Hello dear bloggers! Have you missed me? You see, I have a 10-month old (as of this coming Monday) and he keeps me busy busy busy. He is the reason I clean at night after 9:00 when the dishes are in the dishwasher and the laundry is hung. He is the reason I keep sleeping until 8:15 instead of waking up early to work out on my Gazelle. He is the reason I have VERY limited time at the computer. On the other hand, he is the reason my life is so amazing. Am I going to be blogging more often now? I would like to think I can work it back into my busy daily schedule. Am I going to be realistic and not beat myself up if I don't get in here to type and upload pictures every 6 or 7 days? Absolutely.
Here are some things I have meant to blog about, but haven't.
I am not at all interested in going into the kitchen to get my calendar, so we will just say that all of these things have been within the last month.
This is the couch we used to sit in. At least for the past 2 years or so. It currently sits in the garage waiting for a new home.
This is our living room after our couch and recliner were moved out and the floors were cleaned.
This is our living room after the nice delivery men from Ashley Furniture delivered our couch and love seat. (I do realize that the end tables do not match AT ALL, but they are temporary. They are some we had, so we are using them until we can find something we like and have the money to pay for them outright!)
We aren't really the kind of people who should be buying furniture at this moment in time, but we did. And we love it. You see, we had a bit of an unexpected financial blessing when my brother paid off a truck we sold him. Along with that, some garage sale money, a bit of our tax return, and a little money from a side job Austin had this summer, we paid the furniture off! Yay for enjoying something completely and without stress when there is no debt tied to it! 4 of the 5 seats are reclining and the brown leather is comfy and very easy to maintain. We have a shedding machine, I mean, a German shepherd, so we needed something that was easy to wipe off with not much hassle. With a 10-month old, who has time to hassle with anything?
This side job Austin took at the end of the summer (that I mentioned above) was a week-long stay in Andrews, Texas where he taught the drum line portion of summer band camp. While he was away, I had a date night with myself! I even had a picture to go along with what I was hoping would be a blog post about it. Hahahaha. Needless to say, after a month had come and gone, I just deleted the silly picture! What I did was put Owen to bed about 9:00 that night and then got ready to relax and snuggle up on the couch. The old couch, that is. Anyway, I rented Dear John from a Red Box down the street, purchased some Junior Mints from a nearby Walgreens, got out our air popper for some fresh popcorn, and made myself a large glass of ice water with Crystal Light Fruit Punch powder mixed in. I grabbed a blanket and it was a night for me! It was very nice to be able to watch a movie and relax that night! In case you are curious (which I am sure you are most likely
not) the picture I took included the movie, my blanket, and all my goodies.
Last weekend, Austin's brother, Kyle, and his girlfriend, Casey, had a combo birthday party with a cookout and birthday cakes. We had the celebration at Austin and Kyle's grandmother's house and enjoyed dinner out in the backyard. There were probably between 15 and 20 people there, all of which were family members of either Kyle or Casey. My job in this event included the table decor and making the birthday cakes. I also made some delicious cookies that you can see below between the cakes.
In this "Kyle and Casey" post I planned to do, I had every intention of having all the recipes for the made-from-scratch red velvet cake, the made-from-scratch frostings, and the yummy cookies. Well, a post never got done, but I do have some of my "I-have-big-plans-to-post-about-this" before pictures shown below.
In my little pile-o'-ingredients, you see a page of letters in the background, don't you? Well, I had written on the chocolate cake (Kyle's) but was disappointed in my work so I smudged it around into a textured look instead. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I made the red velvet cake from scratch? The funny thing is is that I ended up not using it. Not really that funny, I know. Anyway, as it cooled, the middle of the cake kept sinking lower and lower. Not only was I afraid at this point that the cake was not cooked all the way (after it was cooked many minutes after the maximum time), but I had no idea what it would taste like. I blame the 18 year old oven. Oh money tree, where are you? How I do wish we could get a new oven! I jumped my happy little rear into the car and ran to get a red velvet cake mix. I added half a can of vanilla frosting and half a can of chocolate frosting to the batter and baked it according to directions. Boy oh boy, was that cake delish!!! In the chocolate cake batter, I added the other halves of the cans of frosting, so it too was yummy. I am quite pleased with the way the frostings turned out!
Mouth watering yet? If you are interested in any of the 4 recipes, just post a comment and I will get them for you. The recipes are for the red velvet cake, which I will try again at some point, the cookies between the cakes, and the 2 types of frosting.
Another "I-have-been-meaning-to-blog-about-this" topic concerns my future. I have been staying home with Owen for the past 10 months and tutoring part time from my dining room table. I would love to just stay at home and not work, but unfortunately, our finances do not allow that. With that said though, I love working with my students. We have a one-on-one connection that can never be achieved in a classroom setting. I enjoy teaching math and helping students understand all the confusing concepts that I dearly love. I realize that in staying home and working from home I do have it pretty good compared to working moms who get just 6 or 8 weeks with their babies. It has been pure joy watching him grow, play, and come to life before my eyes. As for the future, it would be nice to pay off debt faster and have a little more fun money, so I am looking into some short-term and long-term options. Out of all my options, I just can't see myself moving in any one direction right now since I still have this entire school year to do what I am doing now. Eventually, I would like to pursue another Masters degree, this time in math. I could get a full 36-hour degree or I could take 6 graduate math classes and have enough credentials to work at most junior colleges teaching math. I have also been giving LOTS of thought to getting certified in 9-12 grade math so I can apply and teach in small school districts around Lubbock. That is the option I am looking into right now, and one that will unfold even more once I am signed up to take the certification test. I will most likely be preparing on and off over the next few months and then sign up to take the test in late fall or early winter. So much to think about, talk about, and pray about.
Well, I guess that about does it for me.
Tonight, I have a cold that is keeping me a bit distant from that 10-month old I keep talking about. Daddy's in charge! Hope he has his tennis shoes on. :)
Happy day to each of you.
Carianne
This is our living room after our couch and recliner were moved out and the floors were cleaned.
This is our living room after the nice delivery men from Ashley Furniture delivered our couch and love seat. (I do realize that the end tables do not match AT ALL, but they are temporary. They are some we had, so we are using them until we can find something we like and have the money to pay for them outright!)
We aren't really the kind of people who should be buying furniture at this moment in time, but we did. And we love it. You see, we had a bit of an unexpected financial blessing when my brother paid off a truck we sold him. Along with that, some garage sale money, a bit of our tax return, and a little money from a side job Austin had this summer, we paid the furniture off! Yay for enjoying something completely and without stress when there is no debt tied to it! 4 of the 5 seats are reclining and the brown leather is comfy and very easy to maintain. We have a shedding machine, I mean, a German shepherd, so we needed something that was easy to wipe off with not much hassle. With a 10-month old, who has time to hassle with anything?
This side job Austin took at the end of the summer (that I mentioned above) was a week-long stay in Andrews, Texas where he taught the drum line portion of summer band camp. While he was away, I had a date night with myself! I even had a picture to go along with what I was hoping would be a blog post about it. Hahahaha. Needless to say, after a month had come and gone, I just deleted the silly picture! What I did was put Owen to bed about 9:00 that night and then got ready to relax and snuggle up on the couch. The old couch, that is. Anyway, I rented Dear John from a Red Box down the street, purchased some Junior Mints from a nearby Walgreens, got out our air popper for some fresh popcorn, and made myself a large glass of ice water with Crystal Light Fruit Punch powder mixed in. I grabbed a blanket and it was a night for me! It was very nice to be able to watch a movie and relax that night! In case you are curious (which I am sure you are most likely not) the picture I took included the movie, my blanket, and all my goodies.
Last weekend, Austin's brother, Kyle, and his girlfriend, Casey, had a combo birthday party with a cookout and birthday cakes. We had the celebration at Austin and Kyle's grandmother's house and enjoyed dinner out in the backyard. There were probably between 15 and 20 people there, all of which were family members of either Kyle or Casey. My job in this event included the table decor and making the birthday cakes. I also made some delicious cookies that you can see below between the cakes.
In this "Kyle and Casey" post I planned to do, I had every intention of having all the recipes for the made-from-scratch red velvet cake, the made-from-scratch frostings, and the yummy cookies. Well, a post never got done, but I do have some of my "I-have-big-plans-to-post-about-this" before pictures shown below.
In my little pile-o'-ingredients, you see a page of letters in the background, don't you? Well, I had written on the chocolate cake (Kyle's) but was disappointed in my work so I smudged it around into a textured look instead. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I made the red velvet cake from scratch? The funny thing is is that I ended up not using it. Not really that funny, I know. Anyway, as it cooled, the middle of the cake kept sinking lower and lower. Not only was I afraid at this point that the cake was not cooked all the way (after it was cooked many minutes after the maximum time), but I had no idea what it would taste like. I blame the 18 year old oven. Oh money tree, where are you? How I do wish we could get a new oven! I jumped my happy little rear into the car and ran to get a red velvet cake mix. I added half a can of vanilla frosting and half a can of chocolate frosting to the batter and baked it according to directions. Boy oh boy, was that cake delish!!! In the chocolate cake batter, I added the other halves of the cans of frosting, so it too was yummy. I am quite pleased with the way the frostings turned out!
Mouth watering yet? If you are interested in any of the 4 recipes, just post a comment and I will get them for you. The recipes are for the red velvet cake, which I will try again at some point, the cookies between the cakes, and the 2 types of frosting.
Another "I-have-been-meaning-to-blog-about-this" topic concerns my future. I have been staying home with Owen for the past 10 months and tutoring part time from my dining room table. I would love to just stay at home and not work, but unfortunately, our finances do not allow that. With that said though, I love working with my students. We have a one-on-one connection that can never be achieved in a classroom setting. I enjoy teaching math and helping students understand all the confusing concepts that I dearly love. I realize that in staying home and working from home I do have it pretty good compared to working moms who get just 6 or 8 weeks with their babies. It has been pure joy watching him grow, play, and come to life before my eyes. As for the future, it would be nice to pay off debt faster and have a little more fun money, so I am looking into some short-term and long-term options. Out of all my options, I just can't see myself moving in any one direction right now since I still have this entire school year to do what I am doing now. Eventually, I would like to pursue another Masters degree, this time in math. I could get a full 36-hour degree or I could take 6 graduate math classes and have enough credentials to work at most junior colleges teaching math. I have also been giving LOTS of thought to getting certified in 9-12 grade math so I can apply and teach in small school districts around Lubbock. That is the option I am looking into right now, and one that will unfold even more once I am signed up to take the certification test. I will most likely be preparing on and off over the next few months and then sign up to take the test in late fall or early winter. So much to think about, talk about, and pray about.
Well, I guess that about does it for me.
Tonight, I have a cold that is keeping me a bit distant from that 10-month old I keep talking about. Daddy's in charge! Hope he has his tennis shoes on. :)
Happy day to each of you.
Carianne
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