Dryer Drama

Alright kids. 

You know how that shelf above your washer and dryer is filled with junk things you only use once and awhile? You know how you have clothespins, downy balls, and random cleaning supplies just hanging out?

Open your ears and hear me now: go organize that shelf now. 

Please.

Let my lack of organizational skills be a warning to YOU.

This morning I decided to mop the kitchen floor. I went to that dreaded shelf  and grabbed the bucket. 

Should be simple enough, but my bucket was filled with random junk.

I just casually set the junk on top of the dryer so I could easily put it back in the bucket later.

(Don't you judge me. We are all friends here.)

I mop the floor and decide to move the clothes from the washer into the dryer.

(Do you see where this might be going yet?)

I pull out the lint trap to clean it off and bumped that little pile of random junk from the bucket.

I think to myself, "Wow. That could have been bad if something had fallen down the lint trap. I should really organize this. Tomorrow."

I turn the dryer on and hear the most horrible clanging/screeching sound I have ever heard in my life.

Crap.

I think to myself, "Did something really fall down there?"  "No. Way. Can that even happen?"

I turn the dryer off.

I pull out the in lint screen. I don't see anything.

I turn the dryer back on... just to see if the noise is still there.

Oh, buddy is it still there.

The next hour was spent with me being all handy-man like.

First, I had to take this door off the track so I could get the dryer out of the closet.

Then,  had to move that dang dryer (by myself since the good man was gone) into the hallway.

Then, I had to break into my good man's tools. SHHH.

Then, I took off the back panel and took a ton of pictures so I would know how to get it back on.

That's smart thinking right there.

Then I unscrewed that lint trap cover in the back.

Just look at the pesky little piece of junk that caused all of this in the first place.

Yep. A clothespin. 

Then, it took me about an hour to get the dryer back together, back in the closet, attatched to the wall and to get the door back in the track.

Then I looked at the shelf and shook my head. How did I let it get this bad?

For accountability and self motivation I will show you what my junk shelf looked like before.

I will clean it tonight and vow to never let it get this way again. Mainly because who wants to spend two hours taking apart a dryer?

Keeping it Real

Alright. I like keeping it real.

There are a lot of reasons I like being a teacher
(even though I complain a lot).

Making a difference, being a positive influence, changing lives, funny stories, a bajillion hugs a day... all of that is really great.

But lets be real for just a second...

 summer vacation is awesome.

So is sleeping later.

So is getting my good man's breakfast and lunch ready before he leaves.

So is jumping in the cool pool after working on the bathroom all day.

So is drinking a Strongbow to help you cool off after the pool. 

Yep. 

Dear Summer Vacation,

You have my permission to stick around for a while.

Random Ramblings

This post will be a rambling mix of several different things.

1. My good friend Kate is having her first baby today! Soon, we will know if "Baby E" is a girl or a boy and I can't wait! At one of her baby showers the hostess did a cool thing and asked everyone to bring a tea candle. I won't lie.. I was kinda wondering why in the world we needed to bring a candle. Turns out, everyone took a different candle home to light while Kate has the baby. A neat way to "spread positive energy and thoughts" for Kate and let her know we are all thinking of her.

2. I took down all the wall paper in our other bathroom and wasn't ready for what I found. A hot mess would be an appropriate term. A few strips of sheet rock peeled off and the wall paper was a huge pain to peel off in some parts. I think I know what I need to do now... or I at least know to go to Lowe's to find out.

3. I love the class I am taking online to earn two Professional Learning Units. The class is called, Solving Classroom Discipline Problems and after only 4 classes so far I feel more prepared for the year ahead! I honestly should have taken this class 3 years ago. I can't believe all the "ah ha!" moments I've had-as we called them in the M.A.T.

P.S. If any of my teacher friends are interested in the notes or class info-let me know. I'll be glad to share because it has been AMAZING so far!

Okay. Enough rambling. I have a bathroom to fix.

Happy Monday!

Is That Gluten Free?

Thanks to my good man's parents, we are each the proud owners of an iPod touch.

Now, I'm a little behind in the technological times. Make that way behind.

I didn't have an iPod and couldn't really imagine why I might need one.

 When I opened it up I sort of had to ask my good man what it was exactly.

I have now seen the light. This iPod touch thing is pretty cool.

Not only can I download songs and cds's but I can check my Gmail, Facebook, and my blogs.

All of that is cool but my favorite thing about it is the "Is That Gluten Free?" app.

It is hands down the best $5.99 I have ever spent.

This app lets you look at specific items and tells you if they are gluten free. You can search by item, store, or brand and it has a ton of things listed. It updates all the time and does all the "legwork" for you to see if something has gluten in it.

The best part is that it doesn't have to be connected to the internet to work. I took it with me to Kroger yesterday and looked up all kinds of things that were a little bit sketchy.

The word on the street is that they will release a "dinning out" version soon, which will be really helpful too.

If you can't do gluten, I would highly suggest the "Is That Gluten Free?" app. It makes life a lot easier!

Let Them Eat Cake

For our anniversary yesterday I decided I would be all domestic-like.

I made coconut fried shrimp and a wedding cake. That's right.
A wedding cake.

Not a huge 4 tier, flowers and ribbons kind- but a wedding cake no less.

My sweet momma made our "real" wedding cake and it was awesome! Check it out.

The caterer cracked it a little while they were setting it up but you can't really tell and it didn't really matter. It still tasted amazing!

P.S. Please ignore the gigantic picture of me on the table.This picture is for you to see the cake. You're allowed to have huge pictures of yourself blown up and put on your table at your own wedding.  

Momma also made the groom's cake. Check it out.

Anyway. How did I come about making a wedding cake yesterday?

It all started last week when I was home. My momma and I started talking about my awesome wedding. Then I started talking about how good the wedding cake was and I started wishing I could have another piece of it. And then my stomach growled.

Then, I casually played with the thought of maybe even trying to make some sort of cake for our anniversary.

Next thing I know she's pulling out recipes and bottles of almond flavoring and butter flavoring. 

I looked at her a little crazy.

Me... make a wedding cake?

Turns out... the secret trick to that delicious wedding cake was this little box right here.

Obviously, you add a few things and leave out a few things and make your own "wedding cake" frosting but really? A wedding cake starts with a plain ole' cake mix? Who knew?

I can't use the stuff in that box above anymore so I used this.

And honestly ya'll it was just as delicious!

So. That's how it came about. Want to see how it turned out?

Naturally, I had to add a pink flower.

Now. I knew my momma was talented at making and decorating cakes but I have even more of an appreciation since-someone- decided she wanted dots all over her huge wedding cake. 

This little cake wasn't even as big as the top layer of the real cake and the dots took forever and don't even really look great.

Anyway. It looked cute and tasted really good and was a fun thing for me to do on our anniversary. 

Best part of all was that I could eat a piece. The last three weddings I've attended I just looked at the cake and convinced myself that it probably wasn't all that great and definitely wasn't worth getting sick.

Yesterday, I got to make my cake and eat it too.

Note:

Aren't you proud of me for using not one-but two- classic cake references all in one post?

The First Day of My "Borin" Life

Today, my good man and I have been married for two years. Let's venture down memory lane, shall we?

 

Yep. June 21, 2008 was a pretty good day and I've had fun thinking back on it today.

Tomorrow I'll tell ya'll about the fried coconut shrimp (and dip made from leftover Jamaican rum) and the wedding cake I made. I'm not as good as my momma yet but I'm working on it.

Happy Anniversary, Seth!

Happy Birthday, Seth!

Yesterday was my good man's birthday. 

It blows my mind a little bit to think that I have been around for 9 of his birthdays so far. 

Wow. Time flies. We've come a long way since his 18th birthday where I got sick on the side of the road in the "hood" of Little Rock. I'll never forget him freaking a little and telling me to "hurry up."

But thats a story for another time.

His 26th birthday turned out pretty well, I think.

We ate waffles and drank coffee in the morning.

We at lunch at Taco Cabana... which was actually pretty good!

We went shopping for a scooter and actually came home with one.

He's psyched!

We grilled out and he got to eat on the "You Are Special Today" plate. He was SO excited about that!

Then we ate GF Yellow cake with chocolate fudge icing.

Then I forced him to take pictures with me in the swing.

Then we decided to live on the wild side and went to see the 10:30 showing of Jonah Hex.

 Not only did I stay awake, I decided to bite my tongue instead of going on and on about why in the world it costs $11 a person to see a movie. Progress!

Happy Birthday, Seth. I love ya!

El Porton, please

There are a lot of things I love about coming home.

Obviously, getting to see family and friends is at the top of that list but there are some other things I really love about coming home.

El Porton is one of them.

 I've spent some time at this place in my lifetime, buddy.

We pretty much go here any chance we get.When we have supper plans together we don't even have to say where we'll meet. We just know. 

Maybe we went three times while I was home.

Maybe I ate the same exact thing all three times.

Don't you judge me.

El Porton has the best white cheesedip, salsa, surf and turf, and raspberry margaritas. Ever.

They also have the best waiter, Luis.

He takes us every time we go in. Lunch or dinner-rain or shine...Luis is there.

And he always gives me a big hug and asks how my husband is. I ask about his sweet little wife.

Then, he knows we want cheesedip so he doesn't even ask anymore. He just brings it. It's awesome.

I have an insane number of pictures from inside El Porton over the years.
Here are just a few.

But I have even more memories of cheesdip, margaritas, and good friends.

 Yeah I've pretty much been on a roll here in Little Rock, as Collin Raye once said. Tomorrow morning I'm heading back to the ATL to get back to my good man. His birthday is Saturday and our Anniversary is Monday so we have a lot of fun things coming up! Goodnight!

The Wedding Weekend in pictures

Warning

If you don't care anything about an overload of pictures of a bride, her bridesmaids, her wedding cake, her rose petals, and other wedding related things... you have my permission leave now.

If you do care about all of that, allow me to show you a little snapshot of this weekend.

Here we have Sarah's Wedding Weekend in pictures.

Dinner with the bridesmaids at... El Porton, of course!

  

S& B cookies (Sarah & Brandon) at the Bridesmaid's Brunch.

The bride and her bridesmaids.

Filling boxes full of rose petals.

 

My hot pink toes after the pedicure. Like I would paint my toes any other color.

 

The beautiful bride.

                                                        

Aren't her flowers pretty?

 

Check out the sister of the bride...holding her bouquet, the bride's bouquet, Brandon's ring, and making sure we had supplies to decorate the car...all at the same time. TROOPER!

 Well that was a fun snapshot if I do say so myself. 

Now you're all caught up on my time in AR so far.

I'm hanging out with my Dadio in the country tomorrow and eating lunch with a friend (at El Porton, of course) tomorrow night. Have a good night!