The Iron Bowl

We did it again! Alabama beat Auburn in the Iron Bowl!! This is a big deal to Bama fans because Auburn is our rival team. It's also a big deal because my neighbor is an Auburn fan and we like to rub it in each others faces when our team wins.

My neighbor started the tradition (here I go again with traditions) 5 years ago when Auburn beat Alabama and I woke up to find a stuffed Tiger on my car. You can read about the last years "prank" here.

This year I taunted my neighbor with yard signs I bought at Home Depot (I vow to be more creative next year when we win!). I wrote Roll Tide Roll on one side and the score on the other and stuck them in her yard Sunday night. Ideally, I would have loved to fill her whole yard with signs but at $4 a sign I whittled it down to 3...but I got my point across!!

Now, we wait anxiously for Saturday's game against Florida (she types while biting her nails)!

Martha Stewart, I am not.

So, I will not be making any of the nut wreaths for friends and family. That was a wee bit of an interesting fiasco.....but I did finish it.

The first issue came when I sat down to begin the wreath. I poured all of my walnuts and pecans into a bowl, plugged in the hot glue gun and got out the wreath form. Oh wait...I also have acorns to add to that bowl!! They were in the little pouch attached to the stroller which was in my car...remember, I collected them on some walks with the boys? Anyways, I emptied the acorns into the bowl and there was a little something extra....larvae!!!!!!

God, I almost threw up. There were about 4 fat, white larvae of some sort squirming around in the bowl. Then I found 2 more in the pouch...I now want to burn the stroller and my car. After scooping them out and disposing of them I noticed little holes in some of the acorns....what the hell was in there??????

Well, I got past that incident and continued on with the wreath. I glued nuts to the flat side of the form and was pretty happy with the results. Then, I started adding to the side...not so happy with the results. Damn you Martha!!! Nuts don't stay glued on the side...attached to some thin rim of wood!! I must have re-glued 15 nuts!

Once the rim is covered in nuts I tie the ribbon and proceed to hang it on a wreath hanger...HELLO AMY???? You can't hang that kind of wreath on a hanger without RUINING what is attached!! Nuts started falling...left and right. I would bend down to pick them up and the ones already in my hand would fall back to the ground. It was almost comical.

So, how does this story end? I hung it on a nail inside the house, with a few nuts missing and a strategically placed ribbon hiding a bald spot, all the while hoping the few acorns that remain are vacant.

What's next you ask? Cross stitching ornaments for the boys.

Giveaway

Check out my friend Jill's blog! She is hosting a giveaway which includes free Perricone skincare!

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?

Has anyone seen this on their guide? I thought it came on every year but I don't see it...I am in a state of panic (even though I have it on DVD).

I Love Martha

Funny that a girl with no crafting abilities, who doesn't cook very often and is usually barefoot when she throws a party, is a Martha Stewart fan. I love her magazine and her show. I also love Ana Gasteyer's impersonation of her on SNL..hilarious!!!

As I savored the pages of my November issue the other night I came across a great idea. On page 67 is a little snippet titled "leaves of thanks". It's so simple surely I can't screw it up. All you do is fold some fall colored card stock and cut out leaves. I am going to have my family write down some things they are thankful for on the leaves and then read them during dinner! And a new tradition begins!!

After that simple project I will be moving on to a more difficult one for my level....that being the level at which I can not draw a straight line or step outside of the box.

I am going to make a wreath out of nuts. Yep...you'll see!! I already started collecting acorns on my walks with the boys and I had my husband collect some walnuts and pecans at Kroger's while picking up milk. I bought the wreath form at Michael's and have a hot glue gun that has never been used.

I have high hopes for this wreath....I expect it to last until my boys go to college. You see, when I was a kid in Alabama my dad collected pine cones from our backyard and made the most beautiful, giant wreath. It hung every year above our fireplace. It made it through moves to Texas, Massachusetts, Florida and California...with a few touch ups here and there.

A few years ago my dad threw it away...such a sentimental old guy! I can't believe he did it!!! My mom said it had fallen apart and was not worth repairing! I am sad. Now a wreath from Lowe's stares down at you in my parents living room...sigh. So, it is my goal to create a wreath that will hold memories for my boys and hang somewhere in our home till the last nut is standing!

Stayed tuned to see if my wreath turns out like this:

Irritants

1. Hearing bass from someones party when I am relaxing in my home. A house on some land behind my neighborhood decided to rent out their space for parties...now I have to hear it every freakin Saturday!

2. Leaving comments on a blog and never once hearing a reply. It's like saying Hi to someone and they look at you and keep walking. How Rude!

3. A cool fall day followed by a hot humid Houston day! What a tease!

4. People who are not honest about themselves. There are alot of people out there who have the general public and even friends fooled.

5. I have gained weight SINCE my babies were born...not so much during my pregnancy but AFTER! What the hell!!!?

6. Finding the time to sneak away from the house, alone, to go have a bowl of my favorite potato soup loaded with cheese, only to find out they JUST sold the last bowl to the man behind me!! Seriously?? Hey, I think I just found the reason for #5.

7. Having expectations of people and being told I shouldn't have expectations...easier said than done. Some times I expect a little reciprocation or gratitude.

8. People (mostly celebrities) who deny having fertility treatments. Why in the world would you lie about it? Do they think it makes their babies any less theirs? Or make them any less of a woman? To each her own...but it irritates me!

9. People who get rid of their animals when they have kids...animals get attached people!!!! They are part of the family!! Now you have kids so screw the animal? (if the animal is causing harm to your child then that is a different story)

10. The freakin mosquito's!!!! I can't go outside without getting swarmed by them. It's November!!! Die mosquito's!!!

11. People who are rude to old people. Don't even get me started on this one.

12. Laying out all of my scrap booking supplies and 42 Halloween pictures and not having a clue where to start or what to do!

Okay...I think I am done for the night! Just had to get a few things off my chest and what better place to do it? This way no one had to hear me rant and find things to say back! Like my poor husband who hears it all the time...over and over.

Time Does Fly

Today, well 58 minutes ago, my boys turned 5 months old! I can't freakin believe how fast that went by. Everyone warned me, but I didn't believe it. I thought for sure they would be 4 weeks old forever, surely they were never going to sleep through the night and no doubt post partum depression was something I was going to have to live with forever!

My how things have changed. Once I started getting some sleep and started Zoloft the depression went away...thank God....6 weeks of that felt like a lifetime! The boys also quit waking up every 3 hours...I was convinced it wouldn't happen. At about 3.5 months old they started sleeping 10 hours. Now they go to bed at 7 pm and wake up at 7 am.....HALLELUJAH!!

They have now eaten banana's, applesauce, pears, peaches and sweet potatoes...we will be trying out carrots tomorrow. Who knew we would be so excited about fruits and veggies. But MAN, it is so nice to mix things up now and not just feed a bottle. It's so cool to see their expressions when they try something new and open their mouths frantically, wanting more.

They laugh and smile which makes everyday so sweet. Don't get me wrong, I am not one to sugarcoat and paint a fake picture, they still scream and cry and make us crazy! It is especially nerve wracking between 5:00-6:30...then we starts baths, feed bottles and they go right to sleep in their cribs. But Damn! When they get going at the same time I want to drop them off at the local fire station, isn't it a no questions asked policy...JUST KIDDING!

So, here we are...5 months down the road and I love being a mommy! I can't wait to see all their accomplishments in the next 5 months!

Me with the boys when they were 5 DAYS old! I was leaving the hospital that day and they had to stay...I sobbed like a baby after that picture was taken.

I brought the boys to meet the miracle worker...my fertility Dr. They were a week shy of 5 MONTHS old!