Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Looky Looky

This is my 101st post. WOOT!! I didn't realize I had that many until I logged in today and saw that my dreams had come true. Moving on.

You must, must, must, go to Sweet Randomness, and check out the post titles "Evolution of Dance". It is one of the funniest clips I have ever seen.

I tried in vain for about 2 hours to post it to my own blog, but was obviously unsuccessful. What can I say? I was only able to get it loaded on Facebook, and that in and of itself took a lot effort. I'm not a computer genius, or a blogger genius, or a genuis (or a guinness (you know who you are)) at anything.

In short please go to Sweet Randomness and watch the clip. It really is hilarious.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Definitely Consumption

In the most recent post, I mentioned that Clayton may or may not be coming down with some kind of consumption. Well, it's a definite now. He has an ear infection and wheezing. I didn't think the wheezing was that big of a deal, but his pediatrician certainly did this morning. It's back to the Dino Mask for us(well for Daddy and me to run, and Clayton to wear). Anyway we stocked up on the meds that were prescribed for him.

Clayton and I dropped off his prescriptions at Walmart and then headed for the grocery store. Why the grocery store? I hadn't been in 2 days since I had been, so by some cosmic law I had to go. No seriously I just needed a few things for lunch, and Dt Mtn Dew(very important). I digress, back to the cool part. When we were done at the grocery store, we headed back to Walmart to pick up Clayton's meds. There were three prescriptions. I had my wallet out to pay for them, and then the best thing ever happened. THEY WERE FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right folks. FREE!!!!!!!!!!! I was expecting around $100, because Albuterol is pretty pricey. Apparently BCBS is running a special on generic formulary right now. They are FREE!!!!! YIPPIE!!!!!!!

Anyway, God is good. Even in the simple things like Amoxicillin, Albuterol, and Ear Pain Drops. Thank you Lord for loving me like you do.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Radiator Soup

So, the boys and I went to Mom and Dad's tonight to take Mattie home. While we there we ate dinner and visited with the rents a little while. Clayton may or may not be coming down with some kind of consumption, so we left pretty early. 8:30 to be exact, and that's very early for me to leave my parents house. This will be important later on in the story.

Anyway, here's where the fun begins. Chad stopped to buy gas at the outskirts of Lenoir. He left the truck running as usual while he filled up. Everything is good so far. Keep reading, it gets better. We go about 1/2 a mile down the road, and his truck decided to run hot. Chad is a master mechanic, so I wasn't worried. He know how to fix almost everything.

We keep going just a few feet. Chad speeds up to try to introduce more air to the engine and cool it that way. WRONG!!! The engine and the radiator did not like that idea. Needless to say the truck overheated completely. Obviously we pulled over. Waited a few minutes for the truck to cool down enough for Chad to look at it and assess the situation.

Chad checks the innards(?) of the truck and diagnoses it as fatal. The radiator is kaput (kapoot ? I'm not sure how to spell it, but it's a great word), gone, finito, deceased. Apparently there is water / antifreeze coming out the side of the radiator. Not good.

Chad makes a plan. We are going to head towards the nearest convenience store and buy H2O and black pepper(that's right folks, black pepper). I suddenly had a craving for radiator soup. YUMMY!! Apparently black pepper will stop a leaking radiator. It works like a temporary plug. So very cool.

We get to the store, and drumroll please, they are still open. If we would have stayed as late as we usually do at the rents, then the store would have been closed, and we would not have been able to buy black pepper, add water to the radiator, and oila we have radiator soup.

Does God's timing ever amaze you? He saw fit to have Clayton get a little fussy and cranky so Chad and I decided to leave earlier than we usually do. Not knowing the whole time that we were going to need the extra time to fix the truck and make it home. Had we left at 10pm or 11pm, then the fix would not have been nearly as easy as it was.

Now, most of you know that I don't like to deviate AT ALL from my(my being the operative word) plan. However, I think God allowed me to handle this "adventure" very well tonight. Clayton and I played peek a boo with Pooh Bear while Chad did his thing. Chad and I were both civilized and helpful towards each other. I was equally excited about that, than getting home in one piece. Chad and I even laughed that we would have not been that nice to each other when tragedy ensued 7 years ago.

Are we getting older? Definitely? Starting to mature? Who knows? Growing in the Lord, and letting Him hand our (His) problems? I certainly hope so, that's the goal anyway.

The only thing we have left to do is, order a new radiator, and let Mr. Fix-It (Chad) put it in. Girls, if you aren't married, and still have the option, it's a great idea to marry a guy that can fix stuff. Saves you a lot of money.

Thank you God for keeping us safe tonight. Thank you for making the fix easy, and inexpensive. Thank you for a husband that is willing to fix things himself to save us money. Thank you for a husband that has knowledge of radiator soup.

Well, that was Friday. Who knows what Saturday and Sunday will hold.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Layered Enchilada Bake

OK, I usually don't do a post like this but I this recipe was deserving of an entire post(maybe a gratuitous, self indulgent picture of Clayton as well). Tonight for dinner we had "Layered Enchilada Bake". It was FANTASTIC. Chad's aunt who is an amazing cook told us about this because she know we like tacos, nachos, and the like. So here goes.

Prior to the carving.
On my plate.

The Recipe.

Chad made most of it tonight, so it was in no way low fat, or healthy. You could reduce a lot of the calories by using lean ground beef, low fat cheese, and low fat sour cream. Also, the recipe is from the Kraft web site, so all the brands are Kraft brands, which is fine. However, if you are like me and aren't brand sensitive, and are cheap, the generic, or store brands work just fine too. Everything in the one we ate tonight came from Aldi, and it was delish.

What You Need!

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained, rinsed
1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
2 Tbsp. TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Taco Seasoning Mix
6 flour tortillas (8 inch)
1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese

Make It!

HEAT oven to 400ºF.

BROWN meat with onions in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain. Stir in salsa, beans, dressing and seasoning mix.

ARRANGE 3 tortillas on bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with layers of half each meat mixture, sour cream and cheese. Repeat layers. Cover with foil.

BAKE 40 min.or until casserole is heated through and cheese is melted, removing foil after 30 min. Let stand 5 min. before cutting to serve.



Clayton even enjoyed his too.
So much so, that it wore him out to eat dinner. HA. If you happen to try this recipe, let me know what you think.

Monday, March 23, 2009

High / Low

Today's Low:
Dropping Clayton off at his Maw's this morning, and hearing him wail with all the power in his little lungs as I closed the door behind me. If it would have been possible, I would have turned right around, scooped him up, and taken him to work with me. I think he would make a nice addition to Cloud Surgical, don't you? I thought so.

Today's High:
Same really cool little boy waiting for me on the front porch when I got home. Waiving, and yelling Mama as loud as his little lungs would let him. Is there any better way to be welcomed home? I didn't think so.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

They're Back

OK, so we're (Chad and me) back from vacay. It was absolutley awesome to get away with my love for a few days. I truly missed Clayton, had a little melt down Tuesday evening, but I think I recovered fairly quickly. Chad may disagree, but that's OK too.

Clayton was excited to get home to his dog. I don't think he realized that Mom and Dad were around until this morning when I went to get him up. The dog, he noticed immediately.

That's about it for now. I have a Sister's in Faith meeting tonight, and as of right now I wish I could lie down, and sleep until dinner time. Not today though. Maybe I can nap on Saturday. That's the life. Napping.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Vacay

This post is coming to you live from Pigeon Forge, TN. That's right jealous folks, Chad and I are on a little Vacay this week. We decided to take a few days away from everything(except Blogger, Facebook, and my Crackberry). Day 1 has been great. A little shopping, eating, movie watching, and napping. It's definitely the good life.

Clayton is staying at Gram and Popa's tonight, and then at Maw and Paw's tomorrow night. We will be back on Wednesday and he of course will be back with his Mommy and Daddy. I hated to leave him behind. I really miss the little stinker. It's amazing how much faster I can get ready, and eat a meal when it's just the 2 of us, but I don't really prefer it that way anymore.

Oh well, enough pouting. I miss him, but this is good for Chad and Nikki. We've never really gotten away all by ourselves, and with numero dous (# 2) cooking away in there, the opportunity might not afford itself for quite some time. So, we took advantage.

OK, I've had enough of you guys now. I think I'm gonna go back to my Vacay and my hubby. Type at you later.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Random Update

It's been a bit of a crazy week. We'll start at the beginning, which was actually the end of last week(confusing).

We told our families that Chad and I are having another baby at Clayton's B-Day bash last Saturday, then on Monday I spilled it at work. I was way more nervous about spilling it at work, than telling our families. I knew our families would be tickled, but I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I told the good Dr. Things went great. Everyone seemed excited for us, and our family.

Sunday, was the usual busyness that accompanies all of our Sundays. The exception is that Jesse and Amy, Chad and I, took Mom and Dad out to dinner for Mom's B-Day. We had a lot of fun. Dinner with the fam is always a lot of fun. We get loud and goofy in about 30 seconds, and stay that way until we leave each other.

Monday, my Grandfather was admitted to Carolina's Medical in Charlotte for some complications related to CHF, and his other heart problems. Things seem to be going well for Grandaddy, and he seems to be starting to feel a little better. Please pray for him, that God would have His will, and touch his body, and make him as comfortable as possible.

Tuesday, Chad and I went to a talent show at the Civic Center in Lenoir. It was put on by Dyson, who is in our youth group. Dyson did most of the planning and organizing, and I must say that he did a fantastic job. Some of the talent was questionable, but overall the show was great.

Wednesday, Mom, Clayton, and I went to Charlotte to see my Grandaddy. It was a good trip. Clayton did a great job even though he was awake for most of the trip. He is such a cool kid.

Thursday(which would be today), I was fortunate to get off at lunch time. I took advantage of the situation and took a nap this afternoon. Then, Clayton and I played with his baseball toy, V-Tech video game, slide, and farm. I think we played with every toy in the house. We had so much fun. Chad went out and picked up dinner for us because I am absolutely pooped today, and I just didn't want to cook and clean up. I just wanted to spend time with Clayton and Chad. That's what I did.

Tomorrow Clayton has his "1" year old well check. I think he gets shots so that should be interesting. Oh well, they are important and keep him healthy. By the way, Clayton is WALKING. Not all the time, but a whole lot. He has walked all over the house today. It's really cool to watch him walk. He walks like a zombie. Too funny.

That's all I got for today. Have a great Friday everybody.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

One More Pic!!!!

Here's one more pic for your birthday bash enjoyment. Family photo time. Clayton has on a pretty cool shirt. See if you can make out what it says. He was a little wiggly and ready to be put down, so it's not completely clear, but I think you might be able to figure it out.

(I'm the BIG Brother!)

It took the party goers a few minutes to get it. Are you more quick witted that they are?

Clayton's 1st B-Day Party

We were finally able to have Clayton's 1st birthday party tonight. It was a blast. Here are a few pics from the bash. They are out of order, because I can't figure out the order of uploads on blogger. Enjoy!!!!

Cake is tasty!


This boy loves cake, and getting his hands dirty.
The cake above was Clayton's "personal" cake. I thought it was the cutest thing.
Andrew(Chad's brother), Chad, and Jesse(my brother).
The beautiful Jamie(I told you this was a good picture!)
"It really is all about me."
Left to Right: Grandmother(my grandmother), Mawmaw(Chad's grandmother), and Grandaddy(my Grandaddy).
Random pre-food pics.

Last but not least. This was the cake that the rest of us ate. Chad's mother baked and decorated it. Didn't she do a great job? It's really cool. I'm so grateful that we have someone close that can do this for us.

That's the birthday in pics. It was so much to have both of our families together. That doesn't happen much because we are all so very busy. Have a great one on worship day tomorrow.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Joy = Worship?

I am taking a break from my hiatus for this day only. A break from my break? Strange.

I have started a WOF devotional entitled Contagious Joy. One of the things that stood out to me last night was the thought that true joy (not the packaged stuff the world tries to sell us) is an act of worship to God. Please tell me that I am not the only person that hasn't realized this. I am a person who needs proof for everything, so if you are like me, here is your proof.

And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: Luke 24:52
They were worshipping and returning, and joying(just go with it) all at the same time. That was a very profound thought for me. My joy is an act of worship to God. Worship, after all is when we tell God how wonderful He is. So, my joy as a christian tells God and the world that God is good.
Here's the kicker. Is your joy contagious? My joke this week has been that yes I do have a lot of joy, but that some people may not like my particular brand of joy. Is that good or bad? I haven't decided yet. I am incredibly saracstic. To some people sarcasm is humor, but to other sarcasm is rude and uncalled for. Here's my prayer: Lord please let me have a joy that others would like to have. Help me everday to remember that joy in my life is worship to you.
OK, I'm back on break now until next week.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Blogging Hiatus

Effective immediately, I am taking a blogging hiatus. I will be back next week I promise. We just have a lot going on this week as we plan for Clayton's re-party. Actually it's just house cleaning, but I have been a total bum lately and it's in pretty bad shape.

I will do a major update first of the week. I promise you don't want to miss it. Well, it may not be that great but I'm optimistic. See you on the flip side.