Please Tell Me...

Yesterday I had to go to the textbook store to return some books - they had sold me the wrong ones. As I was waiting in the never ending line, I overheard a couple of freshmen.

It went something like this:

Girl: "I have nothing in my fridge to drink. No water, no nothing."

Guy: "Do you have a cup to get some out of the faucet?"

Girl: "Nope. Nothing."

Guy: "Sounds like you should go to Wal-Mart. Do you have any stain remover?"

Girl: "Yes! I have stain remover. Why?"

Guy: Points to white canvas shoes. "Awesome. I got some of my popsicle on my shoes. I need stain remover."

Girl: "Well, I have some!! We'll get that stain out. So, are you ready for the party this weekend?"

Guy: "Yeah! But, if I act stupid are you going to call my mom?"

Girl: "No. That's what college is ALL about - keeping everything on the DL."

Guy: "What does "DL" mean?"

Girl: "Dog leash. Duh."

Guy: "Oh okay. That makes sense."

OH.MY.WORD. Please tell me that I wasn't this ...stupid when I was a freshman! Seriously?! College is all about keeping things on the DL?! You're afraid your friend will call your mom?! And since when does DL mean Dog Leash?! And you dripped your popsicle on your shoe? You poor thing.....

Wow. I feel old.

The Black Widow...

.

Saturday, after my 5 mile run, hubs and I decided to take a load of trash and junk to the dump. We loaded up the truck, then unloaded the junk into their respective bins at the dump. After that, we decided to go to the Dairy Queen and pick up lunch. After getting home and washing up, we ate that lovely lunch and then decided it was indeed nap time. After all, it was close to 100 degrees and we'd spent the morning working our tails off. I forgot to mention, I also went to the vet which was a good 20 minutes away, to pick up our dog's heart worm pills. Anyways, we must've been extremely tired because we slept almost 3 hours.

After waking, we decided it was time to clean out the garage. So, we spent a few hours cleaning out and organizing the garage (if you saw our garage, you'd understand why it took us so long). Afterwards, we took all the MISC crap that we didn't have space for and took it to the storage building. Mind you, it's now like 5pm. Windy's birthday party was at 6ish and we were a dirty mess. But, this stuff HAD to be done. So, we think it's going to be a quick trip to the storage building and then we'll just be fashionably late. Um, no.

We get to the storage unit that we rent and find that it's been taken over by black widows. I.kid.you.not. There was a very pregnant black widow on my road bike and there were several babies all around her. When I say several, picture like 100. Not to mention, there were 2 egg sacs below my bike. GREAT.

We had nothing to kill them with. No spray, no nothing and we certainly weren't in the position to kill them all with our shoes. *cringe* Anyways, after about 10 minutes, we decided that hubs would make a run to Lowe's to pick up spider killer spray and I'd sit outside the storage building and watch the spiders to make sure they don't go and hide. About 20 minutes later, hubs came back with the killer spray. Let me tell ya, it takes FOREVER to kill a black widow with spray. The babies were easy to kill (ack, we're baby killers), but that momma wouldn't die for anything. We finally knocked her out with the spray and hubs stepped on her. Thankfully, no babies came out - just ooze.

Then, hubs decided to spray the entire storage building down with the spider killer. Then, we unloaded our truck into the building. By this point, it's after 7pm and we're a gross mess. Plus, Windy's party was about 45 minutes away and started around 6pm. So, of course, we decided to miss it. But, Windy, I hope you're not mad after reading the reason why we missed your party.

Cabbage Rolls

Yes, this looks gross because the bacon isn't done. :)

3 pounds ground beef

1 pound ground pork

3 heads of cabbage

2 family size cans of Tomato Soup

salt, pepper, garlic salt

3 cups cooked rice

water

2 eggs

2 strips of bacon or more, for seasoning.

1. 
   
   Cook rice and cabbage and set aside. (You can cook the cabbage in the microwave.)
2. 
   
   Take pork and beef and mix together (we used our hands).
3. 
   
   Add eggs, rice, salt, pepper, garlic salt, and 2 tablespoons of soup.
4. 
   
   Take a huge pot and put half a can of tomato soup to cover the bottom of the pot.
5. 
   
   Take the leaves off of the head of cabbage until you come to the part where it's hard to get the leaves off. That part you can later fry or boil. :)
6. 
   
   Take a single leaf and put a small palm size amount of the meat mixture in the leaf.
7. 
   
   Wrap the leaf like a burrito and place opening down into the pot. Keep going until you run out of the meat mixture.
8. 
   
   Add water and tomato soup until almost all of the cabbage rolls are covered.
9. 
   
   Add two strips of bacon over the top and put the lid on the pot.
10. 
    
    Cook about 1.5-2 hours - you want the water mixture to be slightly boiling. Check the top roll; if the meat is done in that roll, then the whole pot should be done.

This recipe was given to my grammy by her neighbor in St Louis back in the 60's. Our family loves this dish and we kid that any boyfriend/girlfriend who doesn't like it, obviously isn't a keeper. She was right about my exhusband for sure! And, yes, hubs loves this dish! Btw, it's not the healthiest in the world either and it is very time consuming! Hope you enjoy it!

Good Times!

Thank you all for the comments on Friday's post. That was a hard one to write and there has been several times where I've thought about deleting it. I hate being vulnerable - especially on the internet for the world to see. But, it's something that I needed to share and write. Seriously though, thanks for reading and commenting - it really did make me feel better.

Lots to update on, but it's a hectic Monday so I'll just skim over it all and elaborate later. :)

• My dad was released late Friday evening. He's at home and seems to be getting better. That's a huge prayer answered!!!
• We looked at 3 or 4 houses on Friday - more on that later this week. :) HA!
• I had a 5 mile run on Saturday. It was SO NICE to catch up with my friend Naomi!!! I've missed our times together and it's only been about a month since we've seen each other! We had a very, um, memorable 5 miles that included running through the Country Club's golf course's sprinklers! LOL Good times!
• All the house work is done! We took our last loads to the dump and storage. There was a pregnant black widow in our storage building....More on that later.
• My sister, aunt, and I made a huge meal for about 14 people on Sunday to celebrate my step-mom's birthday. We made cabbage rolls, boiled cabbage, fried cabbage, mashed potatoes, cake, and root bear floats! I'll explain what cabbage rolls are later, but they're a family thing and take about 3 hours to cook. YUM!
• My Grandad is having a pretty routine surgery this morning. I'm praying it all goes well!

Hope ya'll had a fantastic weekend and let's try to enjoy this Monday!

His Timing

I saw this beautiful golden cloud the other day as the sun was setting and we were driving home. This iPhone pic doesn't do it justice. It just looked like a big ball of golden goodness.

This picture reminds me just how powerful God is. Seriously, with all the stress of this week, I've thought many, many times that everything happens in God's timing. If God will bring you to it, He'll also bring you through it. And, that's just what He has done.

I've also reminded myself time and time again not to live for tomorrow, but take pleasure in today. Even if today is very stressful and you can't wait for tomorrow to get here; there is always some type of pleasure to be found today.

There's so many things that I don't talk about here on the blog. Like, for instance, the fact that hubs and I have been trying to have a baby for a little over a year now. I have no idea what is going on, except that my body, that God created, has a mind of it's own. I know that I need to go to the doctor to see if there is something that is abnormal, but I'm scared to. I'm scared to know what God has in store for me. I always thought that my story would be that hubs and I got married, we'd live husband and wife for a while, then we'd become a family of three or more. I never really wondered if the process would be difficult, because you hear of so many couples that weren't even trying to get pregnant and yet it happened.

Yesterday was the first day of school for so many school districts around here. On Facebook there were tons and tons of "First Day of School" pictures. It was bittersweet for me. I loved to see the cute little happy kids of my friends, going off to their first days of school, but then I also wondered if we'd ever get to post any of those pictures. I'm sure you're all saying that of course we will, but honestly, I'm so frustrated that it's hard to see that.

I've held back saying all of this on the blog, because I know that I have some family members out there reading this. Some of them have no idea that we're even trying to have children; others have no idea that I'm feeling this way inside. Honestly, I'm not sure how much hubs knows about how I'm feeling. Trust me, I've cried to him a few times. We've had the "what if" discussions, but I always feel bad for sitting there and whining to him, because I know he feels some of the same ways but wont say anything in fear of making me more upset. So, I just pray. I pray a lot. And I know that my thoughts aren't the same thoughts that God has. I know he's telling me that our story will happen in His timing. I know it's all about God's timing. Not just with this story, but in all the chapters and stories of our lives. We just have to have patience and trust in God. It's easy to trust God when things are going your way, but it's really when things aren't going as YOU planned them, that you need to trust God. For He is always with us and watching over us. And, He has our story all planned out.

As Promised...

Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers yesterday! They definitely worked! My dad should be out of the hospital by this weekend or sometime this weekend! Also, our house was cleaned and ready in the nick of time yesterday! Our agent showed up, took the pictures, and put the sign in our front yard! Then today, I'm going to go pay for school (ew!). I feel 100 times better this morning!!!!!!!!

As promised, here are the pictures that the agent took. They're not the best pictures, but they're certainly not bad either! I only wish he would've showed the shower curtain in the 2nd bathroom, but oh well! Plus, I don't like that our curtains are open in the first picture, but what can ya do?! Also, I know it looks really bare, but that's so the buyers can picture their things in the home!

You also can't see some of the cute little decorating things I did in some of the pictures, but again, these are his pictures and not mine! We'll be adding a picture of our backyard sometime soon. Also, I'll go more into detail to what we did to the house and the changes we made in another post - if ya'll want - so let me know!

Update

After the scan this morning, they've come to the conclusion that he has pneumonia! So, my poor dad has been suffering from heat exhaustion, dehydration, and pneumonia! So, they're starting him on an aggressive load of antibiotics and he'll stay in the hospital until his fever stays away for 24 hours. Thank you all for the prayers! Praise the Lord!

Also, hubs might've sensed my panic as our house does not look up to par for the pictures this afternoon and he's decided to take matters into his own hands. :) Again, another prayer answered!

Prayers Needed

As I mentioned earlier this week, my dad was in the ER on Saturday for heat exhaustion and dehydration. Well, he's still not better. He went to the DR on Monday and they said it might be tick fever. He was started on treatment, but then he showed NO signs of improvement. They have done LOADS of blood work and they've found nothing out. His fever wont go down, his extremely bad headache wont go away, he can't hold down food, and he aches and hurts. So, they admitted him to the hospital on Tuesday and started running more tests and doing more scans and x-rays.

Well, as I was sitting with him in the hospital room last night, the doctor came in and said that his inflammation numbers were up and they were doing another scan tomorrow morning (this morning) of his upper body. This is the first test that has came back with some indication that something was wrong. They know he has an infection somewhere, but they can't find it. They've sent his blood work to the Mayo Clinic - in another state. The doctors think that maybe his body is attacking itself.

Long story short, my dad is very sick. We have no idea what is wrong with him and he's been sick since Thursday. Please pray for him and pray that they find what is wrong with him soon so that he'll no longer be sick and in pain. Please pray that God heals him and he's able to go home - good as new!



Also, on a very small side note, while you're praying, could you please pray that I don't totally lose it.... my dad is very important to me and I hate to see him sick. It breaks my heart. Then add to that the stress of the fact that our house will have a for sale sign going up today, the realtor is taking pictures and it isn't the least bit clean or in order right now, because we were at the hospital last night, and then the fact that I realized that school starts next Thursday for me and I'll be taking 2 classes.... I feel slightly overwhelmed right now. I know God will take care of it all - I truly have faith that everything will work out just fine, but please pray that I don't lose it as I'm processing all of this. But, most importantly, pray for my dad please.

Design On A Few Dimes

I thought I'd share a picture of our bed, since I've recently revamped that area.



Now, this is an iPhone picture and the color is all off. Just imagine darker, richer colors. Plus, not pictured is the chocolate brown bedskirt. That really adds to the overall look of the bed as well. Like I said, this is a bad picture and not to worry, I'll post actual camera pictures later this week. :) So, it's a preview.



Total amount spent: $40 (I already had the sheets)







Now, there are khaki colored bed pillows behind the chocolate brown ones and the throw pillows have that suede feeling to them - so they have some texture. The throw pillows are actually old pillows from our couch and I just covered them with pillow covers that I found for $10 a piece at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The comforter is also from there and was marked down from $99 to $19 (it's a Queen Size). Steal!
So, there is a little preview of what I've been doing. And yes, as the hubs would say - I like brown! Seriously, I never noticed it till this week - we have a lot of browns and reds throughout the house! ha!

Mumbo Jumbo

It's a crazy Monday morning, so I'm gonna do a quick bullet style post!

• I worked 7-4 on Saturday, while hubs painted.
• My dad went into the ER Saturday for heat exhaustion and dehydration. He works inside a factory that has no air conditioning and the actual temperature here has been over 100 F degrees. Add about 10 more degrees to that and you have the actual temp. for the factory, then factor in the humidity. It's no wonder he's sick. After getting 2 bags of fluids, some medicine, and spending about 3 or so hours in the ER, he's doing a little better, but he's still sick. Please pray he gets better and that fall comes soon.
• I found a bath mat that matches the shower curtain. Yay!
• We have one more wall to paint and then we are finished painting!
• The yard work is mostly done! We have curb appeal! ha!
• Tonight will be spent finishing steam cleaning the carpets, painting that wall, and taking things to storage.
• Hubs and I are both beyond exhausted and Wednesday can not come soon enough!
• We looked at more houses and still haven't found the one.
• I'm behind on Half Marathon training due to the house stuff, but I'm getting back on track this week.
• Grad School starts back NEXT WEEK. Holy crap.
• I received my notification about Jury Duty. Lovely. I'll be in "orientation" on my Birthday. Wow.
  

Car Baked Cookies!

Here in Arkansas, it's been hitting over 100F degrees quite frequently the last few days. I think the highest I've seen it, has been at 109 degrees.

See those cookies up there? Those were baked in my co-worker's car. No seriously, they were. My co-workers are crazy - in a good way. Somehow or another, they got the idea to see if they could bake cookies in their car, since it's been so hot. So, they got the cookies, the cookie sheet, and oven mitts (yes, really) and they began cooking this morning. They even made a sign to put on the car that said "Baking in Progress." I kid you not.

But, the real surprise is... the cookies actually baked. They were a little doughy, but they actually hardened some around the edges and the chips melted!

Something even more surprising... the cookies were devoured up by other co-workers who knew they were cooked in the car! LOL I'm not brave enough to try that....

Picture stolen from co-worker's Facebook page. :)

Honey, What Are You Doing?!

We're remodeling a few areas of our home in preparation to sell. The other day, I heard a little bit of banging in the front of the house while I was putting laundry in the washer. Well, I assumed the hubs was replacing our locks since that's what we had just gotten at Home Depot. So, I walk into our living room to see we're missing our front door! I just busted out laughing! Apparently, he thought it was a good time to replace the weather strip at the bottom of the door as well!

Picture taken with iPhone. Sorry about the quality! ha!

Call Me Crazy...

Yesterday was day 2 of Half Marathon training. The training plan called for a 3 mile run with the training group. Now, we all know how I love schedules (I'm type A to a fault) and how I love group runs! But, what I don't love is insane, crazy, and icky heat! That's exactly what I got though!

It was 107 F degrees outside when our run started. Yes, 107F! Call us crazy, but there were no less than 50 people out there fighting the heat and getting our 3.37 miles done. We all had bottles of water and then there was more water and Gatorade set up at the half way point, plus ice cold cloths for us to use. Those cloths were almost dry by the time we were finished, but they started out cold and wet!

Not to worry though, we all went extremely slow and drank a ton of fluids. I had started drinking tons of water yesterday morning in preparation for the heat. The last thing I wanted to do was dehydrate. And, besides just being sweaty and hot - I felt fine. Crazy, I know.

BTW, I don't recommend doing this - so don't go doing it just because I did!

What's the hottest ya'll have ran in?

Weekend Recap!

This past weekend we ventured north a little ways to float the Buffalo River. We left Friday after I left work and picked up a few misc. things and headed to Silver Hills, Arkansas.

We were the last of the family members to arrive - there were 7 of us total. We stayed up late talking (and a few of us drinking) on the front porch of the cabin - watching (and screaming) as the bat(s) flew by.

The next morning, we headed out to the Buffalo River Outfitters to get on a school bus that dropped us off at the river with our canoes. We had 4 canoes total. Out of those 4 canoes, only our canoe tipped over the entire trip! We were right off of the launching site and I had just gotten seated when the hubs attempts to get in and tips our canoe over! I went in the river, while he managed to somehow not fall in! Figures, right?

Anyways, we did the 6 mile canoe float and had a great time! We packed sandwiches and had lunch out on the river. We swam about every 15 minutes and we kept slathering on the sunscreen. I managed to escape the 6ish hours without getting sunburned! Woohoo! While out there we also ran into a few coworkers celebrating a 30th birthday and a few relatives that we had no idea was out there!

We then went back to the cabin, showered, and began grilling out hamburgers and hotdogs! The food was great! I must've been tired, because after eating, I passed out on the couch and slept until the next morning!

We all headed back to our homes the next morning. We had a great time, but I was glad to sleep in our own bed last night!!

After getting home, I did 5 loads of laundry, went grocery shopping, went to Home Depot, and then we grilled out some hot dogs and ate chips and dip! Btw, I made homemade Guacamole dip - it's to die for! YUM!!

Today marks day one of the Half Marathon training! I'm up for 2 miles after work! Sounds easy peasy except that the high today is 102!!!!!