Where's Cali?

Our cat, Cali, is clearly the diva of the household. She eats, sleeps, gets lots of loving and that's about all. She gets what she wants, when she wants it. I hope this is not an indication of what children are going to be like...  Anyways, when it comes to her resting habits, usually it's a game looking to find out where she's sleeping. 

1) Ready for a trip

2) Can you see me? 

3) Chillin on the wood pile.

 

4) Hiding in the cabinet.

And my personal favorites...

5.) Curled up with Gramps 

6.) Curled up with Momma

And then there's THIS

7.) Poor Cali.... 

BREAKING NEWS

Growing up, I used to LOVE watching the Price is Right. When we went on vacation a couple of years ago out west, I begged to go to a taping of the show, with no luck. Well my father came home a few minutes ago to inform me that The Price is Right is coming to Greensboro. Immediately I went online and bought ten tickets. Plinko here I come! 

Baptism Sunday

I've always known about Baptism but was never just flat out asked if I wanted to do it, therefore never really sought out how to go about doing so. It had been on my mind for a few months now and last Sunday at church they announced that this Sunday was Baptism Sunday and gave out the invitation. I don't think that God could have made it any easier. I've been a Christian all my life and while most people know that and know my beliefs, I decided to make it publicly known as well. What a great feeling it was too! 

YUUUMMMMM

I currently just got out of the kitchen making this scrumptious dessert. Found it on Pinterest nonetheless and it's soo simple. It has to be or I won't bother making it.  I haven't tasted it yet, however I'm sure it's going to be pretty amazing if I do say so myself seeings how Reese's is one of my favorite candies. 

Wanna give it a try? Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Chocolate cookie pie crust (I used the oreo one)
1 Large Box of chocolate instant pudding mix
1.5 Cups of milk
1 8 oz tub of cool whip
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups chopped up (About 25 of the small ones or 15 of the larger ones. I used the smaller ones)


Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the milk with the pudding. Then whisk in the cool whip. Fold the chopped Reese's into the pudding mix. Pour all of that into the chocolate pie crust and store your dessert in the freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

Frugal Finds

Pinterest isn't just a good place to find neat craft ideas, you can also find things to make yourself and save a little bit of money. For instance: your own laundry detergent. 

I actually found two different recipes using mostly the same ingredients. One made a liquid detergent, the other a powder. For me, the powder recipe was easier, less messy, and smelled better. It required a few more ingredients than the liquid one, but it makes more, uses less, and some of the ingredients were optional depending on if you wanted a good smell/fabric softener. 

So just exactly what ingredients do you need? Well.... 

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax- Found in the detergent aisle

1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- Found in the detergent aisle

1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean- Found in the detergent aisle. (This is optional but I highly recommend adding it)

2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Zote Soap- Found in the detergent aisle (we chose to do pink for the scent but the white would be just fine. You can also use Fels Naptha)

1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda- Found in the cooking aisle (You could also get two 2 lb box, couldn’t find the larger 4lb box when I went)

1-2 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener- Found in the detergent aisle (This is 100% optional. It's for smell and softer clothes/towels.) 

According to the website, the hardest part was grating the bars of soap. I'd have to agree. In fact, I actually got the worst blister I've ever had from doing this. Lucky for you, you can learn from my mistakes- in the detergent aisle of Wal-Mart, where the bars of soap are, there is actually pre-grated soap for just a dollar or so more. I didn't see it, but then again it took me awhile to find the Pink Zote too, but a girl at work said they had it so just look for it. 

So just exactly how do you make this? Well it's simple... 

Just mix everything together. 

I'd recommend a large bucket of some sort to mix everything in and then just go with a layering method. Take a small amount of each ingredient and layer it on top of each other, grabbing a large spoon to mix everything together occasionally. 

This makes a TON of detergent. Especially considering a load only takes a 1/4 of a cup. It's done well with our laundry- no complaints. And we've probably gone about two months on what I've made and still have a good half a bucket left. 

A Little Late?

Just pretend this post was about a month ago... back when the State Fair was taking place. 

Went to Raleigh and visited Stacy and while there we attended the State Fair. I haven't been since middle school, so I was pretty excited to go back. I had a good time however, it's not quite what I had expected it to be based on all the hype that everyone was giving it. I guess we could have made more out of it by visiting the exhibits or seeing a concert or something, but I was honestly just over all the people and the crowds. We went, we saw, we ate, we rode, we conquered. The end. 

On the Ferris Wheel 

I did have my first deep fried candy though. Only in America can we take something unhealthy and make it even more so. We all got something different- I got Reese's, Kelsey had Oreo's, while Stacy had Snickers. Out of all of those, the Oreo's were definitely number one in my book. 

I had my fun at the fair, but it'll probably be a few more years before  I venture back for another go of fried foods and candy. 

 

Happiest 5K on the Planet

You should all know by now that I like to run. You should also know that I'm a very happy and energetic person. Which would only make sense that I was going to partake in the Color Run, since it is advertised as "The Happiest 5K on the Planet". 

What is 'The Color Run' you might be thinking? Well it's a 5K in which THOUSANDS of people run/walk/skip through, while different colors are thrown on the runners throughout the course. At the end of the run, there's a huge after party involving more color throws, dancing, throwing of free stuff, and lots of laughs and smiles. 

My friends Kristyn, Kelsey, Stacy, Michael and I all showed up to run at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC. Everyone there looked silly, and if you didn't then you didn't fit it. We had on white shirts, black pants, and tu-tu's that I had made- one for each color of the rainbow. 

Just for the record, I hadn't made Michael a tu-tu since that doesn't seem very manly. However, my friend Robyn wasn't able to attend at the last minute so there was an extra tu-tu and he wore it like a champ! He was SUCH a good sport to run with all us ladies.

 

 So we were all gathered like cattle towards the starting line. Everyone in their white shirts and whatever tacky outfit they chose to showoff. I saw some people with angel wings, capes, masks- even saw a "bride" and "groom" which I thought was great. Then they let a good sized group through, and then cut it off again, so everyone wouldn't be tripping over everyone else. 

I love this photo even though I look ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. We were about to go through and someone caught my excitement. 

Before getting to any color... 

Coming up on our first color.. blue!  

And then more color...

I'm not going to lie, we had way too much fun with the color, as did most people there. And it's a good thing we weren't running for time or anything, because we stopped along the way several times to take pictures and we might have even spent a little too much time at the color stations... 

However we did finish the race! 

And after the race was the after party where we had even more fun and even more color! Dancing, jumping, shouting and color throwing were highly encouraged. 

And this is what a color throw looks like from outside the crowd...  

Pretty awesome huh? 

And from inside the crowd... 

By the end of the day, we were a MESS, but we had SO MUCH FUN! It took me three times to wash all the color out of my hair when I got home. Definitely something I want to partake in again! 

Love, Forgive, and Be a Blessing... at Disney

When I was in high school, every year a teacher, Mr. Atkinson, took a group of students to Disney World. I always wanted to go, but was never in any of his classes nor were any of my close friends, therefore I never got the invite to tag along. However, as fate would have it, two of my friends now teach at AHS, both of which were going on this trip. When I found that out, I immediately told them that if there was any additional room on the bus and an extra "chaperone" was needed, I would gladly volunteer. Luckily there was a seat that needed me to fill it!

So a little back ground info on this trip/teacher. Mickey Atkinson (Yes, that's his real name), loves many things, a few of which include: God, teenagers and Walt Disney World. His family takes a vacation every year to DW, and Mickey brings around 50 students along with him. He is now currently retired, but with the help of my friend Amber, is still taking students to Disney. Not only is he taking students to Disney, but he also uses it as a means to spread the word about God's never ending love for them. This trip truly was a blessing to be apart of. Mickey's saying, and it was incorporated on the t-shirts we got made is: "Love, Forgive, and Be a Blessing." He has no idea how many lives he's probably impacted throughout the years.

The kids had off Monday for Veteran's Day, so that gave us a whole three day weekend for Disney, without them missing any school. We left on a tour bus Friday night and drove all thru the night on Friday, arriving in Orlando bright and early Saturday, just in time to get freshened up and make the opening of Magic Kingdom. Then we had ALL day Saturday (and when I say ALL day, I mean since we had extra "magic hours" from staying at a hotel inside the park, the park didn't close til 3am!), all day Sunday (again, with extra magic hours til 1am) and until 6pm on Monday to play. Then Monday evening we packed back up and drove all through the night, arriving back in Asheboro around 5am, just in time for all the kids and teachers to go to school, and for me to go to bed!

It was a short but sweet trip. We got so much out of those three days, minus very much sleep. And since we were all bigger (though I definitely didn't act like it), we didn't have to worry about little kids and the "family" aspect that attracts most people to Disney. Roller coasters and rides, meeting different characters (the princesses especially), trying different foods at Epcot, shows such as Fantasmic, fireworks, the castle with it's Christmas lights, and hanging out with a Prince himself- it was definitely a very magical time and I was such a kid! I can't believe it took me twenty four years to experience that!

Above I mentioned hanging out with a prince, let me go into detail a bit about that:
A guy I graduated with actually works at Disney. He's a prince- more specifically, he plays Eric from The Little Mermaid, The "Snow Prince" from Snow White, and Flynn from Tangled. I got up with him and told him I'd be down there and on Monday he came and hung out with us for a few hours and it was really good getting to see him and catch up while also learning many things about Disney.  We went and saw a show on Saturday night and he was in it. It was soo neat to know someone who was a prince at Disney. How many people can say that?

Unfortuantely on this trip, my battery died on my camera by the end of the first day and stupid me forgot to bring the cord to charge it, therefore I'm kinda lacking on my pictures. Luckily some people had iPhones which I've never been more thankful for. Here's a look at our weekend.

 Jasmine and Aladdin!

One of my favorite rides there. 

This is my friend in the show we saw, blurry picture, but nonetheless...

I think everyone needs to experience Disney when it's decorated for Christmas. 

So MAGICAL!