Royals Game, Canning and Closet Cleaning

I've been contemplating a new post for a while now. A lot. Sorta just seems like life keeps getting in the way, ya know?

I've been texting Kala over at My Breezy Room and she helped give me the little nudge I might have needed to try and jump back into this thing. (Don't hold your breath, just in case). So... since the husband is out of town, and not trying to sleep, I decided to lay in bed, watch a little Office Space (have you seen my red stapler?) and clickety clack out a new post.

I'll try to start small with a few weekend happenings and maybe I will eventually catch up some of the bigger things over the past few months. (Again, quit holding your breath.)

Last Friday, Seth and I hit up the Royals game to try to cheer our beloved team on to the post season. ESPN showed up and unfortunately our team didn't. After Detroit knocked in about 3 or so runs in the first inning we realized things weren't going to go to well. The Royals ended up losing 10-1 in an embarrassing showing. I'm still not giving up on them though because we have already bought tickets to the post-season and I would much rather go to the games instead of getting our money back. Memories over money people. I can't help but have a soft spot for Baseball ever since that summer I met Seth so many years ago...

#damnitfeelsgoodtobeagangster

Saturday, I dropped my car off for an oil change and they informed me that my tire tread was "below the legal limit". Awesome. I can't wait to spend $600 buying one of the most boring things in the entire world.

I also managed to do some canning and made 13 quarts of apple pie filling. Pie anyone? It looks so yummy and I can't wait to make one hopefully this next weekend. I still have a huge basket of apples that I need to work and I'm hoping to make cinnamon apples using red hots like my Grandma used to do.

After church on Sunday, Seth worked outside and I took a little nap. Oops. I did manage to start the process of cleaning my closet out which is going pretty well so far. the amount of clothes I have is beyond ridiculous, but I am actually getting rid of stuff so I may need to go shopping again soon. As you can tell by the photo my closet was out of control. That empty space was completely full of clothes but they were all laying on the bed when I took this photo. Luckily they all didn't make it back in.

Well, I think that's enough for now. Thinking my next post might be about my trip to the new IKEA that just opened less than 5 miles from my office. I'm in LOVE!

That one time I was almost murdered

Okay, maybe the title is a bit dramatic but I bet you're curious. Let's just say the experience taught me a little something about myself. Turns out, I'm the girl that runs up the stairs instead of out the door when there is a serial killer in her house. With that said…on with the story.

A week ago Seth had to go out of town for a week, which I hate but it's occasionally a necessary evil (since his paychecks are mildly beneficial in making the mortgage payment). Anywho…Not 20 minutes after he leaves a black truck stops in front of my house. Not in my driveway but out on the gravel. Weird (creepy) right? 

I look out the window and see Gunnar sitting in the ditch just looking at the truck with his head cocked to the side wondering the same thing I was. Why isn't this truck moving? Thinking that maybe my crazy dog was chasing the truck and the driver stopped because they didn't want to hit him I figured I should call him. I yell for him a few times and being the obedient (hence the sarcasm) dog that he is he darts off in the opposite direction. (Quite the guard dog we have, be jealous.)

After my dog scampers off, a guy gets out of the truck and starts walking slowly toward my house. Thinking it was more than a little odd I just stood there stuck in place wondering what the eff he was doing, especially since there were at least two others in the vehicle. As he gets closer he yells to me, "you wouldn't happen to have a jack, would you?" I'm married to a man with every tool under the sun and for some reason felt like this stranger probably knew it so I felt obligated to say, "yes, I think so, hang on."

I went back inside to put on tennis shoes, in case I needed to make a run for it, because that's how my mind works. I tried to call Seth and of course he didn't answer. My brain is yelling at me "You're getting ready to be murdered and he can't answer his damn phone." 

I head back outside and creepy guy is now standing up closer to my house smoking a cigarette and creeping me out just a little more. When I walk out he asks if there's any chance I also have a 4-way tire iron. Since I'm a terrible liar I say yes and go back in to the garage and bring it back out to hand to the guy. (Great, I just handed a murderer the weapon he is going to use to bash my head in.)

Stranger Danger follows me down to my husbands (secluded) shop where I make sure to keep out of arms reach of him. I walk inside and immediately start to head to the other side of the building farther away from the creepster and closer to another door should I need to dart out it. Luckily, the guy spots the jack right inside the door we entered and tells me as much. I turn around sheepishly and see it as he picks it up to carry to his truck. 

I follow him out the door and he heads straight out to the truck where the two other guys jump out to help him change the tire. On our way across the yard I mention to him to just leave the jack in the driveway when he's done and thanks for not bashing my head in and leaving me in a hot metal building while the blood drains from my skull. Okay, I didn't say the last part but I'm pretty sure he knew I was thinking it. 

Anyway, I went back inside and locked my doors and turned on my alarm system and thanked God for another day on Earth. 

Maybe I'm a bit dramatic, or maybe I just watch too much Dateline, but I hope no one else ever stops to borrow a jack while Seth is gone or I will be like Kevin McAllister hiding under the bed. 

Have a great 4th of July weekend and don't forget to celebrate the people that make our freedom possible!

I don't eat healthy...

It's Monday and I don't hate it. Despite the white crap falling from the sky for half the weekend I had a pretty fantastic one. Which is maybe why my Monday seems pretty good. 

Nothing like leaving work on Friday and heading straight to the spa for a full body massage to get your weekend started off right. I managed to make it home early enough to head out to dinner at Fuzzy's with Seth and a quick stop into the ice cream shop for some "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" which consists of chocolate, fudge bites and more chocolate all scooped into a melt in your mouth waffle cone. Aka: heaven. After the massage, dinner and ice cream I slipped into a food coma on my couch until Seth woke me up to go to bed. Success. 

Take me back

I had to set my alarm so I wouldn't be late to pick up my mom and head to the movie theatre for an all day movie marathon on Saturday. We started the marathon with popcorn for breakfast as we watched Disneys Frozen, which I loved. It was so cute to see all the dads there with their young daughters. (Somebody please put me on the list for my own kid. K thanks.)

Please excuse our lack of photography skills. (I blame the butter.)

Once Frozen ended we hustled over to the other side of the theatre to catch American Hustle while we ate concession nachos for lunch. Fantastic. Definitely recommend. (Both the movie and the nachos.) 

We finished out the marathon with Non-stop, the new action flick with Liam Neeson. I'd say it was pretty good, but I liked the other two movies better. It kept you guessing the whole movie but seemed a little unrealistic which is okay with me since it's a movie. 

To end our day properly (I feel British when I say that word) we hit up Sam's club for a hot dog and frozen yogurt for dinner before braving the blizzard to head home. 

I now weigh 500 pounds. 

Sunday consisted of Church, followed by breakfast with my Mom and then the rest of the day with my butt planted firmly on the couch. 

I now weigh 600 pounds. 

I managed to pry myself from the couch in time to make dinner. And, since I was feeling a little guilty from my weekend gorge-fest I decided to shred a little zucchini to add to the spaghetti pie I made. That counts for something right? 

See, healthy.

I'm told mozzarella now has 0 calories. 

Plus I only ate one spoonful of Nutella as my dessert during the Oscars. #winning #fatkid #fattuesdaymorelikefatweekend

Winter will you please end before I weigh 1000 lbs? Thanks! 

I little late to the party

It's Wednesday already?! Can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Bad, because I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to notice, but good because it's hump day again!

Here's a few quick notes to catch you up since last friday....

Friday we bought a new washer dryer. So far I love it:)

Saturday I helped my mom unpack more while Seth hunted and then we finally got to go out for our anniversary (better late than never right?). We celebrated at The Melting Pot which I thought was pretty good, but if you follow my Instagram you might have noticed Seth wasn't a fan. AND if you follow Seth's IG you may have seen the hashtag "shitty". I believe the words "never again" may have been uttered more than once. Let's just say he's more of a steak and potatoes kinda guy. 

Guess I should have known when he said "what's fondue?!"

Sunday was your average Sunday. A little cleaning and a lot of lazy. Followed by a Senior photo shoot while Seth went hunting again. 

Monday evening after work I traveled all over the little town of Lawrence with my mom looking for lamps, mirrors, clocks and rugs for her new house. After approximately 8 stops in two hours we managed to leave Hobby Lobby with two lamps. Not sure that I would call that a "win" but I think we are going towards KC on Saturday so hopefully we will have better luck there. 

Tuesday, after spending all day at work and wanting to jump out the window, which would be hard to do since I work in a windowless room (torture), I decided to skip my workout and head home. I feel like I'm way behind on everything around the house and needed to finish editing photos anyway. It was a crappy day so I splurged and had a Pepsi. I'm obviously rationalizing my cheat with the fact that some people have a beer or a glass of wine to unwind after a #shitty day. I just have a Pepsi:)

Here's hoping things go a little better today and I can cross more off my mile long to-do list!

Happy Hump Day!

7 Quick Takes {19}

1. I can't stop reading anything and everything associated with the JonBenet Ramsey case and the documents they released today. Reading all the comments is like a game of Clue with all the cards lost so nobody knows the real truth. Everybody's got an opinion about whodunnit and for some reason I'm fascinated by it. 

2. Seth's going deer hunting Saturday morning so he was practicing with his bow last night when he "Robin Hooded" an arrow. I'd say he shouldn't have much trouble hitting the dear if he can hit an arrow. 

3. My mom informed me this morning that Dillons (Kroger), one of my favorite grocery stores, is no longer doubling coupons. To say I'm devastated is an understatement. To all the important Dillons people that are reading my blog right now I say THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. I mostly only shop two places, Dillons and Wal-Mart. I buy all my Dillons sale items at Dillons so that my coupons are doubled and everything else I buy at Wal-Mart and price match. Now I might as well just go to Wal-Mart and price match my Dillons sale items as well. Not Cool!

4. Does anyone out there watch the show Nashville? I'm sorta obsessed with it at the moment and hoping that their's someone out there that loves it too. 

5. Our washer decided to die Wednesday night and I've been scouring the interwebs looking for a new one. So far I'm not impressed. Any recommendations for something that is simple and reliable would be much appreciated. I think I would prefer a top loader and something not terribly expensive. I could care less about all the fancy steamers and automatic ironing settings. 

6. I'm ready to decorate for Christmas and I'm considering ordering some Christmas presents this week. I just love the holidays! Bring on the Christmas music:)

7. Here's hoping that Seth has something in mind for dinner because I'm hungry. Shocker. 

Happy Weekend!

Linking up with Conversion Diary. 

Lost Puppy

I promised a post about my puppy yesterday so that's what you're gonna get. (and it's long)

Friday started off like every other day. I had to work. Seth was off work and at home most of the day. After surviving the work week I hurried home to see what was for dinner. Obviously I would have a delicious meal waiting for me since I worked all day while Seth was at home. Not. 

Anyway, I digress. 

While pulling in the driveway I looked for Gunnar to come bounding towards me as fast as doggedly possible (like always) but he never came. I figured, oh, he must be off playing since Seth was home all day he wasn't waiting for us to pull in the drive. I started some dinner and kept waiting for him to come up to the house looking for food. He never came. Seth said he hadn't seen him since he left to get his haircut around eleven that morning which is weird. Gunnar ALWAYS comes running when we pull in the drive. While I continued cooking, trying not to freak out, Seth decided to go drive down the roads around our house calling for him. 

Since we live in the country, our dog pretty much runs around the fields all around our house. He's a free spirit. He could also be anywhere. 

Seth got back to the house and reported that he hadn't seen him or heard him. He also hadn't seen him laying in a ditch which was a good thing. I figured he must be out hanging with his dog buddies, One-eye and Hound I like to call them, and would come back in a little bit because he would want some food. 

We settled in to watch a movie and kept jumping up to go look outside and call for him. Nothing. Half way through the movie we went to drive around again, looking in ditches and calling for him. (Keep in mind, it was rainy and cold and in general really nasty out). Still no Gunnar. We came back home, not sure what else to do so we let the rest of the movie play while we kept waiting. And waiting. And waiting. 

Once the movie was over Seth decided he wanted to take the four wheeler out to look on the back of our property (we have 10 acres and it's in the shape of a rectangle). We wondered if maybe Gunnar got stuck in a fence or something. I went with him so I could look around the sides of us while Seth tried not to drive into any trees. At this time it's 10:45 and the rain has at least stopped but it's cold and gross. 

I hopped on the back of the four wheeler while Seth drove us around. Every few minutes we would turn the motor off so we could call Gunnar's name and then listen for him. After about 3 times of doing this we heard whimpering! Apparently Gunnar doesn't believe in barking at anything but birds and bugs because a bark would have helped us out a WHOLE lot sooner but whateves. We jumped off the four wheeler and took off through the woods behind our neighbor (4 doors downs) house. Gunnar was locked in their detached garage workshop. 

Seth scrambled up the porch to ring the doorbell of our poor sleeping neighbors (it was after 11) while I stood at the bottom of the steps. He told me I should probably come stand by him so he doesn't get shot when the people come to the door. Oh yeah, we have never met these neighbors. When they opened the door we blurted out "our dog's in your garage". The half sleeping lady looked at us like we were crazy (which I'm sure we looked in layers of clothes and woodsy tangled hair) and said "who are you?" Seth explained the situation and she said, "oh, you're Gunnar's parents?!" Yes! 

The lady and her husband came outside to unlock their garage to let Gunnar out who was SO excited to see us. She explained that her Dad had been working on something in the garage earlier and Gunnar likes to hang out with him so he must have gotten locked in by accident. Thank goodness we found him and he was safe though.

We scrambled back to the four wheeler and then drove home with Gunnar right beside us. Sweet puppy got a leftover steak for dinner.

Needless to say my photo session the next day didn't result in any tears since we found Gunnar. I'm pretty sure it would have if he'd still been missing.  

Gunnar photos below. Enjoy:)

Monday Monday

Monday Monday. I. Am. Tired. 

I swear, we tried to fit every possible thing into this weekend and now I'm exhausted and in need of some caffeine to get me through this day. Sadly, I don't drink coffee and I'm not going to let myself drink a Pepsi, so I'm sorta screwed. 

Since so much happened this weekend I'm gonna do a little recap but you can expect several posts to come that will give many more entertaining/exciting details. I promise, you will want to read them.

Friday

We lost our dog. Not just a little lost either. More like we drove around looking in ditches because we were afraid that's where he probably was. Not fun:(

Saturday

Maple Leaf Festival. Food. Crafts. All the fun you can imagine at a festival that celebrates tree leaves. 

That cute kid is our nephew, Ryder. He just turned 4.  

It was a little chilly during the parade. Seth and his little sister, Destiny. 

Luckily it warmed up and the kids rode the rides. 

We managed a decent photo in between all the beautiful faces Seth loves to make. 

I had a photo shoot for a high school senior in the evening. The family had a German Short Hair (same as my dog) and the kid whose photo I was taking was named Gunnar. Coincidence? Ironic? Stay tuned to future posts to figure out what happened Friday and if the photo session turned me into a crying baby.

Date night. It was supposed to be an anniversary dinner but we decided since it was already kinda late that we would wait until next weekend. So we ate Fuzzy's Taco (SO GOOD) and Seth told me during dinner that he should start a blog. It was such a brilliant idea I decided he deserves his own post. Wait for it. 

Sunday

Moving day for my parents. We spent the whole day helping them pack up, load up, and move their treasures (and junk) from their rental duplex to their new home a few blocks away. Let's just say they had a little more stuff than what I thought. It's all moved over though and is now mostly cluttering up their garage. 

Seth and I  made it home around 7 and we spent the next hour painting the floor of the shop. It's done (finally) so he can finish building shelves and we can put stuff away. 

And That is why I'm a little sleepy. Maybe I can squeeze in a nap after work tonight....

Linking up with Sami. 

Weekend Recap

Busy weekend once again. Does anyone ever have a non-busy weekend? Tell me your secret please.

Friday morning I managed to remember to start the crockpot (miracle), so by the time we got home from work we had a delicious roast waiting for us. OMG yum. Having Seth home in the evenings now is awesome. Even if it means he falls asleep in the recliner at 9:00 while watching Dateline. He did manage to wake up long enough to crawl in bed. The lives of the rich and the famous right here peoples.

Saturday morning was your usual fair of laundry and picking up around the house while Seth worked on a few things outside. I managed to make some dried cinnamon apple chips though (which you will find a recipe for soon). 

Hello fall in a jar. 

We like to have date nights at least once a week but we've been trying to be on a budget (see this purchase) so we haven't gone out as much lately. Since we've been being good we went ahead and splurged (ha) on dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings before meeting up with Seth's brother, Kyle, to go see Captain Phillips. I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for something to see. I still want to google and see how accurate it is to the real events that happened to Captain Phillips. Crazy stuff though. 

Around our house, Sunday morning involves Church and then stopping by my parents house to see how the process is going. It's almost done praise the lord. We even managed to help by hanging a kitchen light fixture and not getting electrocuted. Winning. By the time we got home it was already almost one and I helped Seth paint the last section of the floor in his shop. After getting high on paint fumes we watched Gunnar try to catch a bird on the pond for approximately 30 minutes before Seth shot it so Gunnar could retrieve. Poor puppy wasn't quitting 'til he got the bird so good thing that doggy can paddle!

Somehow we managed no naps all weekend which I find to be a bit of a shame, but I'm glad we got some stuff accomplished. Including dinner of taco salad with homemade pico de gallo salsa (recipe also coming to the blog soon). 

Get in my belly. 

Seth's out of town this week (again) and our two year anniversary is on Tuesday so I'm a little bummed about that but I guess we will just have to celebrate this weekend. 

Happy Monday!

Linking up with Sami. 

7 Quick Takes {17} - Fall decor, Nascar, and other ramblings

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary. Check it out. 

1. How do my weekends end up so jam packed? Somehow I'm supposed to fit in my high schools homecoming game, an oil change, the Octoberfest type event in my hometown, go with Seth to help out at my parents house, maybe visit a blog friend in real life at First Fridays and then Sunday we have tickets to a Nascar race. Which brings me to my next point...

2. What does one wear to a Nascar race? I've never been and let's just say I don't want to stand out, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to look like everyone else. Especially if it's anything like how my brain has imagined it to be (read mullets and beer belly's). Seth insists this is something I need to do at least once in my life and since we got free tickets how can I say no? Wish me luck?!

3. There has been some amazingness floating around the interwebz this week and I love it. Try this or this. If you're not having a better day after those two videos you might need to visit a doctor cause you probably need meds. 

4. Finally got some spaghetti sauce canned this week before the tomatoes rotted all over my counters. Yay me. Maybe I'll get around to posting some deets next week. 

5. On my quest to be healthier I have been continuing with my pop only once a week rule. I've actually decided to make it two though, (I know, I have no self control) but here me out. I have one pop every Sunday. It's the sugar loaded caffeine fix I look forward to all week but sometimes you just need a second one. Ya know? For example, you're at the movies and you really need a big gulp to go with that popcorn or you're having a slice of pizza which goes great with Pepsi. So, I've decided I get the one extra that I can have anytime I want throughout the week. Then I still get to look forward to my one on Sunday and don't fall off the wagon if I "cheat" and have that one extra. Make sense? It might be pathetic how much I have thought this through, but so far it's working so don't knock it til ya try it! 

6. I've been putting up some fall decor this week. Isn't it cute?

7. Slowly but surely I've been chipping away at my to-do list this week which makes me happy happy happy. I think I deserve a vacation. To bad I don't get paid to accomplish my to-do list because then I could for sure afford one. I guess I will just have to settle for a weekend. 

Happy Fall Friday Ya'll! (P.S. free fall printable here)

Ballgames and Lumberjacks and Groceries, OH MY!

I need another weekend to rest up and relax from the weekend. Luckily, it was a good one and we got a lot of stuff done that needed to be done. 

On Friday I had a terrible day at work so I was excited to be able to sneak out a little early to meet some of our friends at the Royals game. First winning game I have been to in a long time and it was tons of fun. Plus it was buck night so I got to eat my fill of ballpark hot dogs. I swear they taste extra delish at the ballpark. 

I would estimate 9 out of 10 photos of "us" look like the photo on the left.
Seth loves photos!
(check out the photobombers)

After staying up late Friday we both slept in until after 10:00. I feel like that never happens anymore but it was amazing. Once we got up we headed into town for an early lunch and to get fuel for the lawn mower. Seth ended up mowing the lawn while I put down shelf liner and cleaned out or pantry cabinets in the kitchen. Glamorous, I know. Turns out we have a lot of food and I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I'm a food hoarder as well as paper hoarder...

Yikes! That's only two cabinets...

Since I had so much I was able to pull out a big bag of groceries to drop off at the church for the local food pantry. I hope someone (besides my shelves) gets to enjoy it that way. 

Once I ran out shelf liner and had cleaned out a good portion of cabinets I went outside to help Seth a bit. He had apparently turned into a lumberjack and was busy chopping down dead tree limbs and limbs that were hanging way too low. It's pretty amazing how much better everything looks in the front yard now.

Before - Where are you little house??

After - THERE you are

We finished the night off with some grilled steaks and potatoes and watched the movie Mud which I would highly recommend even though I passed out before it was over. 

Sunday we went to Church as usual and then stopped by to check on the progress on my parents new house. It's looking really good and hopefully they will be able to move in in the next couple of weeks. The rest of our afternoon was filled with me cleaning out the laundry cabinets (after watching the rest of Mud) while Seth dominated a few more trees and limbs in the back yard. We now have a better view of our pond and everything doesn't look so much like a jungle. 

After working another long day Seth helped me make up some fajitas and nachos for dinner. So so yummy and I'm hungry again now just thinking about it. We settled in for a quiet evening and I finally got the chance to watch Zero Dark Thirty. Also a good movie. 

And now we're back to Monday. I hope everyone else had a fantastic and productive weekend!

Worlds of Fun!

I'm FINALLY catching up with my posts relating to last weekend, right in time for another weekend. 

After the whole she-bang on Wednesday and Thursday we slept in a little bit Friday morning. Woke up, I did some laundry and cleaned our messy house while Seth worked on stuff outside. By mid-afternoon we were all packed up and on our way to Kansas City. 

First stop was our hotel. We stayed at Harrah's so we could do a little gambling. Aka lose money. We got checked in and then checked out the casino a bit before heading to the Royals game were we sat in no traffic, which was awesome. 

(centered perfectly!)

I'm cheap so we used my Pepsi can to get a buy one get one free ticket in the nosebleed section. Honestly, they really weren't bad seats. Conveniently enough it was also buck night so we chowed down on hotdogs, peanuts and Pepsi. What's more American than the food? Baseball. Even when the Royals are losing I can't help but love watching Baseball. I'm not sure why I love it so much except maybe because Seth used to play and that's how met? No idea, but I do love it. 

I've never seen so many people at a Royals game. Loved it!

Yes please!

And this is why America's kids are fat.
They go to a real life Royals game and prefer to sit in an
air conditioned room playing video games. Ridiculous!

Selfies!

It was pretty hot and sweaty but I was easily entertained by the lady sitting in front of me. AND the first date couple I was eavesdropping on right next to me. The girl told the guy she had been in 20 car wrecks and one involved a donkey she hit. He staid noticeably sober the whole game, presumably because he didn't want her driving him home. 20? really?? 

The game ended with a firework display which was great since the day before was the 4th and I obviously didn't see enough fireworks then:)

Me: "Let's take a picture with the field in the background."
Seth: "Eh, good enough."
Me: "Really??" 

The Royals lost so we headed back to the casino to drown our sorrows in slot machines and black jack. No bueno. We will just say that we had something in common with the Royals and it wasn't winning. On to the next best thing. Loaded nachos at 2:00am. Hallelujah, they were amazing.

Let's say my inner fat kid came out:)

Pretty sure I passed out about 3 seconds after my head hit the pillow that night and I didn't wake up until Seth drug me from bed so we could have more fun at Worlds of Fun!! Oh, and I'm five. I freakin love Worlds of Fun and all of its roller coaster glory. Luckily we got there fairly early and we managed to ride all the roller coasters we wanted before it got too crazy crowded. 

Around 1:00 we headed to the Oceans of Fun waterpark side and waited too long in lines for slides that I must say were not life changing. So we headed back to the roller coasters. Thank goodness Seth was in the mood to try out some of the roller coasters because normally he is not a fan. After a quick ride on the Patriot, where your feet dangle, he was pumped and wanted to get right back in line. Who am I to argue? 

One terrible photo with the Patriot in the background.
Fly high Patriot, fly high.

We ended out the weekend by stopping by Buffalo Wild Wings and then heading home to pass out and sleep until 11:30 the next day. My kinda weekend:)