Monday, March 28, 2011

Weekend Wrap Up

Not too much to recap here, folks.  Friday night I had dinner with TC's mama, sister, niece and her friend.  I may be the only person on the face of the earth that does not like Ruby Tuesday's salad bar.  I was not impressed.  My meal was good, I just wish I hadn't bothered with the salad bar.  Saturday morning, we tried to find some yard sales, but since people like to advertise in the Bulletin Board a week early and I don't like to read far enough to find the dates, there weren't any. Oh, well...we have all spring to catch up.  I did go to Zumba class and oh.my.goodness.i.am.sore.  Now, I do Zumba twice a week usually, but I haven't been able to go for the last two weeks.  So, this was my first class in 15 days.  Going from a sitting to standing position has been problematic for me this weekend.  Sunday, I went to church, came home, ate lunch, and took a nap.  Then, I rotted my brain with Teen Mom 2.  Who else just wants to knock some sense into this girl??
This is Jenelle from the show.  Now, I know that it can't be easy for these girls, but Jenelle just seems so selfish and seems to care more about her boyfriend (who is not the baby's father - imagine me using my best Maury Povich voice) than her son.  Made me angry.

Today is a gloomy day here, so I am going to try not to fall asleep on my desk this morning!!  Happy Monday!!

Friday, March 25, 2011

New Orleans

I spent the first half of the week in New Orleans, LA for a work conference.  We left on Sunday morning and returned home Wednesday afternoon.  And I am exhausted.  When we arrived Sunday afternoon, we checked into our hotel and headed to the convention center to check in there.  We walked around the convention center (which is huge, by the way) for a little bit and went to a reception that evening.  Monday I attended different sessions all day.  That night we decided to eat at Harrah's, the casino.  It was the first time I had ever stepped foot in a casino.  Not my thing, I don't think.  Anyway, we ate at the buffet, which is always interesting to me.  Totally not worth $25 and I don't care to ever step foot in a casino again. 

Tuesday was much of the same, sessions all day long.  However, dinner was much better.  We ate at Deanie's Seafood Restaurant.  I had crab claws and a salad.  They also bring out boiled potatoes, instead of bread.  It was all delicious.

Wednesday was the last day of the conference.  Wednesday morning at breakfast, I met some people from New York.  Can you believe, they didn't know that grits were made of corn??  When I was leaving the table, I told them (just as sweet as syrup) "Way-ull, Y'all have a safe trip back home".  They probably thought I was some country bumpkin, but at least I know what grits are made of!!  The closing session featured Marlee Matlin, who is an award winning actress and accomplished author.  She is also deaf, but her speech was incredible. 

After the closing session, we headed home.  It was a good conference and I learned a ton of new information, but I am glad to be home!!

What are your plans for the weekend?  I hope to hit a few yard sales, go to Zumba, and catch up on laundry!!

Monday, March 21, 2011

An Ode to Home Improvement

The activity...not the TV show.

Ahh, income tax time.  At the Carroll household, that means one thing...time for home improvements.  This year, we replaced the sinks in the bathroom and replaced some landscaping in the front yard. 

The sinks in the bathroom weren't really that bad, they just weren't that great, either.  And I have a whole bronze thing going on in there and the fixtures were silver.  Not cool.  So it all got replaced.  I don't have a before picture, but you can use your imagination.


A close up of our new sink



Our next project was outside.  In the flower beds out front.  I do have a before picture for this one.

Excuse the fall decor.  You can see in the big red circle how the timbers were rotting and needed to be replaced.

And now the after...

Yay!! No more rotten landscape timbers!!

We also stained it a dark brown, which is the same color we stained out back deck last spring.  I love it when things come together like that!!

So, what are your home improvement projects this spring/summer?

Jessica



Friday, March 18, 2011

Technology Meltdown 2011

Well folks,  I have to apologize to both of my readers for the lack of posts here lately.  But, the Carroll household has been under a technology attack.  It all started with TC's computer.  He came in contact with a virus and crashed his hard drive.  Luckily for us, I have a tech guy on call.  He has steadily been working on the computer and is thisclose to getting it to run!!   TC was supposed to go out of town for work and he took my computer with him.

Now, I would like to take a moment to climb on my soapbox about Verizon.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Verizon and we've been loyal, on-time paying customers for several years.  The other day, the screen started freezing up on TC's phone.  He went to Verizon and they shipped him another one.  He was supposed to go out of town for work and you have about 2.5 hours to get the first phone back in the mail to Verizon.   So, he took my phone to work with him (are you seeing a trend here??  He takes my stuff that works and leaves me with all the defunct electronics). 

However, the new (and by new, I mean refurbished) phone Verizon sent us was way worse than the first phone.  Around 3:30 in the morning it woke me up, powering off, powering on, powering off, powering on, you get the idea.  So the next day, I calmly (but tiredly) went to Verizon and politely asked that they DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!  After a few minutes of yelling at a poor little girl and retelling the whole story to the manager, I have another new refurbished phone.  Good news is, so far, it is working fine.

Poor guys
 So, this weekend, I am going to try to stay away from as many electronics as possible.  Have a great weekend!!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day

A few Irish blessings for your pleasure:

May you always have
Walls for the winds,
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all your heart might desire!





May your neighbors respect you,
Troubles neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And Heaven accept you.

Monday, March 14, 2011

What a Weekend

Wow, what a weekend around the Carroll house!! We started things off bright and early Saturday morning at yard sales. I love a good yard sale. The yard sales we attended this past Saturday morning were not good yard sales, my friends. I did not but a. single. thing. And I will pretty much purchase anything that has $1.00 marked on it!! We came home and got to work on our latest home improvement project (pictures to come later!!). We got cleaned up and headed to Birmingham to spend the weekend!! We headed to the Summit and shopped and looked around and ate dinner at Sweet Bones Alabama. Sunday was much the same, shopping and eating!! Last night we ate dinner at the Fish Market. Very delicious and I don’t even like seafood!!

Happy Monday!!

Jessica

Thursday, March 10, 2011

A SECret Crush

It is no secret that the Carroll household has always been and will alway be a Crimson Tide household.  I mean, we are pretty serious about it.  Despite all that, it has also been no secret that I have always had a little bit of a SECret crush on Mark Richt (the Georgia Bulldogs head coach).  He just always seems so cool, calm, and collected on the field.  And I think he's pretty handsome!

Mark Richt in all his glory
I heard about this on the radio this morning and looked up the article when I got to work.  It makes me like him that much more!!

Jessica

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Ouch

Finally caught up!!  Today was also a normal work day for me.  TC spent his day working in the yard again.  The project is almost finished!!  After work, as a part of Scale Back Alabama, I take a Latin Cardio Dance (a.k.a. knockoff Zumba).  Y'all, I have really enjoyed this class.  At least as much as a white girl with no rhythm can!!  Which leads me to my question, can a lady pull her groin muscle??  If so, that's what I've done...only me!

I came home to find TC cooking dinner...yay!!  He made up his mind some time ago that he wanted to make his own version of a white pizza.  So when I got home, he had almost finished his up.  And since, everything is competition around here, I made my own version too.  I was actually surprised at how good it was.  I have to admit that his version was better than mine...I'll say anything to keep him doing the cooking!!

I am going to take this opportunity to introduce you to another member of our household
Meet Penelope

She's the boss around here and does pretty much whatever she wants.  She only gets away with it because she's so pretty!!

The Dinner that No One Liked

I'm playing catch up for the last two days.  Monday was a normal work day for me.  Hubs (affectionately known from this point forward as TC) was home, so he spent the majority of the day working in the yard.  He and his dad started this project Thursday of the week before.  Once the project is finished, I will post pictures, but it is already looking so much better.  When I got home from work, I decided I would run to Winn Dixie to pick up the essentials.  While I was there, I thought I would pick up something quick and easy to make for dinner.  So I thought a few seconds and came up with.......sloppy joes!!  Now, that is not something that I even really like, so I have no idea what I was thinking except that maybe I should give them another try.  Well, I still don't really like them and neither does TC...haha.  Oh, well, so much for that.

Tell me, what are some of your ideas for a quick and easy dinner??

The Weekend

Since I've just started this blog, I'm going to retroactively post about this weekend.  Saturday was my niece's sixth birthday party at Pump It Up.  There were about 15 kiddos running around.  Y'all, I was so nervous that one of those kiddos were going to hurt themselves.  And none of them are mine...I can't imagine what I would feel like if my own were running around like that.  Anyhow, I know they had a blast playing and K got some wonderful birthday presents.
The birthday girl coming down the big slide!!

Sunday was a normal day.  We went to church and walked the walk.  That's right, we are now official member of Glynwood Baptist Church.  We are excited about what our future holds there!  Since the weather was kind of yucky (cold and wet), we stayed inside and rested and got ready for the coming week.

My Very First Blog Post

Well guys and gals,

I've decided to jump on the blog bandwagon!!  Aren't y'all excited?!?!  We are (semi) newlyweds just trying to figure it all out.  I hope this blog will give a glimpse into our everyday life: crafts, home improvements, the cat, and recipes.

Stay tuned!!

Jessica