Smell The Roses

The Task: Think about a goal you've been wanting to meet and do something toward conquering that goal

One of my goals:  Find a Michigan home and move out of the in-laws. (number 54)

We have officially found a new Michigan home!  HOO HA!   We won't move in until next month but it's ours!  It's a small house (a little bigger than a good sized one bedroom apartment) but that is perfect for us. Every time we've had an extra bedroom (or two) I always give in and let someone stay with us when they're in a jam.  Although I am more than willing to help a friend out, I'm glad that it will just be me and hubby.  This will be the first time EVER (1.5  years living together plus almost 4 years married) that it will just be me and him.  I'm thinking there is going to be lots of time walking around without pants just because we can! HAHA!

Our little love shack needs some work but we have full creativity!  Read: Lots-o-pinterst crafts!   Thank you to my grandparents and their little rental house!


I will be posting before, during, and after photos as we change the place up.  Maybe when we're done I'll do a vlog tour with a fancypants British accent!  Excellent!

Did you conquer a goal last week?  Link up with Jess over at Lovely Little Things!

Check, Check, aaaaaaand Check.

First, I would like to thank you lovely ladies for all your well wishes for my brothers girlfriend.  I am pleased to say that she is out of ICU, in a normal hospital room, and it looks like she may go home tomorrow! She went home today!   HALLELUJAH!


Even though we had some scary moments this weekend I was able to check a few things off of my 101 in 1001!  WOO HOOO!

First, I bought a laptop.  It's not the one I wanted, or the second one I wanted, but it will do the job for now. Hubby said I should go get the one I wanted this summer and then he'll use this one for all his craigslist searching (no arguments there!)  He reminds me of Joe Dirt, when he's constantly looking at the auto trader but clearly doesn't have the money to buy any of the things that he finds.  Oh, Hubby...bless your heart.

Number 60- Check!

Second, Hubby bought a truck.  I don't know left from right about it.  It's red and a single cab.  When I ride in it it reminds me of High School and boys and gives me that crazy gooey feeling. You know the one..when a boy you liked picked you up in his truck.... yup, that feeling :)  Good buy, Hubby!

Number 77- Check!


Third, because of the Smell the Roses task from last week, I watched the sun rise!  Maybe I'll make Hubby take me in his truck to watch it set.  We can go "park".  hehe 

Number 44- Check!


Fourth-  I bought a fireproof safe!  It's not as big as I thought it was going to be (that explains the fantastic price).   Whatever...at least I finally got one!

Number 58- Check!



Whew!  I'm exhausted! 

In other news...I've found Camera Cord!  Just in time for the month to end!  So much for my picture project.  Maybe I'll try again in a few months? 

Smell the Roses

Last week's task was to leave an inspirational note somewhere for a stranger to find.  I took it as an opportunity to work on number 50-  leave 100 operation beautiful stickies.  I had a lot of fun leaving them in bathrooms and on table tops when I left class.  I hope that the morale on campus was a little higher last week because of me!! Thanks, Jess, for the task!  30 down, 70 more to go!

I can't believe I spelled that wrong!  I should have stuck it on the men's room door! HAHA!

I have no idea how I managed to take this upside down. 

Let's get Carbonated!

...or not.  I am SO proud of myself!  Today I am 31 days pop free!  I don't think that pop was a really big part of my diet before because I haven't noticed a weight loss.  Or it could be that I replaced it with raspberry tea.  Let's go with the first..makes me feel better about myself!  Hubby has been taunting me with Pepsi the last week.  He'll take long drinks and tell me how delicious the bubbles are.  Meanie!  I so badly want to buy a fountain pop tomorrow between my lab and lecture but I'm on the fence about it.  It's already been 31 days...why not make it 32 and then 33 and so on?  But Hubby and his darned delicious bubbles are making it hard for me resist!  AH!! 

Number 24...DONE!!

School Days

Well, folks, I have officially started school.  Yesterday was my first day of classes.  I can't tell you how different it feels to go because you want to instead of going because someone tells you to.  I have so much more appreciation for the things I am being taught.  I'm so excited about this!  Hubby keeps joking with me and says, "You'd better do good so you can find a job and then I don't have to work anymore."  HAHA   Our goal is for me to finish and find an RT position (hopefully) nearby somewhere and then he and his best friend want to open a car garage.  They want to buy cheap cars that need repairs, fix them up, and then sell them for $3,000 or less.  I think it's a fantastic idea. And in this area a car lot with that price tag will be a hit!  It's so much fun to make goals and imagine where the future will take you.

First day of school pic that I sent my Momma!

Number 93 done!

Mr. Smooth Cheeks

Hubby and I spent the day together last week. We didn't do anything spectacular but I always enjoy running around town with him. I took a profile picture of him because he recently shaved! He looks so different!

The result of No Shave November...and December...and some of January!

Mr. Smooth Cheeks!  HAHA

We went to Gander Mountain to exchange some slippers he got for Christmas.  We ended up returning them because they didn't have any more camo slippers.  So he decided that he'd just pick up a pair from Wal-Mart.  They didn't have any either.  So now I'm on an internet hunt for camo slippers that he will wear.  Which turns into shoe/purse/everything else shopping for me.  Needless to say I haven't found his slippers yet!  HAHA  Then he took me to my FAVORITE place to eat. 

Yum!

Hubby knew our waiter and we were conviently seated right under the TV so Hubby had the perfect front row seat to Sports Center. That left for little conversation because he was so distracted. I decided to play with the settings on my camera.

Hubby's pop.  I haven't had pop all year! 

Guess what?  Heinz uses recycled material for their Ketchup bottles.  

Since we were there before half off appetizers started we actually got meals! HAHA

Well, we still had to get ONE appetizer. 

Hubby ordered a Bacon Burger (big surprise there) and I got the Oriental Chicken Salad. I was disappointed with it. It tasted ok but it wasn't like the last one I had. I probably won't get it again.

After dinner we went to see some friends of ours, Larry and Sarah.  It's always a pleasant visit with them!  And then we headed on home.  It took a while because it started snowing and the roads were slick. So there was lots of time for conversation.  I made a comment about the pitch (how steep) of the roofs of the houses we were driving past. They are much more steep in Michigan than Louisiana because of the snow we get here.  Hubby responded with something about how I wouldn't know how to use that word (pitch) if it wasn't for him.  He said I would have described it as "the pointyness of the house" and would have used a variety of hand gestures.  I started laughing so hard.  He was completely right.  Sounds just like something I would say.  But, that's one of the reasons he loves me! 


I really enjoyed the day we spent together so I'm calling it a "date day."  Only 31 more dates to go!

Biscuits!!!

I DID IT!  I made edible biscuits from scratch.  They were delicious.  Pat on the back for me.

ok, ok...enough of me tooting my own horn. 

I found a recipe on food.com.  The recipe is here.   I doubled it so we would have 18 biscuits but I think that I made them a little thick because I only got the 12 you see here!  Also, I reduced the salt.  I only used a third of what was called for.  A lot of the reviews said that they turned out salty and I didn't want that result.  The biscuits came out really fluffy and had a nice crunch on the outside.  YUM! 

Number 4 is done!  Holla!

Click, click, click

One of my presents from Hubby was a new camera!  YAY!  He bought me one on our honeymoon and I lent it to a friend.  When I got it back the screen was smashed.  So, when I opened my new one he said, "Take care of this one!"  Which means don't loan it out!  HAHA  I love it!!   I've been snapping away since Friday night!  And yes, we opened our gifts early because of all the traveling we were going to be doing. 

Thank you, Hubby, for helping me complete number 7!

Viva la Mexico!

Some friends of ours took us to a tiny, new to us restaurant the other night called El Adobe.  

It's a really small Mexican restaurant with YUMMY food!   All four of us got the Baja Chimichanga.

Delicious!

1 new restaurant down, 3 more to go!



***My pictures didn't turn out so I Googled the restaurant and used these pics from Eating Flint.*** Thanks :)

It's fun to stay at the YMCA!

Another on bites the dust!  Number 75 is now complete thanks to my MIL (mother-in-law).  She got Hubby and I a membership to the local Y for Christmas!  We were pretty dedicated the first week we had it and we've slowly stop going.  I'm thinking that after the holiday hoopla has dimmed down a little we'll be going a lot more.  Hopefully I'll have some before and after photos to share soon!!

Our Lady of 121st Street

Hubby's cousin is a very talented actor.  I got the pleasure of seeing his mad skills in action.  He played a detective (which is hilarious if you know him) in a play called "Our Lady of 121st Street."  When we purchased the tickets we were told that there would be some vulgar language.  They were not kidding.  I think 2 out of the first 3 words were something that would make a sailor blush.  A woman left in the middle of a (very colorful) scene and never came back!   I guess she didn't take the warning seriously? 
I still enjoyed it!  And YAY for Matt for doing such a fantastic job!!

the set

Our Lady of 121st Street by Stephen Adly Guirgis

Mourners have gathered at a Harlem funeral home to pay their respects

to a beloved and feared childhood teacher, Sister Rose. There’s only one

problem – someone’s stolen the body. In a series of sharp vignettes, old

and new friends reminisce about the past and face the reality of whom

they’ve become. As memories are unearthed, vivid shouting matches,

explosive rants and surprisingly touching moments of hope reveal a group

of broken souls and the rough, tumbled neighborhood that formed them.

Raw, gritty and rancorously funny, Our Lady of 121st Street is a deeply

human character study of people in an elusive search for redemption.

Number 34...DONE!

Adventures in the Mailbox!!

Let me first say how stinking hard it is to find postcards!  I think that I went to at least 15 different shops before I finally found one that had them (and they kind of suck).  Also, you should know that it takes 3 postcard stamps + a 10 cent stamp + a 1 cent stamp (or two regular stamps + a 10 cent stamp) to mail a postcard out of the country.  I was unaware of this and stuck just one stamp on my ugly postcards and sent them on their way.  HA!  I'm still waiting for a few of the one stamp postcards to be registered by the addressee....updates to follow! 

So, number 72 on my list is send and receive 20 postcards through Postcrossing.  Postcrossing is simply this: send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world. I don't think I have ever been so excited to get the mail! So far I have received 7 postcards!  In my profile I asked for the random persons favorite quote in their language.  AWESOME!!  So much fun!!!

Finland- "Believe in your dreams, rely on the notes of your heart."

Taiwan- "What I most concern about is not whether I failed in the past but if I can be content with failure."

VanLear, KY-"When something is bothering me, I write a song that tells my feelings." Loretta Lynn

Minst, Belarus- "Keep smiling.  This irritates many people."

Japan- "Dear God, How come you didn't invent any new animals lately? We still have just all the old ones."  From Children's letters to God.

Amsterdam- "Today is a party and tomorrow as well."

Washington- "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.  Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."  Albert Einstein

How cool is #72?!?!

I still have a long way to go....

More operation beautiful sticks have been left!  I still have a long way to go!!

Number 1- DONE!! (and part of number 40, too!)

WHOOO HOOO!!  My first official completed thing! Hubby took me to see Breaking Dawn Part 1 at 12:01 am.  And, I LOVED IT!  Plus, it doubled as a date night for the month of November because he took me out to dinner and we window shopped to fill time in between dinner and the movie.  It was a very successful night!

Here's a picture of our Applebee's leftovers.  We took them to my brother-in-law (who works 3rd shift at a hotel) after the movie.  He loved it!

I wanted to get a picture of Edward and Bella on the big screen but the movie theater people were on high alert.  SO, I got a quick pic of some words!

tickets :)

Number 50 - Still in progress!!

Seven more Operation Beautiful stickies officially stuck!  Woo Hoo!!

Kroger-drink isle

Kroger-international isle

Kroger-change thing at checkout

Woman's hospital-outside elevator

Woman's hospital-inside elevator

Woman's hospital-bathroom

Woman's hospital-sign thing by exit doors

11 down, 89 to go!