Is Huck a Reindeer?

Annon and Scott gave Huck some pet antlers for Christmas. When we got home from Ted's parents house - we decided to try and put them on Huck. As you can see from the pictures -- we were not very successful. He thought it was a game and as soon as we put them on -- he took them off. Se we did not get a good picture - but we had fun with them anyways!

Christmas With Family - Part 1

Last night was the kick off to our adventure of making it to all families during the Christmas Holidays. We went to Ted's parents house here in Auburn and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Ted's immediate family - Will (Ted's brother) - a sophomore at Auburn was done with classes and Annon and Scott (Ted's sister and Brother-in-law) came in from Birmingham. After dinner we opened gifts and had lots of good laughs. Here are a few of my favorites:

This is all of the 'kids'!



I am not sure the entire story on these - but I believe that these were some 'old school' overalls that were found and Ted had the pleasure of receiving them. He says that he is going to wear them in the woods -- I have no problem with that - I would just perfer NOT in public!

Birthday Surprise

Saturday was Shealy's Birthday and Clayton wanted to put together a surprise for her. Several of us went to her parent's lake house and were waiting for Clayton and Shealy when they returned from dinner. We had a wonderful time making smores, eating cake and staying warm by the bonfire. Thanks Clayton for including us and Happy Birthday Shealy!!!

Craft Time!

Ok -- I am definitely not someone you would call - Martha Stewart or homemaker by any means -- but I was determined to give it a try. I have loved the Ballard Designs Letter Wreath for 2 years. I knew that I could not spend that much money on it so after some inspiration from others' blogs -- I decided to give it a whirl. I think it turned out very well and I was pleased. I did have some wonderful help from my mom and grandmom who came to visit yesterday afternoon! So here is my cheap way of a Letter Wreath!

Beach Update - A Little Late!

The weekend before Thanksgiving we had a family girls trip to the beach. It was wonderful!! There were definitely great deals at the outlets and I am now completely done with my Christamas shopping. I find that getting done early with my Christmas shopping allows for a more relaxed and enjoyable Decemeber with all of the hussle and bussle of the holidays. The weather was perfect and I throughly enjoyed spending time with my family. Here are some pictures of the beautiful view we had from our room. We were very fortunate that we were able to stay at the Grand Sandestin in a 3 bedroom suite for Free. My aunts company is having a huge conference at the resort at the first of the year and they offered the room to us as a Thank you for her booking the conference with them. Enjoy the pictures.

Giving Thanks

I definitely want to give thanks for being blessed with such a wonderful family that all live relatively close to each other.
We went and spent the night in Montgomery with my parents on Wednesday night and as always - we watched a Christmas movie. (This is a tradition that the night before Thanksgiving we watch a Christmas movie). This year we watched Fred Clause -- and I have to say that it was Terrible!!! It was one of those movies that could not have had good reviews -- we should probably look at the reviews beforehand next time.












On Thursday - we ate lunch and dinner with each set of my grandparents and then Ted and I headed to Dothan to see his side of the family. Before we left Montgomery we did attempt some Christmas card pictures -- so here is a sneak peak -- and no this is not the one we used.

















We stayed in Dothan Thursday night and Friday. We decided to come home Friday night so that we could have time over the weekend to get out the Christmas decroations. Overall -- it was a wonderful time with family and a great reminder that we have so much to be Thankful for.

Beach Bound

As soon as work is over I am headed to the beach for the weekend. I am very excited to just get away and spend time with the family. We are doing a family 'Girls' trip to Destin. I will be joined by Allison (my sister), Mom, Gran (grandmother), Lou (mom's sister), and Rachael (cousin)! We are going to do some Christmas shopping at the outlets and watching movies. I think that everyone deserves a trip like this sometimes. Hopefully I will find some good deals and finish my Christmas shopping.

While I am down at the beach (hopefully where it is a little warmer) - Ted is doing the exact opposite. He is headed to go hunting for the weekend (as it is the first weekend of dear season). He will be camping out - in the cold - and he thinks that is awesome. I hope he has a great time and at least stays some warm and possibly have some luck at hunting too!

I hope everyone has a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Coupon Cutter

OK -- I know that the economy is not at its Highest Point -- so everyone is looking for ways to save money, especially around the Christmas season. I am a coupon cutter -- I always have been, but am learning more that there are really good deals out there - sometimes you just have to hunt for them. I am going to share some of the great deals that I have come across this morning. It does not matter what store that you shop at - you can always find good deals.

I think the key is also getting manfacturer's coupons too -- I get mine off the Internet and they are free -- i do not even pay any membership fees.

I usually go to Winn-Dixie, just because it is closet to my house -- but it works anywhere.
All of these deals are until 11/18:
Key #1: Winn-Dixie is Doubling Coupons -- ALL Week Long (This is HUGE)

Deal #1: Normally a pack of Oreos is 3.99 - it is on sale this week for 2.99. I have a coupon
for .75 off (x2 - double coupon) So 3.99-1.00-.75-.75 = 1.49 for a pack of Oreo's.
Regular Price: 3.99
What We Pay: 1.49
Save: 2.50






Deal #2: Winn-Dixie has buy 1 Nabisco products get one free (like Nilla wafers, Graham Crackers, Wheat Thins, etc). I estimate they are around 3.99 per box. I have a save $1.00 on TWO boxes of Nabisco Crackers (great we are already getting 2). But we get to double that coupon -- So, 3.99-2.00 = 1.99 for TWO boxes of Nabisco Crackers
Regular Price: 7.98
What We Pay: 1.99
Save: 5.99






Deal #3: You can buy Chex Mix Cereal (all flavors) for 4/$10.00. If you use your Winn-Dixie card -- you get $4.00 back -> So 4/$6.00. I have a coupon for 1.00 off when you buy 2 Chex Mix Cereal's. Well I can use 2 of those coupons (because I am already getting 4 boxes) and double those coupons.
Regular Price: 3.99 * 4 = 15.96
What We Pay: $2.00 for FOUR boxes of cereal
Save: 13.96








I definately will not eat 4 boxes of Check Mix Cereal anytime soon -- but with the Holidays coming up -- making homemade Chex Mix to take to friends house's will be great -- and it is Cheap!

I really enjoy looking at the coupons each week -- It is a fast and easy way to save some $$$!

Christmas Is Coming To Our House

...Or at least the Christmas Dishes are! I decided the other night that it would be a good idea to go ahead and get the Christmas Dishes out for the Holidays. We have 2 sets of Christmas China (one formal and one casual) that we only use/display less than 2 months out of the year. I think that is crazy. So, I decided that we should attempt to get our money out of them this year. I will post pictures of the tables later.

I really love the Christmas Season and get really excited about getting all of the decorations out of the closets and attic. I really wanted to go ahead and get more Christmas decorations out -- but I will stick with the dishes for now. Ted said before he knew it - it would be Christmas all year round with the way that I like to decorate for Christmas.

I think the next project I will tackle is putting out all of my Snow Village. I am not sure who all is familiar with Snow Village -- but I LOVE it!. This is a tradition that I have inherited from my mom. I have grown up setting up the WHOLE village -- (mom has TONS of houses) -- so much my granddad built a special arrange that my dad puts together each year for the display center. But it is really special as my Dad has a train that my mom have him the Christmas after they were engaged that goes around Mom's village. So -- it was only appropriate that my First gift after Ted and I got engaged was the Bride and Groom Snow Village people that go outside the Chapel. Ted knew he was doomed. Ted would definately say that this was his Least favorite part about Christmas. I only have around 6 houses right now -- he thinks now is bad -- it will only get worse!

My goal is by Thanksgiving to have everything decorated for Chirstmas except the Tree -- We will probably do that and the Outside House decorations after Thanksgiving -- (or really whenever I can con Ted into doing it!) Have a great day!

Getting Settled In

Well I have now been at my new job for 2 weeks and I am getting settled in. I have brought in some small pictures for my bookshelf and finaly got my desk arranged a way that I think will work for me. I went to Office Max earlier this week and work bought me a new desk chair (the one I had was pretty old). It is very comfortable and it is a Serta Massage Chair. The best part was it was on sale for $99.00!

I still do not have anything on my walls yet -- I am still trying to decide what all to put -- Any suggetsions welcome! I have 2 small charis (old chairs) for people to sit on when they come in my office -- and I would like to get some different ones - so keep your eyes out -- They will need to be cheap - because I will have to pay for those.

As for work itself -- I am starting some projects and learning how their systems are structured. I can tell that I am really going to enjoy working in this department. God Is Definately SO GOOD!

A New Start

Well today was my first day at my new job! I am now officially an Auburn University Employee. The day was not that eventful as we are still waiting for the University to give me my login credentials. I filled out some paperwork, got settled in my new office, and watched some online videos on the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES). I am an IT Specialist for the College of Agriculture and the ACES. I know that the 1st day is never like what a typical day really entails. Here is how my 1st day went:

I arrived in the parking lot around 7:25 am (I did not exactly know how long it would take me to get to work -- so I had to allow for plenty of time)! I sat in the car until around 7:35am and then went inside. After coming inside I turned on the lights and started reading the Auburn Plainsman -- I have not read that in about 2 years! After some people from the office arrived - I begin with the standard filling out papers!

About mid-morning there was a delivery to my office for flowers for me. I could not even imagine who would have sent me flowers on my first day of work -- especially since no one even knew exactly where my office would be. I open the card and it read - "Welcome to the Team. ACES/AG IT". What a great surprise from my new co-workers.

It was almost lunch time and a few co-workers said they were going to get some lunch and asked if I would like to join them. I typically bring my lunch everyday - but today being the 1st day -- I did not know what to expect. I gladly accepted the offer and 5 of us headed downtown for lunch. Lunch was great and it was good to get to know my co-workers.

My office still needs lots of work -- I am surrounded by 4 BLANK WHITE walls. It can't stay this way long -- as I will go crazy. Maybe by this weekend I will be able to figure out exactly how I would like my office to be arranged and how I would like to decorate.

I will keep you posted on decorating the office.