It's Friday

No long post today. Just wanted to let everyone know that I was laid off from work this morning. Please keep me in your prayers as I head into the next chapter of my life. Have a great Friday!

My Newest Obsession

As you may well know, I like to share with you all my latest food findings so that you too will know about all the latest delicacies the junk food aisle has to offer. Today, I’m going to chat with you about ice cream, which doesn’t happen very often as I am not really an ice cream eater, but I have found a flavor that may have changed me forever.

Last Saturday morning, I went to Publix to do my weekly grocery shopping. I saw a few signs for the Publix limited edition holiday ice cream flavors and thought about buying the pumpkin pie flavor, but didn’t want to get a whole half gallon. Last year I bought the half gallon and only ate two or three scoops out of it. The ice cream was good, but not good enough for me to eat the whole half gallon. I’m just not big on ice cream.

Anyway, I thought to myself that the ice cream companies should make pints of their limited edition flavors because sometimes that’s all we non-ice cream loving folks need to satisfy what we think is a craving for some pumpkin flavored ice cream. I looked through most of the major ice cream brand section and didn’t find any small size containers with pumpkin. Then I reached the Ben and Jerry’s section and was pleasantly surprised to find a pint of Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream. It looked promising and so I threw it in the cart, despite the price. When I was checking out, one of the cashiers saw the ice cream and told me it was really good and she had to make herself stop eating it. Even more promising I thought.

I didn’t give the ice cream a try until Saturday evening and oh my word, I’m not really sure I can describe how amazing it was. It is one of the best ice cream’s I have ever had. The ice cream was very creamy, not icy, and had the most wonderful taste. It was like a spoonful of heaven straight out of the freezer. The ice cream has a pumpkin cheesecake taste meaning it’s not overpowered by the pumpkin but has a cheesecake-ness about it as well. It has swirls of graham cracker in it and when you get a bite of that graham cracker in your spoon, there’s nothing better.

The Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream from Ben and Jerry’s is a limited edition flavor and will only be available, well, for a limited time. I don’t know how long that limited time it, but it is definitely worth buying a pint. I will probably buy another one or two when I hit the grocery store this weekend; in the meantime, I’ve got to figure out how to keep from eating all of the pint that’s in my freezer right now.

My Night at Louis Crews Stadium

Last Friday night, I ventured out to a new athletic venue – Louis Crews Stadium at Alabama A&M University. The venue itself is not new, having been built in 1996 (seriously, ya’ll, I had no idea the stadium had been built that long ago. I seriously thought it had just been constructed in the last five to eight years. Clearly I was wrong.), but it was new to me in regard to the fact that this was my first trip to the stadium. It was a rather lovely experience if I do say so myself.

I left my house about 6:15, even though the stadium is less than five miles from my house. Since I had never been before, I wanted to make sure I arrived in time to find my viewing location and get set up okay, and also buy some snacks at the concession stand, of course. I got Blue parked in a good spot, gathered my belongings and headed into the stadium. Once inside, I went straight to the concession stand and got a hot dog and popcorn. I had brought a Gatorade from home and since pretty much everything on the menu was $3, decided to stick with the Gatorade rather than buy a nice cold refreshing Diet Coke, which I really wanted.

After my trip to the concession stand (I assume the prices were higher since this was a college stadium), I found my way to the entrance to the press box area and rode the elevator up with the referees who would be running the game clocks. I was going to sit in the large area where the press usually sits for A&M games, but instead moved into the small room with the PA announcer because I left my binoculars at home and needed all the help I could get in determining who was making the play.

I took a few minutes to get set up and then ate my treasures from the concession stand. The hot dog was okay and the popcorn was better. While waiting for the game to start, I listened intently to the Johnson drum line. I seriously think I could listen to those guys play for hours on end. They are very entertaining to watch and it’s just a joy to listen to them play.

Not long after, the PA announcer arrived with his daughter, Aubrey, who is 12 years old. She brought along a Nancy Drew book as she is not a football fan. She does, however, go to football games with her dad every Friday night which reminded me of when I was a wee lass and went to games with my dad.

The game got started soon after and was actually a pretty good game. There was one point where there were three touchdowns scored in a four minute period so needless to say I was doing a lot of typing. Aubrey would occasionally ask her dad about a word she came across in her reading and then later in the night she wanted to push the button on the microphone, all of which I thought was cute. She was well-behaved and polite too, which is a rarity more often than not these days.

At halftime, I got up to stretch and walked down the hall to the restroom which was much nicer than having to stand in line with spectators, cheerleaders and the like. I think it was the most relaxing halftime I have ever had. I took some time to look around the press box and it brought back fond memories of when I worked in sports information and spent every Saturday in a press box. I miss the hustle and bustle of those days but I do not miss the lousy paycheck. I have nothing but fond memories though, which is more than I can say for other experiences in my life. Also, I've got to tell you, this press box was nicer than the one we had at East Carolina, although I think they may have renovated a few years back.

After the game was over, I stuck around to write my story and send it in; since the A&M Wi-Fi password was listed in the press box, I just used their internet rather than having to go home and send in my story. The Tide isn’t always the most patient dog when I’ve been gone for long periods of time.

After I sent in my story, I gathered up my belongings and headed out. The Johnson drum line was playing outside and I really wished my brother had been there with me because we love to move our white bodies to the beat of a drum line. It might not be the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen, but we always manage to have some fun.

It was a really good night of high school football and a really great experience. I wish I covered more games there. I actually don’t know that the stadium is used for that many high school games. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the only reason Johnson’s game was scheduled there was because it was their homecoming game.

As I mentioned, it is a really nice stadium and I honestly don’t know why the city of Huntsville and Alabama A&M haven’t put in a bid to host the high school championship games there. Maybe they have and lost the bid but in my opinion, it would be a great venue to host the Super Six and it would also mean I could just drive 4.1 miles from my house to watch some great football – it’s a win-win if you ask me.

Can you see my reflection in the window?

Web Site Review: CouponChief.com

I was recently approached by the folks at Coupon Chief about writing a review for their web site. After taking a look around their site, I decided I would do just that and tell you, my dear readers all about their site.

Before being contacted, I had never heard of Coupon Chief and, as I’m sure you may know, I am a lover of coupons and all things bargain and so I was really anxious to see what their web site was all about. Basically, Coupon Chief has the largest source of online coupons and store discounts for apparel, electronics, travel, entertainment and more and is a coupon sharing web site. That probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, so allow me to elaborate.

People from all across the World Wide Web can post coupons on the web site to various stores and shopping sites; then, when someone uses the posted coupon, the person who posted it receives 2% cash back of the total sale. Check out this page for more detail and for a quick video tutorial, click here. Coupon Chief calls this program their Pays-2-Share Program. Any time you want to see how much money you’ve earned through coupons you’ve posted, you can check your account page.

For example, let’s say I post a coupon code for Land’s End on the web site and Jane Doe sees the coupon and decided to use. If Jane Doe places an order for $100 with Land’s End and uses the coupon I posted on Coupon Chief, then I will receive $2 from Coupon Chief because my coupon code was used. Pretty simple, huh?

Even if you don’t want to post coupons, you can still use the coupons posted on the site. There is search bar at the top of the page and you can just type in the name of a store where you want to shop or the item for which you want to shop. For example you can type Amazon to see if there are any coupons for Amazon.com or you can type in Pink Bunny Slippers if you are looking to buy some pink bunny slippers. You get the idea.

You can also use Coupon Chief to search for coupons that will help causes that you care about. Instead of searching for Pink Bunny Slippers, you can search for Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s disease and if there is a coupon available that will help your cause then it will pop up. Once you use the coupon, then Coupon Chief will donate 20% of your purchase to that cause. It’s a great way to help out your favorite charities. You can search for a list of Coupons-4-Causes by going here.
However you decide to use Coupon Chief, it’s a really great time to start what with all the Christmas shopping on the horizon. I’m sure everyone out there is looking for as many bargains as you can find when it comes to your Christmas shopping and what better way to start than by searching for coupons and discount codes on Coupon Chief. Go here to get started.

Coupon Chief is a reputable company and has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal. Before you start your Christmas shopping, or any shopping for that matter, be sure and stop by Coupon Chief first – you may just save yourself enough money to buy a little something extra for yourself. Happy Shopping!

I was compensated for my review of Coupon Chief, all opinions are my own.

Monday Morning Madness

This morning, I was prepared to share with you my experience from this past Friday night at Louis Crews Stadium; but, after the morning I had, I decided to put that on hold until tomorrow and instead tell you about my Monday morning madness!

As is usually the case, I got up about 5:30 this morning and set about my morning routine, let The Tide out, brush my teeth, etc. I actually was ahead of the game this morning because last night I ironed my shirt and got my breakfast ready along with a few other things that I usually wait until the last minute to complete. I needed to coil some chicken this morning because I had set it out from the freezer on Saturday and it needed to be cooked before it went bad. So, I put the chicken in a pan with some water, set it on the stove and turned it on. I also turned on my pot of boiling water as I do every morning to clean out my sinuses with the Neti Pot Bottle.

After I turned on the pots, I went into the den and checked my email, and twitter and made a move on Words With Friends when all of a sudden I smelled something burning and it was increasingly smelling worse. In that moment I realized that I must have turned on the wrong eye and instead of turning on the eye that had the pot of chicken, I turned on the eye that had every single one of my pot holders sitting on top of it.

I ran into the kitchen and sure enough, there was a fire on the stove as every pot holder I own was on FIRE! I (stupidly) grabbed them up and threw them into the sink and ran water over them. There was still a plastic piece (one of the pot holder loops) burning on the eye and I threw water on it as well. My heart was racing quite rapidly as I’m sure you can imagine.

Finally all the fire was out and there was a vast amount of smoke in the house. I opened the windows and the back door and went outside because the smoke was making it hard to breathe and I really needed some fresh air. I went back in and took the burned pot holders out to the garbage and opened some more windows. At this point I needed to take a shower so I did just that but left the back door open so The Tide could go out and get some fresh air if need be.

I finished getting ready for work and by the time I left home most of the smoke had left the house, but there was still a pretty strong smell. I turned off the AC unit (a decision I debated about for a long while because I do not love a hot house) and left some of the windows open, including the one The Tide likes to look out of all day long. Hopefully she will be able to breathe the fresh outside air rather than the smoky inside air. I left strict instructions with The Tide not to let anyone in to steal out belongings. I hope she listened.

So, that was my Monday morning. I managed to make it safely to work and surprisingly did not smell like smoke so hopefully most of the smoke got out of the house before it started stinking everything up. Here’s to hoping the rest of the day is much less dramatic!

Welcome Fall 2011!

Welcome fall! I sure have missed you! Today is the first official day of fall, in case you were wondering or didn’t already know. Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, which many of you probably already knew.

In college, when I was roommates with Melissa, I would get so excited about the “Fall of the Year” and without a doubt danced around and acted like an idiot when it finally rolled around. I always think of Melissa when it’s the “Fall of the Year” and I laugh about all the great times we had together, sitting out on the stoop, dancing and singing to TLC’s “Scrub’s” (which I’ve heard on the radio twice this past week), among other things. College – it’s the best years of your life people, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

So, tonight, I’m headed out to a brand new venue for me and I’m pretty excited about it. I’ll be covering the Etowah vs. Johnson game. This will be my second time to see Etowah play. The last time was a thriller against Madison County, this time I imagine it will be a blow-out over Johnson. I could be wrong though because I though the Madison County game would also be a blow out. So, we’ll see.

Anyway, the game is being played at Lewis Crews Stadium, which is the stadium on the campus of Alabama A&M University. I have never even set foot inside this stadium since it was built just a few years ago so I’m anxious to see what it looks like and what kind of concessions they have to offer, etc. etc. It should be a fun experience.

Last night I had some of my girlfriends over for dinner and catching up and we also had a surprise baby shower of sorts for our friend Amy. I think everybody except for one person got her diapers, wipes and baby wash or some combination of the three. Amy was surprised and we all had a fun time getting together and catching up on each other’s lives.

Well, I suppose that’s about it for today. It sure seems like when I started this post I had a long list of things to tell you all about, but now that I’ve gotten to this point I can’t think of much else to write about. I would like to say thanks for all the comments in the things That Annoy Me post. It was interesting to read about what grates on your nerves. I have no doubt there will be follow up post some time in the future.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Get out and enjoy the nice weather! See you Monday!

Things That Annoy Me: Part One

Today, I don’t have much to write about. I have started a post for tomorrow which I guess I could technically use for today, but I’ll just leave it for tomorrow and write about something else instead. I was recently asked to write a review for a coupon web site and had planned to post that today, but I am waiting to hear back from the company for final approval and will post it at that time. In the meantime, I thought I would go ahead and start that list of things that annoy me.

1. Driving Behind a Motorcycle – This may not bother most people, but I personally, hate driving behind a motorcycle. I think there should be special lanes for motorcycles, just like there are for bicycles. I’m always afraid my big car (and my car’s not that big compared to some out there) is going to run over the motorcycle and squash the driver like a pancake. It just makes me really nervous and I prefer for the motorcycle to get in another lane, speed on down the road or get behind me. Even when the motorcycle is behind me, I’m not too big of a fan because what if I have to stop abruptly and the motorcycle doesn’t notice and runs into the back of my car and then flips over the front and a body lands on the hood of my car? Yes, these are the things I think about when a motorcycle is beside me on the road. I don’t like it!

2. People Taking Their Sweet Time at the ATM – It’s an ATM and it’s really not that difficult to use. I really don’t go to the ATM that often and mostly when I do it’s to make a deposit. It never fails, however, that I end up behind someone that has to think about each button they push during their transaction. Call me crazy, but it shouldn’t take five whole minutes at the ATM – two or three max. When you go to the ATM, please know what your plan is before you get up to the actual machine, especially when there are other people behind you.

3. Answering Your Phone During a Meeting – Really? You can’t decline the call and call the person back when the meeting is over in 15 minutes? Most of the meetings I attend don’t last too terribly long and it is inevitable that someone will get a phone call and answer it and start having a conversation right in the middle of the meeting .I’ve actually stopped meetings until the person is finished talking. I find it to be rude and inappropriate. You are not more important than the rest of us and if you are expecting an urgent call and need to take it, then please be courteous enough to step outside of the room so as not to bother the rest of us.

4. Using Your Phone During a Movie – I don’t really think I need to elaborate here and this doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does, ugh, it’s annoying. The movies are expensive these days and call me crazy, but I don’t want to spend $10 to listen to you talk to your boo or your homeboy.

That’s it for today, I could go on, but I’ll stop for now and save some of the other points for a day when I need something to write about. In the meantime, tell us what annoys you by leaving a comment below. This should be interesting! Have a good Thursday!

Book Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

Back in March, I reviewed the first book of the Stieg Larrson Millennium Trilogy books, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Well, I finally got around to reading the second book and it was just as good if not better than the first.

The second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is centered around the same characters as were in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, as is the third book, which I haven’t started yet. I had the same problem with this second book as I did with the first – it took me a long time to get engrossed in the story. Both of these books are extremely detailed and the author takes many pages to get the reader acquainted with the scenery and what all is going on in the lives of the characters before anything interesting and suspenseful starts to happen. However, just as with the first book, once the plot starts moving forward, it moves forward rapidly and you will not want to stop reading because you are so anxious to know what is going to happen next.

Once again, this book is set in Sweden, although some of the first scenes in the book are set on an island in the Caribbean as one of the central characters, Salander, is there getting away from it all. Once Salander returns to Sweden is when the action starts to take place; well, a while after she returns anyway, there’s still a lot of detail to read before anything truly exciting happens.

This book deals with a triple murder investigation and also human and sex trafficking. Are the two related? Well, you will just have to read the book to find out. One of the central characters in the series is accused of the triple murders but whether or not she did it is a question that won’t be answered for many, many pages. There are a ton of plot twists and turns that will leave you scratching your head and wondering what the heck is going on. At one point, I even said out loud, “Well, I certainly didn’t see that coming.”

If you have some time on your hands this fall and have not yet delved in to this book series, I would highly recommend it. Like I said, it will take a bit before the book will get interesting but once it grabs your attention, it will not let go. If you start it and think it’s boring, just keep reading is the only advice I can give. In fact, I let a lady a church borrow the first book (and have since given her the second) and she kept saying how boring it was and I said, “Just keep reading, Martha, just keep reading.” I’m anxious to see her tonight to see if she heeded my advice.

One quick note, as mentioned this book deals with human and sex trafficking and as you may have already figured out the book is therefore loaded with lots of adult content. This is not a book for the weak of heart. There are a lot of graphic details in this novel just as there were in the first one, including scenes of homosexuality. I just wanted to put that warning out there before someone got the book and was shocked at the content. If you can trudge through all the graphic details, then this is really a great book.

My Night at Goldsmith-Schiffman

This past Friday I covered the Cherokee County vs. Butler game out at Goldsmith-Schiffman Field, which is just 1.3 miles from my home in beloved Five Points. I have a love-hate relationship with this particular athletic venue and I’m about to tell you why. Hold on to your seats, or something like that.

I love GSF for many reasons. One of the best things about the venue is the history behind it. The field has been around since Huntsville was mostly cotton fields and textile mills and many, many of Huntsville’s young boys grew up playing ball there. My dad was one of them, or at least I think he’s told me that.

The press box at GSF is really great. It was built just a few years ago, in the summer of 2008 if I’m not mistaken. There are five individual boxes and I almost always get one to myself which means I can eat as much as I want, sway as much as I want, sing as much as I want, dance as much as I want… basically I rule to roost in my own little press box room and it rocks if I do say so myself.

As mentioned, GSF is only 1.3 miles from casa de Parker which means that as soon as the game is over, I’m home in five minutes or less, which means I can file my story within 20 minutes of the game ending and still watch the 10:00 news and see all the other scores! Ye-ah!

But, as mentioned, there are, unfortunately, also a few things that I really dislike about GSF. For starters, the bathrooms are port-o-potties and you may be familiar with my fear of the port-o-potty. There are actually some real restrooms at GSF, but for whatever reason they are rarely open. Come on, Huntsville City Schools, open up the restrooms. Let us feel like civilized people!

The other thing is the concession stand – it’s not good. They have a slim selection and the hot dogs are terrible, or at least they were last year. I didn’t try one this past Friday. I knew the concession stand situation was less than desirable and ate a little something before I left. I did want some nachos though and when I got to the stand before the game, the cheese wasn’t ready. I ran into this same problem last year. I mean, how hard is it to get to the stadium an hour early and get things ready? Um, not that difficult I wouldn’t think. I settled for some of the saltiest popcorn I’ve ever had in my life and some sour punch straws – blue raspberry flavor. By the way, who came up with blue raspberry? I mean, there’s no such thing as a blue raspberry is there?

I guess those are really the only two things I dislike about GSF; so, in reality the pros outweigh the cons. I mean, if you think about it, I could essentially ride the Blonde Adonis (aka my bicycle) down to the field – how cool is that? It is a great location; Five Points is awesome, people!

So, if GSF would open up the restrooms and put a little preparation into the concession stand it would be my all-time favorite venue. And those, my friends are my thoughts about GSF. I hope you are that much more informed for having read these thoughts and feelings and with that, I will bid you adieu.

The 1,000th!

For a while now, I have been anxiously watching the comments trickle in wondering when and who would be the 100th commenter here on The Chronicles of Nat. A few months ago when I realized that the blog would breach the 1,000th mark some time this year, I decided I would have a surprise giveaway for the 1,000th commenter.

Well, if you haven’t guessed it already, the blog received its 1,000th comment this past Friday morning. I’ve got to tell you. I was watching closely and often because I was so curious to find out who it would be. For a long time I felt really confident that it would be Erika, because, let’s face it, she’s my most loyal commenter (Thanks, girl!). Erika was, as is usually the case, the first commenter on Thursday – comment #999 – and so then I anxiously awaited the next comment to come in – comment #1,000!

Friday morning, I put up a post and still no one else had commented. I was stuck at #999 and felt for sure that Erika would read Friday’s post, make a comment and become the 1,000th commenter here at The Chronicles of Nat; but, I was wrong.

Not long after I put up Friday’s post, someone commented on Thursday’s post. It was the 1,000th comment and it was by none other than my lovely friend, Kimberly, who wrote “She is just like a kid...wanting all the attention!! I hope you are able to get your house back in order this weekend!”

I saw Kimberly at church this past Sunday (she lives in Tennessee and was visiting) and told her I missed her commenting on my blog and it has paid off for her. Congrats, Kimberly on being the 1000th commenter on The Chronicles of Nat. I’m sending a $10 Amazon Gift Card your way.

I’ve got one more surprise up my sleeve today. Since Erika is my most loyal commenter and to be quite honest I really thought she would end up with the 1,000th comment – hey, the odds were in her favor – I’ve got a gift for her as well – a $10 gift certificate to Steak Out. Hopefully you can use it when night when you don’t feel like cooking. Congrats!

Thanks to all of you who leave a comment from time to time. I realize you may not always have time to actually type up a message, but it sure is nice when you do. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Today, I Ramble

We’ve reached another Friday and as of today, there are only 106 days left in 2011 – that’s really hard to believe. Christmas will be here before you know it and I’m happy to say that my Christmas shopping is well under way and with any luck I’ll be done before Thanksgiving. Well, for the most part anyway. I always go out shopping the day after Thanksgiving and have a few things planned for purchase that day.

I was going to write about some of the things that really seem to annoy me from time to time but since I’m not in an annoyed mood today, I decided to wait until I a day when I am in an annoyed mood. That way it will probably make me feel a little better to vent my frustrations. So, instead, I’ll just ramble on about nothing in particular because that seems to be what I do best.

Has anyone watched the Pioneer Woman’s new show on the Food Network? Erika doesn’t have cable, bless her heart, and so she has been coming by on Wednesday nights to watch the episodes I have stored on the DVR. Well, actually she’s only come by one night because this past Wednesday we didn’t watch and instead are doubling up this coming Wednesday. Anyway, I’ve enjoyed watching the show and getting a small glimpse into the life of PW. Most of the recipes on the show are ones that she has already shared on her blog or in her cookbook so there haven’t been any grand revelations there but it’s still an interesting little show. Hopefully it will continue on for a while.

Did anyone watch Design Star? I actually watched it from beginning to end this season instead of remembering half way through the season that it had started and only watching the second half. I was really glad Meg won. I think she had the best TV personality of all the competitors and I think she will do really well; although that Mark was rather easy on the eyes in my opinion. I could never figure out if he was gay or straight though. I don’t have the best gaydar when it’s not blatantly obvious. Anyway, I’m looking forward to Meg’s show. It should be full of personality and good designs.

Apparently I’m on a TV talking kick today because now I want to move on to Survivor. I recorded this past Wednesday’s episode and haven’t watched it yet. I’m hoping this season will be better than the last couple of season’s because the last two just weren’t that great in my opinion. I hope to watch it sometime this weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, I have large plans of getting my house back in order and clean! I cannot wait. While I’m dreading the massive amount of work that needs to be done, I am also really looking forward to enjoying a clean house, which I haven’t been able to do in quite a while. We are having a going away party for our preacher this Sunday. He is moving to a congregation in Birmingham and we are having a ice cream and cookie social. Why ice cream and cookies I don’t know because I’d much rather have finger foods or something of more substance; but, hey it’s not my party. I’m going to try out a new cookie recipe that I found over at Suburban Turmoil. If these cookies are as good as Lindsay says they are then I will be in for a treat.

Last night I finished reading “The Girl Who Played With Fire” and sweet mercy, it was good. I’ll have a book review up next week if I don’t forget. I’m anxious to get started on the third book in the series which will be my reward for getting my house clean this weekend.

Tonight I’m headed to Goldsmith-Schiffman Field to cover the Cherokee County vs. Butler game. I think my brother is coming along tonight too. I need to remind him about writing a guest post. The concession stand there is terrible so I will most likely be eating before I leave home, which happens to be just 1.5 miles away from the field.

I guess that’s about all the rambling I’ll do for this Friday. Get out and enjoy this great weather we are having! Fall is in the air! I certainly hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Blue Has Some Issues

There are no more updates on the house the moment. Last night after church, I just went home and watched TV instead of doing any work and the very same thing may happen again tonight. Over the weekend I hope to get the house back into some semblance of order and everything back in its place and cleaned before I start on my next project which has something to do with the kitchen. I’m not letting any secrets out of the bag just yet. You’ll have to stay tuned and see what I’ve got up my sleeve.

In other news, my car Blue is once again in need of some repair work. You may recall that Blue was in not one, but three of the four car accidents in which I was involved last year and had to have body work done. Then in January, Blue completely pooped out on me and I had to have a gasket replaced to the tune of about $700. Well, not wanting to be upstaged by home renovation, Blue has decided to have yet another problem.

A couple of weeks ago now as I was driving to work, I heard what sounded like air coming through a cracked window. I mistakenly rolled down the passenger side window and then attempted to roll it back up, but to no avail. Once I arrived at work I had to manually put the window back in place. This was the weekend that my brother stayed the night a couple of times and each time he sat in the passenger side, he had to push up the window.

The Saturday morning of that weekend, I bought some clear duct tape and we taped up the window, which was a good thing since it rained later that weekend. The tape has managed to stay on and hold for almost two weeks now with no leaks! It poured rain last night and the inside of the car stayed dry – awesome! The tape looks really ghetto, but it does the trick for now.

In addition to the window problem, my neighbor Jeff also told me one of my reverse lights is out. So, there are two minor problems that need to be fixed. Since I’m having my second foot surgery on October 19, I hope to take the car over to the repair guy’s place and have him work on it during the two or three days I’m out of commission. That should give him plenty of time to fix both of those issues. In the meantime, I’ll keep on driving around with a taped up window.

So Close, Yet So Far Away

Last night, my friend Lisa came over to help me move furniture and clothes back into the spare bedroom and also helped with a new furniture setup and we also managed to get some things hung on the wall. It was quite a successful evening if I do say so myself. I must admit though, after two straight days of working my real job and then coming home to work on the house until bedtime, I am rather exhausted today and there is still work to be done.

Lisa and I both arrived at the house about 5:30 or a little before. After eating Steak-Out for dinner, we got to work. We moved the bed in and arranged the desk and then moved in the storage cabinet that holds all the DVDs. At first I wasn’t sure if I would like the new set up because it’s a bit of a tight squeeze to get in to the room, but after looking at it all through the night, I really like it a lot. It opens up the room and makes it seem a lot bigger, which is nice. Lisa said, and I agree, that I should probably get some sort of rug to go under the desk. So, I will be on the look out for one on the coming months.

Lisa was kind enough to help me move the clothes back into the closet as well as the sheets and towels. We also sorted through the DVDs and I threw out quite a few. Well, I didn’t throw them in the trash bin per se, Lisa took them with her to put in a garage sale. She and her husband, Derek are going by the house today to take the old desk, desk chair and small TV with them, all also for the garage sale. Maybe I’ll make a few dollars from the garage sale to buy that rug I mentioned.

We also set up some new shoe racks I bought from Crate and Barrel and put my shoes on them. The shoe racks worked out great and look so much better than just a pile of shoes on the closet floor, which was what was there before. I forgot to take a picture of these this morning, but will take one later on and post for you all to see. The racks were on sale – two for $26 and like I said look great. So, hopefully they will hold up.

This morning I was able to walk to my closet and pick out clothes to wear for the first time in almost a month. It was a really strange feeling not to pull something from out of a pile. I don’t know why, but the closet rack seemed to be taller – maybe I just forgot what it was like to actually use a closet.

Over the next few days, I will be going through all the storage boxes and whatnot that go in the closets and hopefully throwing out some things that haven’t been used in forever. With any luck, the house will be completely back to normal and clean by the end of the weekend. It brings a happy tear to my eye!

This afternoon, I’m heading out to Hobby Lobby to have a couple of prints framed and Lisa and I are going to hang those on the wall beside the bed. I got the prints in Paris and am really thrilled I will be able to use them in the house. Once everything is complete, I’ll take some final photos, but in the meantime here are a few for you.

The bed used to be here, now it's my desk.

The chair is from my sorority house at Alabama. I will hopefully be recovering the fabric soon, with the help of my friend Janet.

The cabinet of DVDs was moved to this area between the two closets.

The bed is now here which is where the cabinet of DVDs once was as well as the old desk.

Yes, I will be finding a home for all those things on the bed. I told you I'm not quite finished yet.

This night table used to be on another wall but is now placed here.

The view of the bed as you walk into the room.

Normalcy, Is That You Around The Corner?

Well, things have been moving right along with the work on the spare bedroom. It looks like the chaos that is currently my home will soon be coming to an end and I couldn’t be happier. Here’s what’s happened over the course of the past few days.

As you know, half of the flooring was installed on Thursday (and I forgot to take photos) and the remainder of the flooring was installed on Friday. Over the weekend, I bought and painted the quarter round and it was installed yesterday. Then, last night Justin and I painted the room as well as the hallway. So, the actual renovation work, if that’s what you want to call it, is now complete. Yea!

Look at how shiny and new!

New flooring! Woot!

This is the transistion from the old floor to the new - looks good I think.

I can’t remember if I ever told on here why exactly the floor in the bedroom ended up rotting. I’ve told a lot of people, but if I remember correctly, never put all the information on here. If I already told you this, then I apologize because I’m about to tell you again. When we originally renovated the house six years ago, we hired a plumber who wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box. I’ve had numerous plumbing problems to say the least. At any rate, this not-so-great plumber, who we will call K, didn’t plumb the drain line from the washing machine correctly. Instead of hooking the drain up to the city drain/sewer system, he just made it so that all of the water from the washing machine would drain under the house – under the spare bedroom that is. The crawl space in the spare bedroom is very low and the moisture from the past five and a half years of doing laundry got the better of my floors. Most of the water went directly on to the floor joists, the rest splattered on the sub floor and I guess what was left just stood under the house for however many days until it dried up, that is if it ever dried up, which I doubt. I do a lot of laundry, folks.

So, the repairman put in a drain pipe leading to the outside of the house and now all the water from the washer drains outside the house in the backyard. At some point I want to made a little trough there that will cover up the PVC pipe as the repairman said he could do because the pipe looks kind of ghetto just sticking out of the house.

Long story short, if I could find that plumber, who I happened to have gone to grade school and high school with, I would give him a piece of my mind and sue him for damages; but, alas, he has apparently high-tailed it out of town. Maybe he’s on the dreaded facebook. I’ll have to look in to that.

Now that all the construction is complete, it’s time to move all the goods back into the room. Thankfully, my dear friend Lisa is coming over tonight to help me move furniture around and also hang pictures on the wall. After that is done, I will then have the chore of moving all the clothing and other items from the closet back into their respective hiding places. I already cleaned out some of my clothes when I took them out of the closet, but plan to go through them once more to get rid of anything I haven’t worn in, oh, five years or so. I also want to go through all the other things and throw some of that stuff out as well. I’m using this opportunity to get rid of unwanted or unneeded items so that I will fell less like a hoarder. I’m also going to take the shoe mold, which I originally bought last Thursday night, down to the Habitat store. Hopefully they can use it in one of the Habitat houses. Once all the items are back nestled into the spare room, I will finally be able to give the house a good cleaning because folks, it needs it. With any luck, life will be back to normal and in order once more by the weekend. YES!

Almost finished!

Freshly painted quarter round, not shoe mold.

This Was My Weekend

Happy Monday, folks! I hope everyone enjoyed a fun-filled weekend. Mine was busy at times and relaxing at others, which equals quite enjoyable in my book.

On Friday night, I headed out to Madison County High School to cover their game against Etowah. My brother came with me again this week and we actually saw what turned out to be a really great game. I, being the low man on the totem pole, don’t usually get to see good games so it was quite refreshing to say the least. We hit up the concession stand (which was just as slow this year as in years past) for hot dogs and nachos which seems to be our go-to foods this football season. Justin made mention that he might write something up about our experience out at MCHS so I will stay on him about that and maybe we can get a good guest post out of him.

Photo taken by Justin - in the MCHS press box

After the game, I drove him home and wrote my story and when I tried to file, I couldn’t get logged on to the internet then I couldn’t get my dad’s computer to work so I abandoned ship, drove home and filed my story within two minutes of walking in the door. It was still nine minutes late, but made the Saturday morning edition and this time with my name attached which isn’t always a guarantee.

Saturday morning, I got up and managed to get the floors mopped and the bathroom cleaned and then went to the gym, or maybe it was the other way around. At any rate, I went to spin class Saturday morning and afterwards went to Lowe’s to pick up quarter round for the second time in three days. This time I got the right stuff, or at least I hope to heck so. Brad, who helped me on Thursday night, wasn’t around so I managed to tie the trunk down and get everything loaded up all on my own – I’m cool like that.

Quarter round - on the dash...

through the backseat and into the trunk.

Then Saturday about 12:30, I met Jackie at Nadeau to look for a new desk. I had seen one I liked in their online photo album and wanted to take a look at it as well as any others they might have. I liked the one I had seen online and ended up buying it. I have been using one of those put together desks from Target for a few years and wanted something sturdier and more like a real piece of furniture. This one has a parquet top and is actually probably more like a side table or foyer table, but I’ll be using it as a desk and am really thrilled with the purchase. If you haven’t been to Nadeau, you should check it out. They have great furniture at really reasonable prices, or at least I think they are reasonable.

We loaded up the desk in Jackie’s SUV, dropped it off at the house and then ordered and went to pick up a pizza from Sam and Gregg’s. When we got downtown to get the pizza, all the roads around the square were blocked off for an art stroll of sorts and so I basically parked in the middle of a street and put my flashers on while we went inside to get the pizza. Thankfully, I didn’t get a ticket or get towed or anything of the sort.

We chowed down on the pizza and then settled in to watch the Alabama game. I laid on the couch with The Tide and Jackie stretched out in the large chair in the den. The Tide was the most comfortable of us all as you can see from the pictures below. After halftime, Jackie moved the mattress from the guest bed (which was already in the den) to the floor and stretched out there and we all three, humans and dog, slept through the third quarter. Yes folks, we call ourselves hardcore Alabama fans. We all woke up some time in the fourth quarter and watched the last few minutes of the game.

The Tide loves to sleep...

in any position

Saturday evening I spent most of the night reading the second book in the Stieg Larrson series. It is so good I don’t want to put it down. Once you get in to one of those books, it’s like you can’t stop reading.

Sunday was spent at church, napping, reading, and doing a little painting. Justin was supposed to have come over to help paint the spare bedroom but wanted a day off and so we are going to paint tonight. I went ahead and painted the quarter round while listening to the Greatest Hits of Hootie and the Blowfish (ya’ll I love me some Hootie, thanks to Dave P. from Staten Island!) and because I was in the zone so to speak, went ahead and painted all the baseboards too.

So, that was the weekend. Hopefully Justin and I can knock out the painting of the walls rather quickly this evening and then all that will be left will be mopping the floor and moving the furniture back in. Yea! An update with pictures will be coming tomorrow. Until then…

A Little Progress

I am thrilled beyond measure to report that the spare bedroom now has at least half of the hardwood floors installed. PRAISE JESUS! The other half should be installed today and all that will be left will be painting and moving the furniture back in. Of course, I left the house this morning without taking the first photo; so, unfortunately I have no visual aides to share with you today. I’m just as disappointed about that as you are because I like to have a photo of each phase but that’s how it goes sometimes I guess.

I got home from the gym last night around 6:30 and was elated to see that half of the room had flooring. My excitement however lasted a short time as I soon learned I need to go to Lowe’s and buy some quarter round and get it painted before the strike of midnight or I might turn into a pumpkin. So, off to Lowe’s I went only to discover that the quarter round might not fit in my car. I think my next purchase is going to be a beat up old truck. Maybe my dad and I could go halves on it because our family desperately needs a truck at times. We used to borrow one from one of my two granddads but now neither of them has a truck which leaves us all in a lurch when we need to haul stuff around.

Anyway, I creatively came up with a way to get the 12 foot long quarter round in my car; between two back seats is a small area that folds down and leads to a little passage way to the trunk. I opened that up and with the help of Brad from Lowe’s was able to get the quarter round through the trunk and up onto the front dash. I should have taken a photo of this. The quarter round still poked out a little so Brad tied down the trunk and put a caution flag at the end of the quarter round. Lowe’s is great. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you all how much I love Lowe’s but I do! I think I could spend my whole paycheck there each week.

I finally made it home around 8:00 or maybe a little before. I honestly don’t even know. The closet doors were once again moved into my three foot hallway and I once again had to move at least one of them in order to get to my bedroom. This time instead of knocking a hole in the wall, I busted a globe on the ceiling fan in my den. It’s always something. Nothing can ever go simple when it comes to me. There’s a huge crack in it and I’m expecting it to fall at any minute. I will have to get it replaced soon as it will drive me crazy with the large crack in it. Knowing my luck I won’t be able to find a matching globe and will have to replace all four – good times, people, good times. I now know why people get divorced when renovating homes. Actually, I don’t know that they do, but if home renovation resulted in a high divorce rate, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I finally was able to start painting after I laid out some old sheets that I used for The Tide when she travels here and there with me. It took an hour or so to get all the quarter round painted and I quarantined The Tide to the bedroom while I worked.

Once I was done, I let her out and was in the process of setting up the gate to block her from getting to the freshly painted quarter round when she quickly scooted around me, walked right over the quarter round and proceed to get paw prints of paint all over the floors. I finally managed to get her quarantined to the laundry room where I left her while I cleaned up the painted paw prints and repainted the areas on which she had walked.

At this point I was hungry and cooking was the last thing I wanted to do so I left The Tide in the laundry room and I set off for Subway where I got a delicious ham and cheese sub and wish I had another one right now. I know a lot of folks (Daddy) don’t like Subway, but I happen to really enjoy it. I made it home for the third time that night, scarfed down my sandwich, took a quick bath and went to bed. I did some reading and then it was lights out.

I’m hoping we can get the painting done at some point this weekend and then one night this coming week, my friend Lisa is going to come over and help me rearrange some furniture, hang pictures, etc, which I am really looking forward to. Actually, I’m most looking forward to being able to hang up my clothes again! Sweet mercy, I cannot wait!

So, that’s it for today’s update. Sorry it’s so lengthy and without pictures to boot. Keep your fingers crossed that progress continues over the next few days – I think normalcy is right around the corner!!

Update: I've just been told that I bought the wrong stuff  - that it's shoe mold and not quarter round even though it looks exactly the same. So, basically I just threw away $40 and wasted three hours of my life last night. It's back to square one this weekend where I will go spend another $40 or however much money and paint again. Can someone pass me a valium?

The Saga Continues

I’m sure you are all sitting on the edge of your seats with bated breath wondering what progress has been made on the renovation of my spare bedroom; and I’m here to give you the answer. NONE! That’s right, folks, since last we spoke, there has been absolutely no progress made on the chaos and disorder that is currently my home. I told you there was no way it was only going to take one week – we are already in week three. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

I was told that the hardwood floors were ordered and that they would be in on Wednesday or Thursday of last week (LAST WEEK!). I talked to my dad on Thursday who told me that the repair man told him the floors wouldn’t be coming in until this week (September 7 or 8) and my dad also said he really even doubted that the floors had been ordered and I should probably just go down to Lowe’s and pick something out in order to get it faster.

So, last Thursday, I went to Home Depot after my spin class and bought all the paint I needed and supplies. Home Depot was able to make the same paint color for all the paint I needed – bedroom, hallway, and trim! On Friday afternoon, I went to Lowe’s to pick out some flooring. After much debate and conversation with the Lowe’s employees, I finally decided on something and put in my order. Unfortunately, Lowe’s does not carry the hardwood in stock and so the flooring had to be ordered – ORDERED! When I first wrote this post yesterday to be posted today, the floors still had not arrived; but, miracle of miracles, I got a call yesterday afternoon saying that the floors had arrived. Hallelujah! I was beginning to wonder if I would live the rest of my days in a house that looks like the home of a hoarder. Seriously, ya’ll the mess of it all is driving me bonkers.

My brother and I had plans to paint this past weekend. I was going to wait until the floors were installed so as to lessen the risk of freshly painted walls getting scuffed up. My dad, however, said to go ahead and paint before the floors were installed. Then my brother talked with the repair guy at church who said, yes, the walls would get scuffed again and don’t paint until after the floors are installed. Are you following this? Let me sum it up for you, nothing is going according to plan, my house remains in a state of disarray, and I am about to have a nervous breakdown.

In other news, I worked football this past Friday night and my brother accompanied me as my spotter. The game was atrocious, but we had a good time. He took a photo of us with his phone, but then apparently erased it so I have no proof that we were working instead of up to foolishness.

On Saturday, I cooked breakfast, of which my brother ate three plates. That boy is an eatin’ fool! We went to my parents’ house Saturday and watched the Alabama game and then grilled out steaks. On Sunday night, my brother stayed over again as this was the night we were originally going to paint. We instead watched a movie and my brother kept asking if it had a plot; apparently he didn’t think it did.

Monday morning I drove my brother to work and then spent the rest of the day doing this, which I posted about yesterday – I like to keep it interesting and post happenings in reverse order. Hopefully I’ll be back with an update regarding some actual completed work on the house soon. Keep your fingers crossed for some progress over the course of the next few days; otherwise I may be blogging from a hotel room.

Labor Day 2011

Yesterday, I meant to get around to blogging about Labor Day but then work got in the way and so I decided to put it off until today. Although I have internet at home, it is not currently up and running due to the fact that I had to move everything out of the spare bedroom which is currently under construction and the spare bedroom is home to my internet; more on the spare bedroom project later.

Labor Day here in Alabama was very wet thanks to Tropical Storm Lee, which I think was downgraded to just plain ole rain by the time it reached us but it still has been raining constantly since Sunday. I’m not complaining though, as we certainly needed the rain and I do enjoy a lazy rainy day.

Monday morning I drove my brother to work as he had stayed the night on Sunday. I woke him up early so he could get a shower and prepare himself a lunch. I toasted him up some waffles from the freezer for his breakfast. When I dropped him off at work, he had left his lunch on the sofa so I forked over some cash so he wouldn’t go hungry for the day. Surprisingly, when I got home, the lunch was still intact – I was afraid it might have been devoured by The Tide, but thankfully it wasn’t.

I spent the rest of the morning straightening up a few things as best I could considering the circumstances, baked a cake for our Labor Day festivities and took a nap. After the napping, I watched about two hours of the Alpe D’Huez stage from this year’s le Tour de France and it was so exciting. Even though I was there, I obviously didn’t see the whole stage and was so surprised as to some of the events that unfolded before the riders reached us at the 3K mark. I am looking forward to watching the remaining two hours.

After watching for two hours, I realized I had not made the coleslaw for the gathering that afternoon and I also still needed to ice the cake I made. So, I forced myself up off the couch and made the coleslaw and attempted to ice the cake. I say attempted because things certainly didn’t go as planned. I am not too good at making layer cakes and honestly don’t even know why I tried this time. Needless to say, the cake turned out to be a giant mess, but it was still good. Apparently baking a cake in the rain can have a weird affect on baked goods. Who knew? Not me, but I learned something new from my mother who gave me this bit of information which was later confirmed by friends at work.

After I attempted to ice the cake, I showered and left to go pick up a cookie cake I had ordered for Jackie’s birthday. She and the kids were supposed to come over to my parents’ house for our Labor Day cookout. On Sunday night she said she might not come and I was thinking she would let me know early in the day if they weren’t going to make it. So, when I left the house at 2:30 to go pick up the cookie I felt good about them showing up since I had not heard from her. Wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I headed towards the mall, I got a text saying she wasn’t coming. So, I picked up the cake, took a photo of it, sent it to her and told her I would blow out the candle and eat her piece. Well, she felt bad and so she showered and got herself and the kids ready and they showed up after all. Cookie cake is a good motivator people, remember that!

We had about 18 people show up to eat and we all ate our fair share of hamburgers and hot dogs, Peanut Butter “Cake” and Cookie Cake. It was a good day. Hope your labor day was also good!

And The Winner Is….

Wow, I had all of three people enter the giveaway for the book We Be Big: The Mostly True Story of How Two Kids From Calhoun County, Alabama became Rick and Bubba. I guess it was slow around these parts over the holiday weekend. The winner of the book is commenter #3, Candy. Congrats, Candy! I’ll bring the book to you at church on Wednesday night, provided I don’t forget and leave it at home!

Happy Labor Day 2011!

Happy Labor Day Lads and Lassies! I hope all of you working folks are enjoying the benefits of a day off and if you’re stuck working, then you have my sympathies. There’s no exciting post today, but I’ll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, you can still enter the Book Giveaway by leaving a comment here. Contest is open until 11:59 p.m. tonight and the winner will be announced tomorrow. Have a fantastic day!

Happy Birthday To My Bestie!

Today is Jackie’s birthday and even though it’s Saturday, I wanted to put up a rare weekend post to wish my bestie the Happiest of Birthdays! Having a good friend you can trust through thick and thin is important in life and I’m thankful I have Jackie. She’s the closest I’ll ever have to a sister and God truly blessed me when he put her in my life as a friend! All the best!

Book Review and Giveaway: We Be Big

~~ This Giveaway Is Now Closed ~~

I’m closing out the week with yet another review, and I do apologize to those of you who were looking for some more interesting tales about my life. Today’s review should have been completed about six months ago; but, because I am lazy and well, lazy, I’m just now getting around to posting a review of the latest book by Rick and Bubba, We Be Big: The Mostly True Story of How Two Kids from Calhoun County, Alabama, Became Rick and Bubba.

I received this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers through my affiliation with BookSneeze and was asked to write a review for my blog. I had many books to choose from, but I chose this one because I know many of you readers out there are loyal Rick and Bubba listeners. I only listen to Rick and Bubba occasionally and occasionally is like once a year. I used to be a more loyal listener but now I either listen to sports radio or whatever CD happens to be in the player.

Despite the fact that I don’t live to listen to Rick and Bubba in the mornings, I did enjoy reading this book. It was interesting to see how the lives of these two men intertwined and how they ended up becoming so popular among radio listeners around the country. The books is told from both the perspective of Rick and Bubba. The chapters will switch up as to who is narrating and each man tells the story of how they met and ended up working together. There are a lot of mentions of their faith as well; which if you are a listener, then you probably know that both of these men are firm believers in the providence of God.

If you are a lover of the Rick and Bubba radio show then I think you will really enjoy this book and if you haven’t yet read it then today is your lucky day because I am giving away a copy of this book to one lucky reader. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment in the comments section of this post. I will keep the contest open until 11:59 p.m. on Monday, September 5, 2011, also known as Labor Day 2011. I will announce the winner on Tuesday morning. Good luck to all who enter!

Product Review: Minute to Win It Printables

Well, we’ve reached September. I can hardly believe it as it seems just like yesterday that it was January. It’s now less than four months until Christmas. I’ve already bought a couple of gifts and will soon be buying many more.

Since there’s not much going on in terms of home renovation or otherwise, I’m going to close out the week by having a couple of reviews here on the blog. I signed up for today’s review and also tomorrow’s and need to get them written and published before football season is in high gear and I do nothing but stare at the television for hours on end… oh, wait, I do that anyway. Let’s move on.

Today’s review is for some Minute To Win It Party Printables. It’s been a long while since I’ve reviewed any party printables and I really needed some fresh ideas for some Ladies’ Night Out games and so when I saw the opportunity to review these I decided to go for it. I don’t know if I didn’t pay attention to the description or what, but when I got these I was more than a wee bit confused. These printables didn’t come with any games, they were only labels and play money and other sorts of accessories to go with the games. Huh?

So, I emailed the distributor and asked her, “Um, so, where are the games?” and she sent me a link to her web site. These printables were not for the games as I had originally thought but are, as mentioned just accessories for the games. Included in the printable pack is play money, water bottle wraps, cards to draw what game you will be playing, invitations, candy bar wrappers and some other things for which I’m not sure of the use.

The games on her web site are pretty interesting. I may try to incorporate some of them with one of the next Ladies’ Night Out gatherings, but it is doubtful I will use any of the printables. The price of these printables is $12.99, which I found to be a little high for what all you get. I’m not really a fan or a watcher of the show; so, maybe if you are a hard-core Minute to Win It person then you would find the $12.99 price reasonable for this printable package. I just don’t foresee myself having a Minute to Win It party in which I would need these types of accessories and if I did want something along these lines I could just make something up on my own, which is what I usually do with most things anyway.

If you want to check out the games, then click here and if you want to check out the printables, click here. What do you think? Would you pay $12.99 for this package?

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.