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.

E-book Giveaway

Rebecca Cooper is giving away one copy of her new e-book, 40 top tips for better photos.

Want to win it too? Click here!

December is Here!

Wow! I have such a busy month. I graduate one week from today!! Woohoo!

I've also been trying to take a photo every day sort of like the Ali Edward's December Daily or Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas. Not sure what kind of album (if any) I will put the photos in but maybe I'll add them to my blog soon.

Off to watch 90210 and eat yummy Gabriel's strawberry cake.

And the Countdown begins....

With the recent announcement of my graduation date, I located a countdown down to any date thingy on a website. Of course, I needed to know how many days it was to several upcoming events.

Here you go:

100 Days till Christmas!!! Woohoo!

90 Days until Graduation!!!

79 Days until one of my bestest friends marries my brother in law. Love being matchmaker!

75 Days until Mom's birthday!

72 Days until Black Friday Sales and my parents' wedding anniversary!

71 Days until Thanksgiving

61 Days until Student Teaching is over!!! (2 months! I think I can handle 2 months!)

43 More school days left of Student Teaching...ugh that means 86 more times that the alarm
clock will go off rudely at 5:45

There's really not a whole lot going on in September or October for me. Just normal life stuff. Nothing gigantic to count down to. But I did save the most important countdowns for last....

3 more sleeps until weekend!!!

10 hours or less until I'm home again!!!

Do I have to set my alarm clock tonight? Fourteen thoughts on September 14th.

So I've had a few thoughts that I kept meaning to post and kept forgetting.

1. My least favorite parts of the school year when I was in elementary school : the first week of getting to know you activities and standardized testing.

My least favorite parts of the school year from the perspective of student teaching: the first week of getting to know you activities and standardized testing.

Notice any similarities?

2. Simple comforts. I've noticed some simple comforts never change. At home, in my apartment, and now in married life I could always find comfort in a hearty breakfast of hot, homemade biscuits and gravy. It's just that sometimes in married life biscuits are just a bit too much to make. So I end up with a scrambled egg sandwich and homemade apple sauce instead. Quite yummy if I say so myself.

3. The Andy Griffith Show is also quite comforting. And recently, the Golden Girls and I have become quite good friends. They come on every Saturday and Sunday morning on the Hallmark channel. I really hope Hallmark doesn't change their lineup any time soon.

4. Good dresses just don't exist anymore. The Dress Barn needs to change their name. It's very misleading. They should change it to the Sweater and Dress Pants Barn.

5. Homemade ice cream is pretty tasty.

6. Starting my 7th week of Student teaching tomorrow. Getting close to the half-way point! Hallelujah!

7. While #6 sounds pretty good, there are actually 5 days in each week of Student Teaching. Do I have to set my alarm clock tonight? Ugh.

8. My goal for the weekend was to start and finish my resume. And I've done neither.

9. I miss Simple Scrapbooks magazine. I think my desire to scrapbook died with it.

10. I still think the waiter at lunch today got some of the drinks mixed up when he took 5 back to the kitchen for refills. It's sort of confusing when at a table of 15 there are 14 water glasses, with and without lemon, and 1 lone coke.

11. I bought new jeans last weekend. They fit. They look nice. Small miracle, let me tell you.

12. My friend Kayla is decorating her new house this weekend. Sounds like fun. New house. New paint. Picking everything out. Then I think of how I helped paint the storage building that one time and how it's not as easy as it looks and I'm glad J painted the house long before I came along.

13. I bought 2 pounds of organic chicken today that would have normally cost $12.01. I paid $2.98. Never had organic chicken before.

14. I've learned to buy 2 gallons of milk on Sunday so I don't have to make a frantic milk run in the middle of the week. Last week, I also realized you should buy cereal and toilet paper regularly too. Not fun to go on frantic runs for those items either.

So, that is all. Fourteen thoughts on September 14th. I wasn't sure I could come up with them all but I did.

EDITED TO ADD: After posting this I let my mouse hover over the time on the computer...only to realize that today is not September 14th. Oops :)

Ten on Tuesday

The first in a series of Ten on Tuesday posts.


1. I've been having a really rough week. And it's ONLY Tuesday! Yesterday, I got home at 2:50 and crawled in bed. I didn't get out again until 4:40. Today, I'm just not tired. I wish the Golden Girls had their own TV channel. If I could watch them 24/7, I'd always be in a good mood.

2. I have lesson plans to work on. I had lots planned for my kids to do. That went well today.

3. Dinner date with the husband when he gets home @ 7:30 tonight. I may eat my arm off before then.

4. Been digi camera shopping online. Really liking the Nikon D5000. Which leads me to needing to find a nice, pretty camera strap. Or maybe I'll make my own. More to come on this topic.

5. I have lots of scrapbook ideas to work on. Journal your Christmas album. Travel album. Photo of the day. Random, everyday layouts. Haven't had time due to #2 and #4.

6. My major success this week: I planned meals for every night on Sunday afternoon.

7. My major downfall so far: We haven't eaten any of the meals I planned.

8. I'm craving lots of fattening foods like buffalo chicken dip and wheat thins. Unfortunately, I've yet to figure out how to eat healthy and on a budget. I think it's virtually impossible.

9. I've discovered that you need to buy the Ziploc brand plastic bags. Blow the budget on the bags always! Homemade ice cream in baggies is disgusting when you get a hole and salt gets into your ice cream.

10. Proof there is a God: I thought I had lost or had my wallet stolen yesterday. As I drive home in tears because all of my cash was in it for the month (which wasn't much because it's almost the end of the month but I have to buy J a birthday gift and manage to cook meals for the rest of the month and pay for any other necessities between now and Aug. 31) I was praying to please let me find my wallet. I get home and I can't find it anywhere! Finally, I go through the purse I carried to church on Sunday. In my purse I find mine and J's Bibles that I had forgotten to put back on the book shelf. In between the two Bibles was my wallet. God was keeping it safe for me. Thanks, God!


I hope I haven't bored you too much. I lead a pretty boring and exhausting life. I hope to write Ten on Tuesday posts every Tuesday if for no other reason but to have some random scrapbook journaling. I'd like another weekly post topic, too. Any suggestions?



I'll leave you with a picture of our "first born" Ashton.

Thoughts on Food

We've been on vacation this weekend. Had a very nice trip but really wasn't thrilled with the food. Barbara Jean's is good for chicken fried chicken and mashed potatoes. The other meals left something to be desired. I think I'm feeling this way because I'm ready to start losing some weight and am getting back into the mode of thinking about what I'm eating.

The reason for writing isn't to say I want to lose weight (even though I do). Tonight's dinner is why I'm writing. After several nights of eating out, we were ready to actually cook something. Simple and quick was our goal tonight but we couldn't agree on anything. So, we each made our own dinner.

Jayson's Dinner: Toasted egg salad sandwich, Garden Salsa Sun Chips, Caffeine Free Pepsi.

Megan's Dinner: Toasted scrambled egg sandwich, fresh cantaloupe, milk.

We ate practically the same meal! I didn't want egg salad and Jayson can't believe I drank milk for dinner. I think tonight's dinner pretty well describes us....

We have essentially the same goals and outlooks on life. Our differences lie in the details.

Confused? We like things organized. I have a box for school stuff, a scrapbook stuff pile, a mound of magazines. Jayson has a file cabinet. In it is his important contact info file, his undergrad file, his masters file, his ancestory research file, his home renovations file.

We also like our bed made up. I would throw the sheet back, then the comforter, toss the pillows on top and not think twice about wrinkles. Jayson would walk around the bed multiple times getting the wrinkles out of the sheet and covering the pillows with the spread.

So there you have it. A tid bit of knowledge from me.

Simple

Since nothing else in my life is simple right now I thought I would post this. I think there are lots of people blogging about the end of Simple Scrapbooks magazine. I'm really sad too. In fact, I got my last copy and it was practically destroyed!! I was so disappointed. I love carrying around that crisp, clean, simple scrapbook goodness but now it's all wet, wadded up and wrinkled. I'll definetly be searching out a new copy at the book store.

So, I'm finishing up school stuff. Hopefully, I can relax and go back to the simple life soon. I miss home and baked potatoes for dinner. I miss lots of stuff but this is where I am now. I miss chocolate too. But not enough to eat it and be sick. I miss Lucy and her chubby belly and loud purrs. I think the first thing I do when school is out is head home for a day or two or twenty ;)

new background!

in honor of spring and the fresh fruits that i love so much...i got a new background!!

i hope you enjoy it. i only lost my blog twice before i finally was able to make it work correctly.

off to ice my cupcakes. yummy.

random mutterings

a few thoughts on what made my day a good one....

• first day of spring
• ate ice cream at 9:40 am
• played wii - favorites hula hoop, soccer dodge ball, tennis, bowling
• see my favorite cat, LUCY!!
• chat with Mom
• visit with Nanny and Pa
• eat a yummy Nanny-biscuit
• new hair cut and eyebrow wax
  
• wearing my bright yellow sweater
• not going to work
• dinner with Jayson

next week will be crazy...

• monday - college classes & party 8-2
  
• tuesday - elementary school 7:30-1:30
• wednesday - college classes & party 8-2
• thursday - elementary school 7:15 - 2:50
  
• friday - elementary school 7:15 - 2:00 then college seminar 3-5 and NANNY'S B-DAY!
• saturday - teacher certification exam 1-5
• sunday - sunday school then church
• monday - friday - elementary school all day

whew, not sure i'm ready for the full-time stuff. i like having my thursdays and fridays off!

Simple Scrapbooks Magazine

I'm so sad that Simple magazine will be no more. I just don't know what to think. I'm glad it will merge back with CK and hope they can "co-habituate" in the single magazine. I hope the Simple designers keep submitting to CK and posting their work online.

I just wish the economy wasn't so rough right now. I'm sad to be losing Circuit City too.