The Calm After The Storm

To say I've been slammed these last few weeks is an understatement for sure. I was able to pick up a transcription job for the same folks I did last time, and ended up transcribing 15, 40 minute sermons over a period of three weeks. WHILE still meeting with our small group, WHILE planning out a small group camping trip over Memorial Day Weekend, WHILE meeting with my high school girls D group, WHILE going to a friend's baby shower, WHILE watching out-of-control and ridiculously adorable 4 month old puppies. It was insane and I think my arms are going to fall off now. Or maybe just my fingers. Either way, I really could do without being around a computer for a while.

But the good thing is - the transcriptions are done! I've made some extra moolah! Our small group ended for the summer with a bang! The camping trip went off without a hitch (for the most part anyway). The shower was a blast! And the puppies are still out-of-control and ridiculously adorable 4 month old puppies, only now a few pounds bigger.

For fun, let's just do a little comparison right now, shall we? Yes, I think we shall.
Aww....so cute. Just 8 weeks old. Jason's hands held their little chests close to him.

And now.

Holy Crap! ONLY 11 WEEKS LATER!!! And they're not even half way grown yet!!! We are now accepting donations for dog food to keep them from eating us out of our home. Just kidding. Sorta.

And really that's about it for news around these parts. Well EXCEPT for the fact that Jason and I bought our plane tickets to California in August! We decided to spend the first couple days in San Francisco with Scott & Kelley, enjoying the city for a couple days and then driving up to Clovis to stay with Jason's family and attend his 20th high school reunion. I know right? 20 years!!! At least he gets a reunion. I just get to live vicariously through him and see what the hoopla is all about.

So I leave you with these photos from our camping trip. Yes, I know, more dog pictures. But what can I say, we love them and they're a big part of our lives. And I'm sorry, but if you don't love looking at adorable Labrador puppies, then seriously you must have no heart.

I know, your wondering if Tim McGraw joined up on our little camping excursion, but alas, its just my redneck-trucker-wannabe husband that decided to surprise me with this fun little look when I met him up at the campgrounds. No, no, no, it's not Earl from My Name is Earl. Ah yes, that would be a nice close shot of the hotness I like to call my man. Though that day, I was more referring to him as a convict from America's Most Wanted. Scary.If you notice, we camped on the side of a hill. Thankfully the place where our tents were are nice and level, but everywhere else was like camping in a Dr. Seuss book, all topsy-turvy.

Look at Jason's truck and you get an idea how steep it was. My calves STILL hurt from walking around.

Probably the highlights for us was taking the pups for their first swims in the lake. It was awesome, they loved it and we loved how much it wore them out! I got some great shots of them on the rocks and learning how to swim.

Seven is a born natural at fetching sticks out of the water. And I know the water looks nasty. It was really muddy by the beach, but a lot nicer further out. Regardless, please believe there was no way I was getting in that nastiness.

Though Seven had no problem bringing the nastiness over to me. He was sopping wet and decided he'd like to snuggle. My new shirt is still stained and I'm tried to get the mud out. But he's too cute to stay mad at for long.

This close up of Seven is why I need an SLR. Our friend Chad took this shot and I'm in love with it. What a beautiful boy.

Seven learning to swim with Jason.

Jeep also learning to swim. He wasn't a big fan of it at first and had no intentions of fetching a stick. But as soon as he got his paws on a water bottle, he was all about the fetching. That's my boy, nothing but the best :-)

Typical fetch with Seven & Jeep. Seven fetches and Jeep waits to take it from him.

A whole lotta wet dog. The dark brown puppy is our friends Chad & Tabby's dog Beasley.

Resting and drying in the sun.

They're cleaning each other here - I love the tiny bit of Jeep's tongue you can see. So cute.

I'm proud to say I took this pic. It was pure luck it turned out the way it did, but I love it.

Home sweet home. Jeep is not our cuddler, but he's learning :-) They are too adorable. I look at this and know someday Jason is going to be an amazing dad.

And finally here's Seven sleeping behind the couch and up against the wall. What a goober, my monkey.

If you're still reading this, I hope you have a great weekend - I know I will! Nothing but catching up on shows, coffee, reading, sleeping in and a hair appointment - ahhh, perfection!

Grow faster! No wait, slow down!

Alright, so once upon a time (4 months ago), Jason and I became parents to a little black lab we named Seven and his bigger brother, a yellow lab we named Jeep. And they came to us as furry, tiny bundles of love weighing only 9 and 11 pounds. I mean look at them! They were so small that their first set of collars were too big and we had to fasten them around their bellies!
And now, they're huge. You know how everyone says babies grow so fast? Try having a Labrador puppy. You don't get 12 months of chubby little cuteness to squish - oh no, try like 3 weeks or a month! This is Jeep now at 4 months of age and weighing in at 30 pounds. He might actually be even more than that. He's gigantic and he's got a heck of a lot of growing left to do. I can barely lift him now.We love to snuggle them late at night on the living room floor on pillows and blankets, since they're not allowed in our bedroom - I know, we're such awful parents. But seriously, there's barely enough room for Jason, myself and Banks in the bed as it is. Speaking of Banks, the poor girl is not getting nearly the attention she used to get. She tries hard to be around them but in the end growls, hisses and scratches out at them. We're hoping as they get older and more mellow, she'll be more brave. To make up for the lack of attention, she's now taken a liking to curling up under the blankets next to me under my left arm when I sleep. I think its adorable and am glad she's becoming a snuggler. The pups go down for 2 naps a day, one at 10:30 and then another around 2:00 or 3:00. They play hard and they sleep hard. This picture of them on the porch is right before their next nap.

You can always tell how tired Jeep is by how red his eyes get.

They're really adorable when they team up and carry a big stick together around the yard.

Aw, my boys I love them so much. They drive me crazy sometimes and house training at times has been a bear so I wish they would grow faster so they have a bit better control. But then other times I want them to slow down from growing, so I can enjoy their puppiness. I can't imagine how much bigger they'll be in another month or two!

Paint & Feathers

As the heat turns up here in the South, the weirdness of my dreams increases. This weekend I dreamt that I was in a play, a play I didn't know I was in. And the night of the performance, I was freaking out because I had never seen the script and the show had already begun! The next thing I know, people backstage are grabbing me and shoving me in a massive white suit with huge go-go white boots and a headpiece. They take me into the basement and start spray painting me bright yellow and rolling me in feathers. My roll apparently in this play is to dress as Big Bird from Sesame Street and perform some interpretive dance.

What the?

Yeah, thankfully Jason woke me up out of that one, cause believe it or not, I was completely stressed out about my role. I did not watch sesame street, see feathers or wear yellow the day before.

Please, explain this to me.

Yup, big bird.

Friday Fill-In

And...here we go!

1. The first rule of working in an office and getting along is not gossiping!.

2. I've never had clams.

3. When I think of carnivals I think of cotton candy.

4. Gerber Daisy's are my favorite spring flower.

5. Things on my desk include tons of folders & files, pens, Kleenex, lotion, water bottles and all the cards my husband has given me.

6. Friday's makes me wanna jump for joy!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to picking up my friend Julie to head to Jill's house, tomorrow my plans include hanging out with the girls and celebrating my birthday with lunch and a movie and Sunday, I want to relax, read and hang out with my man!

April Daring Bakers - Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I've only attempted cheesecake once and that was for my sister Kris' birthday when she came to visit us in Nashville. And in my opinion it was a bit of a disaster because the water leaked through the foil and made the crust soggy and the center of the cake was undercooked - yuck.

This time I was excited to attempt it again and see if I could conquer the cheese!

But sadly, the cheese conquered me......

After a ton of frustration and a LOT of cleaning, I waited another day and my husband convinced me to try it again...

And luckily, I was quite victorious!

Our assignment was to make a basic cheesecake from the recipe given by Jenny and then make whatever modifications we desired on the crust, flavors and toppings. My favorite cheesecake to order at the Cheesecake Factory is the Adams Peanut Butter Cheesecake, its ridiculous.

So I tried putting my own spin on it and made an Oreo cookie crust, then sprinkled the crust with a crunchy filling of Peanut Butter Cups and Butterfinger. Then I made the cheese filling and added some Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter and poured it over the crushed candies. I baked it for 50 minutes and let it cool in the oven. Then refrigerated it for a day and finished the decor with more crumbled candy filling and a peanut butter based frosting.

This cheesecake ROCKED MY WORLD and was well worth the second effort. I'll be adding this one to the recipe box for sure!

Cause That's How We Roll

The 24-hr-read-a-thon was somewhat of a success. I say somewhat because a bunch of girls got together over at our friend Julie's home with books in tow and ready to enjoy a full long day of catching up on some much needed reading and relaxation...

Aww...can't you feel the heat of the sunshine just by looking at this picture? That would be myself, Amy and Julie out on the lawn reading and Tabby up on the porch. It was so lovely and so serene. And I even have the sunburned back to prove the hours of enjoyment!
Books, bare feet and blankets.

This is not a posed picture, we truly were sitting in our chairs, enjoying each other's presence and reading our books with either a glass of wine or in my case a bottle of G2 :-) Divine isn't it?

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But then.....
We started to get a little distracted...

Maybe the heat was getting to us....

Or maybe we were taking an afternoon break to celebrate Melanie's birthday ghetto style. (click on picture for larger view)

Ain't nothing but a G-thing, right Rachel?

Here's Master-C blowing out her candle and receiving her dirt cake. (which is basically a cake made to look like a potted flower)

Cause that's how we roll yo.

It was such an awesome weekend. I almost finished one book, but I had puppy-duty from 5pm on and they took up a lot of time to watch. We are definitely going to do this again! And next time, collectively we'll track how many pages read.

A Blessed Easter!

Last year during Easter, Jason and I made a bunch of food with the hopes of inviting our new neighbors over a hot meal and to get to know them better. Unfortunately no one turned out being home, so we celebrated alone that year. It's not exactly easy celebrating the holidays without family around, so this year I wanted to invite those in our small group without any family in town, over to celebrate with us! AND we also happened to have our dear friends Kate & Tom and their son Rocco in town visiting with us that day.

I couldn't have asked for a better day. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful 75 degrees outside, my friends all came together for a meal that turned out great and fed everyone, there were no puppy accidents in the house and we closed the evening with the guys taking turns playing some tunes. And did I take pictures of any of this?...no I did not. I know, slap my hand, I deserve it.

But I will post some pictures here that Tom & Kate took while visiting us and then also some that our close friend Ben DeRienzo took that Sunday morning at Easter service.

How adorable is that little guy? I swear Rocco took a piece of my heart with him when he left Tennessee. I luurve that boy!
He was the hit of the church service, flirting with the ladies sitting behind him and dressed in his Easter best!

Here's my very beautiful and very pregnant friend Alicia. I know right, I look more like the one that should be pregnant! Note to self - get a freakin tan!
I can only dream that I'll look this hot when I'm 6 months pregnant someday!
Some of my wonderful friends that I'm blessed to have, Ida, Tabby & Melanie. Ida and Tabby were part of the group that came over later for Easter dinner.

The Hallstroms hanging out at our house Sunday afternoon.
On Monday, we had the entire day to spend with Kate, Tom & Rocco. I really wanted to give them a taste of Nashville, but unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot happening in the city that day. So they didn't get to really see any live music, but we did take them through Broadway to see the honkey-tonks and then stopped for ice cream while we waited out an afternoon storm.
Rocco could care less about his new toy at the moment, he's eye-balling some vanilla fudge ice cream. Atta boy!After hitting downtown, we headed out to Opry Mills so Tom could check out Gibson and Kate and I could do a little shopping. Check out how pint-sized this guitar is for Rocco!
To finish the day off, we took Tom & Kate out to The Hermitage Cafe downtown for some real southern dinin'. This place is about as authentic as it gets. That's Linda, our waiter. We asked where we could sit and she said just as long as it wasn't in her "reserved tables". I asked "Who are your reserved tables for", she replied, "My drunks!" Haa - well, we thought it was funny. The diner opens at 10pm and stays open till 1.30pm the next afternoon and they have the best home-cooked food. Delish! Rocco was a total champ hanging out till the wee hours of the night!

Miss you Hallstrom fam - come back and see us soon!!

I'm getting my frugal on!

The last 5 weeks our church has been going through a financial series based on a book by Barry Cameron, called "The ABC's of Financial Freedom". I REALLY don't enjoy talking about money, especially when it comes to our budget. As a matter of fact, I confessed quite freely to my small group, that I get a real nice buzz when I drop a load of cash while shopping. Don't judge me.

Now don't get the idea that I dwindle away our electric bill on a cute sweater from Charlotte Russe - instead Jason and I agreed on an allotted allowance for each of us, apart from our expenses, that is play money. Each paycheck, I get a chunk to set aside and do with as I please, whether it be going out to a movie and dinner with the girls, or saving it all up for one big spending spree at the outlets. I do think ahead to what I need to save for in the upcoming weeks and do try to save a little left over to roll into the months ahead.

This last Sunday, Barry Cameron came and spoke at our church and shared a very intriguing message on how he and his family became completely debt free in a matter of three years. Whoa. Is that even possible? Most everyone I know, whether its from my parents generation or my generation, honestly don't define "getting out of debt" as paying off their mortgage.

Well I've been thinking about what Barry had to say A LOT since his message on Sunday. And I was so inspired to think that this could actually be something attainable and to what lengths would I be willing to go to, to see Jason and I in a place of financial freedom from debt? Let me just give you an idea of some of the practical things that Barry Cameron did with his family during that 3 year period of time!

1. No eating out (pack lunches to work & school)

2. No buying of new clothes (FOR THREE WHOLE YEARS! - yeah I freaked at this one)

3. No watering the grass (They're lawn turned to dirt!)

4. Turning the light off as you leave the room

5. Turning the water off as you brush your teeth

6. No going to the theater

7. No TV or cable - got it disconnected.

There were TONS more, that I can't remember off the top of my head, but they were pretty intense decisions. Barry said his family hated him, but after those three years and paying off three cars and their mortgage, they have lived debt free ever since and they celebrated by enjoying a cash-paid trip as a family to Disney World.

So I've been thinking. While Jason and I have the time and resources, could we work our butts off now, saving as much as we can and pay off the car and house as much as we can before we get to the point of having a family and adding more expenses? And to what degree would I be willing to live without for this cause? How extreme could we get? These are things our small group are all discussing together. I'm making some mental notes for sure. I'm considering canceling my Netflix subscription, stop going to Starbucks and only make coffee at home, limiting mine & Jason's meals out to once a month, having a garage sale with my small group friends - where the cash goes towards a payment! Hmmm....what would you do? How far would you go?