The price you pay for FREE

I was lucky enough to receive a free Starbucks coupon. I decided I'd use it yesterday. It was hot outside, I felt a bit drab, and was hungry/thirsty.

I go to my Starbucks in Target and order a non-fat cafe vanilla frappuccino no whip. Here's where I should note that I normally order a non-fat vanilla bean frap with half coffee base no whip but lately that hasn't had enough of a coffee flavor.

I inhaled my frap as I browsed through every inch of Target. Ah, the joys of good coffee.

Fast forward 12 hours....yep, still wide awake at 1am. Why? I wonder as I lay in bed thinking of the upcoming fall season, plotting ways to obtain a career job, which Coach bag I'd buy if I had the money, thinking about my love of YellowBox flip flops, or how cute the tiny baby socks on the end cap at Target are that have the "3-6 months" label on the bottom in that non-skid stuff and trying to come up with a way to invite myself to a family-friend's mountain cabin again so I can sip coffee on the rocking chair porch overlooking the mountain view in my PJs each morning.

And that is when I realized it. COFFEE. My normal vanilla bean frap is only half coffee based...my new cafe vanilla frap = all coffee! Ugh. Thank you, my friend caffeine for keeping me up most of the night and thank you, my dear cat for waking me up 4 hours after I fell asleep.

I wonder if they can make my cafe vanilla decaf? Or half decaf-half regular?

So, the price for my free frappuccino  yesterday was about 4 hours of sleep.

Photo note: Taken in April of my favorite book, purse, and frapp at Starbucks.

Love-hate relationship with school supplies

I love school supplies...

...because there is something so fresh and new about starting a school year.
...because the notebooks and pens and organizers and planners are so colorful.
...because everything is empty - the notebooks are empty, the planners are empty, the pencil pouches are empty - all just waiting to be filled with possibility.
...because the hustle and bustle of the stores is fun - like Christmas except it's warm outside.
...because the deals are so good - 1 cent folders!


I hate school supplies...

...because this is the beginning of the first school year since I graduated from college and I should be stocking up on my supplies for my own elementary classroom - but I'm jobless.
...because my husband is stocking up on school supplies for his classroom and sometimes I'm just plain jealous. Please forgive me.
...because if I had lots of money I'd still stock up on school supplies for when I do get a classroom.
...because it's hard to justify spending $20 on a cute planner that won't get used because I'm jobless.


The rest of my story

The rest of my story would probably be beneficial to know and might explain more as to why I'm in such a love-hate limbo over school supplies but I feel it's best not shared right now. Maybe soon. Maybe not.

As a side note: I visited every school-supply-selling-store in my immediate area this afternoon to entertain myself. Found lots of great stuff. Should have snapped cellphone pics to share but I didn't. (I've been doing that a lot lately...taking cell pics of anything that I want to buy but can't justify the cost of)

So, I went into Staples then Target and then Office Max (went to Walmart a few days ago) and I was shocked. I've always been a loyal Staples fan but Office Max blew me away. Lots of cool stuff. Lots of neat planners. Lots of just pretty colors. Ugh. I did not need to find a new store.

Singing to my Heart

Our church is running their revival services every morning and evening this week. Last night, this lovely young man sang this song. I was so moved! After getting home with a yucky headache I was so of disappointed that I didn't know if I could find a version of the song online to listen to again.

Well, the headache was gone this morning and I set off to googling and found the song. "God's Been Good" sung by the Legacy Five. I've downloaded this and a few others from iTunes already. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.  

Off to get ready for tonight's service now. Busy busy around here. Will be back with more blog soon.

Random-ish Rumblings

{Don't ask where the post title came from. I don't know. It just sounded like fun.}

1. Tucker is really wanting to go play on the front porch but it's too stormy.

2. We booked a trip to Pigeon Forge today. Super duper excited about Dixie Stampede and Dollywood. Hopefully, this trip won't get snowed out the like the last time we planned to go to Pigeon Forge. Here's a look at what we were doing the last time we'd planned to be in Pigeon Forge. Yep, snowed in at home with 5 inches of snow!

3. Speaking of travels, I really want to make a "Travels Together" scrapbook off all the places we've been. But I need some inspiration. Please share clean and simple, cohesive scrapbook ideas preferably with travel themes. I have lots of photos to get busy with!

4. I need a J-O-B. I'm getting to the point of not being picky. I just want to start getting a career-sized-paycheck. But ideally, I'd love to teach 4th grade at an elementary school within 20 miles of my house. I realize now's not the time to be picky so I'm applying to every public school district, day care, pre-k, Starbucks, Target, and other place of employment withing the metro-area.

5. I think every weekend between now and the end of summer is booked up. Just got a call asking us to bring a salad to a picnic in two weeks. I felt silly but I had to ask "Do you mean a lettuce-salad? Or some other kind of salad?" The response...lettuce salad or macaroni salad or potato salad. Any of them would be fine. Every time I've typed salad in this post, I've typed "salada". I think I like that word better. I'll probably try to make a homemade version of this. (I think I blogged about this heavenly pasta-in-a-box before!)

6. If I could be any famous person, I think I'd want to be Reba McEntire. I love her red hair!

7. I finally let Tucker go out on the front porch since it has quit raining. We're both happier now. He's not crying and I can actually think and type this post that has taken me entirely too long to write out.

8. I have a dishwasher full of clean dishes to unload. YUCK!

9. Went to Chickfila for lunch today with the hubby. We didn't realize it was Cow Appreciation Day! We totally would have dressed in our cow outfits for the free food.

10. I have about 4 Mary Kay Andrews books that I want to read, a camera book to read, and an Eagle scout photo slide show to put together, and a closet to clean out. But writing silly blogs like this really is more fun.

One more random photo....In honor of today being, the 9th day of the month, I'm going to open the 9th folder in my photo organization system until I get to a single photo and I'm including it here.

Making homemade biscuits.

New Blog Look!

I made this blog banner months ago and have just now learned how to add it to my blog. I'm so proud of my accomplishments on the blog. Now, maybe I'll blog more frequently.

SUYL - China Patterns

This is my first time linking up with Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life posts! Wish me luck!

Our wedding china is the Oberon pattern by Wedgwood. It was very difficult for us to find in stores but eventually we got 7 place settings plus the cream, sugar, and coffee pot (shown in the picture). The coffee pot is my absolute favorite piece!

My everyday dishes are these white square Corelle dishes. I love them!

Just for fun these are Mom's dishes. Old Town Blue. 

And these are Nanny's. Spring Blossom.

I see a scrapbook page somewhere in the future about our dishes and love of Corelle.

Corelle

YIP 6.04.09
Originally uploaded by that blonde girl

Ten Things I'm Thinking Today ::: Walmart Edition

1. I needed to buy groceries tonight because we're out of milk. We go through a lot of milk around here. Especially since Tucker the cat adopted us a few weeks ago. He LOVES milk!! Yes, we know it sometimes makes cats sick but not Tucker. And it makes me happy when I have at least 2 full gallons of milk in the fridge. Last week when it snowed, I had 4 new, unopened gallons of milk. I was ready for snow-cream making!

2. Funny how when you need milk, you suddenly need lots of other things. Like toothpaste. And grapes. I buy milk and grapes once a week. Sometimes I think Tucker and I could live off of those two things.

3. It's pouring rain. It's dark. It takes me 10 minutes to get all my rain gear (rain jacket, hood, umbrella, rainboots, Vera hipster on the inside of my jacket for protection) on for this trip to Wal-Mart. Approximately 10 seconds after walking out the door, I'm soaked. I am now on the search for rain pants.

4. Walking laps around Wal-Mart is not easy. In fact, it's very tiring especially when you forget things and have to walk across the store 10 times.

5. I finally found a frozen entree that I like: Smart Ones Lasagna worth 6 Weight Watchers points. I'm not a huge fan of frozen meals but I'm sick of sandwiches. Today, I took Townhouse crackers and grapes for lunch because I was so sick of sandwiches. (Don't worry, I didn't end up eating that for lunch. My wonderful assistant principal was going out for lunch and offered to pick me up something.) So, I need frozen meals to have on those "It's pouring rain. I'm running 20 minutes late. The traffic reporter on the morning news is already reporting wrecks on the roads that I drive to work." day. I also picked up a Salisbury Steak Weight Watchers meal, again worth 6 WW points. I hope 6 points isn't too much for lunch. My luck I should only eat like 4 WW points and that will ruin my lunch-plan.

6. Speaking of lunches, I also picked up this yumm-o Pasta-Roni pasta salad that I'm making for lunch with some chicken for tomorrow. Yes, I'm planning (and cooking) my meals over 12 hours in advance.

7. I needed to pick up some more make up tonight. I've been using the same Revlon Color Stay Active 02 makeup for about .... 5 years now. I started using this makeup when I realized that the orange stain on the preacher's shoulder of his white dress shirt was caused by my makeup rubbing off when I hugged him. Oops.

So, anyways.....Wal-Mart does not have my make up! None. Not even other colors. Must solve this dilemma ASAP. I must not ruin any more preachers' white dress shirts.

8. Why must the people that organize Wal-Mart put the 27 pound bags of Tidy Cats blue bag cat litter on the top shelf, way out of my reach? I bet they would rethink their Cat Litter Aisle organization when the 27 pound bag of cat litter busts all over the aisle. Good thing I wasn't desperate for cat litter tonight. I'll just get it at Petsmart another day. At Petsmart, someone offers to get my cat litter down for me even though it's on the bottom shelf.

9. I played the "I sure hope I have enough cash to buy all this stuff since it appears that I have lost my debit card...again" game. Luckily, I had 37 cents more than I needed! When I got home, my debit card magically appeared in my wallet. How strange.

10. As I geared up again to walk across the parking lot with a buggy full of goodies, a sweet lady with a small baby complimented me on my rain boots. I was very appreciative of her compliment but I was slightly jealous that her husband was moving their car to the curb to load groceries and keep her and cute little baby from getting wet. Oh well. Playing in puddles is kind of fun.


Updated: I MUST find a Weight Watchers friendly pasta salad recipe. The boxed mix I just made is almost 6 points for 1 serving! Not to mention the points of the chicken that I planned to eat with it! Yikes! Suggestions?

Ten on Thursday: Random Thoughts

1. Why does my Starbucks stop brewing decaf coffee at noon? If I want regular coffee, I want it in the morning to wake me up then. My morning caffeinated coffee has wore off by bedtime and doesn't keep me awake. However, caffeinated coffee after lunch keeps me up at night. Does no one else think this way?

2. Local swimming pool store bilboard reads: "Big Green Egg Central". After several trips by the sign, lots of pondering why a pool store needs eggs, I am finally enlightened as to the meaning behind the sign. BBQ Grills called "Big Green Eggs." See photo below.

3. Had some broken jewelry this week and went through quite the drama to get the piece fixed. Does anyone else get annoyed because their wedding band always looks newer than their engagement ring? I know. I know. I've been wearing the e-ring longer but I want them to look equally shiny.

4. Bought boots at Target this week. Cost me a whooping $7.48. They have flat heels and are great for running.

5. I've been asked to name my Starbucks drink with a cute name instead of having to ramble off "vanilla bean frappacino, half coffee based, no whip." Still pondering what I should call it.

6. Will summer ever come? More snow is planned for tomorrow. It's just plain cold around here but luckily we haven't had any accumulation of snow this winter.

7. I got some free BareMinerals foundation at JcPenney today. I'm not a fan yet.

8. Planning to go out to eat soon. Chilis? Longhorn? OCharleys? Ruby Tuesday? Stevi Bs? Mexican?

9. I am not good at making decisions. Period. I made a decision once on what to name my far-off-in-the-future-daughter and then my uncle named his daughter that and the name is now probably the most popular girl name. At that point, I gave up on making name choices and decisions in general.

10. My lack of decision making skills leads me to wonder how I ever chose which  SLR camera. Well, my Nikon D5000 just "felt right." Not sure I trust the "felt right" when it comes to naming kids though.

11. This post has been fairly photo-less. Will try to add more photos another day.

Ten on Thursday

1. Well, I'm still a few days late getting this up. Oh well.

2. I cooked a yummy dinner tonight. The in-laws are coming for dinner tomorrow, so I have that meal all planned out. We're going out to dinner with friends from church on Saturday, so no cooking Saturday night. Woohoo! Looking forward to no cooking and lots of leftovers.

3. I needed new boots about 2 years ago. But I never could find what I wanted. Now, I'm thinking the scrunch boots might be cute. But of course, boots are hard to find since they are going out of season. I found these boots online at JCPenny.

Might have to head to the mall soon to try them on. Any thoughts? Like? Dislike? Can I wear them with skirts or dresses?

4.  I start teaching a week from tomorrow! Woohoo! :)

5. I start teaching a week from tomorrow! Booo! :(

6. I've been wanting a new purse. Here's what I found. Cheap too at Cato.

I'm not convinced to keep it yet. Any thoughts?

7. This is the bag I'd really like. From Coach. With a price tag of ... about  25 times the price I paid for the Cato bag. In case you want to know, this the Coach Carly bag.

8. This picture cracks me up for lots of reasons. The jacket and backpack match because I'm funny like that. The picture was taken in Target, my favorite place. There's my vanilla bean frap, half coffee based, no whip = my favorite drink. This was taken the day that I rattled off my order really quickly to the barista. "I would like a venti vanilla bean frappuccino, half coffee based, no whip please." Drinking one entire venti anything while shopping in Target gives me a tummy ache. Oops.

9. I created a blog header. I can't figure out how to add it to the top of my blog.

10. Lastly, I wanted to give a shout out to a few blogs I enjoy.

Kelly's blog is so fun. She's so stylish and little Harper is so cute. http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/
Kayla Aimee is so much fun and I'm lucky to know her in-real-life too! http://kaylaaimee.typepad.com/
Laura has a cute little boy and golden retriever and love her scrap-style. http://www.laurakurz.typepad.com/
Elizabeth is another great simple scrapper and seems like a real cool mom. http://elizabethdillow.typepad.com/
Cathy, love how her type always looks like it came from a magazine. http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/

Whew, another Ten on _______________ completed. Have a good rest of the day!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Today is Wednesday. Oops. I also had a goal of posting "Ten on Tuesday" every Tuesday this year. Oops again.

2. I've been making lots of frosting this morning for my Wilton Cake Decorating class. Class is lots of fun. I like playing with frosting. I have discovered I have a natural talent for making frosting clowns.

3. My friend Shirley has started a blog about couponing. I would love to get really good at couponing. Not sure if I really have time for another "hobby". Want to learn about couponing, too? www.savingwithshirley.blogspot.com

4. I would really love to get motivated to scrapbook again. I'd also love to have space to leave my scrap stuff out in the open instead of stuffed under the bed.

5. Since I can't get motivated to scrapbook, I have been organizing my photos. I bought photo boxes on sale at Michael's last week (3 boxes for $5) and made cute labels for them. I even went back to get more boxes because J wants me to organize his childhood photos too. I think the boxes are sort of simple-cute and would look great in that new scrapbook room that I'm dreaming of. 

6. It's cold. Really cold. Currently 36 degrees at lunch time. I'm ready for spring.

7. I've got a job! I'll be teaching 3rd grade while the teacher is on maternity leave. I'm nervous. I'm excited. I'm going to have no time to scrapbook, take cake classes, or organize photos. I'm going to have to get up really, really early. Ugh.

8. I'm getting my haircut tomorrow. I've had this appointment for over a week. I still don't know how I want to get my haircut.

9. I have a "breakfast date" in the morning. Me, Nanny, Pa, and sausage, biscuits, and gravy. YUM!

10. I wish I could learn how to digi-scrap. If I could, I would want my layouts to look like Cathy Z's. (Photo of layouts on Cathy's blog taken as part of the December Daily Project that I never finished.)

Goal for Next Tuesday: Complete a Ten on Tuesday post in less than 20 minutes.

Hello, Cupcakes!

I have searched high and low for days weeks months for a new background for my blog. Specifically, a background with CUPCAKES! Today, I found one! Don't you love the pretty cupcakes?

In other CUPCAKE UPDATES ....

I will soon be getting a custom-made-by-Nanny CUPCAKE APRON! Again, I searched the internet for a perfect cupcake fabric with not very much luck. But yesterday I went out to Hobby Lobby and found the perfect hot pink-polka dot-cupcake fabric. I'm also super excited because my apron is going to have ruffles. Can't wait to try it on.

Why do I need an apron you might ask? Because I'm taking the Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 this month with Mom. We're very excited and have been stocking up on supplies all week. Last week was the first class but I missed out on most of it due to a job interview. There is quite the interesting story behind the interview but I'll wait to tell that until I know if I got that job.

I'm sure it's quite obvious that I love cupcakes but I also love to cook and bake other stuff. I also love taking pictures with my handy-dandy Nikon D5000 SLR. Photography + cooking = pictures of food and messes in my kitchen. In my last photo order, I ordered prints off all of the recent cooking successes and disasters I've had recently. Might just throw them all together in a photo album scrapbook.

Off to organize my recipes into a CUPCAKE RECIPE BOX that my dear sweet newlywed sister in law gave me.