I Guess It's Just Fittin'

I was cutting out coupons the other day when I saw that these two were paired up. I guess they do kind of go together, but it's not something I really want to think about...

The Fun Room

We have a room in our house that we call the "Fun Room". It is where we have the desktop computers (though we usually use laptops) and books, and we have always intended to put our Pez collection in there. Despite the fact that we call it the "Fun Room", it has been somewhat less than fun in the 5 1/2 years that we've lived here because it is the only room in the house that we never really got around to doing anything with. The proof is in the pudding (I have always wanted an excuse to say that!):







See? Less than fantastic. Not so fun. A bit embarrassing actually, and it also happened to be the room that people saw first when they came into our house, since it was right inside the front door. A little while back we got the hankering to fix it up. We chose a nice buttery yellow color for the walls and picked up some new bookshelves. My hubby went and got some shelves to put the Pez on. I must say, the "Fun Room" is much more fun now than it used to be!

















Much more fun now, don't you think? And that's not all the Pez. We have a lot more that we just didn't have enough stands for. Once we get more stands, we'll put those out too!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

We went to a fancy fund raising event this past weekend where we noticed something that was just a bit off. Do you see it?



In case you didn't see it, here's a more closeup shot. I really don't know how this gentleman didn't feel it when he was tucking in his shirt. That's something I'm pretty sure I wouldn't miss. Or perhaps he is just proud that he has a new pair of shorts?



And here we are with one of the celebrity guests in attendance - Kinky Friedman! Oh, and there's nothing wrong with this one, I just thought I'd add it in for fun.

A Sock Monkey for Zoey

I had to run in the Walgreen's to pick something up the other day. As I walked across the front of the store, this fantastic little dog bed caught my eye. It was a sock monkey! Not that we had particularly been looking for a sock monkey bed for her, or any new bed for that matter, but it was too cute not to investigate. I spent a good couple of minutes checking out the sock monkey bed. It was only $13 (cleverly disguised as $12.99), but I just couldn't decide whether she needed it or not. After a couple of minutes I went on my way and left the sock monkey bed.

By the time I got in the car, I was already regretting my decision to leave without the precious little monkey bed. Had I made a mistake? When I got home and saw our poor neglected little Zoey I knew I was going to have to go back and fetch her a new bed. Never mind the bed she already had, complete with three blankets of her own, and her special big fluffy pillow that I made for her. They're not enough! So I returned to the Walgreen's for a special sock monkey for our pampered puppy.

How can you say no to this face?



Zoey loves her new bed!



She napped in it all day after I brought it home.



Of course, now I am going to have to get her a blanket that matches her new bed.

I Should Never be Allowed to go to the Outlet Mall Unattended...

You see, the outlet mall has bargains, and I am a big fan of bargains. My husband had asked me to get him a black tie to wear to an event this weekend, so I figured I would head up to the Van Heusen outlet. That's my favorite place to shop for his dress clothes. They always have good deals. I also needed a pair of shoes to wear to the same event and I planned to hit the Rack Room Shoes while I was up there to find some. A black tie and a pair of shoes. Easy, right?

So I started out at the Van Heusen, where they not only had a black tie for Hubby, but also two dress shirts and a cute shirt for me. After I left the Van Heusen I noticed that the Haggar outlet had up to 75% off, so I thought I better check that out. Interestingly enough they had a polo shirt and shorts that my husband needed. He didn't know he needed them, but he did. The Gap Outlet was next. I can't go to the outlet mall without stopping there, and Hubby had mentioned that he might like a new pair of jeans... They didn't have any good deals on jeans, but they had some really cute shirts for me on clearance that I couldn't pass up. Once I finally made it to the Rack Room, I saw that they had buy one pair get one half off. Danger! So we each got a pair of shoes out of the deal. So on my trip to the outlet mall for a tie and a pair of shoes, I ended up buying a tie, 8 shirts, a pair of shorts and 2 pairs of shoes. And here are a few of the deals that were too good to pass up.

I found these shorts on the clearance rack at the Haggar outlet:



They were 50% off the lowest ticketed price, so they ended up being $7.48



Really cute shirts from the Gap outlet



And check out the price!



More shirts from the Gap outlet



Saved the best deal for last!

The Most Exciting Morning!

The weathermen have been telling us for a few days that it's going to get cold. This is very exciting to me - I've always loved cold weather for some reason. You know what I like even more than cold weather? Snow! So I woke up this morning and turned on the morning news. The weatherman was on there telling us all about how it was snowing in Denton. The radar only had green (rain) showing in our area, though. I got out of bed and came into the living room where my hubby was working. He works from home on Wednesdays. I started complaining about how it was snowing in Denton, and why can't is just snow here? Then I went to the back door and pulled the blinds back to let the dog out and said "It's snowing!!!" That's right, it's snowing in Texas, and here's the proof!





It's even sticking, but it's supposed to get into the 40s later today, so it won't last long. We'll enjoy it while we can, though!

My Favorite Blog - Vote For Suzanne!

A while back my wonderful mother-in-law told me about this blog she thought I would like. She said "She's got goats and chickens. You'd like it." This blog quickly became my very favorite website. It is one of the first places I visit on the web in the morning. The blog I am referring to is Chickens in the Road. If you haven't seen it before, you should go check it out now! It is the blog of a romance author, Suzanne McMinn, who went from suburban life to farm life in rural West Virginia. I won't tell you too much, in case you want to visit her blog and read all about it yourself!

I have learned alot from Chickens in the Road, with my favorite things being about about canning and bread-baking, and other yumminess in the kitchen. I think my husband is glad I found the site, because there are so many new things I found there that I just had to try. Canning my own hot sauce, soups, chili, jams, apple butter, and so many other things makes for much tastier meals. After reading so much about homemade bread, I just had to try that too, and it's just so good that I can't imagine going back to store bought.

Suzanne's blog is not just about cooking, though. There are posts about crafts, gardening, the antics of her farm animals and just country life in general. There is also a forum, just in case you can't find anything left that you haven't read on her blog but you just can't bring yourself to leave yet. There are some wonderful people who participate in the forum, and there is even a community cookbook with recipes contributed by forum members. It is an active forum, and the people who participate are there because Suzanne's blog has meant something to them.

So now I will get to the point of this post. Suzanne is a finalist in the Sam-e "Good Mood Gig" Talent Search. She has already gone through one round, and for the final round she submitted a video about why she would be perfect for the job, along with some info you can read. If she wins, she gets to blog for Sam-e for 6 months. It is a paying gig, and it would mean a lot to her and her family. It would only take a few seconds for you to vote for Suzanne on the Sam-e website, and if you would like to help her out, please CLICK HERE! Voting ends on December 7th and you can vote once per day, so be sure to bookmark her page so you can go back and vote each day. Voting is only a small part of winning, there will be judges looking at the finalists' applications as well, but it doesn't hurt to get her as many votes as possible!