Lazy Sunday

It is 5:30pm on Sunday and I have been awake for a total of 5.5 non-consecutive hours. I love to nap on the weekends and especially when I get to snuggle with these little guys. Here are Rocky and Peyton on our bed where they have been all afternoon. I was able to sneak in a few snuggle hours with them earlier!

Cats in Neckties

Every time I look in the pet section of a store, I see tons of adorable costumes for dogs. However, there are never any for cats and I get so disappointed! I guess dogs are little more forgiving and cats would hiss and spit at you for trying to dress them up. Oh well. I found a kitty necktie at Target and couldn't resist it. Here are pictures of my 2 little boys all dressed up. They actually didn't mind it either.

Rocky is the slick businessman ready to make a deal.

Peyton hates his 9 to 5 and is ready for Happy Hour.

10 Reasons to be Thankful on Thanksgiving

Alan and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and were fortunate enough to see both of our families and eat a lot of great food. We drove to Abbeville to visit my family on Wednesday night and had lunch at my grandparent's house on Thursday. We went to Beaufort/Spring Island on Saturday morning to visit Alan's parents while they were in town and also went to our niece's baptism this morning. Even though we spent a lot of time on the interstates of SC, we had a great holiday.

10 Reasons I can be thankful on Thanksgiving

1. I have an incredible husband that loves me unconditionally for who I am. (and he's a hottie, too!)
2. My family is a breath of fresh hometown air when I come back for a visit. It's comfortable and relaxed and that's how "going home" is supposed to be.
3. I still have 2 living grandparents that are the sweetest ones you could ask for and I have great memories of my other 2 that I can keep with me forever.
4. I have discovered my love of animals through the 3 precious cats that I am able to share a home with. I get to kiss their sweet little faces and I love them more than you would believe.
5. It's great that not only do I not hate my job, I kind of like it sometimes. I am thankful for the things it has taught me about myself (and others) and the fun people I have met along the way.
6. Alan graduates in 2008 - yippeeee!
7. Being a Clemson fan is one of the greatest things in the world and I am so thankful to have an education and a spirit from there - especially the day after they beat USC. That glorious, proud feeling will NEVER, EVER get old. Did I mention, it NEVER gets old beating the shit out of that team? Oh, I did? Oh, Ok. Just checking. Can I get a woo hoo?
8. I feel that I'm finally an adult in my parents' eyes and I am grateful for their support in life.
9. God allowed me to be born as an American and considering the alternatives, I cannot be thankful enough to have food, shelter, freedom, love, a voice, an education, healthcare, and all of the other many things that others don't have that I take for granted every day.
10. Chick-fil-a

Coupons are Awesome

There are many things that I inherited from my mother: my looks, my ability to ask a million unnecessary questions, uterine fibroids, and the love of SAVING SOME MONEY. Yah-uhhh!!!

I am devoting today's post to the joy of coupon clipping. Call me an old lady, call me a cheap skate, call me what you will, but I just saved $8 at the Teet (my affectionate name for Harris Teeter) and you didn't so, HA!

The Sunday newspaper is a coupon clipper's delight. Pulling out the innards of the newspaper to find 2 (or maybe 3 on a good week) sections of coupons is like buying a lottery ticket that you know will at least be worth what you paid for it. At first my husband was surprised by my thrifty ways, but he has stepped into the light and has even been known to whip a few out to the cashier himself from time to time. Before going to by cat food or cereal, we must have our coupons in hand.

Perhaps I'll make some later posts with my tips on how to be successful at this task, but for now I just wanted to get off my chest that I love saving money even if it's $0.35 at a time. The feeling of watching your grocery total diminish by 10% or more is so rewarding and fun. The best part about our grocery store is that they will double coupons up to $0.99 which is great! Sometimes I'll have a coupon for $0.75 off of something and then at the register it really subtracts $1.50 which is a lot considering the item may only be 2 or 3 dollars to begin with. I promise if you get this rush of quickly saving money, you'll never, EVER, go back to paying full price!

Happy Halloween, you spooky cats!

Happy Halloween everybody! Alan and I are sitting on the couch waiting on the doorbell to ring from the Trick or Treaters. However, we are bickering over who actually has to get up to go hand out the candy. So far we've had a Superman who talked a lot, a Barbie bride who was beating our door down, and a furry bunny rabbit who tried to hop into our living room.

I was trying to remember some of my childhood Halloween costumes and from what I remember, each one was pretty bad. Read for yourself . . .

--Rock Star girl: This outfit consisted of acid wash jeans, some sort of vest, and shiny gold hair. I can't imagine how tacky this was or how much hot pink I was wearing.

--Hobo: What girl wants to be a hobo? I think this was my parents' excuse not to have to buy a costume. Again, it was acid wash jeans, but this time rolled up my legs. Then I had shoe polish on my face and a stick with a bandanna hanging on the end of it. Classic. We have a picture of this and I'm sitting with my brother, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

--Witch: This is the old standby that I probably used several times. I'd have this greasy green paint on my face that was impossible to scrub off at the end of the night. I think I had long red fingernails too!

--Siamese Twin: HAHA, this was a good one. First of all, this was my last year of Trick or Treating and I was probably too old for it this year. Basically, my friend and I both wore one big sweatshirt with both of our heads coming out of the top and one of our arms each in the sleeves. From what I can remember, it was a blue sweatshirt with a teddybear on the front. This one lady only gave my friend candy because she got confused that there were actually 2 of us. I think this lady was tripping on some candy corn!

Last year, Alan and I went to a party as Britney and K-Fed. I have to admit that I was pretty proud of our outfits. Notice our attention to detail with my Starbucks cup and Alan's blinging clip-on earrings that belonged to his grandmother.

I am a slacker this year and didn't dress up today. Yesterday I was a gumball machine at work though! Our department had a Willy Wonka theme and several of us put dot stickers all over our shirts. Creative, eh?

I hope everyone gets more treats than tricks tonight. I'm off to raid the plastic pumpkin for some chocolate happiness!!!

Baseball Memories - Go Rockies!

(Picture taken at Minute Main Stadium in Houston, TX, while the Padres were playing the Astros.)

It's 10:30pm and the Rockies are trailing the Red Sox with a score of 3-0. Alan isn't in the best of moods understandably right now and I feel bad for him and his team. Normally I'm not a big sports fan, but baseball is different. It's simple and easy to understand and I like it. I don't necessarily enjoy it throughout the season, but the World Series is different. It's like a little part of American history that is actually interesting. Not like political history where I'm bored to death. But it's strong guys in tight pants with 5 o'clock shadows. Sexy history :-)

I went to my first major league baseball game in July of this year on our trip out to Houston, TX to see Dave and Heather. Cheering for the Astros was a fun time and I got to see Greg Maddux pitch for the Padres which was really cool. I remember watching him years ago playing for the Braves so it was reminiscent to see him in person. The Braves in the South is like a religion. There really aren't any other professional teams here so the main sports attractions are high school and college football and the Braves. My great uncle Rayford watches every single game from his recliner and with his cable box. Sometimes he watches reruns of the games but it doesn't matter to him because it's the Braves (and he doesn't remember watching it the first time!).

Regardless of who wins tonight, I love baseball simply for the memories it arouses in me. It reminds me of playing softball as a little kid and hanging around the baseball fields with my friends. It reminds me of the Jose Conseco Oakland A's baseball card that I took naps with as a little girl. (I had a major crush on him.) It reminds me of sunflower seeds and lazy Sundays at my Granny and Papa's house. It reminds me of my great uncle watching the Braves and how anyone can relax for 3 hours with nothing on their mind but enjoying the game.

PS I really hope the Rockies win at least one for Alan because he has been one of their biggest fans since I met him even though he took a lot of crap for it from his friends!

Here is a picture of Alan and me at the Astros game this summer.

Your and You're

Ok, I'm not getting on a high horse already but something reminded me of how much I hate this and I don't have any other writing ideas at the moment. I don't claim to be a grammar queen, but I passed 7th grade so that makes me an expert, I think.

I don't remember the exact lessons, but at some point our teachers taught us about contractions. They are great things. They allow us to be lazy and shorten statements that are usually already pretty short. 'I am lazy.' 'I'm lazy.' See how much easier that was? It just saved me so much time. Not really, but I'm a fan of contractions and use them quite often. I was taught to never use them in school papers though and that has stayed with me because I catch myself purposely not using them in client emails at work.

So on to my pet peeve. I can't stand seeing someone write "Your welcome." Does the welcome belong to that person? NOOOO! The phrase is to tell a person that he or she is welcome; so it's "You're wecome." It's always "You're welcome." Period.

'You're' is the contraction for 'you are.' It's that simple. On the other hand, the word 'your' shows possession. Also pretty simple. Example: This is my bologna sandwich. That is your bologna sandwich. If you're not going to eat yours, then I'll eat your bologna sandwich. Wait, you're running away! I wanted your sandwich, but you're running away with it. Come baaaack.

Although I won't call you out, please note that I will secretly somewhat judge you if I see you make this mistake. Class dismissed. Your free to go. (hehe)

Mommy's Little Ones

Allow me to introduce my 3 children, I mean, my cats.

Caddy - the Mom

Peyton - the Momma's Boy

Rocky - the Center of Attention

I could have never imagined that I would have turned into the 'crazy cat lady,' but I think that is what I am on my way to somewhat becoming . I love those kitties to pieces! They are my entertainment, my second snuggle-buddies (behind Alan, of course), and one of the things that brings a smile to my face daily.

Alan and I crack up at their around the house races, their facial expressions, their sleeping positions, their brotherly love fights, and their constant curiousity about EVERYTHING. As much as we hate cleaning the litter box and puke off of the floor, we love the affection they give to us and the things they teach us about God's unique creatures. We know their mannerisms, their favorite sunny spots, their voices when Peyton cries at closed doors, when Rocky squeaks for food, and Caddy when she just wants to be loud.

I know my love and affection for them won't even compare to what I'll feel in the future for my human babies, but for now it's all I know. And being "parents" to 3 sweet, cute, and affectionate little ones is definitely an awesome thing.

Our Trip to the Redneck Riviera

So Alan and I were craving some redneck riviera this past weekend and we headed up to Myrtle Beach. We both had Thursday and Friday off from our normal weeks: Alan's Fall Break and I took some much needed vacation. Did we want to go to the Mountains or the Clemson game? Nope, we wanted pancake houses and putt-putt.

Our trip got a later start that we meant for it to due to us sleeping in (couldn't resist it and the cats were begging us not to go), but we arrived at the very high-class Days Inn on "the strip" of Myrtle Beach. Reluctantly, I let Alan reserve a handicap room earlier in the week so that he could have a king-size bed. I'm married to a beanstalk, remember? But I just felt this guilt of "what if a real handicapped person wanted to stay here and they can't because we have their room?" We got over that real quick on the first night when we were both able to stretch out and not fight over bed space. The only downside to our room was the strong, overpowering odor that hit us every time we walked in the door. Our clothes still smell like our motel room since we got them home, but at least our room had freshly cleaned carpet, right? I seriously wanted to gag every time we walked in the door. I guess the king size bed and not having to step into the shower were worth it though.

Myrtle Beach has the strangest and most interesting tourists I have ever seen. It was a people watcher's delight. Not ironically, we saw the biggest people ever at the "all you can eat seafood buffet." It was sad. But we ate our weight in crab legs and butter which was awesome. We saw tough bikers getting henna tattoos on the sidewalks. I was really hoping they were getting tramp stamps, but they weren't. We saw old men in Speedos and a lady made of pure leather on the beach. We saw lots of fringe and jean shorts, or "jorts," if you will, on everyone. I think we stuck out like a completely normal sore thumb, or maybe those people thought we were the strange ones. I wonder if they were thinking "Are those people from the future or is that what people in the real world look like? And, wow, that girl is hot and that guy is tall!" Who knows?

The hotels there look like they have not been touched since 1971. There are some hole-in-the-wall places with lots of decorative iron work on the balconies. I felt like I was in the movie Shag, and Alan was my Buzz Ravenel. I really want to watch that movie again.

Anyway, the trip was a nice departure from the real world. The next time we're craving 1971 shelter, 1988 attire, mullets, and a flashback to Senior Week, we'll know where to go.

Let's get it started in here!

Yay, my first blog! I have no idea what I'm going to talk about and no idea if I'll keep up with this, but I'm giving it a try.

I've been reading a few blogs lately for mindless entertainment and thought that I could come up with something to babble about too. The ones I read are mostly celebrity gossip and I can certainly give you up to the minute news about Britney's custody woes, Heidi's nose job, and JLo's baby bump. However, I also read personal ones too like my sister-in-laws's blog so I can see pictures and read stories about my niece and nephew. It's amazing how much you can keep up with the people most important to you. I'm so happy for you, JLo - I can't wait til the big day!!! Just kidding . . . but I really do enjoy seeing the baby pics that Margaret posts.

Since I have no set agenda on what my blog will be about, be prepared to read about random things that I feel like talking about each day. I can guess it's going to be a lot of stuff about my 3 cats since that's what keeps me busy and entertained a lot of the time. Also, my husband, Alan, and I are addicted to TV so maybe I'll talk about that too. I can tell he's totally thrilled about my idea to post my life on the internet. He's probably wondering how it's possible for me to spend any MORE time on the internet than I already do. I work at an internet software company which means I'm online at least 8 hours a day there and then my "me time" at night consists of reading celebrity crap on the internet and looking around on Myspace. Oh well, at least now I'll have something to show for my time spent on here. Maybe I'll even provide ways for YOU to waste time on the internet too. Come on, join the fun . . . everybody's doing it, you know.