Our house is a very, very fine house....

This past spring (I think it was early May, the first Wednesday in May) we awoke around 4:00 in the morning to an awful smell invading our house. A smell so bad that you could taste it. Now imagine that for a minute....being deep asleep and waking up to smell you can't escape. Our home had been sprayed by a skunk. I covered my head with our comforter and tried to go back to sleep, thinking that it would soon clear out. Fast forward a couple hours and the smell is still strong. We go to work and and 8 hours later we are back trying to rid our home of this smell. By about 10:30-11:00 that night we have pretty much gotten most of the smell out. All is good until early that Saturday Saturday morning when again we are woken up by the smell again. Not as strong but still there. We (I) go back to sleep and Shane calls the landlords to tell them that he thinks when they boarded up a small hole in our front porch that past Wednesday of the major spray, that they may have unknowingly trapped the skunk under the porch. They set a trap the next day and within a few hours we have a skunk....caught in a trap. Call the landlords to tell them and they come over to get trapped skunk. They ask Shane for one of his guns. I tell them (because, yes, I have researched this) that if they kill it the skunk will release all it's nasty spray and it will invade the house again. They kill it anyway. Right where the trap was. Right in front of the porch which is right where our bedroom is. A few minutes later the house is in fumes again. We move out for the night to air it out. We move out another night and call to get the house purified. Exactly one week from the first spray we can finally move back in. That evening Shane decides he hates the house and we are moving. We decide to become our own landlords and buy our own home. 1 week and 22 homes later we have a contract on a home. 3 days later we break the contract and look at 2 of the previous homes we had already toured. We make an offer on a home. Offer is accepted. July 22 we finally closed on the house and began cleaning and moving. We are now home owners! Thanks to the skunk, we are the happy owners of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in town with a top of the line kitchen, beautiful fireplace, and real hardwood floors in the kitchen and entry way. I guess the skunk was a sign from God that we needed to take the leap and get a mortgage! We've already began making some improvements and making it our own style/taste. We have 1 room painted and have major painting plans for next weekend. 

Snicker Salad

 Last month we were going to celebrate our parents anniversary and I was in charge of dessert. My sister had requested Snicker Salad, but before I could make it, we had a change of plans due to the weather. For Mother's Day today, we are again planning a family dinner at my sister's house and I am in charge of dessert. Since my sister (and brother in law) are to thank for my most favorite little person ever, I decided that I would attempt to fulfill her wish of Snicker Salad. So I searched Pinterest and semi followed this recipe http://junkintheirtrunk.blogspot.com/2011/08/snicker-salad.html?m=1

Here's my version:

3 large Granny Smith apples chopped with skin

16 oz Cool Whip (I used the Walmart brand)

1 bag mini Snickers chopped (I chopped them in my Nija food chopper. Best thing ever!)

1 pack vanilla instant pudding

1. Chop apples with skin on (I used lemon juice to keep them pretty).

2. Chop up the whole bag of mini Snickers. 

3. Mix apples and Snickers together. 

4. Pour dry pudding over apples and Snickers. 

5. Add cool whip. I bought the 16 oz size because the recipe I followed didn't say. I didn't use all of it. I think it just depends on how much you want.

6. Refrigerate for an hour and serve. 

I had my husband be the official taste tester (before refrigerating) and he liked it, so it must be good because he's picky. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Spank!

For valentines day....in January....Shane gave me two tickets to the play Spank! The Fifty Shades parody. This past Friday, my mom and I drove to the beautiful historic Midland Theater in Kansas City to watch the play. It was fabulous! We were the third row from the stage and missed nothing. From start to finish we both laughed the entire time. After it was over, we were able to meet (the cast of three) and have our pictures taken with them. When Shane gave me the tickets, I was unsure of what to expect. As soon as the play started, I knew hands down that this was one of the best gifts I have ever received from him! I didn't want it to end because we were having so much fun watching and laughing!!! After the play, we walked down to Power and Light and in front of the Sprint Center so my mom could see what they looked liked then we headed home. Yesterday I checked online to see if there was anywhere close by the play would be performing again and saw that in June it would be in Springfield so I'm hoping for an encore! If you have the opportunity I highly recommend seeing it!

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire

***This post may seem out of sorts, but there's a lot I can't say due to ongoing investigations and safety concerns, but I wanted a somewhat account of it just so I could remember. What I can say is that precautions have been made and local law enforcement is monitoring our home, work, etc. until they find who did this.***

Last Wednesday morning, I was awaken by Shane jumping out of bed yelling "the building is burning down!" Not the best way to wake up. The building he was referring to would be his office...Probation and Parole. After a very nerve wracking day, which included my school being watched by the police all day due to me being there and safety concerns, and deciding if leaving our house for a couple of days (which in the end I made the call that whomever had set Shane's building on fire would not keep us from our home), we made a trip to survey the damage and see if any of Shane's personal items had survived...mainly his extensive University of Texas Longhorns collection that had decorated his office.

Real Time Adventure

Real Time Adventure with my parents yesterday consisted of price comparisons at different stores for a Shark floor steam cleaner, a mattress salesman at Sears thinking I was my Dad's wife...even though I clearly referred to him as "Dad" numerous times, a lady asking my dad twice if he worked at Kholes, and being along for the ride as the bought a new car and gave me the honor of driving my grandpa's car aka the widow maker back home. Life is never boring.

Change

Change is scary. This past week the thought of change has made me feel excited, scared, panicked, sad, unsure of myself, and confident. No matter what, change is coming, and I have chosen to embrace it no matter the outcome....or maybe not. Sometimes I just need to give myself a pep talk. Whatever happens happens and maybe by writing this, I can look back in a few months and hopefully ask myself, "what were you so scared of?"

Show Us Your Singles!

Caitlin is one of the sweetest girls I know and I am truly honored to have her as a friend. I adore her personality and upon meeting her for the first time I knew she had to become my friend.

Her sense of humor never fails to entertain me and she goes out of her way to be helpful. For instance, when I pondered if Jesus was a popular name back in the day, she helped me find the answer where as my husband just looked at me like I was crazy. She has an amazing personality and is one of the kindest people I know. When meeting someone for the first time, Caitlin might come off as shy or reserved but once she gets to know you she is anything but shy!

Caitlin has an adorable, witty 7 year old daughter who she adores as does everyone else who meets her. Family is very important to her and is looking for a man that is also close to his family.

Caitlin has a passion for teaching. She is an amazing elementary teacher who gives 110% to her students but also enjoys her summers off!

Caitlin loves Jesus (and if you were wondering if the name was popular around the time of his birth,thanks to Caitlin, I can assure you the answer is yes), and is looking for an educated, good Christian man who likes kids and would also like to have children of his own.

Caitlin's a great catch and the man that lands her will be lucky to have her!

Please let me know if you are interested in connecting with Caitlin by either leaving a comment below or email me at garritysauntie@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by!

If I had a million dollars...

Shane and I can argue over the most random things. With that being said, we always argue over what we would do if we won the lotto. Tonight he bought 5 scratcher tickets with the big prize being $1000.00 a week for life. I told him if we won that, I would quit my job and go back to school. Shane looked at me like I was crazy and informed me I would do no such thing and all of that money would be put in our savings account. I pointed out that even after taxes, that $1000.00 a week was way more than my paycheck is every two weeks and if I went back to get my masters, when I finished, my paycheck would be even more plus the &1000.00 a week. I am clearly in the right in this argument but Shane is still not a believer. In the end we only won $20.00 out of all of those tickets...but I'm still right and that's all that matters.

If everyday could be Christmas...

I miss Christmas. Not just the actual day, but the days leading up to it. I'm not really sure why. Tonight Shane and I were talking about/planning our vacation in July and all I could think was "I wish we were planning Christmas."

This past Christmas was really great. We (or at least I) had a lot of fun shopping this past year for gifts. Thanksgiving night we went to Wal-Mart to get Garrity a car for my parents. Then on that following Saturday we went to Joplin and started our shopping. We had fun. It was one of the first years we have really been able to afford to buy really good gifts for others and I think that's one reason I enjoyed Christmas so much. It made my heart happy to be able to buy our parents things that in past years we would not have been able to afford. I know that they did not/do not care if we give them anything, but both sets of parents always go out of their way to make sure that gifts are a plenty. I know that that is not what Christmas is about, but it sure is fun.

I also had a fantastic time shopping for sweet Garrity. This year she was finally old enough to tell us what she wanted (anything and everything she saw on tv commercials). I loved seeing and/or watching via text video her opening her 1-12 days of Christmas gifts from us. Amy made her last day really special for me by inviting Shane and I to their house to watch her open her last days gift and have a little party. Shane was unable to make it (I may have forgotten to tell him all the details of the plan). It was priceless when she opened the box and saw her real life Dorothy Gail dress. It made me so happy that she was so happy to get it and promptly demand that she put it on. Christmas morning at my parents was also really fun to watch her open her gifts and be so excited about everything she received. I guess age makes you understand how when you were small your parents and family were excited to watch you open your gifts and that's why when I was growing up (and even to this day) my parents and family still make Christmas special.

We also started a new Christmas tradition this year with Shane's mom's family of working Lights around the Lake in honor of Shane's grandma Mary. Mary loved Christmas and loved her house being decorated to the max. She passed away suddenly in December of 2011. Due to her love of Christmas lights, we worked the lights on her birthday and donated all the money we collected to Lights around the Lake. All in all, we raised a little over $400.00! We had a great time and plan on doing this every December 14th on Mary's birthday.

Christmas 2012 may be long gone, but at least I have the memories. I'm sure Christmas 2013 will be even more wonderful, but this past Christmas will be hard to beat and I miss it all ready.

Sunday night dinners

I love Sunday night dinner at my parents house...these pictures may help explain why...

Hook 'Em Horns

I was super excited about Shane's birthday cakes....he had no clue what they would be or that there would in fact be two cakes, his only request was that the cake be chocolate. The amazing Kim Williams took my ideas and then made them reality and they turned out better than I ever could have imagined! Everyone loved them...except the University of Oklahoma fans...

Shane is 30

Shane turned 30 on Tuesday. The Saturday before we had his party. While I feel the need to blog about it, I just don't want to right now.

I like birthdays. Doesn't matter if it's my birthday or not. I have in fact been known to take the day off of work because, duh, it's my birthday! Monday night I was super tired, but wanted to leave something special for Shane to wake up to (especially because he does not take off work for his birthday and he would be in court all day and didn't think he would be out until around 7:00 pm). I decided I would leave him 30 notecards laid in the path he takes every morning from our bedroom to our bathroom. The cards were not 30 reasons I love you (that's just not me), but more "hey! You're 30!" Cards mixed in with sarcastic tidbits (which are truly me). When you start a project of having to think of something to write on 30 cards at midnight, it's a lot harder than one would think. One of my favorite cards said, "30 years ago today your mom thought your name was Nate, but your dad said no so now you're Shane." True story.

After all was said and done, I was pretty pleased with the results. I laid the path and worried he would slide and trip over them when he got up (since the house was so dark and he uses his phone for light), but he survived and even posted a picture on Facebook that morning...now people will think I'm all sweet and stuff...which we all know is not true.