Thanksgiving Dinner

On Thursday, my mom made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner - or lunch - or whatever you want to call it. We ate around 2:00. We had all the usual goodies: stuffing, turkey, ham, escalloped corn, sweet potato casserole, green beans, gravy, pies, cake, you name it! I took a few pictures of the family just hanging out waiting to eat...or sneaking a bite.

It was nice to see my parents and my grandpa. Corey and I trade off years for Thanksgiving and Christmas on the actual day with our families. This year is my year and it's always more special to see my family on the actual holiday. We stayed with them from Wednesday to Friday. We enjoyed our extended vacation away from school!

Monthly Dinner Menu: December

This month is going to be crazy with all we have to do for school (my birthday, programs, Corey's grad school, parties, etc...) so the menu is a little less planned, but we'll still eat! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas - or whatever you celebrate - and a happy New Year! I'm ready for summer!
(Please click on the menu to enlarge)

New Toy!

Yeah, I know...I'm a bad blogger. My mother has already chastized me!

Anyway, my birthday is coming up soon, and this week while I was home for Thanksgiving, my parents and grandpa decided to surprise me with birthday gifts! That's always a plus! My parents gave me some cute orange bracelets, a snowman t-shirt and my new favorite orange toy: a FLIP! This one is mine! And, I also recieved a snazzy little carrying case with it!

I'll post more about Turkey Day later, but I wanted to share my first video experience with you! This is a video of my mom and my grandpa right after Thanksgiving dinner. My grandpa is TOO stinkin' cute!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Feel Sorry for ME!

I am sick. I have strep throat. I'm sure one of my twenty-two darling dears in 4th grade gave it to me. They are so generous like that!!! They are REALLY good at sharing!

I did go to work the day I was pretty sure I had it and then confirmed it with a strep test at the dr.'s office last night. Luckily, today I was scheduled for a meeting at the county office, so I didn't have to actually teach. I got to sit on my butt all day, after sleeping in, taking my time getting ready and even had time to take a long relaxing lunch! AND the best part was getting home by 3:00! That NEVER happens! So, I guess being sick this time had it's rewards.

I know I've been a bad blogger, but I really don't care. I have been SOOOOOOOOOOOOO extremely busy with school that I just don't have time. And, nothing exciting has happened in my life - other than buying a new refrigerator - that I didn't want to bore you with mundane life. You're welcome :-)

On a side note, my friend is having a Murder Mystery party at her house this weekend for Halloween and I couldn't be more excited about going. I'm playing the part of the Maid of Honor in this wedding catastrophe! Perhaps I can get some awesome pictures and actually blog about that!!

What about you? Do any of you have any exciting Halloween plans? What are you or your kids dressing up as?

Santa Loves Me!

Oh goody, goody! Christmas has again come and gone. I'm quite over the festivities as I'm sure you all are! And please, be responsible and take down your damn decorations and lights sometime within the next week or two. You don't want to look like the neighborhood jackass who is too lazy to un-decorate!!!

ANYWAY...Santa was good - No, he did not bring me an Orange Honda Element, but the Tax Refund Fairy probably will. I did however receive the following items:

From Mom & Dad, and my Grandpa: Gift cards galore, a down vest, jewelry, money, a kitty motel for a stray cat that sleeps on our porch sometimes, and Bare Minerals Gold Collection makeup.

From Corey: Two earring and necklace sets (one brown, and one black), orange house shoes, 2 sweaters (one black w/ polka-dot shirt underneath and an orange cable knit sweater), the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Rejuvinator, a Dove collection of soaps, and an Oral-B rechargeable toothbrush.

From the In-Laws: Orange Crocks, Garrett's Popcorn (a Chicago MUST), gift cards to the Gap, lottery tickets, a 1 hour massage, and a Black & Decker Scum Buster.

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas and I'm very greatful for everthing I got. Today I went to the Gap Outlet in Lebanon and spent every penny and thensome of my giftcards. I got about 8 shirts and a cute little sweat suit that is SOOOO soft and snuggly that I'm hoping we'll have another "sweats" day at school so I can wear it! I also went to Lane Bryant's Semi-Annual sale and got myself some new skivvies! Jealous, I know!

Well, we only have about a week left before it's Back to School time again. Ugh. Can't wait. At least New Year's will be fun! Who doesn't enjoy Champagne?! Bring on the New Year!!

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's eve and a hangover free New Year's day!!

Tidings...

Hello all, and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a pleasant day with their family(s) and stuffed yourself full of the crap you only get to eat 2 times a year. We have round 2 tomorrow at my Mom & Dad's house. Anyway, that's not really the reason I wanted to blog tonight. I mean, it is, but I've been meaning to say my peace about this other topic for a while...

The topic is that gross-ass Oreo commercial where the Granny and the kid have a stuff lickin' contest. Please tell me you've seen it. Could that BE any more disgusting?! I mean, I literally gag every time I see that commercial! Nobody wants to see granny gettin' down like that unless you are one of those sick old pervs who is into that kind of shee-yawt! Nobody above the age of 40 should be lip smackin' like that in public, much less teaching YOUNGER children how to do it! I mean, you can see granny's saliva dripping off her tounge and she just has a bad case of old-lady lips that look like they've seen the inside of a donkey's pancreas! Now, there's no doubt that granny was a *good* girlfriend back in the day. I bet she had boys knocking down her door to see her lick an Oreo or two. She should NOT be teaching her grandaughter those kinds of perversions. Anyway, I firmly believe this commercial should be pulled off the air. If you have not seen the toxic-ness of which I am speaking, feast your eyes on this:

Go "Eff" yourself...

Oops! I mean "Elf" yourself!! You have GOT to click HERE to view the FUNNIEST thing I have ever seen! You are going to be AMAZED!!!

Thank you Lisa, you have truly inspired me!!

PS...make sure your speakers are on and UP!

New! New! New!

Hello all 3 of you reading!

I really have nothing to say. This weekend has been busy and filled with (LONG) weddings, Wal-Mart shopping (3 times) and running around. Apparently my car has a cracked radiator and the brakes also need to be replaced. I am still taking donations to the "Buy Stephanie an Orange Element" fund!

My friend Kristin got married yesterday. That was literally the LONGEST wedding I've ever been to; an hour and a half. YES, the ceremony was an hour and a half! That's an hour and fifteen minutes longer than my OWN wedding! We didn't stay for the reception. By the time they would have taken pictures and gotten to the reception it would have been another hour and we were starving to death!!! So, we went to Corey's parent's house and ate at the Franklin Chop House with them. YUMMY!

Today we have been to Wal-Mart twice (after going last night, too.) We bought a smaller Christmas tree this year except we accidentally got one with multi-color lights so we had to exchange it for clear ones. I HATE multi-colored lights!!!!! I think they are the tackiest thing ever. I have always been VERY particular about my trees. I only want white lights and very little to no ornaments on the tree. One year, I made my mom put just white lights and silver tinsel on it. She thought I was crazy, but I LOVED that tree!

I am also a very firm believer that your tree should have a color scheme. I am not a huge fan of homemade ornaments or the tacky ones people give you because they have to get you something for the Holidays. Ugh. I understand the sentimental stuff, but enough is enough!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am not really in the festive holiday spirit as of late, but maybe that will change. I'm such a Bah-Hum-Bug! I always have been. My birthday, however is coming soon and I do always look forward to that! I'm sure I'll let you all know about the festivities surrounding that!

I will leave you now with my favorite South Park Christmas character - Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo...

A Spook-tacular Halloween Party!

Last night, Corey and I were invited to our friend's, Clarissa and Jason's Halloween party. I was a cat and he was a devil (his usual self)! We met a lot of interesting characters such as Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Elmer Fudd, Buggs Bunny, a white trash girl (Clarissa) and her hippie husband. It was fun! They had their house all decked out with spooky decorations and spiderwebs, a fog machine, and a disco ball! Clarissa had her I-pod hooked up to speakers so the dance music could be heard all across the neighborhood! Lol! Clarissa made some fabulous "Witch's Brew," which was very potent and relaxing (if you catch my drift...)Even though we only knew a couple of people at the party, we still had a great time and were happy to be invited!

I made a lovely cake to help set the mood for the party. It was a Kitty Litter Cake. I figured it only made sense to bring that since I WAS a cat and all...

Here are some pics of the festive-ness!

Isn't your mouth watering?!


Aren't we cute??

Racin'

So back at Christmas, my mother-in-law bought the "Richard Petty Driving Experience" for my father-in-law, Wayne. This is where you pay an insane or insane-er amount of money to go to the race track and drive a car. Well, today was the day! We all loaded up and headed off to the Nashville Super Speedway, which is located NOWHERE near Nashville and makes TOTAL sense to me! Anyway, we got up there and it was POURING the rain, but eventually dried up and they didn't have to call it off. Corey's brother, Jason got in on the action, too by riding with a driver at about 140 mph. Let's face it, you have to be a TINGE red behind the ears to be a Racin' fan. We (Corey & I) are not, but it was fun to watch Wayne get in and out of that car. He is not a small guy by any account!

After the "hurry up and wait" of the "experience" we finally took our stomachs that were eating themselves to Demos' for dinner. It was tasty, but I got pissed at them because they don't give free refills on their Fruit Tea, so I refused to order it and I made a HUGE point to let them know that Calypso Cafe gives free refills and theirs is probably better anyway...assholes.

If you are interested in seeing the "experience" of my father-in-law, click HERE

Have a great rest of the weekend...