My contribution

I'm finally getting around to doing my post about a cookie/cake/delish baked thing that Trying asked for a few weeks ago. Here is the original post.

Banana Split Cake is what I made last week for my co-workers. They all loved it and promptly asked me for the recipe. I gladly shared and loved the fact that they enjoyed it as much as I did. My mom makes this cake for holiday gatherings and it's always almost gone before you can blink. It's no bake either, just needs to be refridgerated over night which makes it beyond easy.

Banana Split Cake

Crust- 2/3 stick melted butter
2 cups or 11 squares of graham crackers crushed.

Mix melted butter and crushed crackers together. Put in the bottom of 13x9 baking pan and pack tightly.

2 eggs
2 sticks margerine
2 cups powdered sugar
3-5 sliced bananas
20 oz of crushed pineapple (well drained)
1 large container of Cool Whip
Maraschino cherries (halved)
Chopped pecans
Shredded coconut

Beat eggs, margarine and powedered sugar together no less than 5-10 minutes. Spread over crust.

Add layer of sliced bananas and then a layer of pineapple

Top with a layer of whipped topping. I like to put it on thick.

Top with cherries, pecans and coconut.

Refridgerate overnight.

The finished product: (I made a half-recipe for the office, if you're wondering why my pan is obviously not 13x9)




If you make it, you have to tell me if you like it or not!

Home from Houston

I'm back from Houston and I have to say it was an awesome trip. There were a few minor issues with me getting frustrated with bad navigation on the trip, but otherwise the day was great. So great in fact, that I've had to recover all day today by being extremely lazy and napping on and off. We didn't get home until 4 a.m. last night which obviously had something to do with it.

So without further ado, here's a photo blog of our day yesterday.



Unusual crafts at the flea market.



Some pineapples for sale too.



One of the many food stands at the flea market.

The flea market was great, but not really what I expected. I thought it would be more like a garage sale, but there were a lot of knock-off booths there. Cheap sunglasses, cheap t-shirts, knock off Coach bags and things of that nature. They even sold birds and dogs there. Some of the puppies were so cute that I had a hard time not bringing Boomer a new playmate home.



My bulls-eye at Baker Street Pub where we stopped for lunch. This place had amazing food and was located near Rice University. It was an awesome area of town and I'd love to go back and visit some other places around that area.




Red Sox conference on the pitcher's mound



Pence, a player for the Astros



Sean and I at the game



Found a great seat outside the stadium!



Beautiful area outside the park



Sean and I in an awesome mirrored pavilion



Ending the night with a frozen margarita

Fab Friday

Well, our daily thunderstorm just passed through, unfortunately it didn't make it any cooler around here. I thought I might have to stop and get a drink in my half-mile trek to the mailbox. No joke! I seriously don't know how my husband and others train in this weather down here. It's no wonder Sean was "this close" to a heat stroke last summer. Now THAT was a scary event.

I'm very ready for 4:00 to get here. I've done my work for the day, my boss has left and now it's just me and Dee the administrative assistant left.

Sean did me a big favor today and took Boomer to the groomer's to have his nails clipped. We were both a little worried about this because Boomer doesn't like strangers and also doesn't like his feet(paws)being touched. So, I was very relieved when Sean called to tell me that Boomer had acted wonderfully, if not a little scared and no groomers were harmed during his visit. Thank god! He did say however that Boomer was quite upset this morning when I got out of the car to go to work. Evidently he stood up in the seat, barking and whining. He loves Sean, but I know he loves me more. It's true!

I got a lovely suprise in the mail yesterday from my mom. She sent Sean and I all our Hawaii souviners that she had bought for us. I got an awesome floral purse, dress, vintagesque postcards, bracelet, a can of macadamia nuts and some chocolate-covered macadamia nut candy. Delicious I might add! Sean got a shirt and hat and of course he gets to share the candy and nuts with me. I don't know what my mom was thinking when she picked up the hat, it's very old-man looking, but he was very appreciative of the thought.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. Hopefully I'll get some great photos while we are in Houston. I'll try to share them on Sunday.

Happy Meal = Happy Mel

Ok..first of all I'm overwhelmed by the amount of cute baby pictures that I've seen on friends blogs today! Kick starts the baby fever in me. If you want to know who I'm referring to check out Andrea and Jenny. They have absolutley adorable children!

I just finished eating a McDonald's Happy Meal and I have to say I'm feeling pretty happy. The toy was crap though, that was the only downfall. (Yes I do eat Happy Meals and I'm 24) Anyway, today has been pretty good so far. My morning started out excellent because while weighing myself I noticed the scale had moved in the downward direction a few notches. I'm always very pleased when that happens!

Sean and I were talking this morning about us going to Houston this weekend with some friends of ours to see the Astros/Red Sox game. He told me he told his friend we should leave early so we can go do something I enjoy like a museum. My heart fluttered a bit when he told me that. Sometimes he really suprises me with just how much he thinks about my needs too. It gave me that giddy, school-girl feeling! I think instead of a museum I want to go to this massive flea market that they have close to Houston. It's 105 acres of vendors/stalls and I can't think of anything I'd rather do then go bargain shopping. It's like one huge garage sale! I'm already thinking of all the cool things I might find.

Speaking of Sean and his sweetness, I came home from work yesterday to find he had cleaned the kitchen, unloaded and then loaded back the dishwasher and had started dinner. Grilled fish, with veggies and rice. We'd had a small disagreement the other day about him helping out more and so I was glad that our conversation had done some good. I'll be the first to admit that marriage can sometimes be a bit of work, but it's always worth it to me.

Only 9 days until our one year anniversary! Pretty good, considering a lot of people didn't think we would make it this far.

Where are these tears coming from?

I don't know what it is with me lately. I keep getting on these crying jags where I cry for the silliest reasons.

Like tonight, I just dropped Sean off at his friend's house to play some beer pong. I opted not to go and really wasn't invited since it's a guy thing and I have to work tomorrow. They are all having a four day weekend so none of them have to worry about work. I don't mind him hanging out with friends and normally this wouldn't bother me at all, but tonight when I found out he wanted to go I felt so sad.

Maybe I've gotten spoiled seeing him so much. The first five months we were married I was living in Oklahoma to finish a work contract and he was in Louisiana. We got to see each other about 3 times during those 5 months and the times in between were torture. Now I've gotten used to actually seeing my husband everyday and I guess really miss him even when he's only going to be gone overnight. I feel absolutley ridiculous crying about this.

The other day I cried because I heard a song that reminded me of when Sean and I first started dating. I actually came home and cried on his shoulder. When he asked me what was wrong and I told him he asked me if I was pregnant. (That's a big negative by the way.)

Sometimes being a woman really has its downfalls. I hate being emotional for silly reasons!

A very wordy Wednesday

I'm alone at the office today. Well...sort of. The only other person here is my boss and since he resides for most of the day in his office upstairs it seems as if I'm here by myself. That's ok though. I have a couple of things to work on and when I'm not working on that it gives me time to blog and search the Interent to my heart's content and I'm ok with that.

Military life is good right now for Sean and I. He got word a few weeks ago that he should be going before the board soon for a promotion and we are both excited about that. I'm very proud of him to say the least. Despite rumors of a possible deployment, we are still moving ahead on planning on PCSing from here in January. I don't put much stock in rumors, especially about deployments. As Sean has been told several times since I met him that he will be deployed and nothing has happened. So...until I get offical word, I'm not worrying about it.

I met and took a walk with a new acquaintance yesterday. Her husband is deployed from Ft. Polk and she has been living in North Carolina, but moved back here this past week. We decided to take a walk last night, which Boomer loved, and had a good time talking about our lives. She seems nice, so who knows? I might have met someone else I'm actually compatible with here. No easy feat so far, I assure you. I don't mean to come off sounding snobby with that statement at all. It just seems that a lot of the women I've met are younger than me and still in that party phase. As in, going out every weekend and drinking while their husband is deployed phase. I don't mind a night out every once in awhile, but partying is a part of my past and I don't see myself picking that up ever again.

It's been storming almost everyday in the afternoons here lately. Almost reminds me of Florida and the trips to Walt Disney World when it would storm inevitably during the afternoon to later give way to sunshine. What's weird down here though is they have these warnings about tropical funnels. I guess they are similar to tornadoes, but they never touch ground? Louisiana has some unusual things about it. Trust me. I still love it though, crazy humidity and all. My hair hasn't looked right since I've been here, even equipped with what I thought was a decent straightner. Guess it's time to invest in a Chi.

Memory Monday

Time for another memory Monday. Today's memory is fairly recent. It comes from 2006 when I took a summer geography course that involved camping for 2 weeks in various National Parks and Monuments in the west. It was the best college course I ever took by far and also one of the best trips of my life. On that trip, I made a friend that I still keep in contact with to this day, even though we only spent a couple of weeks together and were from different states.

On this trip I got to experience Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons and the Arches of Utah for the very first time. I'd never really hard-core roughed it and we would have to go days without showers, cook completely on camp stoves and slept in the sometimes bitter cold nights, although it was May.

I saw some of the most amazing scenery ever. There were so many moments on that trip when I would just sit quietly and try to soak-up that exact moment I was living in. I tried to capture those moments in pictures, but the feeling can't be repeated.

My favorite moment on that trip happened while we were in Rocky Mountain National Park. There was a ridge directly behind our campsite and many times we would trek up there and sit on the ridge, watching the sun set in the west and the elk below us in a meadow. The first night we were there it was a full moon, the sun was sinking in a purple sky and the elk would bellow from time to time. It was magical. That's the best way I can describe it. I remember sittig there just trying to enjoy the atmosphere and remember that moment as best as I could. I just hope in life that feeling is repeated for me many times.

This is a view from the ridge.



Here is part of our group on the porch at the Old Faithful Inn.

Moving Out

It's a beautiful, sunny day here in Louisiana. Boomer is laying in a sunbeam in the floor of the bedroom, I'm taking a break from cleaning the house to sneak in a blog. Sean is out in the field for a few hours today, but should be back this afternoon.

I'm also quite pleased because our neighbors are moving out. They are actually a Marine family and he is a recruiter in the next town over from us and so they have been here for about a month and a half, but they are moving out today. I'm not sad because, A. the wife and I had a conversation about deployments and she made it known her husband annoys her and if he weren't recruiting she'd want him deployed again. B. they have 3 dogs, two of which are considered dangerous breeds here on post and they CONSTANTLY bark everytime I set foot out the door or even open the door for that matter. That I can do without.

So, in the meantime I'm going to enjoy having no next-door neighbors and hope for some good neighbors this next time around.

This weekend has been interesting so far. Friday night Sean and I went out with four of his friends and it was pretty much my job to keep them all in line. Sean actually had to calm a few of them down a few times. You know how younger 20-something guys can be. It was entertaining though to say the least and they all insisted on calling me, "Mrs. Payne" I don't know if it was a respect thing or what since Sean and I are both older than all of them, but I finally told them to just call me Melissa. Did they listen? Nope...I was still Mrs. Payne all night. For some reason a few of the places we were at kept giving me trouble about being underage. I may look young, but I'm almost 25 and I guess I could take that as a sort-of compliment, but it really got to be annoying after awhile.

Anyway....I guess I should get back to cleaning. I'd like to get done before Sean gets home.

Robbing the poor...

I officially HATE the IRS! I have paid almost $600 in taxes this year to both the federal government and my state government. I barely made any money and today when I called to ask why I haven't received my stimulus check, they informed me it was because I made a mistake on my taxes and I owe them another $200! Needless to say I was livid and it didn't help that the lady I was talking to was rude and pretty much refused to answer any questions I had for her.

I'm very upset by this!

Friday Flowers

Words can't express how happy I am that it is Friday. I woke up this morning and didn't even mind getting up early because it was Friday and that means I have the next two days off. If that's not exciting I don't know what is.

Sean and I are supposed to go out tonight with one of his friends so I hope that ends up being a good time. We might go see a movie this weekend too, but that's still up in the air. What I really need to do is be a responsible adult and clean the house and work on our expense report on Excel, but on a Friday that really doesn't seem the most fun thing to do.

I made banana split cake last night since it's one of my co-workers last day here at work. Banana split cake is a family favorite and my mom usually makes it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's really tasty and so easy to make. I'd share the recipe, but I left it at home and I also took a picture of my masterpiece, but that's on my camera at home too. I'll have to add those back in later.

I will leave you however with a flower picture I took last week on one of the trails here at Ft. Polk. Hope it brightens your day!



Everyone enjoy your weekend!

The Baby Shower

As some of you know I went home this past weekend for my best friend's baby shower. She is having a little boy and is due in August. It was great to see her and some of our other friends, plus the cake we had is my favorite. It's got raspberry filling and her family always buys this cake from bakery in our hometown for special occasions. Now that I think of it, I should have taken a picture of the cake!



This is Jessica and I. We took several pictures, but we are both infamous for closing our eyes in pictures. Oh...and by the way this is the other dress I ordered from Forever 21. It was actually long enough to wear!



This is my friend Gina and former roomate. She is holding Zach, my friend Jamie's baby. He's always wearing a hat. He's too cute!



This is my other best friend, Jamie. I have known her and Jessica since we were 7, although we havent' been best friends since then. In high school the three of us were always together.

The rest of my visit went well. I visited both sets of grandparents and even scored some pumpkin pie from my Grandma Billbe. She tries to make it everytime I come to town since she knows how much I love it. Grandma's pies are the best! She makes the crust from scratch, sometimes I think the crust is the best part. One of these days I'm going to have to get the recipe for all her delicious pies.

I did miss seeing/visiting my parents though. They were in Hawaii with my brother for two weeks so a visit to them will probably take place sometime after my birthday. I'm ready for them to get home though. Since they've been on vacation I haven't been able to talk to them as much and I have to admit I really have been missing their antics!

Wordless Wednesday- With a Twist

So I've lurked several weeks on American Mums Wordless Wednesday Fotofest and I thought it was high time I joined in.

The theme this week is vintage.

The main street in the town nearest to us is chock-full of vintage images, so I chose it as my subject.



The old courthouse, quite grand isn't it? The clock tower still keeps perfect time and chimes on the hour.



The old Vernon Bank that is no longer in use. It has the best sign though!




Even the stop signs look vintage to me.

Work Wear?

Last week I ordered a couple of dresses off of the Forever21 website. I usually don't do that since normally I like to try on clothes before I buy them, but I thought at any rate if I didn't like it or it didn't fit then I could send the item back. So I placed my order and eagerly awaited my dresses to come in.

Last Friday I finally got them and couldn't wait to try them on. One dress I had ordered for work, as it was a cute, khaki shirtdress.



Adorable right?

Well...it was so cute on. It fit perfectly, except for one major thing. It was way too short! As in you could almost catch a glimpse of my posterior short! I was so disappointed because it was so cute and if longer would have been great to wear to work. I thought about sending it back and getting a large, but when I checked the website the length was only 30.5 inches. Guess I should have noticed that before I ordered it!

I tried it on for Sean the other day. His response? "Wear it to work, maybe you'll get a raise." He was joking of course, but I vetoed that idea.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the dress. Most likely return it and try to exchange it for something else. It's even too short to wear out, so I won't get any use out of it unless I return it for something else.

Memorable Monday

I think I'm going to start a new thing on Mondays where I talk about a memory I have. I am not a fan of Mondays and so I'm hoping this will spice it up a bit!

Of course, it's not as much fun if you don't share your stories or memories so leave a comment with however much you care to share.

Today's topic: Childhood Playhouses



Today's memory comes from my younger days. I was three-years-old and my parents were building a house, right next to wear our trailer was at on our land. I remember the excitement of watching the crews build our home and watching my mom paint the various rooms in our home. She asked me what color I wanted my room and being a three-year-old little girl the obvious answer for me was pink. I had pink carpeting, light pink walls and flowered wallpaper in pink shades. I also had the neatest bay windows with a built-in toybox. I was in heaven!

The best part was when my mom would give me leftover scraps of wallpaper and I would try to decorate a huge cardboard box I was using as a playhouse on the front porch. I would assemble various dolls and stuffed animals in there and play for hours. I was sad when the box finally fell apart and my playhouse was no more.

I always wanted a pink playhouse when I was little and I got that...sort of. My dad made me a pink treehouse. It was great until the wasps tried to take it over!

Your turn!

Who are you reading?

In the way of blogs that is?

Most, if not all my subscriptions are military related. Either current or former significant others to military men. I've been reading Andrea the longest. She always has a good story and pictures of her entertaining and impossibly cute family on her blog.

The blogs listed on my page are my daily reads and I enjoy everyone of them. I'd like to expand my horizons though and find some other good blogs to browse.

So what blogs do you love? What are your daily reads?

I'd love to check them out and possibly add them to my list of must-reads.

Save the drama for your mama!

This morning was quite stressful and I hope not to have another morning like it for some time. Basically a former friend of mine told me what a horrible person I am because of a situation he messed up with a mutal friend of ours. There's only so many times I can take someone telling me I have an ugly inside and bringing up past mistakes of mine before I want to snap and tell them off. Which is pretty much what I did.

I make mistakes and I haven't always treated this individual the nicest I could have, but he's bordering on harassment and I've just had enough.

Other than that the day has been great. I had an amazing Cajun roast beef sandwhich from a local cafe and I'm getting my new front tires on and an alignment done as we speak. After work I'm going by Wal-Mart to purchase a gift for the baby shower and then hopefully Sean will be home at a decent time so I can spend a little time with him before we are apart for 3 days. I know he's going to miss me and my silly ways. The other night when I came back from the gym he was cooking in the kitchen and I burst in there singing Christopher Cross's "Moon and New York City" song. He just had a quizzical look on his face and then smiled shaking his head. At least I keep things interesting right?

I wanted to thank everyone who gave me feedback on my last blog. It did me good to hear your opinions. That's one reason why I love blogging so much because I get to hear opinions of others and that's always important to me.

Well, they called and said my car is ready. Guess I should go pick it up!

Where am I headed in life?

I've been thinking a lot lately about who I am and where I am today.

I'm my own worst critic as I'm sure many of us are. I can honestly say that I'm rarely happy with myself. Yes...I know that sounds sad and slightly pathetic. But I am being brutally honest. I always feel like I can be this much better at one thing or another. Not even competing with people, but with myself.

I'm not sure where this overly-critcal side of me comes from or why it won't just subside. There is nothing more I would like than to be happy with who I am. It just doesn't happen that often. I always see room for improvement and that bugs me.

Take for instance, my weight. I am what would consider by the BMI to be slightly overweight. I'm about 7-10 lbs over what I should be. I'm one the shorter side so I'm not supposed to weigh very much. I've lost about 12 lbs in the last couple of months and although I'm very proud of that fact and also because I'm much healthier I just keep pushing myself with "you're not there yet..you still could look much better." When in reality I don't think I look that unhealthy and I don't feel unhealthy. I just feel like I'm not there yet.

I also am hard on myself about not having a career. Sure I've had a few decent jobs since I graduated from college, but my dream was to work with the National Park Service. Being an Army wife, that makes it more difficult. The nearest historic site is more than an hour away and not hiring. I see friends with careers and wonder what am I doing? I'm almost 25..shouldn't I be grown-up and on my chosen path? It makes me feel bad sometimes that I'm not. I want to be a photographer, but I'm not sure really even how to go about that, especially since I don't really want to photograph people. I'd like to get my Masters in Library Science while we are in Italy just so I have more career options when we get back to the States. Quite honestly my B.A. really hasn't done anything for me.

I don't know...I just feel like my head is kind of a whirlwind of all these critical thoughts lately, I'm not sure where they are coming from and why I'm having all these doubts about myself.

I know my positive qualities and try to remind myself of them.

~I have a college degree
~ I'm a loyal friend
~ I try to be a great wife
~ I have a job
~ I'm funny
~ I'm intelligent
~I'm a good cook
~I have great friend and family
~I have a wonderful husband
~I am kind (most of the time)

Does anyone have thoughts like this? Or am I just being a negative Nancy?

I guess at the end of the day my ultimate goal is to just accept what I am and admit I've accomplished some things in life. I WANT to be happy with myself. I think its' just going to take some work.

Before I moved to Louisiana....

I didn't know really about Cajun cooking. My extent of tasting it was gumbo. Other than that I'd never really had Louisiana cuisine.

Since I've moved here I've tried numerous dishes with names that hard to pronounce and found out what a few other Cajun/French dishes were.

I've had the best spicy Bloody Mary ever, they really know how to make them down here. I've tried all kinds of Po'Boys at my favorite deli in Lake Charles. I've also had the biggest, freshest shrimp of my life down here.

I now know what boudin, kolaches and beignets are. I've eaten alligator in several different forms and had some very spicy crawfish too. You have to suck on their head to get the real spicyness out.

There are two spices down here that are pretty much added to EVERYTHING. I'm talking on popcorn, on crawfish, baked potatos, on grilling meat, even on tortilla chips.

They are:



Tony's being the most popular. Our turkey last Thanksgiving was basted in this.

AND



Slap Ya Mama, which is made not too far from here and is a more local spice.

They are similar and both quite good. Sean prefers to season with Slap Ya Mama though.

Before I moved down here I'd never heard of either of these. People talk about using Tony's all the time though. I even heard it at lunch today.

I recommend to everyone to come down to Louisiana and try the food down here. It's seriously amazing!

Shoes!

These are two pairs of shoes that I bought at Payless the other day. The red ones are my favorite and they look super cute with jeans or a skirt.





I also found some good stuff at Goodwill. I bought about six shirts from there that will do well for either work or outside of work, two books and the Muppets Christmas Carol. One might ask why I bought a Christmas movie in the summer, but I love Christmas movies and I don't have that one so there's no way I could pass it up.

Unfortunately I didn't find any skirts, which is what I really wanted to buy on this trip. I even went to the mall to look and still didn't find anything I wanted. However, I did order 2 dresses off of the Forever 21 website last week so I'm hoping they come in soon.

I even had sushi for lunch on Saturday. A rainbow roll to be exact and it was just heavenly. I had dearly missed eating sushi.

As I said, Sean came back yesterday and so it was nice having a bed partner again even if I don't sleep as well in a crowded bed.

I'm getting excited about seeing my friends at the baby shower this weekend. I'm also very excited to see my best friend Jess, who the shower is for. I haven't seen her since she was only about a month along so I'm excited to see what a pretty, pregnant lady she is.

It looks like I will be taking Boomer home with me this weekend, as Sean has to work again. So that should be quite interesting. He's never been on a car ride that long and one occuring during the late evening hours should be even more interesting. I hope he does well. There was one incident of him being carsick. Let's just hope he doesn't repeat that!

Sad Thoughts

I don't know what it is with me today, but I've been kind of down today.

I was missing Sean terribly, but he came home late this afternoon so that was a plus and definetly cheered me up.

However, I just got off the phone with my parents and they are in Hawaii on their cruise having a great time.

I don't know if it's because this is the first major vacation I've missed out on or the realization that in less than a year I'm going to be incredibly far away from them in Italy, but I shed a few tears after the phone call.

Guess it's just a blue kind of day.

Self-Portrait

I took a few self-portraits today because I needed a new picture for my MySpace and Facebook profiles.

I love doing black and white pics the best of myself because they don't show make-up/face flaws as much.

Shopping Delight

I'm up bright and early...well for a Saturday I am. Mainly because Boomer decided it was time for me to be up. So he insisted on laying over my neck until I jumped out of bed. Silly dog!

I'm off to Lake Charles for the second weekend in a row. I've decided to hit the thrift store today. I need a few more pieces for my work wardrobe and so I'm going to venture to the huge Goodwill that's in Lake Charles. I don't like to brag, but I'm a fantastic thrift store shopper. My friends all ask me how I can find these deals and they can't, but it takes a practiced eye. I've been shopping at Goodwill with my mom since I was a wee tot.

I've even got some of my friends hooked on shopping there now. When I come back home to Oklahoma, my friend Gina and I always try to go there. I'll let you in on a little secret. That's where I got my wedding dress. It all actually happened by chance. Gina and I were shopping there and I happened to notice this gorgeous wedding dress there. I looked at the size, perfect size for me. I tried it on, it fit perfectly! The only thing that it needed was a new zipper and dry-cleaning. So, I got my wedding dress for $75 bucks. Quite a story huh? Yeah..I think so too.

Well, I'm off to my Mecca. I can hear it calling my name.

"Melissa...come shop at me...you know you can't stay away..."

Who am I to argue with that? Ha ha

The Great Recipe Swap

It's Friday! It's also my 50th post, so I'm thinking something more unusual is in order for today.

I was thinking about maybe a recipe blog. I'm also up for new recipes and trying things out and I'd love to try some of your favorite recipes that you love to make.

I'll share one of my faves and if you want, post one of yours in the comments. If there's a story behind it, feel free to share that too.

Don't be shy!

I'm posting a recipe for Potato casserole. My mother makes this a lot and it's my all-time favorite dish. Sean loves it just as much as I do and often requests that I make it. (I knew I married the right man!)

Potato Casserole
2lb package frozen shredded hash browns
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1/2 tsp salt.

Combine all ingredients in a very large bowl and then smooth the mixture into a 9x13 pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Crush 2 cups cornflakes, smooth on top of the casserole, then bake for another 15 minutes.

So let's hear those recipes!

Much Ado about Weddings

I have a small rant about weddings. Not specifically about them, but about the people who insist on making them a ridiculous affair. I understand that weddings are individual to the couple, but I find these days that people are more concerned about their weddings then what it's symbolizing.

My wedding was about Sean and I and our commitment to each other and sharing it with our friends and family. Our wedding was a small affair, we didn't have a huge reception at a country club, limos to and from the church and I didn't have a $5,000 dollar dress that was custom made for me. We worked with the budget we had and I loved our wedding. Sure there were a few things I wish I could have had or incorporated into the wedding, but to me it's not a big deal.

My aggravation about this comes from a girl that I attended church with for a number of years and also went to school with. I don't so much have an issue with her, but with her parents. They are the type of parents that brag and boast about every single little thing their child does. The father is the music minister of my church back home and insists on making announcements about what great things his daughter or son has done in the past week. Mind you this is done during our praise and worship service, something I find highly inapporpriate.

This girls mother has informed my mother on several occasions that I "stole" her daughters wedding colors and just won't let it go. It's ridiculous because I had already started planning my wedding before her daughter was even engaged! And to insinuate I have nothing better to do then try to steal her daughters ideas is quite insulting to me.

They are the type of parents that made her wedding into a huge ordeal. You would have thought Princess Di was getting married all over again. It's not my money and so they can do what they want, but it was more about impressing people then anything and I just think that church-going people should be a little bit above that.

My mom however, did inform me that several things I did/or decorated with at my reception were identically duplicated at theirs. I told my mom if she was the type of woman that this other lady was then she would have marched right over there and accused her daughter of stealing my ideas. My mom and I got a good laugh out of that.

I just don't understand people sometimes. A wedding is one day! Why spend a ridiculous amount of money just to impress people? That's not what marriage is about.

Puppy Problems

I had a long, crazy day at the office. I'm up to my ears in new claims coming in and I just wanted to come home to a nice, relaxing home and rest.

Well...Boomer had other ideas. He insists on provoking the neighbor's dog! If he knows it's outside he will stick his head under the fence, bark at it and then nip at it when it comes over to him. I'm sitting here on the computer trying to read a blog and I hear a commotion coming from outside. I immdediately run outside, find him halfway under the fence, grab him, promptly smack him on the behind and tell him no and then bring him inside with me. I don't want my neighbors to hate me because my dog insists on being aggressive to their dog. He gets in trouble, yet he continues to do it. I don't want to not let him go outside at all, but I don't want him to hurt their dog either. Has anyone dealt with this? With dogs in general or more specifically with Min-Pins? If so please let me know!

Anyway, Sean is gone to the field for X amount of days. He's heard several different things. So like the Army isn't it? He's heard 2 days, 4 days and 8 days. Personally I'm hoping it's anything but the 8 days. I might go crazy with just me and Boomer here for 8 days. I did get to have lunch with him today though before the left for the field so that was a nice suprise.

On my way out of work today I found two heads-up pennies on the ground. I consider that to be very lucky, even though I don't exactly believe in luck. So I took it as a good sign and pocketed them. On my way home though I passed a horrible wreck at this intersection that I use every morning on the way to work. It made me stomach clench just seeing the vehicles, especially because one was on it's side. I just hope everyone is alright.

Well, time for me to go put my feet up for a bit before I venture to the gym.

Attention Houston: We Have a Problem

I had all intentions of writing some great blogs this week because Sean would be in the field most of this week, but my Internet is choosing not to co-operate so I’m using a few minutes of down time at the office to write instead.

I called Sprint last night to talk to a operator to see if we could figure out what the problem with my Internet is. Needless to say he was less than helpful. His advice was to simply take my computer to a technician and have it looked at. I tried to explain it wasn’t a problem with my computer because our PS3 would not load the Internet either, but he wouldn’t hear it. Obviously there is a problem with the Internet and not both of my machines. I’m hoping this situation is rectified soon because I do not like being without Internet in my home.

Last night Sean was at the ranges until around 11:00 so it was just Boomer and I last night. We played ball for a bit, he attempted to help me clean, if you consider dragging socks around the house cleaning, I even got some cardio in last night at the gym and dropped off our movies that were due. I’d say it was a productive evening.

My parents are leaving Friday for Hawaii so I called to talk to them last night, but ended up talking to my dad since my mom and brother were out checking cows. I wish I could go with them, but I didn’t have enough money to when they were planning the trip and even if I did now I couldn’t miss two weeks of work. This is the third time my parents have been to Hawaii, but my brother has never gone and none of them have done Hawaii by cruise. Although the second week they are just going to be island hopping. I have to admit I’m a tad jealous!



We’ve been busy at work lately. I process a new claim, lawsuit or incident about everyday. I’m auditing files right now for payments, but sometimes I just sit and read the file I’m auditing. I had no idea that people could/would sue for some of the things they are complaining about. It’s just crazy! I will admit though that the Hurricane Katrina cases we have are the most interesting to me. There’s something about that whole time that fascinates me. I’m not sure why. Maybe because it’s that I love history so much and this is going to be a very significant part of history.

Sean and I decided to get Netflix the other day. We’ve been renting a lot of movies and it’s just too expensive to keep getting them from Blockbuster. Rentals here are $4.99 and that’s ridiculous to me. That’s even for older movies. I’d much rather have Netflix for $8.99 a month and get unlimited rentals. I’ve already added a bunch of movies to our list and there’s a ton of interesting documentaries that I want to watch.

Next weekend I’m going back to Oklahoma for my best friend’s baby shower. We’ve been best friends since the 8th grade and we’ve been friends ever since. We even roomed together for our freshman year at college. Everyone told us we would hate each other after that, but we’ve proved them all wrong. Anyway…this is her first baby and so naturally I want to be there for the shower. It should be a fun time back home, although since I’ll be leaving Friday after work I won’t be getting there until very early Saturday morning and I’ll have to turn right around and leave Sunday afternoon, but it’ll still be worth it.

Shoe Shopping and a birthday bash

I have been on a quest to find new running shoes this weekend and I've had nothing but bad luck so far.

I've had my current pair of running shoes for a couple of years. Way over what I should have had them. It's more than time to get a new pair since I run about 10 miles a week.

I need Asics Gel Nimbus.

Exhibit A.



I need that kind specifically because I underpronate when I run ( run on the outside of my foot) so this shoe specifically is for that. I've tried tons of brands and styles and this is the only shoe that gives me cushioning and keeps my back, knees and hips from hurting after I run.

We went to Lake Charles yesterday and stopped by the mall. With three athletic shoe stores inside I was confident I could find the shoes I needed. Um...not a pair of Asics in all 3 stores.

So I look at the PX today. They carry Asics, but not the Gel Nimbus. I go to Shoe Dept. in Leesville. No Asics. By this time I was quite frustrated as you can imagine. Finally I just told Sean I'd go home and order them off of AAFES.com. They actually have them on there and for a somewhat decent price. Who knew finding shoes could be so difficult?

I didn't have such a hard time finding jeans though yesterday, thank goodness! I always buy my jeans at American Eagle, because in the past I've had the best luck with them fitting me. See, I'm on the shorter side 5'4" and for some reason a lot of brands seem to think women who are short are also incredibly skinny. Not so in my case. American Eagles short jeans in my size fit perfectly. So I snatced up a distressed pair for weekend wear and a more conservative pair in a darker wash for casual days at the office.

Today has been incredibly lazy again. Besides my quest for shoes and a brief stop by Blockbuster to get National Treasure 2 I've done a whole lot of nothing. Technically today was supposed to be cleaning day at our house, but we have done hardly anything around here. I actually even took a 2 hour nap this afternoon and I NEVER do that. I'm sure I'll have a tough time sleeping tonight though.

Yesterday evening we celebrated a friend's birthday at Buffalo Wild Wings in Lake Charles. The friend and his wife just had a baby a couple of weeks ago and brought him along to the restaurant. I ended up holding him most of the time. I figure it's good practice for later on. He was a very quiet baby, slept most of the time and only started fussing once when he needed to be changed. While I was holding him though all of Sean's friends kept making comments about how obvious it was that I wanted a baby and soon. It kind of aggravated me to be quite honest. Just because I'm holding a baby doesn't mean I have extreme want of a child. Actually I really haven't had baby fever since we got our dog a few months ago. Sean and I have talked about when we want to have a child and yes we will probably have one in Italy, but we aren't ready to start trying yet. Sean and I are older than pretty much everyone we know around here, but we are by no means old and I just hate people assuming that because I'm almost 25 then I need to start having kids. I do want children, but I am going to do it when it's best for me and for Sean and I as a couple.