Overwhelmed

Cards

It's that time of the year......Christmas Cards! 

I LOVE doing Christmas cards! This year I am going to do a separate box just for this.......

Please join me in sending some Christmas spirit to D.C.! 

Dear Santa!

Someone knows what they want from Santa! 

Out with the old....in with the new!

From day one I knew I wanted to replace the flooring in this house. I like the kitchen tiles and the tiles in both bathrooms are fine. I don't love them, but for the time being I can live with them. The other rooms are a different story. One of the bedrooms that the previous owners used as a nursery has extra light laminate flooring. The color stands out terrible! The other two bedrooms have cat urine soaked/stained carpet. I'm hoping to put this house back on the market by Christmas 2013. What can I say I like a challenge! Ha! 

So because my parents are the best they bought me all new flooring for Christmas. Huge blessing!!!! Did I mention they are the best? 

 Raleigh overseeing the project. She isn't sure why the floor feels different she just knows that it does, and she doesn't care for it. Ha! 

This is the original floor in the living room and hall. Thankfully it came up really easy and wasn't too much of a mess. Hopefully the house will have new flooring throughout by Christmas. 

Prayers

Prayers today for sweet Julee and Preslee as they say goodbye to Matt. 

Silent

Today's post was going to be my part two from the cruise, but it that is going to wait. 

I'm always amazed at how big the blog world is, but small at the same time. Blogging has become more and more popular over the last few years, and it seems like everyone is blogging about something. I started mine in 2008. The first blog I found was Kelly's and it was while her daughter Harper was fighting for her life. After that I started to follow Kelly. Through Kelly I found Julee. Back then she and her husband Matt were going through infertility. I followed her journey to Mama-hood and last November she had sweet Preslee. This past weekend Julee and Preslee lost Matt in a car accident. I am still in shock. Please please keep Julee, Preslee and their families in your prayers. 

*Tomorrow the blog world will be silent. So if you blog and haven't heard, please take the time you were going to post tomorrow and pray for these sweet girls. I can't imagine how hard tomorrow is going to be for them. 

Tweet Tweet

Way back in 2009 I joined the Twitter craze.....for about a month. Then I lost interest and abandoned the whole idea. Don't ask me why, but I re-activated my twitter account yesterday and I promise to do a better job this time. Generally, people who tweet really get into it. They tweet 20 + times per day. Basically whatever is on their mind at the time goes to twitter for the world to read. I'm not that hard core, but I will try to update it more than I do Facebook. So if you are interested in following me head on over to twitter. 

https://twitter.com/tsharee

Bahamas part one

I'm back! I've been back since Thursday, but blogging wasn't anywhere near top of my to do list. I would love to say that this was a dream vacation and we had a blast. We didn't. Our ship (Carnival Fantasy) wasn't true to the online description. (But then what is right?) I'm extremely thankful that we were able to go on this vacation. I know that in this economy vacations are not an option for everyone. I read lots of reviews saying that the food was amazing. I can honestly say it wasn't. We had really great food both days in port, but the ship's food reminded us of hospital food. Also I was told there were so many things to do on board that we would never get bored......that wasn't the case. Thankfully we had great weather on both port days and were able to get off the ship and explore. Otherwise we may have found an airport! I'm not kidding! By day two we had explored the entire ship. Believe me people I am all about some relaxing, but you can only lay in a beach chair for so long before you go a little stir crazy! 

 This post is going to contain lots of pictures! These are from phone so not the best quality. I haven't started editing the ones on my camera yet. These are totally out of order, but here goes.............

 Drew was relaxing in the "Serenity" area. Serenity is on the very back of the ship. It's an area for guests 21 and older only! Heaven sent on this trip! I love kiddos, but the ship was covered with them! They completely took over the pool, putt putt course, waterpark.......you get the picture. We spent the majority of our time in Serenity. This area had the BEST chairs and an attendant. Add in two hot tubs and it was HEAVEN!  

 This was a storm that we went through on the next to last night at sea. This lovely storm had 30 MPH winds. Thank God for motion sickness meds! I'm not sure I would have survived without it! 

 Serenity! 

 One of the ports we vistited was Freeport. On that day we spent the morning on a private beach and then walked to the town square for some local food. This was Drew's plate. We had Gyros and greek salads. DELISH!!! All the local food we ate was great! We also tried Conch fritters (picture below) and they were yummo! 

 Waiting on our shore excursion tour guide. While in both ports we did shore excursions that I booked through Carnival. I'm so glad I did. If we had ventured out alone with just a map we may not have made it back to the ship. 

 Serenity! 

 Rainbow after storm

 In Nassau we took a glass bottom submarine tour. The tour started with a guided boat tour to the submarine. Our tour guide was hilarious! He was a local with a strong accent. 

 Private beach day in Freeport

 Serenity 

 Nassau

 Somewhere in the middle of the ocean..........

 Getting ready to watch the sunset

 Nassau

 Serenity 

 Senor Frogs! 

Yum Yum Yum! 

 Sunset from Serenity 

 Ahhhhhh best part of the trip! 

 Serenity 

 Freeport 

 Freeport 

 Conch Fritters 

All in all I'm thankful to have been able to go on this vacation. We had some really fun days in port and the ship experience wasn't all bad, but I would NOT recommend a Carnival cruise! 

More pictures to come!  

0 Days.........12 hours

12 hours and counting. This has been one wild and crazy week. As of 6:00 p.m. today I will officially be on vacation! Words cannot describe how ready I am to be on that boat with a drink in my hand! 

See ya in a week! 

Cin-Sug

This is a follow up post for yesterday. Thanks Pinterest for another recipe to add to my not-to-big collection. These were sooooo good and soooooo easy! 

Check out the recipe from yesterday's post! 

I mixed sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and sprinkled the doughnuts while they were still hot. Next time I will roll them. Not much of the cinnamon-sugar mixture stayed on the doughnuts. 

Yum Yum!

Pinterest long ago took over my bank account. First it was craft supplies, then house decor and now food. Grocery shopping for me is a once a week event. (MOST WEEKS) I use coupons, shop sales and buy store brands on some items. Normally I can keep the total under $85........BUT Pinterest is making that a bit difficult. Keep in mind the $85 isn't just food. I shop at Wal-mart so I can get everything at once. Light bulbs, shampoo, dog food, q-tips......you get the picture. 

I found this recipe today on Pinterest. Since we are leaving Saturday for the cruise I am not making a big trip this week. No need to buy food that will spoil before we get back. BUT I am going to get biscuits just for this! It looks simple enough! Depending on the results I will post a picture of my version. 

Easy Biscuit Doughnuts - Cut biscuits into quarters, drop in 200 - 240° oil for a couple of minutes (flip halfway), cool sightly on paper towel, roll in sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, ENJOY - best fresh

Trick or Treat

I found this super cute trick or treat candy bag for Tate on Zulilly last week. $9.99 + free shipping + free personalization. Great deal!!! 

Babies Everywhere!

Seems like everyone I know either has a brand new baby or is pregnant. I see a new announcement on Facebook every other day. Last weekend was no different. 

A couple of weeks ago Drew's Dad and his girlfriend came to the house for dinner. They were asking if we knew where they could have a family get together. We suggested a couple of places. They said they would decide and we would get an invitation in the mail. That seemed odd since it was just a family cookout. No need for a formal invite. After they left I told Drew I thought they were getting married. They have been together 10 + years so it seemed logical.  

Then on Saturday we got an invitation to their BABY SHOWER!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for them and shocked!  Drew and his brother are both in their 20's. I just can't imagine starting over! But they are and everyone is thrilled. Drew is still in shock. I've been teasing him about getting a baby sister......he isn't thrilled!

Then on Sunday morning I got an extremely early wake up call from my best friend Miranda. She couldn't wait any longer to tell me that she is PREGNANT!!!!!! I'm thrilled for her and Travis! She is due in May and we are already planning her shower! Too early? Never! Last night I did some announcement pictures for her. We used her dog Baxter and their shoes. 

2013 is going to be a big year for babies!

Can't wait to babysit! 

Pro in training

This little guy makes golf lots less boring to me! 

I think we have a pro in the making..........................................