Battle of the Dresses

I have an evening wedding to go to next week. It's a young couple so I don't think it will be too fancy. These are the 3 dresses it's down to. I went to TJMaxx today and found the first 2 dresses, the third dress is the one from Nordstrom Rack. I have a favorite and TheCount has a different favorite. I'll post the shoes next week, I'm in the bed with no plans on getting back up. They are 4 inch platform peep toe pumps in black, in case that sways your decision.

Your turn to vote, which dress should I wear to the wedding?

P.s. Can somebody tell TheCount that you don't wear a leisure suit to a night wedding? (Anybody remember that episode of fresh prince when Will's mom laid out his leisure suit for him? Remember how Will was old in that episode- as in not 23 *coughCountIsOldAndLamecough*)

Clothes, Themes, and Itching

Question: What is this anti-itch spray you speak of? The one I have doesn't work, what brand do you guys recommend? I have individual braids (umm the regular kind) if that helps.

 

I just found out that my boss is on vacation until next Tuesday. She neglected to tell anybody, lol. I'm not complaining though because I have a boatload of errands to run. My dad, my sister, and my birthday is next week, we'll be 53, 21, and 24 (my dad and I are August 4, my sister is August 5). My cruise is also coming up in less than 3 weeks and I need to go get essentials for that. I have a wedding to go to next Saturday and I'm in the process of getting a dress for that. I'm not good at that kind of stuff so I went to Nordstrom Rack, which is across the street from my job and took pictures of what I liked, showed the people at work and made them vote. I went back and got the winner and took it home for TheCount to see. I like it, but it's too big in the tummy area. I'm going to keep looking, but if I don't find anything else, I'll be wearing that one. The people at work are so funny, I asked 3 specific people their opinion: The Fashionable Arrogant One (she turned down her boyfriend's proposal because she felt the ring was too small-they broke up shortly thereafter), The Sensible One (aka my work out buddy that provides a lovely voice of reason), and The Black Dude (cuz my husband is a black dude, and his friends are black dudes). I covered all my bases, huh? I got some shoes and was showing them to ask their opinion on them, these are the responses I got:

 

Fashionista: "Oh those are perfect, they can compliment so many outfits without going overboard"

Sensible One: "Oh my gosh! You got those for $40? You're good!" (uhhhhh I was mad I had to pay $40, lol. I'm cheap)

Black Dude: "Aw shucks, are those your come and get me pumps?"

 

He hit the nail on the head, lol. I want TheCount to have me on his arm and be like "yep, yep, you see my wife? She's hot!" When we went to prom it was the best feeling to hear people tell him how good I looked. He was beaming with pride all night saying, "yeah, I know she looks good, and yeah, she's with me, and no, I'm not letting her go." It's so rare that I glam myself up completely, but I'm really going to try next week.

 

Every year of life has to have a theme, you know, in case somebody wants to make a movie or a book about me. I think I'll dub the next year 24: The Year of Glamour. This year it was 23: The Year of Marriage, the previous year was 22: The Year of Graduation, the previous year was 21: The Year of Growing Up. I already deemed 25: The Year of Being Natural because I'm going to do the big chop on August 4, 2010 (that's the plan anyway, I really don't know if I can make it, it may be sooner).

 

 

Exclusive! Pictures and never before seen video of TM

Movie night at the lake:

See our bagged dinners in the fridge? It was so helpful to divide up the food BEFORE getting to the lake since everybody doesn't like the same thing. Your mayo free sandwich is in your bag. The chips you picked are in your bag. No need to argue or fuss! I packed it all up in my bookbag and passed them out at the park.

Patapsco State Park:

How you gonna have a walking stick bigger than you?

The faces that Marcel makes in all his pictures are hilarious. He is never ready!

Running through the woods! I brought up the rear the entire trip because I can't get down with all that fastness while trying to maneuver branches and rocks.

Bass Pro Shop:

Video of the swing off, as narrated by TheCount:

Don't make fun of me y'all. I know I look and sound awkward. I HATE being filmed. And clearly TheCount doesn't know the rules about telling the world my name on the blog, lol.

Sorry for the picture and video quality, all we had was our cell phones. I lost my camera somewhere in our apartment...again.

Words today, Pictures tomorrow

I had a great weekend! If you follow me on twitter, then you already know about the grand time I had with my nieces and nephews.

 

On Friday, TheCount went and picked up 3 of his 5 nieces and nephews- two 10 year old boys and an 11 year old girl. Two of them were his brothers kids, but he passed away 4 years ago so they are being raised by their stepmom (brothers widow) the other one is the biological child to the stepmom. Anyway, that information probably wasn't necessary to the story, so if you didn't follow it, forget it and move on to the next paragraph.

 

I packed a picnic dinner for us to enjoy on Friday night. We each had a sandwich, grapes, oatmeal cream pie, bag of chips, and a capri sun. To avoid any fighting or arguing I packed each person their own bag and labeled it. We went down to the lake 2 miles from our house where they show movies outside a few times a week. We spread out our blankets and watched Get Smart while eating our dinner. It was a lot of fun (Reason #43786 why I don't ever want to move from our town). We went back home, took our showers and watched a bit of tv before bed. Saturday morning TheCount and I got up and fixed pancakes, bacon, and eggs for the kids and packed little snack bags for the days excursions. First we went to see G-Force in 3-D. The movie could have been a lot funnier, in my opinion, but since it was 3-D it made it quite fun. After the movie we went walking through the mall to do a bit of shopping. Since it's 4 of them being raised by their mom, money isn't always there for super fancy clothes and such, so we wanted to buy the kids at least a pair of shoes. Can I tell you how many pairs of shoes that TJ Maxx had that I wanted. TheCount took the boys to look at clothes and I took Janise to help me pick out a dress (I get sidetracked easily). After she shut down all my choices (that girl has a great sense of fashion) we made our way over to the shoes where I tried on pair after pair, lol. The boys came over and said, "of course you'd be over here." We ended up getting them some shirts and Janise some shoes. I realized that I wear the same size shoe as the boys and TheCount decided to give Demetrius  my nike's  because I never wear them. I may have worn them 5 times- if that. We tried to find a pair of shoes for Marcel, but the only thing he kept saying throughout the entire mall was, I want some Jordan's, I want some Jordans- wit his broke self.

 

We went in Bass Pro Shop and looked at the fish tanks, played in boats and four wheelers, did the rock climbing wall and played the shooting game- and had a blast. After we left there we went back home for lunch and I took a nap, I'm not sure what everybody else did but I really didn't care. After my nap we went hiking. It's hilarious to see a big and bad 10 year old all of a sudden realize he isn't so tough and does not want to lead the group through the woods. We got to see deer and hear strange noises by the lake that made us all jump. We went to the park after that and played on the 4-person see saw thing, had a swinging contest (perhaps I'll post that video tomorrow) and they captured poor defenseless lightning bugs. As soon as we got in the car it started to rain, perfect timing. When we got home 5 minutes later (Reason #43787 why I don't ever want to move from our town), it started to rain really hard and the kids made me stand outside to wash my hair since I had been complaining it was itching all day (TheCount captured my hair itch saga on video too). We showered and ordered pizza, while TheCount took Marcel to a different mall to try and find him a pair of shoes. Y'all when that little boy came back in with some Jordans you couldn't tell him nothing! He was pimping all around talking about, "all the girls gonna like me now, I got some Jordan's," boy puhlease sit down somewhere.

 

Sunday we got up bright and early and went to church and gave them back to their mom. Fun times! I will say this though, when I have kids, I'm hiring a housekeeper. Monday and Thursday, clean the bathrooms, kitchen, and vacuum the house. Seriously, our house looks like a war zone.

Pictures!

The first picture are the rice noodles that I talked about yesterday. Yummy Yummy.

 

The next picture is for the anonymous commentor that asked what type of braids I had. It's the only picture I have so far and I was clearly being greedy at the moment.

 

The last picture is my desk. I didn't move to the desk in the corner because I wasn't ready to give up a window. Instead I moved to the desk next to mine which works out really well because now I can play my  music loudly and it isn't heard by people walking past the office door. 

Hmmm, we may have a problem

Sorry I didn't post the recipes yesterday. We may have a little dilemma. On Tuesday night I made oven fried chicken tenders and  bacon parmesan potato wedges. I loved the chicken tenders. They were crispy and flavorful and juicy. I hated the wedges, they were powdery and dry. TheCount thought the chicken tenders were just alright, but he loved the wedges. See the problem here? I cannot and will not post that darn wedges recipe (ladeda don't tell nobody but I'm making a different kind tonight because I love potatoes more than life ladeda). But those tenders were banging! I don't know what TheCount was smoking, maybe he didn't like the dipping sauce I made for them and that altered his opinion, but those tenders were good!

 

The recipe comes courtesy of Meg Kat. Click on the link to be able to see her pictures of the chicken tenders on her blog. I'll post my pictures when I stop being lazy. I will say this about the recipe: make sure you use panko bread crumbs. I've oven fried chicken before using regular bread crumbs and even corn flakes and neither was as good as this time when I used the panko crumbs. I will also say, let the chicken rest on the pan for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven. Let the sizzle stop so you won't be leaving half of your breading on the pan.

 

Meg Kat's Oven Fried Chicken Tenders

4 chicken breasts cut into tenders (or just buy some tenders...that works too :)
1 egg
3 TBS milk
3/4 C panko bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
3 TBS butter, melted

Beat the egg and milk together in a small bowl. In a separate bowl combine bread crumbs and spices.

Dip chicken one piece at a time into the egg mixture and then coat thoroughly with the breading. Place in a baking pan covered in parchment paper. Once they're all coated, drizzle the melted butter evenly over them and place in a preheated oven at 400 F for 20-25 minutes.


The dipping sauce I used tasted so yummy with these and is super simple. Just mix together bbq sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's if you know what you're doing!) and yellow mustard with a 2:1 ratio (example: 2 TBS bbq sauce to 1 TBS mustard). Make up as big or as small of a batch as you'd like. MMMMM!

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Last night I was trying to throw together some dinner for TheCount. I had some chicken and chopped onions left over from Tuesday's dinner and a green pepper that was about to go bad. I also had some rice noodles that I bought a while ago when I was being creative and wanted to use. Since I had no idea how to cook rice noodles, I consulted my good friend google.

 

I found this recipe on Blazing Hot Wok. Last night I was feeling like a rebel, so I used her recipe as a guideline (because I needed the steps) but I added my own ingredients. It was delicious! As soon as I finish typing this post I'm going to go get eat some for breakfast. The ingredients are from me, the directions are from dp of Blazing hot wok. I edited them to reflect the ingredients and methods I used. If you think I'm a fool and would never try anything I came up with, please visit dp and make it her way, I'm sure it's good, I just didn't have the same ingredients :)

 

Chicken and Kale Rice Noodles

 

4 Tbs low sodium soy sauce

1Tbs sugar

1Tbs minced garlic

1 chopped green pepper

1/2 of an onion, chopped

1 pound of chicken breast or thighs cut up into bite sized pieces

1 egg

1 handful of kale ripped up into bite sized pieces

1 package of rice noodles (found in the in the international section. The package I had reminded me of oodles of noodles- Filipino style)

salt

pepper

crushed red pepper

 

 

 

Cook the rice noodles in boiling water until semi-soft, drain well and oil lightly to prevent sticking. It took about 8-10 minutes. I kept on cooking while the noodles boiled. I randomly grabbed out noodles and tasted them to see if they were soft yet.  Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Set to the side.

Make the sauce by mixing the soy sauce and sugar together. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside, but remember to stir it before using. In a hot wok (or skillet, I don't have a wok) over high heat, add about 1 or 2 tbs oil (don't use olive oil; it sucks for stir-frying). When it's smoking (I don't get down with smoking skillets, it makes my fire alarm angry so I just let it get a little hot), add the Kale  and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't burn it up people! Cooked kale smells like popcorn to me, not that that's relevant right now. Saute it until it's a little limp. Remove it from the wok and set it aside.

Add 2 more tablespoons oil to the wok. When hot, add the chicken. Stir-fry, stirring only occasionally, until the chicken begins to brown. Add the garlic and green peppers and onions and continue for 1 minute. Slowly drizzle the egg down the sides of the skillet and cook until they are just set. Add the noodles (that should be done cooking by now and you oiled them already, remember?) and pre-cooked Kale and stir-fry for a minute or two, until the noodles begin to soften. Add all of the sauce mix and stir-fry to coat the noodles. Taste the noodles and add more soy sauce if necessary. It's done when the noodles are cooked through. Serve immediately.
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I'll post pictures of it all one of these days! The chicken tenders are for Aidan, if he doesn't like those, tell him to submit me a list of Aidan approved foods and I'll test recipes specifically for him!

 

There's a lot of food talk in here

This week is already shaping up to be great! On Sunday somebody at church gave TheCount a gift card to Domino's to thank him for something he did. You know what that means? Cheesy Bread for everybody! Especially since I haven't found a good recipe to make it myself yet. Yesterday at work somebody walked by and said, "food in the small conference room." You know what that means? Fruit and cookies and sandwiches! Since I was the only one in there and it's right next to my office, I was able to sneak as much as I wanted. I had my fill of watermelon and my favorite chocolate chip cookies. Bliss I tell you. I wasn't feeling well yesterday because we slept with the air conditioning on, which we never do, so when I got home I just sat on the couch and did nothing. My lovely honey cooked dinner for me! Here is the perfect recipe for folks who don't like to cook or don't have time.

 

1. Go to the store and buy Chicken Sausage (I got the sweet Italian sausage flavor), whole grain spaghetti noodles, your favorite spaghetti sauce, garlic bread, and broccoli.

2. Go home and boil noodles, steam broccoli, cook chicken sausage, put garlic bread in oven.

3. Combine noodles, chicken sausage and sauce.

4. Serve with broccoli and garlic bread.

 

Hmmm, I bet you guys didn't even need those steps. Oh well, TheCount made that for me last nigh and it was delicious. He even cleaned the entire kitchen afterward. Oh how I love that man! I was asleep by 10pm last night so I'm nice and refreshed today. I'll try and make him something good for dinner tonight. I'm cleaning out our fridge and freezer so I don't want to do any grocery shopping. I'm trying to be inventive. I think I have a good recipe for baked chicken tenders, ooohhhhh and some bacon Parmesan potato wedges. If it turns out well, I'll post it tomorrow!

 

I have work I need to finish, we have a big meeting tomorrow.

 

{Ummmm, Kelly and PJD where are y'all at? If y'all don't post today expect an email from me- I just need to know y'all are alright, I get nervous like that when I don't hear from folks}

Let's look back at last week:

Last Sunday: Worked in the nursery at church. It was complete chaos. So many babies, small space, must talk to somebody about rearranging the nursery. Left church and went to visit TheCount's friend. Friend's momma was there and talked my ear off about some "selling opportunities." Ummm, no thank you. Left from there and went to a birthday party for a one year old. Sitting in a room full of all these folks my age looking all cute started to affect me. My hair (I'm transitioning) was looking rough, those darn babies dirtied my clothes, and I'm the only person in the room with acne- which has always been a thorn in my side. After an hour or so, I was on the verge of tears and begging TheCount to go home. I just needed to remove myself from the situation and get out of my head. I even knew some of the folks in that room, but I couldn't bring myself to speak, I felt like crap. Oh well, I'll be ready for her second birthday.

 

Last Monday: Hmmm, what's that stuff in the shower? Called emergency maintenance to get them to come check out our plumbing, problem supposedly fixed. At work, was given a project to do. I worked on it all day- it was hard, but I felt accomplished.

 

Last Tuesday: Hmmmm, that stuff from the shower is now coming up through the shower and the toilet and leaking into our kitchen. Bodily fluids and general nastiness, must take off from work to handle this situation. Situation handled. Ewww, Count, you have ringworm! How gross, let me go get you some cream for that. As a treat for dealing with such a trying week, TheCount and I took our annual trip to Coldstone. It was yummy- to bad I won't have any until next year.

 

Last Wednesday: My computer at work decided I shouldn't be able to do any work and started flashing "catastrophic error" in my face. Couldn't finish any of my work. At church, my most favorite baby in the nursery wasn't feeling well and it was hurting my heart to see him uncomfortable. I held him and talked to him the whole time. One of the ministers came in and prayed over him. Oh, and I got cherry juice all down the front of my white shirt on the way to church, TheCount taunted me the entire car ride.

 

Last Thursday: "Not me, not today." I need to stop watching Run's House, but that was the theme of my day. I just couldn't take it. I successfully avoided doing any and all work, cuz I just needed a break. I went home and went to bed early.

 

Last Friday: My project from Monday? Well nobody checked with my boss about it, because the entire format was changed. I looked and saw all my work gone and replaced with uber fancy stuff. I was a little sad because I was proud of my work. Went home and did scalp treatments, protein treatments, and deep conditioning treatments so I could get my hair done the next day. Rental office didn't call me back about when the carpet people are coming back out to finish our carpet. Spazzed out and started screaming at 1am because I dropped my 32oz water bottle and spilled water all over the kitchen floor. TheCount came and helped me since he saw I was about to crack.

 

Last Saturday: Woke up at 5:30am. TM don't do that. But I did anyway, because my hair was out of control. My husband made it clear he wasn't down with cutting it off, so I went and got it braided. 6:55am I sit down in the chair. 1:30pm I get out of the chair. The horrors I had to see in that shop was more torture than getting the braids. The lady that did my hair kept talking about how I was too tall for the chair and my hair was so long. Ma'am, I don't know what kind of bald headed midgets you're used to, but I'm 5' 6" and my hair is only to my armpits. Seriously, ain't nothing spectacular about that. Now if she had complained about my huge head, that would have been valid. After leaving hair gallery, I went to my momma's house. We went to go visit my friend and her 7 day old baby-newborns scare me- they are so little, I feel like I'll break them. Left there and went to a cookout (same house from Sunday). So many people there. DJ playing music that was not appropriate for children. I seemed to be the only one offended. I saw somebody's precious little baby pop lock and drop it and I shed a tear. I don't believe in exposing kids to too much, sigh, I'm old fashioned and apparently the only one.

 

 

Well, that week is over. I survived it. Tired, but content that I made it through and had a positive attitude. I'm preparing myself for this week which will be an awesomely great week. Can't you feel the greatness!?

Happy days are here again!

I am in a much better mood today! I went to bed early while the hubby cleaned up the apartment. He saw me in the bed and was like, "what are you doing?" I laughed and told him, "this is what going to bed looks like. You fall asleep on the couch every day and I don't bother you. Let me sleep." I tried to go to bed at 8:30 but being the loser that he is, he did everything in his power to try and make me stay awake. When he turned on Jurassic Park at 10, I kicked him out the room. I cannot go to sleep with all that hissing and such. I put the pillow over his face and threatened to suffocate him if he didn't leave, I'm such a sweet wife.

 

Anyway, I woke up bright eyed and busy tailed at 6 a.m. I finished cleaning, and got ready for work and arrived on time. Go me! I've been working steady since I got here, which is a lot more than I can say for my work ethic yesterday.

 

Speaking of work ethic, there is an opening at TheCount's company in another department that he wants to go into. This department does more of the outside environmental consulting, which is what he loves. This position also travels more, which I'm sure he'll enjoy. He was hesitant to mention that part to me, because he thought I would be upset. Shoot, it's better that he does all this traveling now, cuz when we're 30 with multiple kids I am not going to want to hear he has to leave for a month to supervise a project. Now is the time, so go for it baby! Needless to say, I expect y'all to join internet hands and pray that he gets to switch departments.

 

Now back to work, since I have to be an extra good employee today to make up for my laziness yesterday. Have a wonderful weekend!

These pictures go with the post below

My new desk is in the corner. My old desk is right in front of the door with the glass pane that folks peer in every time they walk by. It makes me sad :(

 

Now, people will have to walk in and peer around the bookcase in order to see me. now I can fully enjoy my new chair and slouch and nap, I mean relax a bit more at work.

Sleepy...can't form cohesive post...

I hate feeling like somebody is asking me to do something that they can do, especially if it's going to make me look dumb. I'm going to check with my boss before I handle this request, cuz it just seems odd.

 

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I get to change my desk today! I no longer have to sit in front of the door, I am moving into the corner. Sweet, sweet privacy! Now that my office mate will only be in the office 2 days a week, I get even more privacy. You guys don't know how hard it is for me to sit up straight and look busy all day. People see everything I do at this desk and it ain't always pretty :) *I tried to take a picture for this post, but it's taking forever to go through, check back later*

 

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Those babies in the nursery at church have bruised my body all up. I can't wear my heels this week because one of the babies thought at playing "drive into Mrs. TM's foot" was a good game to play all daggon night.

 

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I wonder what would happen if I just stopped answering the phone when my coworker calls. For some reason I'm not feeling him today maybe cuz he's asking me to do something that seems dumb. Maybe it's because I didn't have breakfast and I'm a little cranky and sleepy. Who knows, but I think I'll be fake busy for a while over here today.

 

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I have been trying to make it to the farmers market since May. How pitiful is that!? I will get there today, I'm determined. I hope it's not super expensive though. I'm all for locally grown, but I'm more for money in my bank account.

 

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I pray the carpet people don't go to our apartment today. It is a mess in there! It's embarrassing. Tonight after the farmers market, grocery store, and dinner, I'll clean it up though. Then straight to bed, I am exhausted.

 

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Can somebody please explain to me how my Weatherbug got set to Victoriaville, Canada? Y'all I was burning up hot this morning and looked at my phone and was like "60 degrees, really, then why is it so hot?" I looked and it said the high would be 70 for the rest of the week. It seemed odd, but who am I to question God? Ten seconds ago, I realized the error. Yeahhh it's 80 here, with a high of 90, lol.

 

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What are you having for lunch? I need some ideas!

 

What Would YOU do?

A little too close for comfort

 

Last night I was sitting on the couch twittering and watching the Nanny. It was about 11pm. TheCount was in the bedroom exercising and listening to music. All of a sudden I hear tires screeching. Being the forever nosey person I am, I run to the window. I see a car spun out in the street and two guys with bicycles standing on a corner. I immediately thought that the car and the bikes got into an accident. I'm looking to make sure everything is ok and the car pulls down the side street and stops. The driver gets out with something in his hand and walks over to the bike guys. One of the bike guys goes and grabs a huge stick. There were two other passengers in the car and they get out and stand by the car just watching. At this point I get a little worried and I really don't want all this going on outside my window. I call for TheCount while reaching for my phone to call the police if need be. The driver and one of the bike guys start fighting. I call 911- not because I was mad they were fighting, but because I wanted the police to come break it up so it wouldn't get any worse. As I'm talking to the 911 operator, one of the car passengers reaches in the car, grabs something and walks over- I told her- but I didn't see what he grabbed, could have been a cell phone for all I know. I made it clear that only 2 people were fighting, the other 3 were just watching. Being that I live in a really "good" town, the police were there super fast. Over the next hour I saw: sobriety tests, handcuffs, a car get impounded, and at least one person get arrested. A total of 10 police cars ended up coming- either I broke up something dangerous, or the cops were very bored last night. Considering I live in a "good" town, I believe they were just bored.

 

Over the course of the hour when I watched all this go down, I began to feel insanely guilty. What if I just ruined the lives of these young men by calling the police? What if the cops treat them unfairly? They were mostly hispanic- I think at least one was white, though. It would be my fault because I called the police on them. I'm not the type of person that feels as though "they needed to learn a lesson- act up suffer the consequences." It's ok, if that would be your rationale- it's just not the way I think. The reason I called is because I like my "good" town. I don't want to not be able to walk down the street without folks fighting and carrying on. And what if the loser of the fight got mad and decided to cheat? What if somebody pulled out a gun, or a knife, or beat somebody with that big ole stick. I would have felt guilty for watching and not acting if the situation got worse. During the course of their little tussle, folks were walking by with their kids just trying to get home after a long day- what if they would have hurt somebodies baby? Look at the picture, they were close to my apartment. Close enough for a stray bullet. Close enough that I had to react and do something. But did I do the right thing?

 

How would you have responded? Ignore it, call the police immediately, wait and see if it gets worse, go outside and intervene, what?

{I went to sleep praying for them, I thought I was going to have bad dreams because of my guilt. Thankfully I am greedy, and apparently shallow because I dreamt of my new pineapple slicer that I bought yesterday. All night I dreamt of eating pineapples.}

Open the floodgates...

TheCount and I are both at home today. Before you all get insanely jealous of our romantic day off, let me inform you of the situation. We have a flood. Not just any flood, a toilet and tub back up- of other people's nastiness. We have the plumbing people here now in and out of our apartment now. Our bathroom and kitchen have both flooded and our carpets are soaked. It is soooo gross, lol. They said yesterday they cleaned out the pipes and found diapers, washcloths, toys, wipes, and other foolishness. Clearly all of it did not get out and it is now in our apartment. TheCount and the men are doing the dirty work, I'm sitting here cringing while watching men in workboots walk on my pristine carpet while leaving my doors open. My carpet! The germs! My word! I will be requesting a carpet service to come and clean the entire apartment.

 

I currently have to pee, but clearly that is not an option. My mean ole husband won't even take me out to breakfast :(

 

 

Weekend in Pictures

Those 2 pictures are the GMC Acadia and the Saturn Outlook. Oh how I love them! TheCount and I are going to get one of those one of these days. Personally, I think the company should just give us one. I could blog about it and give them some business (cuz I'm so popular in the world, lol) or I could have a tv mini-series like Elise Neal did for Chevy- I'm cute, I can do it!

On Saturday I made a Roasted Garlic and Kale pizza. TheCount gave it a thumbs down, but he didn't eat it fresh, and it is a sauce less pizza and he is a sauce man . I'm going to try another pizza this week with a lot less kale, some chicken sausage, and bacon.

Friday we went driving around looking at houses. I would love driving past this pond with the swans every day. The houses in this neighborhood were all over half a million dollars. We aren't there yet- but it doesn't hurt to look.

We also went hiking on Friday. This man tried to kill me. Those flowers were up to my dang waist- I was so scared I was gonna get eaten. There were also some really scary overgrown places that I wanted to show y'all, but I was too busy running. I know the picture looks cheery, but it was almost sundown and it was dark in those woods. We were around a lot of deer- I'm pretty sure I even heard one sneeze. Unfortunately I mistook that sneeze for a call of death because after the sneeze the deer came running at us and I panicked, but it cut around as and across the path.

Let's be productive!

About the scenario I posted yesterday: I didn't think there was any doubt about the right decision either. When my officemate chose to stay after all that bull crap her boss was spouting, I thought I was the crazy one. That's why I asked y'all. You guys have lived a bit more than I have so I figured one of you may be able to provide me with some insight. The conversation between my officemate and her boss made it sound like she was begging for her job instead of him begging her to stay- and he knew it and fully took advantage over the fact that she was thinking with her heart and not wanting to disappoint him. Next time, I'm speaking up.

 

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TheCount and I have finally decided on a vehicle, but as of right now, it's a bit out of our price range. We don't want to settle and get something "just because" and it not be something we like or doesn't fit our needs. We have to get something big because we realized we are going to have to go get his nieces and nephews a lot more than we have been. Their daddy (BrotherCount) died afour years ago and they have really been vocalizing how much they miss him. Tears and outbursts have been occurring a lot more lately. The girl is 11, there are two 10 year old boys and a 4 year old boy. Not only is that a lot on their mom (only two of them are biologically hers), it's a ton on them because they are at an age where a dad is really needed. One of the boys has been getting beat up by his "friends." TheCount was livid upon hearing about that and pulled him aside to talk to him, but that doesn't help much since we aren't there. We want to start picking them up on Fridays and bringing them back on Sunday so they can have some time away and be comfortable enough to bring up any issues they have going on. It's also another slight issue that we live in a one bedroom apartment, lol. Well God knows our needs and He will provide for them in His timing (shoot maybe I should take that job that officemate turned down!)

 

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Y'all it's a dang shame. I was on time for work today and everybody looked at me like I was a ghost (well the 3 people that were here). It made me feel awful! They asked why I was here! Well that was a kick in the pants to show I need to make a better effort, so next week I plan on being on time too. Now let me get to all this work I didn't finish yesterday. Gotta end the week right!

What Would YOU Do?

Scenario:

 

You're at a company. You've been there for 11 years working in various departments. You've finally settled into one that you like. Another company pursues you for a job. You go through the interview process just to see what they say. They like you and offer you this:

 

• $7,000 more than what you're making now
• It is a work from home position
• You will be an account manager there (you currently work 2 people under the account manager)

You are torn, don't know what to do so you talk to your current boss about it and see what your current company can do for you. Current company offers you this:

 

• You can work from home 3 days a week (and if they don't like it, they will make you come back to the office permanently. "They" all work in Florida, you are the only person in your department in your state)

Because you don't have a degree, your current company will likely never promote you to account manager so any changes you make will likely be lateral moves. Your sick momma lives with you. You have a 7 year old daughter that you cannot afford before and after school care for, that's why you want to work from home, to get her on the bus safely and off the bus safely. Your family has one car and your husband is currently out of work. You're in your 30's and your current salary is less than 50K with the company you've been at for 11 years.

 

Which offer would you take? Remember, you like your current job and the people you work with, you're comfortable there, the new job is doing the exact same thing and you know people from that company as well, but have never worked with them.

 

What would you do? Why?

He knows my name, my every thought, sees each tear that falls, and He hears me when I call

Matthew 17:19-21 (New International Version)

 ¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

 ²⁰He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."^[a]

 

Matthew 21:20-22 (New International Version)

 ²⁰When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.

 ²¹Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. ²²If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

John 14:11-13 (New International Version)

¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

Matthew 6:5-7 (New International Version)

Prayer

 ⁵"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

 

James 5:13 (New International Version)

The Prayer of Faith

 ¹³Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.

 

1 Peter 3:13-16 (New International Version)

 ¹³Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear^[a]; do not be frightened."^{[b] 15}But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

 

Today's post is brought to you by Kelly's awesomeness, my laziness, and the wonderful cut and paste feature of Biblegateway.com. I needed every single one of these verses today. I have had to listen to some craziness today, I've had somebody try to tell me what I believe isn't true, and I'm currently waiting for a monthly visitor that is nowhere to be found.  I don't argue with folks and I certainly don't worry about ANYTHING. I'll show you with my life that what I believe is true.

Toxic Relationships- CC

TheCount always wants me to be friends with people that are not my kind of people. Whenever he knows of somebody going through some type of foolishness, he wants me to jump in, become their friend, and be the voice of reason. Small problem...TM don't do that. I cannot, no matter how hard I try, walk into a situation that I know will be toxic and draining on me. I'm not saying that if one of my friends starts going through something that I'll bail because it's an inconvenience, I'm saying, I'm not going to force a friendship with you to help you. It's not what I do.

 

Here is a prime example. There was a Crazy Chick (CC for short) that was "hanging" with one of TheCount's good friends. I never knew the extent of their relationship, but she friended me on Facebook. I had never met CC in person, but she would always facebook message me and stuff talking about Dude. It was awkward, but I was like, ok, I can deal with this. TheCount and Dude went away for the men's conference at our church one weekend and all weekend she kept messaging me talking about how much she missed him and she didn't know what she was going to do while he was gone. Y'all they were gone for the friggin weekend. Anyway, in her mind, we were friends, in my mind, she was a crazy chick on Facebook. One day, when she went to pick Dude up for work, she kind of snapped. She pulled a knife on him as he got out the shower and sliced his hand as he was fighting back. He ran out the house in a towel and got the neighbor to call the police- ya know, cuz she's crazy. She left, but had to turn herself in to the police later one- ya know, cuz they were looking for her- cuz she's crazy. Why did TheCount want me to call her and give her advice and befriend her. Did you not notice she is crazy? The advice in that situation is pretty simple: get some help from somebody that is paid to help crazy folks.

 

Anyway, I was talking to my friend on Sunday that CC also stalked on Facebook (hmmm what a coincidence that she friended all of Dude's friends' girlfriends.) My friend was actually stupid enough to listen when her boyfriend told her to help CC out and be her friend. My friend was like- she is so crazy, it totally blew up in my face. Can we all say duhhhhhhh! She pulled my friend into all sorts of drama and still asks does she think Dude will ever forgive her and if they can be together. This chick still messages me periodically wanting to come over and see the wedding pictures and stuff. Ummm, I posted an album on Facebook, that's all you need to see. Did I mention before I don't even know this girl?

 

Would you have friended her? Was I wrong for not allowing her to experience the joy that is TM?

Good times had by all

I had a very lovely weekend!

Friday

I spent Friday with my mommy helping her get ready for her trip to Jamaica this week. It's sad when you have to teach a 52 year old woman about appropriate undergarments. We went for a bra fitting that was quite interesting. I tried on the size they said and thought I was going to die. It was soooooo tight and uncomfortable. I decided those ladies didn't know what they were talking about and went a size up.

Saturday

For the 4th, we didn't go to any cookouts. TheCount had brought home some ribs, burgers, mac n cheese, and baked beans the day before so we had an indoor cookout with the 2 of us. That morning we went to the park and found a cool lake and a (possibly) foreclosed home that TheCount is going to look into. That night we went to see the fireworks. Would you believe I've never gone before? I'll definitely be going back next year!

Sunday

On Sunday our friends got engaged :) We totally surprised her. It's a shame that we got a kick out of lying to her. All of the staff at Medieval Times was super helpful. The couple was running late and I was getting livid. If they would have missed their own engagement I would have had to cut them. By the time they got there all the staff knew about the engagement and were able to distract her while they guys planned, and they made sure we were in the right place at the right time. It happens before the actual dinner, during a knighting ceremony. When she heard his name called, she looked at us and asked if we put his name on the list as a joke. We told her yes. When they called her name too, we told her we set her up as well. She didn't put it all together until he actually pulled the ring out. It was great!

They are getting married next May or June. I cannot wait. They were both in our wedding so as she left tonight she looked at me and was like, ohhhh time for your payback!

WooooSaaahhhhhh

Somebody is trying to ruin my day today. Let it be known: you will not succeed! Let's review what has happened in the 2 hours since I have been awake (keep in mind that I am a drama queen, so if this doesn't seem like a big deal to you, it's because it probably isn't).

 

Back story: On Sunday while watching the Epic Fail Awards a commercial came on for some concerts happening at a venue less than 5 minutes from our house. I went to the website and learned A. John Legend and India.Arie will be performing in 3 weeks and B. Erykah Badu, Raphael Saadiq, and Chrisette Michelle will be performing 4 days after my birthday. This means my 2 favorite non gospel singers will be a stones throw away from my house very soon. I want to go! So since nobody in my house picked up on this, I asked my dear sweet loving husband if he would take me, you know, since it's all around my birthday and stuff. My wonderful husband told me no. He said if I wanted, he could find somebody else to go with me. Ummmm, I really don't want to have a picnic on the lawn while listening to my favorite singers with anybody but my husband [ok, that's a lie. My sister was my first choice, but that hussy is in Florida for school so she's not an option]. I let it go, thinking I would bring it up at a later date. I did mention the fact that if one of his friends had asked him first if we wanted to join them at these concerts, he would have said yes.

 

This Morning: TheCount gets a text from one of his friends informing us that Eric Roberson will be performing in Baltimore on the 4th. TheCount comes up to me and says, " I don't know if this will make up for the other concerts or not, but Eric will be performing on the 4th, do you want to go?" Let me get this straight, you're asking me if us getting to go see a singer you really like that we have seen live more than once will make up for me not being able to go see my FAVORITE singers? You cannot be this dumb. Now I like Eric Roberson, I'm normally the one that keeps everybody informed as to when he is coming into town, however, the fact that you shut me down on Sunday and the fact that you are asking me questions before 8am is not a good idea. Before 8am you don't know if you're going to the God in me, or the me in me. Unfortunately, TheCount got the me in me. I looked at him like he was a dang fool and turned away. Not one to take a hint, he asked again a few minutes later if I wanted to go. Can you give some details, who is performing, what time, how much? Please resubmit your offer with all the details I provided you in mine.

 

After my little pissy attitude session, I go into the kitchen to find that our freezer has yet again decided that it shouldn't stay closed and that our food is thawing out, including my brand new container of Oreo Ice cream. I let out a mighty roar (literally) to show  my displeasure. By the end of the morning, TheCount was telling me to buy the tickets to my concerts just to appease me. I don't want to go because you gave in, I want to go because you want to take your wife on a date {uhhh, but don't think I aint buying the tickets, today- I don't need to make that much of a point, lol}.

 

Oh, and there is a baby shower today at work. I bought the gift on Monday and the bag yesterday. Yeahhhh the bag is way too small, so I have to run out today after my meeting and get another one.

 

Good things have happened since I started typing this post up though, my boss is on vacation, the mail room guy decided to run into our office singing "God in Me," I ate a delicious nectarine, and I get to watch the window washer scale the building- hmmm, I think I'm reaching to find something to keep me from slapping folks, but as my favorite singer says- it's the little things.