Dennis the Menace

Mommy and daddy got me this great new toy box this weekend, since I got bored and ate my last one (I love to chew on wicker!). I also love to make a mess:) I don't know why mommy keeps picking up my toys and making them nice and neat...I'll take care of that.

This one is pretty cute too. It looks soo fun to play with! I think I'll tear it to peices when they're not looking...but first I'll look adorable and pretend to play with these puppy toys.

Ugh..they're are WAY too many toys in here...I just want the box!
Yuck, cotton does'nt taste like my favorite peanut butter treats! But it sure was fun to tear it up :) Are those brownies I smell on the counter? I better hurry before they come downstairs!
"....PIIPPPEEEERRRRRR!!!...."
Busted...

Now that's my idea of gardening!

Adventures in Spring Cleaning

Well, almost.
This year I'm going to kick off my favorite season with some much needed Spring cleaning, and truth be told I am very excited-I really am! I am so thankful for the home we have and am trying my best to be a good steward and manager of it.

Can you tell I got an early start with my blog? This simple new look is simply refreshing to me, and a great start to the clutter overhaul. I have set a few good and realistic goals for this weekend. Namely, to clean out the refrigerator and pantry(goodbye stale cheerios!), to switch out winter clothes/closets, and dust like there's no tomorrow! I'm actually really looking forward to it because these spring cleaning chores aren't ones that usually pop up on my weekend "cleaning checklist." My plan is to tackle a few big projects each weekend, and if all goes well we'll be breathing easy come Spring :)

Hopefully I'll muster up enough courage next weekend to defeat the monster of (clean or dirty?) clothes and random(just put them in here to hide)things stacked on the dryer in the laundry room, yeesh! Wish me luck :)

It's that time again :)

Get em' while you can!

Mmmmm, Samoas are my favorite...

Jesus' Supreme Passion

An incredibly worthwhile 50 minutes await you here. I strongly encourage you to carve some time out of your day and be encouraged by this great sermon from John 17:)

Not-so-serious lunchtime musings on "career day"

I often have some seriously introspective and sometimes awesome thoughts while waiting in drive-throughs on my lunch break. After watching a frazzled Bojangles worker, standing outside taking orders(you know the "human drive through order taker guy")-ringing them up with small calculater and transmiting them via cell phone-I started to think about "jobs." Specifically good jobs, and not so good ones...

Please note that this list is completely subjective, and that all jobs really are good ones because "work" in itself is a valuable virtue, any which way it comes.

Not so good jobs:

1. Drive through order taker at fast food restaurants, during lunch time.
2. Cable Installer
3. Bulk mail entry unit postal workers-I see these guys weekly and do not envy them!
4. State fair employee(its a toss up between candy bar fryer and "guess my age" guy)
5. Any type of road work/traffic control

Really cool jobs:

1. The person that designs the seasonal/holiday google banners
2. Book jacket designer(a friend recently suggested this, and I can't think of a whole lot of jobs that top it)
3. Writer on creative writing team for "Lost" (can we say job security, lol!)
4. Pastry Chef-either professional cake maker, or bread baker-with a different apron for every day of the week
5. Children's librarian
6. Lunch lady

In the real world, I'm currently putting my PR degree to good use in the marketing field. For now it's Real Estate, but I would someday LOVE to shift into the health care arena- community relations, cancer outreach, special events-or mommyhood and full-time homemaker of course, now THAT really is a dream job!

Happy Valentines Day!

Flowers and candy, a bounty of pancakes, sugar cookie cake bliss, and a comedy works debut made for a great Valentines day 09!

Pass the Pink Please

This has been by far one of my favorite crafts with the kids on Wed. nights! The kids did a terrific job decorating these jumbo Valentines cards. The posters will soon find their new home hanging in the hallways of the Brian Center, a skilled care nursing and rehabilitation center in Durham. I know the people there are really going to love seeing these sweet pictures and encouraging words, and can't wait to deliver them! :)

Exciting things...

Some pretty exciting things are happening this week. Probably they happen every week, but today I was compelled to notice them.

For one, the sun is shining and the weather is heavenly beautiful.

Our fridge is stocked with strawberries, vanilla coke and girl scout cookies-how could I have been so fortunate as to have all of my favorite things sitting side by side! That is very exciting.

Valentines day is on Saturday, and I'm thinking PINK.

I've had some time to sew on Sunday and now Chris can finally wear some of his formerly buttonless jackets! I'm beyond excited to be able to give our clothes a second chance.

I'm happy to report that I'm staying on track with my "reading resolution" and am excited to embark on "Great Expectations."

I am so looking forward to doing some crafts with the kids at church on Wed night. It's exciting to get excited about something :)

And finally, praise the Lord for good health! It's amazing what we take for granted. After a week of feeling rather under the weather with yucky sinus', it feels so good to not be attached to a box of tissues today. It is VERY exciting to breath easy.

Just to name a few...

Another Post for Piper

Last week we received a flyer from Petsmart announcing a big Grand Opening event at their new location in Knightdale. Of course, we were there at 9:20 9am sharp for the big event. To our surprise we weren't the only ones... luckily we had beautiful weather to enjoy while we waited.

Piper was sooo good in line with all of the people and other puppy dogs. He got some yummy treats, free toys-including his first frisbee(I'm wondering why spellcheck wants me to capitalize "frisbee?")- and his picture taken. I was so proud that he didn't get into any spats with the many other pets there, and was happy to call him a good and social puppy(for that morning anyways, lol!)

Alas his initial excitement came to an end, and he was down for the count and ready to go...until the food aisle that is. I can't wait to give him the special doggie "cupcakes" that Chris and I got him for Valentines day :)

The rest of our Saturday was full of coupon saving, grocery shopping, lunch out(using the last of our restaurant gift cards from Christmas), a haircut and a matinee, topped off with some enlightening episodes of "Top Chef" and a touch of laundry. Good day.

Vote for Piper!

Attention friends! We are entering Piper into the Bissel MVP Pet Photo contest.

After seeing the BISSEL commercial last night, our poor carpet desperately pleaded that we give it a try. The grand prize winner receives their pet's photo placed on a future BISSELL package, one BISSELL product(did someone say the ProHeat 2x Select Cleaner!) of winner's choice AND $10,000 Donation to Pet Cause of winner's choice! And it's totally free to enter.

So send your love Piper's way by voting for his picture on bissell.com. You can easily access the site by clicking on the banner on my sidebar. Here are the rules: you can vote for one pet per day from one computer. So that means you could vote everyday! We will be putting up a new photo of our adorable puppy every week, since there are a few more cycles left in the contest.

Ruff ruff!! Piper says thanks for voting :)

Where did the weekend go?

This weekend was jam packed! Chris' mom and sister came down for a few days, giving me just the push I needed to "mini-makeover" our guest room. On Saturday we celebrated Chris' dear grandpa's birthday over lunch at Chilis, and then Chris got in some quality shopping time with mom and sis; I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately so opted to stay home and keep the pup company. On Sunday we had a full day planned in Wilson. After a great morning at Church, we spent the afternoon with the Carpenters eating delicious spaghetti and sewing some o-so-cute pillowcase dresses(Chris brought the Wii and was perfectly content to play with the kiddos while us women sewed:)). Oh, and I discovered the wonder that is the rotary cutter! As soon as I get my next Michael's coupon, I'm there!

Did I mention that we brought Piper? To Wilson...all day! Because we knew that we wanted to go to our Church's superbowl party that night, we couldn't well leave him at home ALL DAY and miss out on all the fun. He had such a busy day, and enjoyed running around outside, playing tag(Piper was mostly the one being chased) with the kids, and meeting some new doggie friends. I am sooo proud of our puppy! And also so grateful to church family that did'nt mind putting up with him ;)

The superbowl party was definitely the highlight of the weekend, due mostly to the fantastic food and fellowship(football what?). I'm not a huge sports fan, but cookie cakes and barbecue chips win the game anyday in my book! We were so exhausted when we got home that we couldn't stay up for the much anticipated "Office" special-thank goodness for DVR! (We watched it this afternoon, and it was pretty hilarious).

I'm looking forward to sleeping in this Saturday! A full weekend is always a good one, but lazy one's are great too!