While we've owned our house for almost 2 years, we've spent much of our time renovating it and 'making it ours'. This has left little time for anything else...especially entertaining. We frequently have friends over, but really just to hang out for small periods of time.

This past weekend we had our first official ‘gathering of the group’ to watch some pigskin and eat some cow. Actually there was very little cow involved. Mostly we had veggies. More on that in a sec.

Owen and I live in a house divided. I hate that term, but there’s really no getting away from it. I went to THE Loveliest Village on the Plains for undergrad, and Owen went to that other school for undergrad and grad school. But because I refuse to live our lives being ‘a house divided,’ there are only a few mementos of the 2 schools in our house. I just paint the walls blue instead. (Orange isn’t really in at the moment or I’d have orange walls to!) Oh, and we went to rival high schools too. But we don’t really keep tabs on that.

Anywho…while the O-ster was working Saturday, I watched the Auburn game and cleaned house and cooked. Auburn may have won, but we’ve got some work to do if we want to make it number 7.

My house cleaning adventure was quite a whirlwind. I piddled around until I was almost out of time. But I found some time saving shortcuts that really saved the day. And my favorite cleaning products were a big help too. Look for a post on those later! Being the clean freak that I am, I LOVE finding time saving but good cleaning products!!

Here’s a snippet of the yummy grub I whipped up:

Redneck Caviar
BBQ Biscuit Cups (aka “those cups of meat”)
Ham & Turkey Roll Ups
Veggies and Spinach Dip (courtesy of Publix)
Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies

Well I guess that’s not really a snippet. That’s pretty much everything. The Ham & Turkey Roll Ups were the biggest hit (Thanks Dianna!!). They were the only item that yielded zero leftovers. I’m still learning the quantity piece of entertaining. I made way too much food! But at least we’ll have some leftovers to munch on for the week!

Our friends Mike and Jennifer brought baby Jack (about 18 months old? – I can’t remember Jenn) over to play. He’s the cutest little rugrat!! He and Tasmo had a ball playing together. Literally. Jack brought a ball to play with, and the Monkey decided it belonged to him. It lasted about 20 minutes before Tas popped it. But Jack didn’t mind. He just took Tas’ bone from him and threw that instead! It was the first time Tas had really had an open opportunity to play with someone his size. He’s been around kids before, but we’ve been very careful to shield them from his antics. But Saturday he proved that he can hang with kids no problem. After Jack had a mini chocolate chip pie, Tas made sure his hands and face were clean as a whistle! Jack would run around the house and Tas would just chase him. Then they’d turn around and Jack would chase Tas. There were a few ‘uh-ohs’ when Tas knocked Jack over, but not a tear was shed! He’s such a fun little rascal! (Jack, not Tas…well Tas is fun too, but you know what I mean!)

After the game, a few folks stayed to play a round of cards. Kim had beginner’s luck and won the whole game. Congrats Kim! Although I think she was bluffing on her beginner status!! Either that or she’s watched to many poker tourneys on TV!

After everyone left, we had a nice chat with our neighbors who were also still up! It was about 2am by this point!! Then O and I watched the game again before calling it a night.

Here are some snapshots of O and I singing Kumbaya to everyone after the game.

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Labels: War Tide

Last night we were serenaded to the sounds of the Music Builds Tour, featuring Third Day, Switchfoot, Jars of Clay and Robert Randolph & the Family Band. Ahh...the joys of living a hop skip from The Verizon Wireless Music Center-Birmingham. Well, actually it's a bit farther than a hop skip...but you'd be amazed at how sound travels in our neck of the woods.

If you sit on our front porch, you can actually hear the words of the songs. It's actually pretty neat...free concerts all year! As you may or may not know, I grew up about 2 streets over from where O and I live now...and I remember sitting on our back porch on night's there were concerts and singing along! It's kind of neat to be back in those memories again. O doesn't really get it, so he could care less. All he was worried about was when they were going to end so he could get some sleep. 4am comes early when Switchfoot is jamming in your front yard!


So, after I finished up some things I had to do around the house, I decided I was going to go out on the front porch and listen for a bit. At the time I wasn't sure who was even there in concert, but the beat sounded nice! I planned to sit outside and listen to a set, sipping my evening tea...(since our honeymoon I'm all about afternoon/evening tea) before going to bed. As I walked out onto the front porch, but unbeknownst to me...I was greeted with this frightening sight...

Although this is what it looked like, this isn't the actual spider, but might as well be. (And there was really only one)...but the web was MUCH bigger than my head, and he almost had me for dinner. If Tas hadn't run out without his collar on and forced me to chase after him, I would've been spider munchies for sure!!

Naturally I screamed bloody murder, ran inside and yelled at O to come kill the spider. He was having none of it - it was bedtime after all - and my screaming sent Tas into a tailspin which he had to get under control, so I decided I would take charge!

As the spider literally shriveled up and floated to the ground with a string of its web hanging from its butt, I sat and stared at it, suddenly feeling really bad for killing the poor beast. I thought about how it really probably meant no harm. And in fact I'm sure it would've captured a lot of icky bugs in its massive web.

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Labels: Charlotte's Web

Tasmo requires LOTS of exercise. Owen and I do too, but our bodies will frequently quit on us before Tas is ready to stop. We both enjoy running...well I wouldn't really say "enjoy" (I guess I just did, didn't I?)...but we've found it's a good quick way to exercise, especially with Tas.

Sidenote - we decided when he was a puppy not to introduce tennis balls right away, because Gray had done that with Rezi, and now she's obsessed. Very obsessed. One time she broke one of her doggie toes because she was stepping on the tennis ball to make it pop up so she could chase it. It's hard to put a cast on a doggie toe! We didn't want Tas to be like that...but hindsight's 20/20, right? We should've made him obsessed, because all it would take is this GoDogGo Automatic Tennis Ball Launcher - and we'd be fat and happy!

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Labels: Slingshot

Driving home from work yesterday the clouds caught my eye. It was drizzling, my day had been quite dreary, and I was feeling pretty burnt out (from work of course!). But sitting at a traffic light a simple cloud changed all of that in an instant. So I snapped a picture with my blackberry (I love my bb!)

Do you see it? It’s just God’s little reminder that HE is in control…not me. No need to fret, or get worked up about anything. He’ll take care of it.

Kind of enlightening given the date today…September 11th. Weird how a random date in the middle of the year can change your life forever. And a simple cloud can change your perspective.

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Labels: God is in Control

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Labels: Tea Cart

Since we’ve been married, everyone keeps telling us, “Take time for each other!” I used to think that statement was really geared towards couples with children, cause goodness knows they keep you busy. But we’ve recently learned that even without children, you should still take time for each other! So we have implemented a once a week “Date Night.”

We decided our date night doesn’t have to mean going to dinner and a movie, or even spending money at all…it just means that we have to block out time for each other – no one else (no phones/internet, etc). Except for MoMo. It’s hard to find a sitter for him!

On our date last night, Owen cooked me dinner – he found the crock pot and made a yummy roast. And we played Super Mario Brothers 3 on our Nintendo Wii. Every time one of us ‘died’ the other got a turn. Like two good little sharing 8 year olds!

Apparently you can hook that thing up to your internet, and buy old school Nintendo games! Who knew!?! But for some reason when we hook it up to our upstairs TV, the sound doesn’t work. So as we played, we sat in silence (well, talking of course!), and sang the theme music to each other. “DaDaDaDaDaDa-Da” (You know you know it!) Now you’ll be singing it all day…you’re welcome!

And we finished our date by loading up in the car and going to “Ben & Crowded’s” – aka Ben & Jerry’s, but we call it that because every time we go it’s packed!

I know you’re now asking yourself… “Self, how did they come to the realization that date nights are necessary?” Well I’m so glad you asked!

On Sunday we started a new Bible Study class at church for married couples. We’re the youngest and most newly married, but the course is designed for couples at any stage in their marriage. It’s modeled after the book, “6 Secrets to a Lasting Love” by Gary and Barbara Rosberg. We have the workbook that guides you through 4 weeks of study. I won’t go into all the details, but I encourage all you married folk to pick up the book and read along! We’re on chapters 1 & 2 right now.

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Labels: I Clean, You Cook

Everyone...this is Harper...

Harper...this is everyone!

Isn't she just the most adorable baby you've ever seen!?! I could just eat those cheeks!!

We could not be happier for her proud parents!! Congratulations Mom and Dad! I know you're just beaming with pride!

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Labels: Harper Sophia

Our newest niece joined the family this morning at 6:08a!! Harper Sophia weighed in at 8lbs 11ozs and is absolutely beautiful! Mom and baby and doing excellent.

Mom and I drove over to Atlanta this morning. We left Birmingham around 6a so we could get here early!!

Not sure how long we're staying...probably just the night. But I'll post pictures when we get home.

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Labels: Harper Sophia

So on Labor Day we celebrated by having an anti-internet day. After a run at the park with Mo, we went to Best Buy - aka "The Devil" b/c it seems when we walk in they just suck the money right out of our pockets - and bought a few (eh-hem 4) movies and spent the rest of the day on the couch watching them.

We watched two weird sci-fi movies that O likes (Equilibrium and Event Horizon)…Christian Bale (aka Batman) was nice eye-candy in Equilibrium but I’d much prefer cartoons. Event Horizon was scary and gross. Probably why the DVD was only $9.

Then we topped off our movie marathon with an old classic…The Great Outdoors. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but it was a great way to end our movie day/night.

As you can tell from my lack of postings lately, we’ve been busy since Mo’s birthday celebration…

Having play-dates with Rezi and Gabby… (Tas left, Gabby right, Rezi front and center)

Setting up our new rug so Gabby could pee on it…

That’s not Gabby, that’s Tasmo…he loves the rug already. (Gabby really didn't pee on it...but for a minute there we thought he might!)

Setting up our new desk (pictures to come)…you know, the usual.

Oh, and how could I forget…eating until we were blue in the face…Enjoy these fun recipes I made this weekend...

Redneck Caviar

1 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained

1 (15-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 (10-ounce) can Ro-Tel

2 cups chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped fresh jalapeno peppers

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 (8-ounce) bottle Italian dressing

1 (4-ounce) jar chopped pimentos, drained

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir gently to combine. Refrigerate mixture overnight (or an hour...however much time you have). Serve with corn chips.

Chili in a Biscuit Bowl

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 or 2 cans of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (depending on how much you want to make)

*you can also make biscuits from scratch, but that requires effort

1 pound ground chuck

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

2 (14-ounce) cans Mexican-style stewed tomatoes

1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt
Toppings:
Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Sliced green onions (white and green parts)

Corn chips

Preheat the oven to whatever it says on the crescent roll package (Sorry I can't remember! I gotta make you work a little!). Invert a muffin tin and spray the underside with vegetable oil cooking spray. Separate the crescent rolls and shape each over the back of each muffin cup. Press around the cup to form a bowl shape. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Let cool slightly. Remove the biscuit bowls and reserve.

Meanwhile, brown the ground chuck over medium heat in a Dutch oven. Add the onion and green pepper and continue to cook until the meat is completely browned and the vegetables are tender. Drain off any fat and discard. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, chili powder, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 35 minutes. When ready to serve, spoon the hot chili into the biscuit bowls. Garnish with shredded cheese, sour cream, sliced green onions, and corn chips.

*This also works great with Sloppy Joes, or Ground Beef w/ BBQ sauce.*

No-Bake Chocolate Chuck Cookie Pie (sorry no picture...all I have is the empty pie plate, and I didn't think you'd want to see that!)

1 (15 or 18oz) package of Nabisco Chunky Chips Ahoy

1 cup milk (maybe a bit more depending on how long you soak each cookie)

1 (9oz) pre-made graham cracker crust pie (I could only find 6oz, and it worked)

1 (8oz) container of Cool Whip, thawed (might as well be full fat with the bag of cookies you'll use!)

1. Dip a cookie in milk (I let it bubble a bit)

2. Place cookie in bottom of pie shell

3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 to make one layer of cookies on the bottom of the shell.

4. Top with 1/3 of Cool Whip

5. Repeat steps 1-4 making 3 (total) layers of cookies and top with Cool Whip

Crumble a few cookies on top to make it look pretty.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you just can't stand it anymore!!

The pie was the most fabulous dessert I’ve ever had. Seriously. E-VER. We ate the whole thing in one day...just the two of us. Oh, and the Redneck Caviar is a wonderful quick dip great for tailgating or marathon movie watching.

I also made sausage and cheese balls, but I think everyone and their grandmother has that recipe, so I'm not going to bore you with it!

Oh, and the 4th movie we bought was Mean Girls. I haven't watched it yet b/c I couldn't convince O to watch in on Monday! And no, I haven't ever seen it.

So Mo and I ended our fabulous day of movie watching and eating with a little nap on the couch...

And yes...I did wear white on Labor Day. I'm starting a new trend. Join me, won't you?

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Labels: Labor Day