Hughes Thanksgiving Preperations...

Well, it is the night before Hughes' Thanksgiving Celebration at Kilmichael United Methodist Church tomorrow. I promised those of who that wouldn't be able to make the trip, pictures via blog. So, here are a few photos of what MaLyn and Big Daddy's home looks like tonight. Now, we are just awaiting our guest...and p.s. the guest of honor is upstairs getting his rest for the big day tomorrow! Mrs. Sara came over today to help arrange the flowers for our centerpieces. The arrangements fit the occaision perfectly. Tomorrow night....or more realistically (and truthfully), the end of the upcoming week... I will upload photos from the actual service and luncheon. Hope to see you all very soon. Much love.

Hughes enjoyed his first snowman this morning! Here are a few photos from the morning. After we came inside, Hughes enjoyed a little time with his new farm! He is now asleep, in his sweet little overalls, colored socks, and snotty nose...bless his pea pickin' heart. I'm sure we will play in the snow a bit more when Kent comes home, but this should warm your little heart for now. So cozy up to your desk, sofa, or kitchen table, grab a hot cup of coffee, get a book or your computer and enjoy this beautiful day. Oh...How we love the snow!!!!!!

...and yes...you know the lonely socks I told you about in the last blog...they came in very handy to make a scarf for Snowman Mortimer this morning. Hey! We mamas have to be resourceful!

Top Five...

The Top 5 Messiest Areas of our house...

1. My Closet. Get a picture in your mind. Skinny White Wood Double Doors. Open the doors to see Kent's side and then my side. Let's be honest, you would def look at my side first because the sight of it would absolutely take your breath. Very top shelf = bags...lots and lots of bags. I am a bag lady, what can I say. No...do not get the image of Prada, Gucci, Hermes, Balenciaga, Alexander Wang, YSL, etc. Think more along the lines of free Lancome with $25 purchase, Free Triathlon Backpacks, Louis Vuitton small duffle..he he just kidding...seeing if you were paying attention! Then, we have the shorter shelf with two columns of sweatshirts. Then we have the dress section. But the worst of all is...the floor...that houses my shoes. I am seriously thinking of investing in the shoe rack that you slide out from under your bed. I think that might lower my stress in the mornings to not have to look over the shoes that take up all of my floor space...okay...tomorrow, I am cleaning out my side of the closet. And oh yeah, the reason I haven't mentioned what Kent's side looks like is because...it is neat. Dress pants together, jeans together, button up dress shirts together, sport coats together, suits together, etc, etc, make you wanna gag. But then again, my side will make you wanna gag, too. But for all the wrong reasons.

2. The Junk Drawer. I realize the junk drawer in the kitchen is SUPPOSED to be junkie, however, I have two junk drawers. The one in the kitchen...which I can blame on Kent and I both. But, then there is the junk drawer in my bathroom...that is clearly mine. Blame can only rest on my shoulders. Okay...task two for tomorrow. Clean out the bathroom junk drawer. My day is filling up faster than I would hoped!

3. The Back of my Truck. Don't ask me why. I live out of my car. Let me give you a preview of what is in the back of my truck. A small high chair. Maternity clothes that Johnna let me borrow and I am planning to get back to her, which is why they are in my trunk. Magazines to use in the classroom during center time. You know. Cut a picture out of the magazine and make up a story that matches the pictures. Cut out nouns and place them in a noun circle map. Cut out a picture and list 10 adjectives about that picture, etc. A box of scrap fabric to donate to the art teacher. Art teachers are constantly looking for materials. Art teachers are creative. They can use anything you have. So clean out your house and give your school art teacher some well needed supplies. Point of #3. My trunk is a diaster!

4. My sock drawer. Because I keep all socks. Even though I have a sock monster that eats only ONE of the socks from my favorite pairs of socks. And I just keep my lonely pairs of socks on the bottom of my prayer list and just hope that I will find that one cute purple nike sock that I like to wear when I work out.

5. My School bag. Halloween toy spider rings...for bribing children to stay on green those crazy full moon days. A gazillion fabric swatches, remnants from the start of BimKreations. USB cords and battery chargers for batteries, yearbook adviser...gotta have a working camera at all times. Fiber One bars for those hunger fits that I have at 10:00 every morning...so I don't eat what the children are eating for snack (chocolate chip cookies, pop tarts, fruit loops, etc.). Can of Lysol. Bottles of water.

What are your most messy areas?

Issues...

I don't know where this blog inspiration came from, but here it goes!

I have issues with the following things:

1. Going to the grocery store...everyday...why can't I plan? oh! Why? I feel as if I am constantly running from the freezing cold temperatures. Once I finally leave the cold section of the produce, then I have to go get milk..another cold section...then lean cuisines...once again, cold section. Oh yeah! I forgot the sour cream! ... Cold Section!...see where I am going. Did i mention that I really really hate being cold!

2. Parents not coming to Parent Teacher Conferences that I plan for. period.

3. Dirty ears on children...really dirty ears on ANYONE!

4. Spending so much time painting my fingernails, and trying not to smudge them...then to go to bed and wake up looking like a three year old who got into the fingernail polish behind closed bathroom doors...after sneaking into the special drawer to find all the rainbow of colors. (You think I have done that before?)

5. Not having the PERFECT pair of shoes to go with an outift. Shoes can truly make or break an outfit (in my opinion anyway!). The worst is getting a new fabulous dress and having to wear it with shoes that are not wonderful. Let me translate wonderful: wonderful means shoes with heel that makes your calves pop out, hold your shoulders back, and instantly make you feel 10 pounds lighter just because you are wearing wonderful shoes. My daddy always told me: "The first thing people notice are your teeth and your shoes." I guess that means my 10 year old nike tennis shoes that are being held together by gorilla glue...that actually has oozed out from in between the sole...probably don't place a great impression! : )



Hope you all have a great week! Hope to see you all very soon!

Pot Roast

Let me just start by saying, I really, REALLY do not like POT Roast. Just listen to the name. Pot Roast. Think of the smell of POT ROAST. I know. You can probably smell POT ROAST right now...just because you heard Pot Roast. Now, no disgrace to the beef industry, but lets stick with THE Fillet. I think we should rename it: Soggy Meat or Stringy Shreds or ... well you see where I am going.

Side Note: I also have an odd connection of nuts to wood chips. Granted I have never tasted wood chips, but pecans...or really any nut...would be EXACTLY what I would imagine eating wood chips would be. Am I alone in this? If so, I'm not surprised. I've never met anyone who has this in common with me. And that's okay, too.


...Now, back to the POT ROASTin'.

However, Saturday, at Fresh Market, I couldn't help myself. As Kent and I were looking in the lazy veggie section (aka: where you pay double the price just because they cut up the veggies/fruit for you), Kent came across a black Styrofoam plate holding EVERYTHING you would need for the fixins of POT ROAST covered in a thin layer of cheap plastic wrap. I caved. Bubble over head: Well, this would be one meal that would take care of dinner one night and no prep....and it's not Lean Cuisine...can I really turn that down? I think not. I think I can live with the smell of Pot Roast in our house...for the next...two weeks. But I must say, our home does smell rather....Southern. Because, EVERY southern wife SHOULD cook her husband POT ROAST if he wants it...especially since it is sooooooooooo simple.

Would Pioneer Woman cook Pot Roast? ... I think so...therefore, I will cook and eat the pot roast!!!

I really have no other thoughts on the matter. Just needed to share my TRUE feelings about POT ROAST. P.S. Kent will be eating the Left Overs...from the Pot Roast.

Left Overs is a WHOLE 'nother topic for me, at which I will have to address later. I have a roast to eat!

(shhh...actually, I snuck in the kitchen a minute ago and took a bite...and it wasn't so bad...except of course the smell.) ...and I hate to admit it, but pot roast may be on the Mortimer Family Menu for many future nights to come. The simplicity just may trump my prior feelings of the 'ole roast.

Ok..so enough of Pot Roast...Here is Hughes first video of him crawling...or Army Crawling.

25 Things...

I am always interested in the little things that people enjoy/dislike/MUST have/routines, etc!  I like to see how people tick.  Then I got to thinking, what would my List of 25 Things about me say? So here they are...for better or for worse...til death or at least Spring Break! he he

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1.  I relax by going to workout.  But on the off chance that I want to relax with a low heart rate, I will always choose a hot cup of coffee, no matter the time of day, with Kent's T-shirt, leggings, ugly, yet colorful, fuzzy socks with rubber grippers on the bottom, and my hair in a pony!

2.  My favorite meal:  Grandmother's turnip greens(only the ones from her garden AND ONLY HER turnip greens...no one else's will measure up!), HER cornbread crumbled up with an excessive amount of HER tomato gravy (tomatoes ALSO from her garden) dumped over the top of the cornbread.  The bottom of the cornbread soaks up the perfect small amount of Turnip Green Juice from the other half of the plate...so good!  And all to be topped off with mus-kee-dine(that's how you're supposed to say it;)) cobbler!  Yummy!...and for breakfast, it would have to be, HOMEADE biscuits with Granddaddy's Hot THIN Chocolate gravy poured over a pat of Country Crock!...and if Grandaddy is not around: 2 parts Golden Eagle Syrup to 1 part butter mixed together with a fork...then crumble your homeade biscuit in the bowl....ooooohhhweeee...if you haven't tried it...you should...tomorrow! Why am I getting hungry?

3.  I call my Mom everyday after school...I usually have no real reason to call...except I just need to hear her voice.

4.  I like my grilled cheese sandwhich with white Wonder Bread, Immitation Square Cheese, Country Crock, and ... the best part...SUGAR!...don't knock it til you try it!

5.  I sometimes snort when I laugh.  No...it is not attractive or cute or anything plesant, but it happens.

6.  I make TONS of To Do List....even if I misplace them while DOing!?!...On the same note, I am awful about taking the time to make a grocery list...get to grocery store...get germy grocery cart...look for list...oh yeah...I left it on the counter! perfect!

7.  Anything dealing with love makes me happy.  I love, love.

8.  I HATE  window shopping, if I can't buy...I don't go!

9.  I LOVE the people I work with at RES!  ...Staff like them come around once every....um...never!

10.  Before Kent and Hughes, my life was incomplete.

11.  I usually arrive right on time...never early...yet, never LATE...or at least REALLY late.

12.  Dogs make me very happy...other people's dogs.  When you have your own dog, it is like another child and I don't have time for potty training a dog...I had MUCH rather have another human child!!!...nonetheless...I do LOVE OTHER people's dogs.

13.  I could stay on the computer 24/7!  I love everything about the internet...yet feel that ALL internet connections should be speedy fast with no wait time...or else...the demon inside creeps through my pointer and I start right clicking like crazy to make it faster...which we ALL know ONLY makes it slower!...oh the stress of slow computers.

14.  When people burp, I throw up on the inside.

15.  Private Practice and Castle are my favorite TV shows...and the Bachelor...even though it is completely lame and predictable...I can't help myself!

16.  I would love to be BFF with Ree Drummond...The Pioneer Woman...if you don't know her...you should get to know her...sadly, I try to channel her.

17.  My mother named all three of her children with a B:  Brad, Britanny, and Ben.  We are all six years apart:  which interprets to my mother and father having a teenager for 18...count them...18 years!!!!  Bless their hearts.

18.  I want to be one of those people who reads a  book every week.

19.  Kent is my crush...he is good to me in everyway.  For example, he is watching the National Championship game in the living room, as I blog...and folding clothes while he does it!  It takes two around this house...that's for sure!

20.  He has also completed an Iornman...which is pretty amazing!...Maybe one day (when our children are bigger) he will get the opportunity to do that again!

21.  I killed a deer Thanksgiving Eve!!!...with my car...

22.  I LOVE to cook...HATE to clean up the mess.

23.  Thomas Crown Affair will always be my "go to" movie...and Sound of Music...and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers...and My Fair Lady...um, Kent, can we please make a trip to New York (I want to see some Broadway plays) before I have to start getting Botox?...which will be sooner than later?...thanks

24.  I LOVE to go the movies...and get popcorn and sprinkle the M&M's on top...! Divinity!

25.  I believe the world would be a better place if, people would turn off the television and go play outside, have game night with their family, and volunteer, as a family.

Good Night...Don't let the Bed Bugs Bite!  ...(my Mom whispered that to me EVERYNIGHT when I was young..along with reading me three books...EVERYNIGHT!...thanks Mom!)

I love Photoshop...

I love photoshop...even though I have NO idea what I am doing!  My next book will be:  Photoshop for Dummies.  I am assuming that they have published that book since the "for Dummies" series has published a book for EVERYTHING!  So tomorrow, I will be making a trip to Barnes and Noble to get my holiday reading material!  Here are a few pictures that I have been working on!  Obviously, I am into the older photo look!  Enjoy!

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Kent and I were just talking about the following: 

Is this what life is supposed to be like?  We have both been off the past two days and life doesn't get any better...or does it?  For the first time...since we have been married we actually have been awake and functioning past 9:00!  Usually, at 9:00 we are rushing around the house, not talking, washing bottles, throwing clothes from the washer to the dryer, getting the coffee pot ready for the morning brew, laying our clothes out for the next day (mine and Hughes anyway), throwing on pj's and literally jumping into the bed by...no later than...and if later than...we will wake up on the wrong side of the bed...10:00! 

However, the past two nights, we have started a movie at 9:30, and finished it...still awake...and last night starting movie #2!  (Movie #1: The Ugly Truth and Movie #2:  The Hangover...#1: for me ... #2: for Kent...obviously)

Let's be honest...right now I have no idea where this blog is going!  Maybe, just maybe, THIS is why staying up past 9:00 is useless...my functioning level is VERY low!  All this to say: 

1.  We have really enjoyed the Christmas holidays at home because

2.  we don't have to make the coffee the night before

3. because I am not leaving the house before 6:00 a.m.

4. because I am still in the bed at 6:00 a.m.

5. We also got lots of fun gifts

6.  for example the Photoshop

7.  that I cannot peel myself away from

8.  even though i have NO CLUE how to use it

9.  but I am DYING to find out

10.  happy new year!

11. and good night because it is 11:12 p.m.

12.  and everyone knows I am SOOOO not cool enough to stay up past 12:00a.m.

13.  that time is only for high school and college students

14.  which obviously, I am not...

15. considering my happiness with photoshop and love for blog

16.  which NO normal high school or college age kid would enjoy

17.  but I love my life as a wife and mom

18.  life is good!