Lately.....

  Let's just quickly move past the fact that I've failed as a blogger by not posting in a gazillion years, and catch up with what's been going on lately.

  Let's see.....well a lot has been going on in my crazy, busy life. 

  Let's get the unhappy news out first. About five weeks ago T went to the gym on a Saturday morning and while on the way home was hit by another car who decided that they didn't really need to stop at a stop sign, even though T was turning right in front of them. Thankfully, T was not injured at all in the accident! He had driven my car that morning and the poor baby was just crushed. 

 

 

  Everything was settled and we were able to get another car within a few weeks. It's definitely a bigger and different type of vehicle, but we figured since we had to get another car we may as well get the "mommy car" now, rather than later. 

 

 

  On to happier and more exciting news........

  About 5 weeks ago I started taking and am now distributing a very awesome product. It's called Juice Plus. 

 

 

  It's been around for about 20 years and is backed up by over 30 published scientific research studies. It's basically a salad bar in a capsule. 

 

 

  The daily serving is equal to 17 servings of fruits and vegetables. Now, I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, but I know that most days I'm probably not getting the recommended 9-13 servings. Our bodies work best when they're fueled properly.  I'm already noticing positive results after only a few weeks and I'm excited to see what the future holds! If you'd like more info on Juice Plus please contact me under the "Contact Me" tab and I'll be happy to tell you more.

  Now, even more exciting news!

  Over Labor Day weekend T and I went on vacation! We hadn't been anywhere in a long time, so this trip was long overdue. 

  Before we met T took a solo vacation to Sedona, AZ and since the day we met he's been telling me about it and talking about how he wanted to take me there. We began searching for a vacation destination in July and I told him that we needed to make Sedona happen! 

 

 

 

  I completely loved our trip! Sedona and Arizona as a whole is amazing and beautiful. I'd always imagined Arizona to be sand, cactus and HOT! Now, we did experience that in Phoenix when we flew in, but those pre-conceived ideas quickly disappeared as we took the highway north. Arizona was mountains and rivers and gorgeous. 

 

 

 

  We spent the majority of our trip in Sedona, but did take one day to check out the Grand Canyon. We hiked.....A LOT! 11 miles in one day! We returned from our vacation tired, sore and so happy that we'd had the chance to visit Sedona! I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is looking for a beautiful place to visit.

Take a chance

So, did I tell y'all that I'm a softball superstar?! Okay, so maybe not a superstar, but I did manage to make it through my first season without getting kicked off the team. More about that later.

T is a huge baseball fan, and as long as I've known him he's always played softball on various leagues. He joined a new league this spring and was placed on a team with other people that he didn't know. He really liked the league and decided that he wanted to form his own team of friends for the summer season. He convinced me to play, even though I assured him that I wasn't good. I played one season of little league softball and after taking a ball to the head was done, and hadn't played since.

I made T promise that he'd kick me off the team if I was doing too badly and was bringing the team down. I also tried to convince him that I'd play as long as I never had to bat and I didn't have to play catcher, because I was afraid I'd get hit with the bat. He told me I'd have to bat, but we never discussed the catcher request. 

Now, let me tell y'all, I started the season off pretty badly. I struck out pretty much every time I'd go up to bat and I wasn't the best fielder. During our second or third game of the season T stunned me by telling me to go in as the catcher. I about slapped him right there on the field! I did not want to play catcher! I did as my husband/coach said, and went in. Well now you better not try and put me in another position, because I love playing catcher! I have been hit by the bat and have taken several balls to the shoulder, stomach and shins. The shins part is mainly my fault. I've discovered that I tend to stop the ball by kicking it with my shin, rather than holding out my glove. Oh well.....I've got some awesome bruises to show off. 

The batting has been a work in progress. I started the season striking out, and in our last game hit the ball every time I was up to bat. They're not great hits......but a hit's a hit. 

Moral of the story: give something a chance....even if you're scared or don't think you'll be very good at it. 

Our team made it to the playoffs this season and our next season starts this Sunday. I'm excited all ready! Plus, the bruises are only looking good on my left leg. I need to give the right leg some decoration too.

The secret to more money and less stress

   Today I want to share with you the secret to my millions. Ok, so maybe not millions, but this little trick has definitely helped our household budget. And not only that, it has majorly cut down on a daily stressor. Can I get an amen to that?!

  Meal planning people! That's where it's at! Several months ago T and I made a vow to start having a better plan when it came to our daily dinners. I had heard a little talk about meal planning and thought I'd give it a shot. It has been a lifesaver. I no longer walk into the house after a long day, exhausted, and tell T that we're on our own for dinner. This translates into, T is having eggs and I'm having a salad. 

  We also have dramatically cut back on our trips to the grocery store. Hallelujah! Sorry to sound so excited if battling hundreds of other shoppers on a Wednesday at 5pm, when you're tired and hungry, just happens to be your absolute favorite thing to do. 

  So, here's how it goes down. T and I have perfected the 2 week meal planning. Every other week, usually on a Friday, I sit down and make up our meal plans for the next 2 weeks. I have this cute little paper that I write everything on and then hang it on the fridge. 

 

 

  As I plan every meal I look through the pantry and deep freezer to figure out what ingredients I have and what needs to be purchased. I write out a very detailed shopping list, organized by the way my grocery store is laid out. It's a shining example of my OCD at it's best. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who does this.

  

  I'll never forget one time when T and I were at the store together and we went in the door opposite of the section where I usually start and he asked, "can't we just do the list backwards?" I then looked at him like he was completely nuts and he proceeded to push the empty shopping cart all the way across the store so that we could start everything in the proper order. 

  Ok....where was I? Oh yes, meal planning.....not talking about how crazy Ginger is. 

  I only add things to the list that we need, and we're usually pretty good about sticking to it. I would say we might buy one or two things that are not on the list. They are usually chocolate chip cookies. 

  I cannot say enough good things about meal planning. It cuts back on the daily question of, "what's for dinner?" We've also noticed that we're now eating better, healthier meals. Meal planning can really help eliminate your trips to the grocery store. Because let's be honest, how many times do you go in and just get that one ingredient that you're needing for dinner?! Since we've been meal planning we only go to the store twice a month, usually on Saturday mornings before it gets insane and I start threatening to hit people with my shopping cart because they've been staring at the 15 different types of tomato sauce for 3 minutes. I would highly recommend that you give meal planning a try. If there was a company that marketed meal planning I totally just rocked the selling of their product.

I'm Back.......Finally!!!!

   Fear not my friends, for I am alive and well. I know that you've all just been sitting on pins and needles for the past two months, waiting for my return. Ok...so maybe not. But, nevertheless I am back and hope to return to blogging on a regular basis.

   So, we are finally in our new home! We moved in, exactly four weeks ago. Selling and buying a house at the same time is definitely an experience that I'm not ready to go through again anytime soon. It was an emotional roller coaster with so many twists and turns. Major props go out to T for dealing with me, who towards the end was becoming quite a little upset.

   But, all that is behind us now and we are so happy, excited and blessed to be in our new home! It's a much newer home, in a better neighborhood and has all the updated features that we always wanted to do in our first home, but never could.

   Hands down, my favorite room is the kitchen! I love to cook, so that was a pretty easy one. But our kitchen is awesome. We have tons of cabinets and drawers (something we didn't have at our first home) and there's several that I don't even have anything in! There's granite counter tops (AHHHH!). And, the kitchen is huge. Our old kitchen was big, but horribly laid out and had almost no cabinets or counter space. I absolutely love our new kitchen. Another huge feature that I love about the kitchen is that it's completely open to the living room. This was probably my number one must-have in our new home, and it couldn't be any better. I love it!

      With our first home we always had a million projects that we wanted to do, but with this home everything is already updated. There is one thing that I can't wait to change. I love everything about our new home.....except one thing. When we bought our new home there was one thing that I didn't like, and when I say didn't like, I mean really didn't like. I shed tears over this. Probably because I cry at the drop of a hat and tend to be a bit too emotional. Bless my husband for dealing with me. The funny thing is that you're going to laugh so hard when I tell you what it is that I don't like about our new home. Ready?? A wall. Yes, a wall. The wall separates the front of the house, where there's a small sitting area and formal dining room from the back of the house where the family room and kitchen are. We knew going into this home that we would want to make a change to it and we should have it done within the next two weeks, and I couldn't be happier. A remodeler/contractor is going to turn the wall into a half wall and it will completely open up the space. We don't want to completely take out the wall because the separation of the two areas is nice and if we took out the whole wall we'd have to re-do our floors, which would majorly increase the cost!

View of the wall from the formal dining side.

 

 

 

View of the wall from the family room side.

    I'm sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. I promise to try and get back into the swing of things now that all the craziness has settled down.

The hubby is home and the zombies return tonight!

  This post will be the ultimate of randomness, but it was like I could hear my computer calling me to come and write a blog post, because I need to update you on all the new and exciting things that have been happening in my life in the past few days! Ok...not so exciting...I just feel like writing!

• So, the hubby is home from his business trip. He got home late Friday night, and thankfully was able to get a ride home from the airport. I was out of town for a continuing education conference with my job, and I got home early Saturday evening. While T was gone I dvr'd all of "our shows" so we spent the night vegging out and catching up on a few shows. 

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•  Speaking of TV shows ( I promise that T and I are not TV obsessed and we do have many other interests) one of our favorite shows premieres tonight, and we are super excited! I can't even believe I'm about to say that I like this show, because I can't even believe it myself. It's The Walking Dead on AMC! In a very short summary, this show is about a small group of people outside of Atlanta trying to survive after the zombie apocalypse. There's a lot of gory, zombie-killing, human-necking-biting action, and I still can't believe that I've been wildly obsessed with the show for the past two years. The show definitely has the whole drama factor, along with the goriness, and I think that's why I like it so much. On top of the dramatic features, this show can be scary at times, and I am not, I repeat NOT one for scary stuff!! I don't do scary books, I don't do scary movies, I don't even do scary movie previews. Sometimes The Walking Dead gets a little scary. That's when I pull out the wimpy voice, sad eyes, and ask T to come and sit next to me. He chuckles a little bit and then complies. I also refuse to take Molly outside for her potty break after watching The Walking Dead, because it's already dark. Who knows? The zombie apocalypse may have begun during our hour long TV show.... I'm not venturing outside because they're probably about to come over our fence any second. I definitely encourage you to check out The Walking Dead. It's an amazing show.   

•  On another funny note, regarding our exciting premiere tonight, T and I sometimes like to plan a fun meal around a season premiere or finale. Well, we didn't plan one this time but this morning during breakfast, right before we're about to go to the grocery store, T says, "Oh! We should plan a meal around The Walking Dead premiere!" I told him that I hadn't really thought of anything, but that I was planning on getting things to grill some hamburgers. He said that sounded great, and then asked me if I could shape the patties into the form of zombies? Oh husband. What am I going to do with him??

•  Speaking of zombies, T is obsessed with zombies. My brother is also obsessed with zombies. If you put T and my brother together, within 5 minutes they will begin planning our family's escape plan for the zombie apocalypse. They are very detailed and take this very seriously. I like to sit in the background and chuckle, but hey, if the day ever comes, at least I know these two guys will have my back. Oh, and don't you know that we've already started our little weapons stockpile. Awhile back, T told me that he needed an ax to chop some branches off a shrub in the yard. I thought another tool we had would work, but I let him go get his ax, because I know that an ax is an important zombie-killing tool. 

• Ok, enough about zombies.....

• Today I made some awesome homemade hummus. I've made hummus before, but I tried a new recipe today. I didn't take pictures while I was making it, because I didn't think I'd want to blog about it if it didn't turn out well, but I promise I'll share it with y'all next time I make some. 

• Tomorrow is Molly's birthday. We don't have kids yet, so we're allowed to celebrate these kinds of things and you can't make fun of us. She'll be three years old and we'll be celebrating tomorrow night with doggie ice cream. Ok, wait! Molly will be celebrating with doggie ice cream. The closest I'll be getting to that is holding the little cup for her while she licks it. Today to celebrate, I gave Molly a bath. I don't think that Molly thought it was a celebration. During her bath, Molly looks at me like I'm slowly, permanently removing peanut butter from her life (Molly LOVES peanut butter). The hilarious thing is that after her bath, Molly runs around the house like a kid in a candy store and is the happiest we ever see her.  

  Ok....I think that's enough of my rambling for today. I hope all of you have a wonderful Sunday evening. Stay tuned this week for some excited posts!