First Loss of the Season

Saturday night the Cats played the Gators, so Billie and Derek came over to watch the game. (Tim and Lindsy were out of town because Lindsy ran a 30K trail race - yes that's right three-zero! That's longer than a half-marathon AND through a forest! She's my hero!) Let's not talk about the sad outcome of the football game. It was just embarrassing, but what did we really expect playing the number 1 ranked team?

We had a great time with friends though, and that's all that counts right?

Jonathan, Derek and Dakota watching the game...can you see the excitement or lack there-of? (Dakota makes himself right at home on Derek's and Billie's laps when they are here - he loves attention!)
A self portrait of Billie and me...this took us 3 tries :)
Yummy peanut butter cookies that Billie made:)
Let's hope that UK will start winning again...it's just so much more fun when they win!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news...guess who's wonderful husband came home from work today with the black dress from Loft that I talked about here? I went back to Loft on Monday to try it on again and they didn't have my size! I was so bummed! He won't tell me how he did it, but he somehow had them hold it or something because he went out after work tonight and got it for me! How sweet is he??

I'm thinking about wearing it on Saturday night to dinner for my reunion but I'm not sure if it'll be too dressy and if I should stick to jeans... I guess I'll just have to make that decision later! I'm bad about that...that's why I have to pack 10 outfits for one weekend and J gets upset that I need my own suitcase for 2 nights:) hehe. I'll be sure to take some pics tho! :)

Boy did I marry a good one! I love him so much! He knows me so well and he knew what a pick-me-up I needed today:)

Nicole C Mullen - Call on Jesus

I was listening to K-Love on my way home from our volleyball game tonight (we won by the way). I usually listen to Air1, but for some reason we had K-Love on and I heard this song. I just think that it was really meant for me to hear. It talks about mounting on wings like eagles in order to soar, which ties in with my post from Sunday and how I was feeling (and still am feeling). I love Nicole C. Mullen. I haven't listened to her CD since college...probably because I barely listen to CDs anymore. But I love her music because her lyrics (and voice) are beautiful.

Please keep me in your prayers this week as I have some important things coming my way.

Nicole C Mullen - Call on Jesus
Uploaded by wanzea. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Fashion Emergency

Help! I need some serious help on the fashion front. My 10 year high school reunion has somehow crept up on me and is this coming weekend! Am I that old?? High school seems like more than a lifetime ago. Unfortunately a lot of my girlfriends from high school won't be able to make it. But we'll have a great time anyway.

Here's the issue... I just realized on Sunday that I have not even thought about what I am wearing to the festivities!! How did that happen? We will be going to a football game on Friday night, so I need a casual chic outfit for the game. Any cheap suggestions? I feel like the only things in my closet are jeans and knit v-necked shirts! Boring! Then on Saturday we will be going to Zia's, which is a nice Italian restaurant on the Maumee River. I'm thinking I could get away with dark trouser jeans and a dressy shirt? That's what I'm leaning towards, but i have no clue what kind of dressy shirt. This is such a weird time of year. It's hard to know if it will be chilly (we will be in the north) or if it would be ok to wear one of those little dressy tanks to dinner.

My next fashion emergency is that Jonathan's 10 year reunion is next weekend! He went to a private all boys school and his reunion is at a country club! I'm assuming that I need to wear a dress to this. I don't want to be over or under-dressed! I will not know another soul in the place other than Jonathan, so there's no way to call a girlfriend to see what she's wearing! What do I do? If you remember back in May when I talked about how hard it is for me to find dresses, you know what a stress this is to me! Last week when I was looking for an interview outfit at Loft, I tried this dress on and it fit (except it was past my knees so I might try to see if it comes in petite even though I'm not really that short.)

Anyway, do you think this is appropriate? Can I dress it up with some red ultra high heels and big chunky jewelry? Or is it too plain jane/casual? I just don't want to be up-staged by some prissy rich girls. LOL! Is that wrong to say? :)

So can I get some advice??? I want to look good after not seeing most of these people for 10 years!! :)

Everlasting God

We sang "Everlasting God" today in church and it really struck me that whether we want to or not, we have to wait upon the Lord, but that waiting will strengthen us. Back when Jonathan was without a job last winter, the words in this song really hit home and I felt like it was written just for me. I could barely get through it without choking up. But now other things in life, including waiting to hear about my job situation (I should hear something in the next 2 days) make me realize how many kinds of "waiting" this can be applied to in life. It's kinda like I get over one hill or trail only to be faced with another. But God knows that and He will give me the strength to keep waiting on His timing.

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary

You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles

That last part is my favorite. I remember looking at the wall in my elementary and high school gym (one in the same) and seeing a big eagle (our mascot) painted on the wall along with Isaiah 40:31.

...but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I love the picture of being lifted on wings like eagles. No matter how weak I feel, God will give me strength to get through the trials I face...even when my life feels so unsettled on the job front. He has a plan, so I will wait on Him.

All The Single Babies

My favorite author, Kristin Billerbeck has a blog that I LOVE. Today she posted a link of this video and I had to repost it because it was so cute!

Enjoy!

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:192170

10 Steps to Homemade Applesauce

How to spend a wonderful afternoon with your good friend making healthy home made applesauce:

1. Make your husband go apple picking and pick 3 pecks of apples.
2. Rinse said apples in a sink
3. Chop apples into quarters
4. Boil apples until they are soft and mushy
5. Borrow your mom's Victorio machine and find a pregnant girl to work it. (Don't worry she had her shoes on...not barefoot and pregnant in a kitchen in KY. LOL! That's a little too granola-y)

6. Buy some Brach's Cinnamon candies to melt in the hot applesauce to change the color from blah to yummy looking (see above picture)!

7. Mix the applesauce in a HUGE mixing bowl that you went all over town trying to find (ok maybe just Bed, Bath and Beyond before finding it at Garden Ridge.) Add a cup and a half of sugar, cinnamon candies and stir.

8. Use a measuring cup to scoop applesauce into Ziploc freezer bags.

9. Stand back and look at your handy work...10 Quart size bags of delicious home made applesauce and a very dirty and sticky kitchen and many pots to wash.

10. Relax with your friend and watch the DVR of the Biggest Loser while shoving your face full of leftover Buffalo Chicken Dip.

Is this picture not the cutest?? I don't know if Coda was trying to bond with Eli (maybe he could hear him in there:)) or if Billie was practicing holding a squirming baby. Hopefully Eli won't be so furry:) Only 7 more weeks till you can meet him, Cody! :)

**This batch of applesauce definitely will not be enough to get us through the winter, so we will be going back to the orchard next month and doing this all over again! :)**

First UK party of 2009!

Yesterday the University of Kentucky Wildcats were playing our arch rival the Louisville Cardinals. It was here in Lexington and they were expecting 80,000 people for the game!!! CRAZY! So, we stayed in our house! HA! (Although we did talk about how fun it would have been to go tailgate for the game.) Thankfully the rain held off! And YES the Cats WON!!! YAY!! We are undefeated so far this season! And it just feels that much better to know we beat Louisville:)

In light of being real UK fans, we had a football party and invited Tim, Lindsy and Kennedy over to watch the game. (Billie and Derek were busy working on their deck...hopefully they'll be able to come to the next party!) I know you were all wondering, so I will tell you that yes, I was able to use my new UK chip/dip bowl set! And I made my delicious Buffalo Chicken Dip. (I'm not admitting that I ate it for dinner tonight since there were leftovers). Lindsy brought a yummy corn and cheese dip with Frito's (and now my mouth is watering again! Dang it!) We wanted Buffalo wings, so I bought those Tyson Anytizers at the grocery store and I have to say that I do not recommend them in place of buffalo wings:( bleh! We will have to order some from Buffalo Wild Wings next game! Then I made some of those Pillsbury "Simply Chocolate Chip" Cookies. (They are not supposed to have any additives...who knows if they do or not...but they are delicious!)

Here are some pics from the game day!

Jonathan and Tim camped out in front of the big screen watching in hi-def.

Coda didn't really care about watching the game...he just wanted to be rubbed on. :) (But look at that great UK tackle on the TV!


The girls in our UK gear...and Coda too. He just can't get enough of Kennedy. He missed her so much!

The guys teaching Kennedy how to cheer on UK!What a fun way to spend a Saturday with friends! Can't wait for all of the other games this season...plus since we are in Kentucky we get to get just this crazy again for basketball season! Whoohoo!

Sucking Air and Eating Apples

It has been almost a month since I have done any sort of exercising! Gasp!! I was supposed to not run for 2 weeks after my surgery, but of course I hadn't had time at all the week before my surgery to run, so as of this last Monday, it had been 3 weeks!!! Yesterday we had our first indoor competitive volleyball game of the fall season so I'm glad I didn't run then because by the end of that game I was exhausted!

Well, tonight I needed a little coaxing from by good friend Billie, who told me to run an extra mile for her since she can't. And yes, when I got home after work I laced up my shoes and was off! Well, not really "off". ("I was off" kinda sounds like I was running fast...but that wasn't really the case) I set my nike+ for 2 miles and less than half a mile into my run my lungs felt like they were going to explode! My legs were so heavy I was worried I'd trip myself! But I kept running. By the end I was sucking air and had side stitches! I kept telling myself to "breathe through it" to get rid of the side stitches and to calm my lungs! Lets just say it's never a good idea to take so many weeks off of running! I mean seriously, just last month I was talking about doing a 10K and tonight I couldn't even run a 5K! But I will say that when my nike+ told me that I had reached my goal of 2 miles, I powered through and kept running because I just needed to push myself further. I ended at about 2.7 miles (which is just utterly sad since I was up to 4+ mi just a couples weeks ago) in 25 minutes. But I'm not getting hung up on the times, I just am glad I got off the couch and ran. Sometimes it just feels good! OK, so not so good in the process always, but I feel great now (other than those horribly sore muscles).

Moral of the story: NEVER take 4 weeks away from running! It will mess you up! It's amazing how out of shape a body can get in such a "short" time!

In other news: :)

There are some changes at work due to a merger, so I have a lot on my mind lately. I will keep A job, but not THE job I'm doing currently since my position as all but been eliminated. I am thankful for having a job, but I just wish all of this transition stuff would get over with so I can get back to feeling settled. I know God has a plan through it all. We are thanking him every day that Jonathan lost his job back last fall because it was a blessing in disguise. Since he worked for the same company as me, we would have been competing for the same position and that would not have been good. So yes, God had a plan back then and he still has a plan now. Wouldn't it be nice to know what that plan is while you are going through the trials tho?

Last weekend J and I traveled to Ohio to visit my brother and his family. Out of 3 kids, they had 1 volleyball game and 3 soccer games on Saturday. Luckily we were able to attend 2 of the games! We love to watch the kids games! It was one of my niece's birthdays so my parents were in town and we had a great time!

Sunday after church we went with Billie and Derek to Evan's Orchard! We went to this orchard last year to pick apples and get pumpkins. Well, this weekend was their Apple Festival, so we decided to go pick apples and enjoy some delicious warm apple dumplings. Yummm. Between the two couples we picked 3 pecks of apples and next weekend we (Billie and me...not the hubbies) are going to make homemade applesauce! So excited! Thanks to my mom for lending us her Victorio (the machine that makes the applesauce possible)! I grew up on homemade applesauce and this will be my first time to make it without my mom present...scary! We figured, we would see how it turned out and if we liked it, we'll pick some more apples when we go back for our pumpkins in October! That way we can make extra to freeze for the winter!

So I'm embarrassed to post this picture, but since my post is so long, I feel like I need to have a picture (because picture posts are always better). I just feel the need to say that I have vowed to never wear this shirt ever again. I look shlumpy in it...so there! (Yes Jonathan, that is a technical word.) Sometimes it takes seeing yourself in a picture to see how BAD a shirt really is!

So, that's my last week in a nutshell! Sorry I've been away so long. We've been so busy that I haven't even been able to keep up with reading blots!

I have my post-op appointment tomorrow, but I feel pretty normal, so I'm sure it will be a good appointment!

Billie's Baby Shower!

Sunday was Billie's Baby shower! Yay! Lindsy and I were the hostesses and we had the shower at my house. We had a great time! I was really looking forward to this shower 1) because it would mean that I would feel a whole lot better since it was a full week after my surgery and 2) because I love Billie and I wanted to do something so special for her because she's such a wonderful friend!

Billie is having a baby boy in about 2 months and his room is all green and brown and will be so cute! So we went with the green and brown theme for the shower! Can I tell you how hard it is to find *cute* green baby shower stuff? Everything is pink and blue! bleh! Blue is so yesterday! :) LOL. Billie and I always laugh because when we shop for fabrics for our purse business we always gravitate towards the same fabrics and they are ALWAYS green! So I knew she would LOVE a green shower!

If you read some of my previous posts, Lindsy and I have been working on different decorations and things in the past couple weeks while Lindsy lived with me. Here's a pic of the diaper cake that we made! I just love how it turned out. Now, Billie is earth mother and will be cloth diapering but a) we weren't about to purchase that many cloth diapers (107) and b) we felt that she would be thankful for a few disposable diapers after a couple blow outs and runny diapers! :)

(Can I use any more lists with ))?) HA!

Did I leave you hanging wondering what Lindsy and I were doing that night that we tried to go make "something" but the place was closing so we had to get DQ instead? Well we eventually went back the next night and made this at The Mad Potter:

Don't you love it? We got this special pen and had everyone at the shower sign the back, then after he's born Billie can go back and write his birthday or whatever she'd like on the front and then throw it in the oven and the words get sealed on. How cool is that??

And here are pictures of the cake from Tinkers and the Petitfours from Gourmet Goodies. How cute are they??? Can I say yum...which reminds me...I still have a pice of that cake waiting for me in the kitchen...

Can you believe I didn't get a picture of the entire table??? I'm so bummed! It looked beautiful though. We had Oreo Truffles that Lindsy made (yumm...can you tell Lindsy and I like sweets?), veggies, fresh fruit, edamame hummus and pita chips, and a yummy green punch that I found online (with ginger-ale, lemonade, limeade, and lime sherbet) that looked pretty cute in the punch bowl.

Here's a pic of the entire group. Can I please direct your attention to the top of the picture and the picture frame that still does not have a picture in it after 3 years of living here? yes. lovely. But, back to the shower...

Here's a pic of my favorite girls! Lindsy and Billie!

Love you girls! Can't wait to meet baby Eli!

Buffalo Wing Dip

BooMama is having Diptacular Day on her blog and asked for dip recipes for football games!

Janine made this dip for a UK basketball game a couple seasons ago and I just HAD to have it! Everyone that tries it LOVES it! I get requests to make it all the time, but I find that I have to make this when we're going to big get-togethers because if I just make it for a few people I'll EAT all the leftovers for the next week because it's just that good! I need to have a football party now just so I can make it!

Buffalo Wing Dip

3 Chicken breasts - boiled and shredded

1 pkg cream cheese

8 oz sour cream & 1/2 package of powder ranch dressing - mixed

1 Cup hot sauce (Frank's Red Hot)

Mix and serve (cold or room temp) with tortilla chips for dipping! YUMM! Enjoy!

Flowers

As i said in my last post, Jonathan surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers after my surgery. I'm sitting around the house bored today so I decided to take a pic so that you can all see my flowers!
My mother-in-law sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers on Tuesday.
My mom left yesterday so I'm by myself today. :( There are just so many things to do...take a nap, watch a movie, read my book, read blogs, shower... oh wait, I actually did that last one already! Yay me! Now onto my "list" of other items to get done today... :)

Success!

The surgery was a success! :) My Doctor did the laparoscopy surgery with a cystectomy to remove my cyst and she was also able to laser out my endometriosis. Hopefully this will cure my pain issues! I have high hopes!

Jonathan brought me flowers, jello and pudding home from the grocery store when he went yesterday to pick up my pain meds. How sweet is he?? I love him so much! Dakota's been a very good boy. I think he knows that I don't feel well and he hasn't jumped on me at all:)

My throat is dry and scratchy from being intubated and my incisions are quite tender, but at least its all over and I'm healing! yay! AND My mom is here through tomorrow to take care of me. It's always nice to have mommy here when you don't feel well...even if you are 28! :)