the little things

Have a kabob!

They were good...ok, REALLY good! Last nights dinner & my uber good -at -the -grill, hubby. He loves to grill, so I have my dad to thank for getting us that awesome grill for Christmas this year & thank God for giving us a home that we CAN grill out!

Just to make my husband happy : )

We had a really great weekend. I am so sad that it’s over!  F riday night Tricia came over & we hung out..made a trip to  Wal-Mart & Dairy Queen. I did good, I only a slush! Dinner was Papa John’s & umm..well..I was hungry. So I  had 2 pieces & 2 cheesy breadsticks. Yikes! But, we had a great time, that’s what matters!

Saturday we slept in & it was wooooonderful!

Got up, got ready & headed out the door for our 1.5 hr drive! Stopped by Target to look for Hotwheels. Sadly, we found none. (sorry, hubster!)

Arrived at Kurt & Jessica’s in good time &  had a great time..except the Playstation 3 cranked up on the big screen tc gave both Jessica & I headaches, but we got rid of those when the boys left to go to dinner!

Their kids are soo cute. I love them to pieces! Bronson was our ring bearer in our wedding & he is usually so shy, but he warmed up to us right away…love that! And Cadence is a little drama queen-and I love it! She’s precious! I didn’t even take any photos..I completely forgot I had my camera until like 11 that night! Doh!

After the boys got back & the kids went to bed, Jessica & I went to Ruby Tuesday for our dinner, it was delish! They have a rockin salad bar! After dinner & a trip to Wal-Mart (yes, I was in Walmart 3 days in a row this weekend-crazy!) we went back to the house & I have not laughed so hard in a while! So many jokes & such. We had a really good time! I loved that Nate got to hang out with one of his best friends..living so far from his hometown makes it difficult to get together with people like he would like to, but we make it work!

We ended up getting home after

1:30

in the morning. I was beat!

Yesterday, we had our much anticipated date day!  First, we saw Evan Almighty at the

11:15 a.m.

show (I totally got up, showered, dressed & makeup’ed within 22 minutes!!)..we loved it! I love Steve Carrell(sp?)..he’s amazing! After the movie, we had lunch at Wild Ginger. Total yum! After the movie, we went grocery shopping & stocked up on everything we needed and ten went looking for Tana’s birthday gift to drop off to her since her birthday’s tomorrow.  After getting uber exhausted & overly hot, we finally decided on a beautiful potted flower.

Stopped by her house & she loved it!  Yey! That’s always a good thing!

Came back home, Nate grilled the scrumptious steak, shrimp & mushroom kabobs..we enjoyed the yummy dinner while watching our DVR’ed Top Chef. Mmmm. Then, played “Guess Where?” (yes, the awesome kids game that Tana so kindly let us borrow! Hehe)..we totally played it TWICE. ;)

I love weekends like that. So much fun & goodness. I miss Nate. BUT, this is last week of work, then he has all of next week off..except for Friday, when he starts at the new place..so that’s a great thing! PLUS, we both have this Thursday off (Nate had one last earned day off & decided to go with Thursday), so that’ll be good..time for me to clean the house & such before the Pampered Chef Party Friday! I’m excited!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Dude. SO happy today!

Today is a great day ya’ll!  Let me count the ways..

1. It’s Friday! Woop woop!
2. It’s super quiet here today-so nice!
3. I got a RAISE!!
4. Nate is driving up here to have lunch with me today @ one of our fave places-Chipotle!!
5. Tricia is coming over tonight & we’re totally ordering Papa John’s for dinner & makin’ it a girls night in!! (I’ve been craving pizza for weeks & haven’t seen Tricia for weeks-so this is a great combo!)
6. So excited to take a mini trip to Van Lue tomorrow to hang out with Kurt & Jessica & the kiddos!
7. I am BLESSED beyond words for my wonderful friend, Kristina! Love ya girl!
8. Date night/day with my hubster all day Sunday!! I think we’re going to go to our fave Chinese place & hopefully go see Evan Almighty. That’s the plan anyways!
9. I get to sleep in tomorrow!!!
10. I love Top Chef, Food Network’s the Next Food Network Star, Big Spender, 90210 reruns, A Baby Story & the season finale of One Tree Hill. Ok, so those have nothing to do with why today is a great day, but I just thought I’d share!

Anywhoo..I have so much to be thankful for this Friday..and everyday!  What’s everyone’s weekend plans and/or what are YOU thankful for today and everyday?! Share with me!! J

Happy Friday! Here’s to a good weekend!

just some things!

This week has been fairly good thus far!  Finally introduced myself to the neighbors across the street-very nice middle-aged, retired couple. Super friendly people!  They also informed me the woman right next door to Nate & I was expecting baby #1 & was due Monday…geez. I felt horrible because we had no idea! Turns out she had a baby boy Sunday night-we’re all going together to give her flowers & a card tonight! I’m excited!

I have so much to be thankful for..let me tell you why.

-Going almost to

Findlay

Saturday for Nate’s best friend, Kurt’s surprise “guys game night” for his birthday (which is today!) on Saturday night!! I am so excited to get to see them & hang out with his wife, Jessica & their little ones!

-Tricia called me last night..we’re hanging out tomorrow night!! It’s been weeks since we’ve done anything! So excited!

-When Nate came home last night from work, he told me had a flat tire. (gee, seems like we can’t ever catch a break!) I was worried about having to come up with more money to buy another tire or how it much it may cost if it could be patched. He called me late this morning to let me know as he was walking to his car parked across the street, the above neighbor guy stopped him to talk about the spare he on his car. Nate explained it to him & the neighbor referred him to a garage where he knew someone & told Nate to tell the guy he had sent him. So, Nate did & the guy was able to patch the tire for only 5 bucks!! What a blessing!

-More layoffs unfortunetly happened this week at work, and hopefully this will be the last. Just thankful they didn’t let anyone go from billing this time.

I am just grateful today!

I have had the worst craving for anything barbeque this week! Especially ribs! Oh goodness me! lol Nate & I are doing our weekly grocery shopping tomorrow night & the list includes chicken breast & some sort of steaks as well as shrimp, beek tips & mushroom caps to make kabob’s out of!  Seriously, loving the grill!!

I was able to scrap last night. Have to work on getting the pages scanned.  My Pampered Chef Party is a week from tomorrow! Getting kind of excited!

Anywhoo, better get back to work!

oh, and today is my 3 year anniversary here.. wow, it feels like 30!

goodness.

We had a great weekend! Nate had Friday night off, so we decided to celebrate & go to dinner at a yummy restaurant & ate on the terrace. Then, we went to the local car show & met up with my mom & Phil to "people watch" hehe! It was a GREAT time. The lemonade wasn't bad either! ;)

Nate went to a car show with my brother in law, Zeb Saturday morning (I've never seen such excitement!), then we rented Daddy's Little Girls & made shrimp fettuccini...yeah. I know. bad. oops. The movie was great tho!

Sunday, after church we visited with my dad at his house, had an enjoyable afternoon with him, and then went to see my step dad & hang out with the family. We were there until after 11 at night!  My step sister, Tana & hey husband, Zeb brought Scene It Disney version...the 3 couple played as teams..the parents lost & the Duenke's won!! woot woot! I guess we know our Disney! haha.  After that, we (minus the parentals this time) decided to play the un-opened New Edition Monopoly they had also brought.  The game lasted over 3 hours!!!  We had SUCH a blast! Tho we weren't playing on teams, Tana & I decided to be together & "in it, to win it!!" LOL after the boys played so tough & serious-buying every stinkin' property they could get their hands on!  We were very generous with our money, Tana & I. If she landed on one of my properties, I would cut her a deal & only "charge" her half! It irked the boys, but we had a GREAT time! Nate & I love hanging out with those 2. Can't wait to get together again!  It also made us realize we own like 2 games..we're lame, and need to buy some more! I can see it now.."Game night at the Duenke's" !! heee!

I made this layout Saturday afternoon while waiting for Nate to get home from the show. Loved the photo of Tana & I at Megan's graduation a couple of weeks ago.

anywhoo..tonight, I will be going to a parade in the city my best co-worker lives in! I am really kinda excited about it! love me some parades! :)

*and thank you all so much for the kind words of congrats to nate & the new job! he says thank you!!  he tried to post his own entry of thanks yesterday but our internet was acting funny at home & wouldn't let him! thanks again you guys guys are too sweet!

God is Good!!!

It's official...

Nate HAS the job!!!

His orientation is June 29th & his first day (on a friday of all days! haha) is July 6th!!! He will still be on 2nd shift (which will have better set hours of 3:30-midnight,  rather than the place he's at now which is 3:30-whenever!) Plus, anyt overtime when he wants it, oh & it's Monday thru Friday..so we will have our weekends together for GOOD.!!

Praise God! :)

Thanks for all your kind words & thoughts & prayers for this situation! Means the absolute world to him & I! :)

TGIF!!! Have a great weekend everyone!

!!!

we believe we got good news today in regards to Nate!!

not 100% positive, just waiting on one last phone call to confirm the deal! :)

Please say a prayer for him if you could!!

and yeyy that tomorrow is finally Friday!

another one of those days

Well, I don’t wanna be all “Debbie Downer” here today, but must say that yesterday didn’t go very well either..work was alright, and even got a nice phone call from my favorite cousin, Stephanie (hi Steph since I know you’re reading now!!)-we talked for over an hour & it was great. After I got off the phone, I became so depressed. I couldn’t stop crying!  It didn’t help that while I was trying to scrap to clear my mind, my mom called & invited me over for parfaits that she had made. I wanted to go over so badly, and would have if I had more gas in my tank..I probably wouldn’t have even eaten a parfait, I just wanted to be with them, see them & catch up. But, no. Little gas & little money to get more..I had to pass. After I got off the phone, I had another good cry. Good grief!

Then, I scrapped 2 pages. It felt good to do something. Nate called & I lost it again! I have no idea what my problem is. I think it’s everything going on lately. I just do not feel myself & I don’t like it! I was so bummed I even went to bed at 9:30!

Slept like a rock.  Nate got home super late at 4:30 this morning..I don’t even remember it! 

Then, there was this morning. I slowly got up, feeling quite refreshed & couldn’t believe I felt that good before 6:30 in the morning (my alarm was set for 6:30 & hadn’t went off yet so I knew it had to be before that time)..so, I decided to just get up. I stumbled over to the night stand on Nate’s side to get my glasses, when I noticed the alarm clock was blinking. I looked again & then again to make sure I was seeing things right & that it was making sense in my head—the power had gone out!! I had NO idea what time it was. Was it early? Noon? Who knew!  I grabbed my cell phone to see that it was 7:51 a.m. 9 minutes before I was supposed to be at work! ack!

So, I called my boss, let her know I would be in as soon as I could. Rushed to get ready, moped around just because I still felt so glum & hopped in the car for the 40 minute commute. I arrived here at 9:20.

Surprisingly tho this day hasn’t gone too awful bad here.  I just wish I could get out of this miserable funk. Day#4 on WW is going good. I have a little bit of pasta salad & a turkey sandwich packed for lunch, so that’s not too bad. I just hope to get some exercise in this weekend. Hoping to go for a walk with Nate on Saturday & Sunday. We shall see!

Anyways, I must get back to it. I hope everyone is having a good Thursday!

Oh, and we've married 8 months today! hehe. :)

some nights all i got to do is sit here

seriously. how pathetic am i? get home 50 minutes after leaving work (yeah. long story-forgetting about it as of now. ), have a piece of leftover homeade pizza that was just as good today as it was fresh yesterday, slurp a tad of chocolate milk (weight watchers says it' s ok ;)) and plop my butt right on the computer chair & pretty don't move for hours.

lovely. and i wonder why i'm fat.

geeeez.

can you tell it was just one of those days?

seriously grumpy today. and i blame it all on my job. that i hate.

got to work late due to a traffic jam & it was just down hill from there. blahhh.

day #2 on ww's was ok. i still haven't exercised  like i should. i will tho.

and journaling still wasn't the greatest. and i half a cookie. blahhhh. gosh, i seriously need to get with the program. literally!

i went to scrap tonight..and got nothin' I s'pose it just goes with the rest of the day, eh?

plus, my r, i.d, and e keys are just ot working me tonight. <<ohh add the n to the list too now! i have to push them down hard to get them to show. yikes!

i miss megan. she spent the night last night & i really enjoy her being here. she keeps me company in the best of ways, even if we do just end up making pizza, baking cookies that we really shouldn't and watching cop shows until after 10! love that girl. :)

i'm praying that tomorrow goes better. in all ways possible. i need it to.

oh, and no word on the job for Nate yet. i'm getting nervous.

ok, i'm off to be productive.

as in still sit here & check emails!

oops.

<<<oh, and this photos just cuz i wanna be here again. with him. just us. (from our honeymoon at a lake resort *it was no Hawaii, but so relaxing & peaceful..i miss it!)

Day 1.

Alrighty, so today is the day. The first day back on Weight Watchers. Oh joy! Haha.  I feel good about it this time.  I know I need to do this for ME. To feel better & look better. Plus, my doctor said it would be the best thing for when Nate & I decide to start a family. So, that’s a BIG motivator! J

Work today has already been stressful & aggravating, so it’s making me want to eat. I’m sooo the emotional eater. I’m happy, I eat. I’m sad, I eat. I’m stressed, I eat. I’m mad, I eat. I’m excited, I eat. LOL It’s such a viscious cycle. But, I’m not giving in toda y. So, I just chugged on my water & chewed on my gum & stayed busy!

Tonight, I plan to bust out the ol’ trusted Walk Away the Pounds dvd’s. I cringe just thinking about only doing the 1 Mile when before I used to do the 3 Mile..TWICE at a time! Ack! BUT, that was then and this is now..and I’m trying not to compare nor think about what I could do 3 years ago.  Thanks for the support! J

This weekend was great. Of course, it went by way too quickly, but that’s how it goes!  Friday night I cleaned like a mad woman! Love having a picked up, cleaned up house. Makes me happy! Saturday afternoon, the inlaws came down.  Had a good visit. Ate at TGIFridays for lunch. So yummy!  Did some scrapbook shopping. Only got a few things because the budget is tight these days.  Found packs of white cardstock for only $1.04 each!! How stoked was I?! Sent Nate back for another one! Haha.

Tagged along with Nate’s parents to their hotel about an hour away & ate at a horrible italian ice/icecream place called Rita’s. yuck! It was really bad! After we dropped them off, we headed home to get our grocery shopping done.  Didn’t get everything that I would have liked to, but still got quite a few good things to make for dinner this week & lunch things, so that works.

Yesterday, we slept in…until 11! Yikes! I was so stinkin tired! I think I would have slept even longer if my dad wouldn’t have called inviting us to his house for some bbq!

We hurried & got ready, stopped by the store to pick up a few things to take to his house, then enjoyed a few hours at his place eating & hanging out outside.

I totally took advantage that this weekend was my last to go out all out and not track anything I ate! It was wonderful! Haha

After we came home, I got caught up on a few computer things & Nate on his tv shows..then I scrapped! Did these 2 with photos from last weekend and all the celebrating! The one scanned really wonky because of the flower. Oh, and the new Martha Stewart line totally & completely rocks!! I love it! Got a pack of the label stickers (that I used on the Vera layout) & a pack of cute little hearts, flowers & ladybug stickers! So fun! I want the albums she has! And the papers & wrapping papers & BIG sheets of papers & the pens and punches..and stickers..ok, so mostly all of it! :P

Anywhooo..I hope everyone’s weekend was great!

I just noticed something

I didn’t notice it when I originally posted my last entry Wednesday night, but I did just see it today..my stinkin keyboard at home is skipping letters again! It’s konkin’ out. Oh my. What next?

In other news..it’s Friday. Yeyyyy! Lots of cleaning to do tonight. Full on cleaning, as in scrubbing the floors, some walls, etc, etc. Lots of scrubbing. Just me, while Nate is at work. thank goodness for central air!

Have the full weekend to do whatever we want! Aside from the inlaw stopping by, we have no set plans & that is delightful!  Oh, except for grocery shopping..which I am excited about because I found some yummy new recipes courtesy of Paula Deen on foodnetwork.com last night!

In Nate news: He pretty much got the job yesterday!!  They just have to make sure he passes the drug test & background check & it looks to be a go! (which, of course WE  know he will pass all that, so now we just wait!)  God is good!

I am definitely thinking some “light” scrap shopping is in order hopefully tomorrow evening! Probably just to Archiver’s…hoping to find some fun, new stuff..it’s been a while since I’ve gotten anything new & I can tell, because I am so uninspired lately!

Oh, and this weekend is also my last one to eat whatever I want, because dun dun dun...as of Monday, I am trying the good ol’ Weight Watchers plan again!  I am SiCk of feeling this way..and after seeing myself in some photos from this past weekend, it’s official..I look horrible!  Time to do this all over again. And I truly mean, all over..b/c I have gained everything back I had once lost and it makes me sick! Blahhh! So, during our grocery trip tomorrow I will be stocking up on some once familiar & much healthier foods…wooo!

Wish me luck!

So, what are your weekend plans?!!