this guy is right down the street from me. Don't worry, I won't be attending ($1000) or having my picture made ($10000) - or talking on my phone for that matter (damn wire-tapping sonofa..... oops, better keep it at least pg13).
Yes, you can blame tennis for my absence here at The Linares Family blog. Lucas and I packed our bags and left Friday after work headed to Dothan, home to the 2009 Mixed Doubles State Championships.
(Yep, there I am with that killer serve. I won all my matches!)
We had a fairly good tournament. It was a round robin tournament but our last match could be considered the finals match since it would determine first and second place. I won my match and watched on as our other two courts went to 3rd set tiebreakers. Lucas was in one of those tiebreaks and ended up losing 8-10. He and his partner played excellent though. That was by far the best team of the tournament. Our other team ended up losing their tiebreak, too. So we finished in second - literally just 2 points from being the State Champion.
(I did get to do a little of this while I was there. Magical! That is my partner Pat's baby, Allison Grace. Oh, and check out that shirt!)
The first place team cannot move on to the next round so our team has automatically advanced to the Sectionals tournament in New Orleans. How fun! Unfortunately, there is no way that either Lucas or myself will be getting off work in October - our busiest month by far at each of our respective jobs. I am working on pulling out team together but it looks like we may be one woman short of having the required 3 teams. Ugh! I hope I can resolve this but, needless to say, it has really been a lot of work this year. Right now, I am captaining 3 active teams. What am I thinking?!? This is way too much work - so next year you can bet I'll be cutting down.
I have invited the team over to our house the weekend before the Sectionals tournament for a Thank You / Good Luck party. I'd like to make it Mardi Gras themed since they will be traveling to New Orleans. We'll see.
A big thank you to Debbie and her sister's family for letting us stay with them while we were there. We had a great time! Also, on the way back home we got to visit with some of Lucas's old friends. They are a great couple with a clay tennis court in their back yard! How awesome! Lucas and John hit around a bit and Marilyn and I shared a beer and some great conversation. I really hope we can come back and visit them again soon - I'm thinking early Spring of next year.
AND - last but not least - thanks to mom for keeping our baby Rafa. We missed him so much while we were gone. I didn't think mom was going to give him back! He loves his little vacations at grandma's! Haha!
Running was put aside this weekend as tennis took 'center court' but we're back on the road again now.
Oh - and look who has arrived - Fall! I do love this time of year with pleasant temperatures and nice breezes but I will miss my hot summer days.
Oh, crap. Those leaves are about to start falling. When buying a house, one should be told the conditions that come along with that house during each season. We were not aware.
I forgot to bring my camera out today but Lucas had his trusty, new iphone and captured this picture of our lunch in the park. Today was the simplest I've done yet - ham & cheese sandwiches with chips. No watermelon. No pasta salad. Nothing special. Sorry, Lucas. But I still enjoyed the company and the nice break from the office. Back to work!
A few weeks ago, My home - My life asked if any of her followers had accomplished any major changes while their husbands were away. And - alas - I have. I did this a while back (yet it is still unfinished) but I thought I would share since it is new to you.
Before my husband started his fairly new job, he took a trip to Colombia to visit with his family. I took this time to completely re-decorate our guest bathroom.
Here is the before:
(photo taken on our first tour of the home - previous owner's decor)
This is bad. But I'm not sure you grasp the hurt that this room is in. Can you see the awful floral wallpaper and wallpaper border around the tile? And that wooden shutter? Don't get me wrong - I love shutters. But why half the window? This totally reminds me of the 80s because I think I had these on my bedroom windows when I was like 5. So - all of this had to go.
Does anyone know what happens when you take down wallpaper in an old house? You NEVER know what you might find! We (my partner in crime, mom, and I) found really rough walls - as if some large cabinets or fixtures had been hanging there before but were taken down and it was disguised with wallpaper. How did I fix this? I took some sand and threw it in the paint! I had always heard about this treatment on HGTV and the likes but had never tried it. It actually turned out really well!
Let me know what you think!
(the room is long and skinny so hard to get the entire room in one shot with my lack of photography skills)
Here is how we pulled it off. I really wanted this brown zebra print pattern somewhere in the room but didn't want to go overboard. I thought towels might be a nice way to include this but didn't want to have to stock it full of $15 towels. So we bought one, then took the brown towels I already had and added a brown ribbon edge to the detailing to bring in the brown in the zebra print.The piece on the wall above the towels was my mom's. She put it in the yard sale for $3 so I had to 'buy' it! :)Mom bought me this cute urn when she saw the wall color I picked out. And you can really see the texture of the paint in this one. I love it!The bamboo shade was on sale at Home Depot for $12! Things I'd still like to do in here:
Need reeds / sticks for the urn on the counter
Would like to frame out the mirror with molding
Need a new rug - still using just a plain white one I had. I'd love a brown zebra print runner but may go with one of those plain rattan rugs with a dark brown border.
Yea - and the cabinets probably need to be painted but that is a long way from now. Kitchen first. But I'll probably do the laundry room first to experiment.
I didn't really care for the white tile before but I think it kind of pops now with the green. I wouldn't chose it - but I'll learn to love it.
I went the entire week without telling him what I was doing! I'm so proud of myself for keeping it from him. I usually just get so excited about it I'll spill the beans - but not this time. So Lucas was totally surprised when he came back. I think he was glad I had done it and he didn't even have to help.
Rafa had another class Friday night. He is such a good boy. He has learned to sit, lay down, and 'leave it' (we put a treat on the floor and he won't go after it). The teacher said he is a very smart dog. He has picked up everything really fast except for the walking - he still wants to run to the very end of his leash and drag you along. I'm not sure where he is so anxious to go!
This weekend we have also been trying to keep him from biting and jumping all over us so we have a water bottle that we spray him with every time he starts acting up. He really doesn't like this and backs right off. He'll just continue to bark at you from a distance but won't come close. That works for me right now.
Last night we got out our remote control truck and he went crazy! He is so scared of that thing. When he finally got brave enough to jump down off the couch he ran upstairs and was hiding underneath the bed. Poor dog!
Not much else to report - our weekend was filled with laundry, running, tennis, and soccer. Oh - and chicken. I had to wrap, bag, and box all of that chicken. It took pretty much the entire day. We have estimated that we have about 90 chicken breasts in our freezer right now. Wow! I also made chicken salad (b/c we have a lot of freaking chicken). So good!
Alright... I won't get carried away just yet. But yesterday was my first day of marathon training. I woke up bright and early and ran 5 miles! Before the wedding, I was running 10-13 miles everyday or two so this isn't much compared to that. But that was a while ago and I've let my running slip. I need to get back in the hang of things.
So, I've decided to run our local Rocket City Marathon this year before Lucas and I start having little kiddos. I just think it would be a fun way to push myself and a cool thing to say I've done. Lucas is going to run the 1/2 Marathon in November with me so we're both beginning our training. Lucas had to leave last minute for Kentucky yesterday but he ran 40 minutes and walked 10 minutes on the hotel treadmill (or so he says he did).
I'm starting another blog - mostly for myself - just to log my runs and total miles and to make sure I stay committed to this process. You are more than welcome to stop by anytime and give me some words of encouragement. I'll surely need it!
On a really random side note, I was posting a comment on another blog an noticed an interesting command that Blogger asks of me many times a days that I scan right past without thinking. Mr. Blogger says "Choose an Identity". Just like that. Just choose one. I don't know. Just a weird command. That is all....
Last night, Lucas met me at the tennis courts when I was finishing up a 3-setter (that did not go my way, how sad). He complained that he was out of milk and cereal so (being the good wife that I am) I agreed to stop by Kroger on the way home and pick it up for him. He decided to tag along. Every time I am at Kroger I stop by the meat department because often there are some good sales to be had... but never in my life have I seen a sale like this. Lucas was the first to spot it and called me over. You won't believe what I'm about to tell you. Are you seated??? You better be!
Kroger had their boneless, skinless chicken breasts for.....
99 Cents per pound!!!!!!!
I swear to you, I felt like I won the lottery. Is that sad? So I racked up. How much did I get?
18 Packs!!! Each pack is about 2.5 pounds. That is about 45 pounds of chicken!
While I was running this morning I was having buyer's remorse - that I didn't get more! So, after my run I headed straight to Krogers and got the LAST 3 packages that were left! If you are counting, that is about 52 pounds of chicken for the low, low price of - you guessed it - $52!!!! Wow!
Yes, I am not going to share some with my parents and grandparents but I think we're set on chicken for a while! You know how they always tell you how much you have saved using your Kroger Plus Card??? The lady about fell out when she told me how much I saved - $170! Wow!
By the way, I called my mom and she rushed right over to her Kroger and there was no such sale. I'm guessing this was either an in-store special or a really big mess-up that I capitalized on! So don't go off rushing to Kroger now looking for 99 cent chicken. But when you are there - you better always go check out that meat department. You never know what deals you might find!
So if anyone wants to come over for dinner guess what we'll be serving?
Head on over to SITS and register for this: It is a Cricut Expressions. It does all sorts of coolness like die-cuts and vinyl lettering and a bunch of other things that I don't know about but would be totally cool to have and play with. Yea! So go learn how to win! Or don't and give me a better chance to win be a loser!
Well, not exactly... but it was fun in it's own right (but don't get me wrong, not near as fun as the beach).
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Don't worry, blog, I haven't neglected you! Well, maybe I have but I'm back. Life has been crazy busy and it is only getting busier.
Let's have a not so quick update of Labor Day weekend!
Friday night was Rafa's first day of school. Awww! I think I'll cry! Hehe! Well, I had to work late so I met Rafa and his dad at PetSmart. We learned to sit! I'm hoping one day we'll learn how to quit biting. Here he is being a good boy!
Listening to Lucas...... Not listening to me...... He is still a good boy!
Saturday we worked hard: working on the yard, doing laundry, cleaning the house, painting the crown molding for the family room, and much much more it seemed.
So we decided to relax Saturday night and enjoy the Labor Day weekend. Our friend Troy had a big birthday party at his house with lots of food, friends, football, fun, and games! We even brought Rafa with us. He found himself a girlfriend named Macy (Tanya's dog). They were so cute running around together. They even ganged up on some of the big dogs that were there.
(not a good picture but the only one I got of them together)
BUT - the most important part of the night was this:
ROOOOOOLLL TIIIIIDE!!!!!!!!!!
The first night of college football and the Crimson didn't let me down. We're off to a great start and went from 24th to 13th in the polls! Woohooo! Lucas was the only one there rooting for Clemson b/c he is just like that. Can't wait for the Iron Bowl! It is time for revenge! And JPW might not be as bad as I give him credit for. Hopefully he'll prove me wrong throughout the entire season!
So after football it was time for some beer pong and cornhole. Oh so much fun!
Here is Troy picking the teams and making the draw! Lucas got Leslie (Troy's sister) and I got Hunter. Lucas and his partner didn't do that great. Hunter and I (mostly me) did really bad in cornhole but won Beer Pong! Let me just say - I am the beer pong champion. No contest! Haha! Not really but I like to think so. Here are a few action shots of Lucas sitting with Rafa on the tailgate and playing beer pong.
No action shots of me but my champion spirit - and head - are too big to be captured on camera! Ha!
We ended up staying with Chris and Aida who live just down the road and were up until almost 4 in the morning. Wow! I don't feel quite so old now!
While we were at Troy's my cousin Tommy and his wife Kristina called for us to babysit Sunday night. I was so excited as I have been wanting to do this for quite some time (but didn't think anyone in there right mind would let me babysit a one and a half month old). Oh, but they did and I happily accepted! They dropped him off Sunday afternoon. It was a blast! We played with him, held him, fed him, changed him, bathed him, and mostly watched him sleep. I don't have any pics of me with him (regrettably) but I do have a couple of Lucas and Karson. Lucas is going to make a great daddy. He didn't change any diapers but he did hold him, feed him, and try to teach him Spanish (I think he is a little young for that, Lucas)! I love this picture. Lucas and Rafa taking care of baby Karson!
That night I cooked pizza for the first time ever (following my mom's directions). I guess I cheated because I just used the pizza dough that comes in the cans (like biscuits) but it is still homemade (I guess it would fit in to the semi-homemade category). So you just roll out the dough, spread on some spaghetti sauce (I used Hunt's Zesty & Spicy) and add cheese and pepperoni (or whatever you like, this is just what I had). I also sprinkled mine with a little oregano. So delish! I had the leftovers today for lunch.
(of course, my food pics are never good)
Monday we were off work. Yay! So my parents and grandparents came over to help us put up our crown molding. The guys did all the work and the girls fawned over looked after Karson. We even went to the mall and looked around in only one store (we didn't buy anything I swear, Lucas) just to get out. We couldn't figure out how to operate the stroller so that Karson could lay back so we had to ask some guy with a double wide stroller. He was definitely a stroller expert and hooked Karson up. Thanks, stranger! We appreciate your help. It was fun walking through the mall with Karson, my mom, and my grandmother. I know Karson isn't mine but it was nice to imagine the future of shopping with 4 generations!
I hate putting up pics of things that aren't done but this room seems like it will never get done! We still have to go back and putty and touch up the molding but here is a shot of our progress. I'll do complete before and afters when we're done. I have big plans for our brick wall! So after all that work, Debbie and Andy came over for dinner Monday night. We were tired but it was fun to hang out with them. We grilled out steaks and had salad, green bean casserole, potatoes au gratin (sp?), and cornbread. MMM Mmmm! It was delicious. Debbie and I drank some cheap good wine and the boys had rum and cokes.
And so our Labor Day weekend fun ended!
Until yesterday, when Lucas and I went shopping after work and he bought this:
Oh, yes! We both were like kids in a candy store. But I'm the screaming, fussing child who didn't get what they wanted (iMac - 24") and Lucas is the fat and happy kid with bagfuls of gumballs and sour patch kids (iPhone). But, seriously - he deserves it. He is a good husband. I love you, Lucas. Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Happy Anniversary, Happy Valentine's Day............... hehehehe! Just kidding!
And I did get something last night - Mexican food. That is as good to me as an iPhone. I know, I have a serious addiction problem. :)
And today I had my personal number switched over to my work phone so now I'll actually use my blackberry and not have to pay for a phone. Yay!
