Front Page News

Look who made the front page of our little newspaper?!  

We had our preseason soccer tournament last weekend. It was gorgeous soccer weather and we won all four games, making us the Skiatook Preseason Tournament Champions! 

Tyler played in all of the games after the first couple of minutes, which thrilled me to death seeing as he's a Freshman! 

He even made two goals in the last game. One only counted because the first one the refs called a handball, which was a dumb call but that's ok. 

I was so proud of the team! They played terrific!

Winter can go away now!

I'm seriously tired of Winter. As in, it can go away now. It started snowing yesterday morning and has snowed off and on for the past 24 hours. I missed work Monday and Tuesday, which was fine with me because I was able to spend time with the boys and get laundry done. By the way, does laundry ever get done? I wonder how OCD women feel about laundry. Do they go crazy because it'll never be done? As soon as they put up the final folded clothes, the kids have the clothes they're wearing in the dirty clothes hamper. It's a never-ending cycle. Do they literally go nuts trying to finish it all? Thank God my hubby is sweet and doesn't put any pressure on me to keep the house together and the laundry done. I do enough of that to myself. Back to the winter....I hate it and I need sun. I need sunshine, happy people, flip-flops, sandals, cute t-shirts. I need to see my cute little guys with sun on their faces because they look adorable with a little tan. I need to feel like my leg aren't glowing and actually look a slight brown color. It's especially hard in the winter because my Mom has a hard time walking on ice and snow since she struggles anyway with walking. I can't take her to the doctor when the weather's bad because it's too hard on her. I can't wait 'til Spring solely for that reason. I'm ready for Soccer season to start and to be able to sit in the stands outside. That's much better than walking fast into a basketball auditorium when it's 18 degrees outside. This has got to be one of the worst winters we've had besides the year we had a blizzard. That was the worst officially. I think I become some sort of hermit when it's wintertime. I don't want to go out in any way. I don't want to go grocery shopping, shopping in general, or out to eat, and that's pretty bad for me. At least we only have about a month and a half. Hopefully.

Menu Planning Monday

This week is an easy one because I actually took the time to plan out meals and go grocery shopping at Aldi. Here's our meal plan for the week:
Monday - Sauerkraut and Bratwurst (Sauerkraut is good for inflammation in the body)
Tuesday - Beef Stew, cornbread
Wednesday - German Smoked Sausage Dish - (smoked sausage, turnips, potatoes, onions, carrots in a stew) I know that's two stew dishes in a row but it's -5 degree windchill so it's a good thing ***I cook for my husband's Masonic Lodge on Wednesdays for their meeting (25 people) so we just get a few portions out of the crockpot that I'm cooking in and eat what they eat
Thursday- Pork Chop Apple Casserole, roasted broccoli, wild rice (pork chops, apples, and honey bar-b-que sauce baked together)
Friday - Salmon patties, pea salad, hushpuppies
Saturday - Out to eat. The kids will be with their Dad so Jim and I go eat somewhere - date night!
Sunday - Beef Stroganoff, green beans

Grocery Trip Organization

Let me start this post off by saying that I can't believe I never went to Aldi to do my grocery shopping before last year. Believe it or not, my ex-husband told me about the store a long time ago, as in, 7 or 8 years ago. I guess I should have listened. I have a certain method for grocery shopping when we (I dragged my hubby along) go on our big trips to Aldi. We usually go on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon, hoping it's not too terribly busy. The reason I despise Super Wal-Mart is the crowds of crazy, pajama wearing, no teeth having people. Seriously, it irks me to no end that people can't at least put on sweatpants to go grocery shopping. I live in a small town where most likely you will run into someone you know and people still have on pajamas. Gag. This is also the reason I go to the next town to shop. I really don't want to be distracted running into the neighbors, teachers from school and have to stand and talk for 2 hours while needing to think about my shopping trip. Call me snobby but that's the honest truth. I have a hard enough time concentrating these days, I can't have someone breaking the concentration. Ha! I spend approximately two hours before my shopping trip listing out meals for the upcoming two weeks.

2014 Planners and Pens, Oh My!

I'm going to admit right now what an office supply nerd I am. I might need any intervention. It's bad. Really bad. Nothing makes me happier than going to Office Depot and looking through all the awesome pens, pencils, planners. I'm not a fan of New Year's Eve but love the New Year because it's new day planner time. Ha! Last year I listened to the blogs and ordered an Erin Condren planner. I loved the monogrammed cover I ordered but something about the planner just didn't appeal to me. Some of the months were colors I didn't like at all. I didn't write anything in November because the orange and brown color was hideous. I felt like I wasted $65 on a book I never used. I used the cruddy Walmart one I bought for work more than the Erin Condren. I didn't like the pen quality of the pens that came with the EC planner either. For $65, I thought they should have been LePen quality pens. This year, I'm debating on the Whitney English planner or the Simplified Life Planner. The Whitney English is more professional for work but I adore the color of the Simplified Life Planner. I also can't wait to order the Simplified Life binders. Who doesn't love stripes?! I'm ordering the LePens from Amazon as soon as I decide on the planner. Seriously - cannot wait!

Sugar Bowl Champs! Boomer Sooner

We are Sooner fans in our house and we couldn't be more ecstatic about the game last night when our Oklahoma Sooners whooped up on The Alabama Crimson Tide!!!

We were really expecting to get killed by Alabama so it was stunning that Oklahoma stepped up to the plate and did work!

We had my brother-in-law Josh over and his kids, Madi and Josh.  It was so much fun!  We were hooping and hollering like crazy! 

 

Can you see the intense concentration?  Except my hubby is probably googling a players stats or something like that. Ha!

 

Now he's concentrating.  Wait - that's the girls in the audience on the screen.  Is that what gets his attention?

 

We had to post a pic to Facebook!

 

The funniest thing about this game is that my brother and sister-in-law actually graduated from the University of Alabama.  When Bear Bryant was the football coach.  Talk about a time to go to Alabama.

 

My brother was so ticked off last night, I'm sure of it.  He lives in Atlanta so we didn't have the pleasure of watching him squirm when Bama was stinking.  Ha!

 

My Mom and her entire side of the family all live in Alabama too so the ribbing about them losing is really just fun.  I love Alabama.  We have one dog named Alabama Tide and another one named Boomer. 

 

I know, real original, huh?!

Happy New Year!

We had a low key New Year this year.  I hadn't been feeling that hot so we just hung around the house and watched football, which is my favorite activity anyway.

I've never been a huge New Year fan. I've always thought it was sad.  An ending.  After New Years Eve, you take down all the pretty Christmas decorations. Boo.

New Year's Day, we went to the assisted living and picked up Mom so she could eat Black-Eyed Peas and Cabbage with us. 

 

Black-Eyed Peas are so easy.  All you need are a bag of dried black-eyed peas that you soak overnight and remove the impurities. Cubed ham, an onion, chopped into rough dice, seasoning salt, a little Slap Ya Mama seasoning, and Cavender's Greek seasoning.  I start with little seasoning and then when the peas are almost done, add to our taste.

I always cook the ham in olive oil first, then add the onions and sauté those as well.

 

Our New Year's good luck feast - sautéed cabbage for wealth, white rice, black-eyed peas for good luck and good ol' Southern cornbread

I need to work on my craftiness

I've been pinning my life away on Pinterest.  I think I have about 6,000 pins. 

I have every intention of being crafty, I just can't find the time to actually go to Hobby Lobby, buy the supplies and sit down to do it.

Here are the crafts I hope to accomplish in the near future.  I completely believe in doing Christmas crafts in January for next year.  With 5 birthdays in December, this girl has no time to craftiness during the actual holiday season.

 

I'm a big screenshotter - if that's a word.  If I see something awesome on Instagram, I'll save it on my phone. That way, if I'm at Hobby Lobby, I just pull my phone out and look at my crafty ideas. 

I hope its not bad to post peoples Instagram shots.  I don't know blogging etiquette. Ha!

 

I love this for a guy room.  Maybe a little more teenager like but its eye catching.

My Mom's assisted living has a door decorating contest every year and this is our idea for next year.  We are totally winning it next year!!!

I also love this for Hunter's room.  He likes the plaid, woodsy look.  He's my son that thinks he's a backwoods redneck - not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

I adore this little ornament made out of pasta.  I think this would be a good family craft idea.

 

Love, love, love the chalkboard look!

I took these pics at Johnny Carinos because I like the photo gallery of old pictures.  When we sold my Mom's house last year, I took all of the older photos and need to know what to do with them. This is a neat idea.

If you don't follow Carolineintexas on Instagram, you must.  She's an art teacher and has the best ideas around her house.  These chalkboards are just a square piece of chalkboard she bought at Lowes and chalkboard pens.  She cleans them with Windex and writes seasonal things.  She even has one on their back porch with the Tennessee football schedule.  Awesome!  Think how cool with the Oklahoma Sooners schedule next year.  Since we are going to beat the Alabama Tide in the Sugar Bowl in a few days. 

 

Did I just say that???!!! My dog Alabama Tide just growled at me!

 

Christmas 2013

We had a terrific Christmas this year. 

I have to admit, it's getting harder and harder to shop for the boys.  They're 15 and 12 now and their wishlist just keeps getting more and more expensive.  Plus, add to that the fact that Tyler is a December baby and that's a huge month for gift giving.  Whew. 

The boys both got the things on their lists. Hunter wanted Beats by Dr. Dre and a microphone for making YouTube videos.  He's really into the Minecraft video game and likes to make videos of the buildings and things he's built on the computer.  Tyler got an Ipad for his birthday, which was also part Christmas.  He also got shirts, a Bible, FIFA 14 soccer video game and other books.  They both have new comforters for their rooms, which made this Momma happy. They were using ratty old comforters instead of the decorative ones for their rooms, so it was time for new comforters they liked.

 We opened our presents Christmas morning, then headed over to my Moms apartment at the assisted living to eat lunch with her. My friend Jennifer and her mother joined us, which was so nice.  It was a really nice meal and fun to sit and have a relaxing Christmas dinner instead of the hustle and bustle of having to cook and clean up. 

Mom opened her presents with the boys and loved all of the things she received.  We bought her a tunic, necklace, pajamas, bath soap and brush and magazine subscriptions.  She thought she really made out this Christmas.

 The boys doing their favorite activity, playing FIFA soccer in the living room.

The big news for Tyler this Christmas season was getting his braces taken off on December 23rd.  He wore them for exactly two years and ten days.  He got them on his 13th birthday and now just turned 15.  I can't believe it! 

 

His last meal with braces at Red Lobster

 

Going by to show Nana his braces one last time

Cheesing it up

 

Selfies at the dentists office

Look at those beautiful teeth!

 

 

 Nana with her new shirt and necklace on Christmas

 

Lupus and the past 10 months

One of my last posts in December 2012 was about having Shingles. I was home from work for quite a while sick and had a slight rash on my back. The doctors thought I had shingles and that's why I constantly felt feverish, achy and like I had the full blown flu. I started feeling bad around December 5th, 2012, yes I remember the date, that's how bad I felt. I didn't really feel like I could function and get out of bed until early January. I worked at a job in which I was made to do a lot of physical work (stuff I didn't sign up for) like rearranging bankers boxes in a musty, gross basement for days on end. I constantly felt tired and exhausted and just thought it was my age and that I was out of shape. I was only supposed to be an administrative assistant but the job quickly spiraled into a full blown stressful job. Let me back up and say that for the past couple of years, I would wake up in the morning and feel like I had a really strange, sweaty, feverish feeling. I always remember it would hit me by the time I got to the coffeemaker in the kitchen. I would stand there thinking how out of shape I was and that I felt like I was starting to break down. Late thirties and early forties were killing me. Literally - or so I started to think. I put off going to the doctor because I assumed they would tell me to exercise and watch my sugar or something like that. This past summer, after my Mom had gone through heart stent surgery, it really scared me and I started exercising everyday for about two months. I lost about 20 pounds and was so proud of myself. Then I started feeling flu-like again. Ugh. Right after July 4th, it became unbearable. I couldn't be out in the sun or I would feel as if I was going to either throw up or pass out, I was unbelievable tired, as in two naps a day tired and my body hurt so bad. I went to my regular doctor and he put me on the antibiotic for Lyme disease. That panicked me. They tested me for Lyme disease. Negative. I called back telling them I still felt horrible. They tested me for other tick-borne illnesses. Negative. They tested me for thyroid, vitamin levels, blood counts, etc, etc. All negative. After the doctor I was seeing told me, "Well you look good, you don't look like your sick." I lost it. I felt completely helpless. I thought no one would ever help me and they all thought I was crazy. The doctors even asked if I was happily married, maybe I was depressed. Nope - very happily married and not depressed. Well, hold on, kind of depressed because no one will acknowledge that I'm suffering and something very horrible is wrong with me. I finally switched back to my previous doctor who'd known me since I was eleven years old. He knew I was never sick so this had to be something. He did a lupus and some other test. Negative. Complete frustration. I turned to Facebook. I simply put my symptoms out there and asked if anyone had ever experienced this before. I lot of people commented back that I needed to desperately see a Rheumatologist. Then...my cousin chimed in and said, "You really need to check for auto-immune disease, every female in your Moms side of the family has one." Bingo. There was my clue. I immediately called my doctor who referred me to a Rheumatologist. This doctor was immediately interested when I told him about my family history. He did the "real" Lupus test and inflammation tests and they came back with my inflammation rates two and three times the number they should have been. Score! Something finally says I'm sick. The odd thing is, in 2008, my inflammation markers were very high. There was a blood test my dr. did then that came up as suspect but I was so healthy, he never went further with the testing. So....long story short. I now have medicine. It has made a tremendous difference in my life. I finally feel as if I can function everyday. Granted, I can't have a huge, fun filled day without feeling super tired. I have to really rest in the morning if I'm going to go to a big event that night. That's ok. Small sacrifice for feeling good. I was beginning to panic. I felt like I was missing most of my kids and husbands lives. But, they were nice about my sickness and felt bad for me. My son was even googling my symptoms trying to help. Poor thing. I know it's going to be a struggle I'm going to have to deal with, but I'm willing to fight for my good health. You don't realize how much you take for granted until you can't do it. It gives you a new perspective on life.

York Rite Installation and Christmas program

My husband is very involved in the Masonic Lodge and it's affiliate organizations. 

Here are some pictures from the York Rite installation and the Christmas program.

The Christmas observance is the prettiest ceremony I've ever seen.