Creepy or cool?

I found this shoe in our attic. Is it creepy or cool?



I think it's cool :)

Kiddie Carnival!

The Athens Lions club puts on the Kiddie Carnival every summer. I think it's supposed to be 50s themed. All the rides are old-fashioned and really tiny and tickets are only .50 for each ride. We decided to get together with the Thackers and go check it out. We grilled hamburgers at their house and then went to the Kiddie Carnival. It was so much fun and Finley LOVED it! Her favorite ride was the swings. Finley would wave and smile at us whenever she passed by. She alternated between waving to us and saying "woo hoo" or "weeee". I think she rode the swings 3 times. She liked the roller coaster too. The great thing about this place is that all the rides are for toddlers and they let them ride for a really long time. The only ride I said no to was this ride that spun around while spinning around. I wasn't prepared to clean up puke so we passed on that one. The men working the carnival were all probably 70 and up. Some of them were sweet old men who smiled at the kids and helped them into and out of the rides and then there was "Fred". Fred screamed at the kids when they didn't do what they were supposed to do and if a child acted like they weren't so sure about the ride mommy just put them on, he jerked them out of their seat and said, "He ain't gon' ride". It was pretty comical. He was working the roller coaster ride and when the kids came flying past, he leaned down and screamed into their faces to sit down. Then he turned to the mother and said there was nothing to hold them in and if they stood up, they might fly out on a turn. When it was our turn, I put Finley in her seat and told her she better stay seated if she knew what was good for her :) Kiddie Carnival was a success and we will definitely make it an annual trip. I only wish we had known about it sooner. This weekend is the last weekend :(

The Incredible Shrinking Shorts

After weeks of eating everything in sight and after pulling on some shorts that used to be baggy but now require the suck-in just to zip them up, I've decided that enough is enough. I cannot go on eating the way I have been. Whatever, whenever, wherever. The only requirement I have is that it be edible.

I've never been one to obsess over numbers on a scale, but I can't ignore weight gain once my clothes start feeling tight. There is nothing I hate more than tight clothing. I think that's why I love pajamas so much. Anyway, I decided that you all would be my motivation. I'm starting the 10 lb. Challenge tomorrow!!! I'm going to use the Weight Watchers points system because it's easy to do and I have had success with it before.

I'll check in once a week to blog about my struggles, temptations and hopefully, my drastic weight loss :) My goal is to be 10 lbs. lighter by the end of 30 days. I'm guessing if I do really well, I'll be closer to losing 8 lbs., but why not set the bar high?

I believe these are the keys to my weight loss...
-Stay out of the house as much as possible. When I'm home, I snack.
-Exercise. I'm less likely to eat bad if I've exercised because I don't want to reverse the good I've done.
-Do not give in to drive-thru temptation. I LOVE fast food! Cheeseburgers and french fries are my weakness. I'm thinking I'll allow myself one fast food meal a week. I can't give it up completely otherwise my body will go into shock and I'll binge.

Send good thoughts my way! I really want to do this and be successful!

Whale of a Tail

We had a playdate this morning with Katie and Abby and some new friends. After we got home from the thrift store we played outside for a bit, and I do mean a bit. The heat is off the charts!!! It was a great time to take pictures because I love Finley's outfit and after holding onto it for over a year, she is finally able to wear it. Bailey Boys runs HUGE! This is an 18M!




She got a sucker for cooperating for pictures.

Being Thrifty is Nifty!

I hit up the thrift store today and found some awesome deals. The thrift store near my house is where all of Target's rejects end up so you can usually find all things Target on certain days in original packaging. Today was one of those days. Here's what I got.

A lamp shade and lamp. This was my favorite find today. The lamp base was brass so I spray painted it white. I love the way it turned out! Total: $18



I got shower curtains for the bathrooms. For a YEAR now they have had only liners. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow and take a shower behind my new shower curtain. Total: $10 for both




I got Joey a Topsy Turvy tomato planter. He has been talking about getting one since we lived in Mobile so, needless to say, he was really excited. Total $3




They had notebooks for .10 each. I got a few for my obsessive list-making. Another woman thought she needed 60 notebooks. I guarantee they fill up the only 2 feet of space left in her house. Total: .40



I also got a cafe curtain rod, a tie-up shade and curtain panels for the living room. Once I get those up I'll post pictures. Total: $18 for all 3 items.

Being thrifty is nifty :)

Only Blondes Allowed!

Last night we had some friends over to cook out. It was great fun and I'm so glad we finally got to meet our neighbors. Yes, we've lived here a year and are just now meeting our neighbors. In our defense, they live a couple doors down and on the opposite side of the street. They have 3 little girls. We also had Katie, Wade and Abby over so we had 5 girls running around the house. Finley was in heaven! She was sweaty and exhausted when they left. Fun times!

Newbies...

I found these shades for my dining room chandelier at Steinmart for $2 each. I love them! They really soften up the lighting and I love the subtle animal print.

The ESPYs.

A few notes about the ESPYs from someone who doesn't have a whole lot of interest in watching sports other than the social aspect. I love to participate in sports and I like watching highlights, but in general I don't like to watch ESPN for hours like my husband does.

My friend had a funny status update last night.

"The ESPY awards are dumb...Why is there an awards show to tell us who's best? I thought that's what the actual sport was for?"

Agreed, but I do like seeing the athletes in street clothes and I love all the skits and seeing the presenters.

Couple things...

-Awww, I'm so sad Cam Newton didn't win anything :( Wait a minute, he won a National Championship, the Heisman and he is going to get millions of dollars to play football in the NFL. Nevermind.



I'm not crazy about his outfit and I know those glasses are in style, but I don't think Cam can pull them off. Better luck next time, buddy.

-I can't even look at Justin Beiber. His haircut is atrocious! Feathered bangs? He has the same haircut as Ellen Degeneres! She is a 53 year old lesbian comedienne and talk show host. He already has that pre-pubescent look going on and when you add those bangs, well, he is looking a little too feminine if you ask me. I'm just sayin'...




Selena Gomez is adorable as always.

-Tim Tebow was there is all his hot, righteous glory.



Funniest joke of the night:

Seth Meyers: Yao Ming announced he's retiring from basketball or that he's re-tiling his bathroom. It's hard to say."

Funniest Tweet of the Night:

Kristen Saban: "Best Athlete goes to NOT CAM NEWTON. Congrats Jimmer you're sexy. Cam, I hate your face, and your stupid glasses. Bye Loser."

It's funny because it's ridiculous :)

Dessert with Dada.

Yesterday, Finley and I were running errands and I decided to stop by Gigi's cupcakes. Usually I avoid this place like the plague for two reasons. 1. I don't need to eat cupcakes 2. The cupcakes are over $3 each. For whatever reason, I thought it would be nice to get cupcakes for dessert last night. For those of you who don't know, Gigi's cupcakes aren't just any old cupcakes. They they have a mound of icing on top and they have amazing flavors! I got Scarlet's Velvet (red velvet), Banana Split (strawberry cake with creme filling, banana icing, hardshell chocolate with nuts over the icing and a cherry and dried banana chips on top) and Birthday Cake (white birthday cake with pink icing and sprinkles). Can you guess which one I had? I'm not gonna lie, I got the cupcakes around 10:30 and by lunchtime mine was gone. So what, right? I'm a grown-up. Mind your business. Anyway, Joey and Finley enjoyed their cupcakes together after dinner. Personally, I could do without all the icing. I usually cut more than half of it off. I wish they had a "less icing" option. Oh well! They were delicious!

The Queen

I think the "princess" obsession has officially begun. The other day at playgroup, Finley found a magic wand at our friend's house and I noticed she held onto it the entire time we were there. We went to Target the next day and I saw one so I got it for her because I'll buy her anything that will entertain her. I couldn't resist the purple dress up shoes that matched so we got those too. We got home and I put them on her and she walked up and down our hallway for about 20 minutes listening to the clicking of her heels on the hardwood. It was so funny! Several months ago, my sister-in-law gave us a suitcase full of Disney princess dress-up clothes that her daughter had outgrown. Finley wasn't the least bit interested when I first introduced them, but yesterday I thought I'd get them down from the attic and try again. She's been so into the movie Tangled that I thought I might have better luck this time. I was right! I held up each dress and asked her if she wanted to put this dress on and she said no to every dress until I got to the Aurora's dress. (Sleeping Beauty) I don't know why she chose it, maybe because it look a lot like Rapunzel's dress. Anyway, we put it on and I hemmed it so she could walk and she wore it for a couple hours. We also found a crown in the suitcase so she was set!

Even though she takes her role as Queen very seriously...



she's able to strike a good balance between work and play.

Wordless Wednesday

Mrs. Potato Head



The hummus monster!

$25 Grocery Challenge

I haven't done one of these in a while because I haven't been grocery shopping in a while. We've been out of town and Joey's been out of town so I haven't been cooking dinner as much as I usually do. Sadly, I have to get back to the grind :( This week wasn't bad considering I haven't been to the store in a while except for little things here and there.

Here's what I got...
(1) box Publix trash bags
(1.17) lbs. bananas
(1) box Publix Raisin Bran
Chicken breast
Ground turkey
Pork chops
(not sure the how many pounds, not going to the freezer to look)
(1) package Publix diapers
(1) box Tyson mini chicken sandwiches
(1) bag Ruffles potato chips
(1) box Eggo french toast sticks
(1) bag Publix carrots
(6) bags Yoplait smoothie mix



(2) bags Chex Mix
(2) packages of Publix muffins
(4) pairs of Scotch scissors (FREE) (I'll probably donate these)
(1) package of Bagel Bites
(1) gallon Publix milk
(1) bottle of Method dish soap (.50)
(2) bottles of Pantene Prov V Shampoo

Total before sales and coupons : $109.64
Total after sales and coupons: $62.52

Since I went way over my budget this week, hopefully I can make it a couple weeks before I have to go back.

This week we're having...
Onion pork chops with rice
Angel chicken pasta and rolls
Breakfast for supper
Leftovers

We're having a cookout at our house Friday night and we're having dinner with friends on Saturday night. Yay! I can't wait so see everyone!

Tucked away...

Recently, Joey backed up all our photos and videos and ever since he did I've been stumbling across pics and videos I've never seen before. I found this one today. Finley got a 4 wheeler this past Christmas and she didn't understand that she had to push the button and hold it down for the thing to go, so I taped the button down so she could ride it. Bad idea.

New stuff!

I thought I'd share some pics of my new stuff. My goal to make it look like adults live here is still a work in progress, but it's coming along. I want to paint that little white table and add new hardware. It's the perfect height to go between those two chairs. I also got a wood end table to go at one end of the couch. You can't really see it in the picture. I recently had a Willow House party for a friend and I earned some half price items and free products. I combined everything I earned to get those 3 mirrors to go over my couch. I LOVE them! I also got the white urn for $1.50! I'm not sure what I'm going to put in it yet, but I love it! I framed my canvas prints I got with a Groupon and put them in the living room also. I am really pleased with the way they turned out. I'm also pleased with how much I spent! The canvases were $45 each and the frames were $20 each!

FORE!

Joey and I worked in the yard this morning and then decided since we hadn't stroked out from the heat yet, we should go up to the club and hit some balls. Finley got in on the action too, although I think her favorite part was riding in the golf cart.



One more thing...the reason I look like I weigh a thousand pounds in this video is because I do, in fact, weigh a thousand pounds. Whatevs.

Finley and Abby B.F.F.

I completely ignored all the laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. that needed to be done when we got back from Jacksonville and we met Katie and Abby at Earlyworks for a playdate. We walked over to Sam and Greg's Pizza for lunch afterwards.

Finley sings her ABCs...for real.

I FINALLY got Finley on camera singing her ABCs! I had to bribe her with a Dum Dum.

4th of July!

Joey and I spent the 4th of July in Jacksonville, FL with friends. It was an awesome trip! We left on Thursday and dropped Finley off in Bham with her grandmothers. She wasn't the least bit spoiled when we picked her up ;) Then we drove to Auburn and spent the night with The Harbucks. We ate at Amsterdam's and did some bar hopping. Friday morning we drove to Jacksonville, FL. We stayed with Leighton's aunt and uncle who have a beautiful house on the river. Activities included...

Laying out at the beach and people watching at Lemon Bar.



Watching fireworks on the 4th.



Going to dinner on the boat.



Hanging out with great friends.



We also ate every 2 or 3 hours, hung out by the pool and had lunch at Ponte Vedra. It was so much fun!!! We were ready to get home to see Finley, but hated to leave such a beautiful and fun place. We especially hated to leave Ryan and Leighton. We miss you guys!!!