I love a good bargain!!!

...I rarely shop, seriously, I go on like 2 or 3 trips to Old Navy or Kohl's every year and spend less than $100 for both of us. Today I had a calling, something pulling me to Old Navy so since I got off work early, I headed that way and here's what I made it home with:

Yes, that's five items. Here let me detail them for you along with their super expensive prices:

Jeans for Matt $4.49
Jeans for Matt $7.49
Dress shirt for Matt $7.49
Plaid shorts for me $6.99
Peach shorts for me $2.49
TOTAL with tax: $31.24

When the cashier said the total, I could feel the smile tugging at my cheeks!!! My rule when I go shopping is that if I buy something for myself then I have to buy something for Matt. Plus I figured now was a good time to check things out since it was the end of season (why jeans were on sale-I have no idea) and in the next couple of weekends, I've told myself that I'm going through the closets...again.

The only bad thing about this purchase, which how bad can it be when I got it all for less than $32 bucks, is that I couldn't find tops to match the shorts so I won't be wearing them right away. What color(s) do you think would like good with the peach (in case you can't tell in the pic, they are more orangey than pink)? Please help me out on that one!

Another one moves to the Rainbow Bridge...

...recently, one of you out there did a post on the Rainbow Bridge. Well, today my mom's dog and my childhood dog went to the Rainbow Bridge. Maggie was a lab mix, she kind of looked like a black golden retriever. She'd been sick and my mom had scheduled to have her put to sleep at least two other times this summer but every time, she would amazingly get better. Then this morning, after a night of coughing up blood, she went to the woods and lay there all day. At 4:30pm, they took her to the vet to have her put to sleep. They took their other dog Jodie with them and they said that Jodie just licked Maggie's face very calmly as if saying her good-bye.

Maggie was such a good dog, everyone loved her (even if someone didn't like dogs, they liked Maggie). She was my Maggie, my Magpie, my Maggedy and she was always a lady and never did any of those embarassing things dogs do like sniff someone's crotch or lick themselves and she never jumped on people and rarely barked.


One of her favorite things to do was ride around in my mom's '69 Camero. For her last ride, my mom and David first took her for a ride in the Camero and then to the vet. Here is a picture of her and Jodie, it looks like they are driving!

Maggie LOVED to chase balls, it was the retriever in her. When I was in middle school and high school, my mom and David used to drive to my games and park in the outfield. There David would play ball with her inbetween innings. She was famous!!! Everyone would walk all the way out to the outfield and ask if they could throw the ball for her. She would fetch all 7 innings and she loved every minute of it! Here she is with a ball that had a tongue attached. I LOVE this picture and think its hilarious!!!

Another funny (yet embarassing for me) Maggie story was back when I was in college. I went out and had a couple too many drinks. I came home and got in bed, Maggie came in to check on me. When my mom was calling for me and I didn't answer, she came in to check on me and saw someone had upchucked. She asked me about it and my answer was, "Maggie...bad dog!" But Maggie never was a bad dog, she was the best. She saw me through THREE graduations, a new house and a marriage. My mom used to get mad at me in college because when she'd come to visit, I'd always ask if she'd bring Maggie. Maggie was a lover dog and ,not just man's, but everyone's best friend.

I love you Magpie and I'll miss you so much! Thanks for always being there and for all the great memories. I can't wait to meet you at the Rainbow Bridge.

Day One...

...today is D-Day. I am hard core back on the diet and working out schedule. When I first Matt, I was at my smallest ever after high school (I don't count high school because I played sports year round). Then I fell in love and you all know the story, I plumped up.

In November of 2006, we started a weight loss challenge at work and I went all out-hard core! It was great at the time but then I ballooned up again once the summer rolled around and I was comfortable with Matt. While at the time, it was awesome, it really changed my outlook on weight. I'd never really yo-yoed my weight and never really paid attention to it but starting then I have been back and forth with weight loss. It's just constantly on my mind, all the time (even when I'm not losing, just gaining). Part of it has to do with someone in my life that feels they must always flaunt it and wave it in everyone's faces that they've lost weight (funny when they've started gaining not a word, hmmm...).

Well, I'm tired of not having anything that fits and feeling gross all the time. I don't even post many pictures any more because I don't like what I see (so why would I want to share it with everyone else?). I have no one to blame but myself. I know what I do wrong, I know when I'm doing it but I still do it anyways. It's like I'm my own worst enemy...I'm planning my demise or something. Well, not today! Starting today, tis back on the plan to a skinnier, healthy me. I know I can do it...I'd lost almost 30 pounds right before I met Matt and looked awesome (that's how I reeled him in ladies!).

Here I am in Atlanta March 2007

Eww-gross, here I am in June 2009

So here’s the game plan:
-no sodas or alcohol
-walk at least 2 miles or more EVERY day
-journal what I eat every day
-only eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full
That’s the general idea for now, I might add more later. Wish me luck and I’ll keep everyone posted!!!

Mosaic...

...so today was the last day of camp! WOO HOO!!! I am no longer the mother of 200 children and 22 college students...at least not for another 42 weeks (but whose counting). I decided that I wanted to try out Mosaic for my celebratory dinner and since it was Downtown Restaurant Week, I figured what better time to try it out!

OMG! So this was the coolest ever...I just couldn't get over it. As each waiter brought this out to different tables, I would still point it out to Matt in amazement. My dressing for my salad was in a pipette!!! How cool is that!!!

Putting on the dressing with my pipette:

The busboy was taking my plate as I was taking this picture so that's why it is a little over center:

Matt had salmon with mussels which he thought was the best course:

I totally felt like I was on Top Chef! I kept saying phrases I'd heard on the show then asking Tom Colicchio, AKA Matt, what he thought. He just rolled his eyes at me and OH! I was in big trouble for taking pictures because I looked like a dork. I told him all my other blog friends do it!!! Shaklee was having their convention at the Convention Center and Matt's parents (they sell the stuff) wholesaler sat right next to us. Matt wasn't 100% sure if it was him so I had to try to take a peak at his nametag, which I think he caught me a time or two. Matt finally said something as we were leaving and we all decided they'd known each other for over 20 years.

All in all, Mosaic was good. I left feeling full but not stuffed. I was a little disappointed in the dessert and my soup (I had butternut squash but it was so sweet that IT could have been dessert). Service was slow, even before they got busy, and I felt like I was right on top of the table next to us. If you're in the area, I would definately recommend it, but I don't know that we'll be making an extra trip just to go there. It was something different for us, since we never leave St. Charles County to eat.

After dinner, we decided to walk to check out the area since we rarely get down there. Matt thought this was impressive and told me to take a picture. Some car drove through this and split two barriers in half but they left their license plate behind!

Now notice the time I'm posting this...before 8pm on Friday night. This is our life, we have to be home before dark so Matt can get to work at sunset. This is his schedule, Monday-Sunday from now until the end of October (he's got a couple weekends off but not many), so needless to say, we won't be doing much in the next three months. But, hopefully, when winter hits and he's not working too much, we'll still be okay because of all the work he's doing now.

Thanks everyone for the tip to Mosaic...it was delicious!!!

Oh Paula!!!

...I love me my Paula Dean! I was watching her show the other day and saw her and Bubba making this Squash Casserole that looked to die for! So I decided I would try it out for dinner tonight but first I called Matt and asked him to bring home an onion from the nursery. Here's what he brought home:

Can you believe the size of that thing!?! It was HUGE! I only used a quarter of it!!! It's almost bigger than a coffee mug (side note: this is a coffee mug that Haley made Matt-its supposed to be camo; the green and brown dots are her thumbprints).

Here is a picture of the squash frying:



I totally meant to take a picture of the finished product BUT...it smelled so good that we dug right into it and ate almost all! And in true Paula Dean style it was cheesy, delicious and totally bad for you! So Matt and I are off to take a walk...but yum yum yum!!!

Cool Calculators...

...alright, so here's a link to a website in case you're ever bored and surfing the net (which I usually do on Wednesday nights because its Fair Night for hubs). So with Kristal being prego and Matt and I coming on our one year anniversary plus everyone that's prego around me, I can't help but have it on my mind! So at this website, you dump in dates and it will tell you when you're due, when your trimesters end, if you're already prego then it will tell you the conception date...everything! They have more calculators there too such as you enter your birthday and it will tell you exactly how old you are in years, months, weeks, and days. Like I said, useless info but fun to pass time especially since Bejeweled isn't working on Facebook.

Two random facts of the day: 1. The L is going out on my computer and its VERY frustrating. If a word is missing an L, now you know why. 2. I am loving the Vanilla Oreos, with a talk glass of cold milk....yum yum yum!!!

Lastly, I'm looking forward to Friday not only because it is the LAST day of camp until next year (I don't think anyone can truly understand the relief and excitement for this day), but because hubs is taking me to Mosaic to celebrate. Thanks to Lucy for letting me know about Downtown Restaurant Week!!!

Fair with the Kiddos...

...this week has been the St. Charles County Fair. Dear hubs takes vacation and spends the ENTIRE week out there. It started off rough on Tuesday with all the storms, Matt was helping to take down a tent during the storm (it was being blown away) and got a huge gash on his back along with some cuts and bruises on his stomach. I've been going out every night and brought back his laundry; the shirt he was wearing has a huge hole in the back from that day!!! Craziness! Luckily, it got better after that. Wednesday night I took Haley and my friend and her kiddos came along. They rode all the rides (except for a couple of scary ones), went to the petting zoo, saw the butterflies and, of course, we had to get cotton candy!!! Here are just a couple pics from the night. The first one is a self shot of me and H.

The fair is held at Rotary Park in Wentzville which has a huge water tower. When we took her last year, she became obsessed with water towers so here she is on Matt's shoulders with the water tower in the background.
Her and Matt on the Cobra ride.
Her and Cody holding hands...these two were so cute all night. I think we may have made a match.
Here is a video of her and Matt on the bumper cars which ended up being her favorite ride the whole night.