A Long Overdue Happy Birthday Post

I'm a day late (okay, okay--I'm a month or more late) on this post-BUT the pics are cute so I'm going to go ahead with it, okay?

My oldest niece was born on Leap Year 14 years ago--what are the odds, right? Even bigger odds are that my Dad was born on Leap Year as well--many moons ago!!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?

Anyhow--my niece had her birthday party several weeks ago (and by several, I mean the first Saturday in March)--and she asked me to make her cake again. I indulged until she emailed me the picture of the cake. Let me tell you--I'm high strung and get very stressed out easily, but this cake--OH BOY--it really stressed me out!

The finished product. Not perfect, but it tasted GREAT and was halfway decent!

The "big" girls (i.e. the birthday girl and her friends) chatted, ate cake, etc. while the "little" kids (which consisted of my two boys and my other niece) played basketball, played tag outside, watched TV, ate pizza, etc.



Carter found that he might be a future NBA star one day.......yes, that's him hanging on the rim of the basketball goal by himself.
AND he had a great time eating yummy cake and ice-cream!
We had a great time at the party! It was small, but nice! Sometimes, those are the BEST kind! My brother and I stop for a brief moment for a photo-op!
My awesome sister-in-law and I! Isn't her hair cute? She had just gotten it all cut off to donate to Locks of Love!
Um. I have no explanation for this picture. We were joking about 2 minutes before this about how so many teens and such now do those stupid pictures where they look like they've just kissed a snake with their lips all puckered up and gangster-fied (is gangster-fied a word?)...I'm pretty sure it's called ghetto or gangsta, but either way--here's our gangsta pose.....

Oddly enough, this post was about the birthday girl, party, etc. and I HAVE NO PICTURE OF HER. Well, I did, but it had her friends in it and since I didn't ask them beforehand if I could post them all over the Internet, I just left the picture out.....

Have a HAPPY EASTER!

~CB~

Girls Night Out--"doing life"

A few weekends ago, my 2 best friends and I decided that we had "had enough" and needed a girls night! We loaded up and headed out for some food, fun, and friendship!

Our first stop? Hobby Lobby. All I bought (if you can believe it) was some Easter grass for baskets--we looked at ALL Hobby Lobby's treasures, but didn't come home with any. Sad, but true.

From there, we headed to eat. (seriously? Why do all our trips revolve around where we're going to eat?)
......I had never been to this particular place, but Mandi/Scarlett had--we went to Mimi's Cafe! It was SO GOOD. If you've never been, put it on your "to do" list!

They have breakfast, lunch, and dinner and their menu has something for everyone! They served us the BEST bread I've ever had too!
Each of us selected something different from the menu--and it all looked great! It tasted even better!


From there, we headed to do some more shopping--we went to Fresh Produce (I think that's what it's called) and looked at their Brighton charms and such......then, after making small purchases, we headed Downtown to treat ourselves to dessert at The Melting Pot (see? it's all about the food!)


This trip was just what we needed to wind down from "life's ups and downs" and let me tell ya, each of us had some serious DOWNS that week! We needed each other something fierce!

We won't talk about the fact that when I got home that night I had been locked out of my house. The hubby had gone hunting with someone and shut the garage door and of course, I didn't take my car with me, so I had no keys! OH NO! This is when friends come in handy! They had to drive me to where C's truck was and get his house key, then take me all the way back home! What a night.

I saw the following phrase on someone else's blog today and just absolutely fell in LOVE with it. The phrase is "do life"--as in to "do life" with someone or people......These two girls are who I "do life" with and it just doesn't get any better than that.

~CB~

Need help on outfit, please.

Okay y'all. I need some help. You can be honest. Don't worry-it won't hurt my feelings.

Do you think this vest and shirt "match"? I really think it would be fine, but the greens in the vest/shirt aren't matched perfectly. We had to get the shirts from one store and the vests from another.


This is what I'm thinking of putting the boys in for Easter with some khaki shorts and brown sandals.

Okay--let me know.

THANK YOU!

~CB~

Bits of Bargains

Most of you know I coupon, and have seen my posts on things I have bought for pennies on the dollar, or even (gasp)-FREE.

Last week, on my (seldom taken) lunch break, I headed to Target. I needed a break from the office and my co-worker and I headed to Target for some bargain shopping.

I bought:
4 boxes of 12 ct. Pop-Tarts
1 Swiffer Sweeper
1 Swiffer Refill
3 bars of Johnson & Johnson Bath Buddies Soap
1 box Band-Aids (Toy Story)
1 tube Neosporin
1 tube Crest for Kids toothpaste (regular size, not trial size)
1 Oral B Kids Stages Toothbrush
Anyone want to guess how much I paid for this NAME BRAND stuff? Keep guessing.......$16.00 BUT I received a $5 gift card back (for the Pop-Tarts). Basically, I spent $11 on all that stuff! How COOL is that? I had coupons for every single thing you see there and even had a few Target coupons to double up with!

Are ya'll starting to see how this stuff works? It's EXCITING!

~CB~

Asphalt, Easter, and a Visitor

No, the title of this post is not clever or catchy. I just couldn't think of anything else to call it. I know none of the 3 items have anything to do with one another, other than the fact that they all showed up at my house today (well..except the Easter part--that happened A LONG TIME AGO)....ha!

It just so happens that we had 2 loads of asphalt delivered today and you'd have thought I handed my kids the world on a silver platter! These 2 boys were in "hog" heaven! As soon as we got home from school/work, etc. they immediately went outside with tractors and trucks to dig and plow and whatever else it is that boys do outside.
All I know is they went out remotely--somewhat--slightly clean--and came in DIRTY, FILTHY MONGRELS.

While they were outside playing or digging or plowing or whatever they were doing, I was inside cooking supper and decorating (a little bit) for Easter. I know I probably should have used my time more wisely and taken down the snow village that is still up on my entertainment center, but you know--I just felt like decorating tonight. I got out my Easter Egg tree that I made last year, along with my bunny figurines, and updated the chalkboard.

......it's only a little, tiny bit of decorating, but it's all I could muster up energy for tonight. (and yes, y'all that is the hubby standing behind the Easter Egg Tree...he was standing at the kitchen sink getting ready for his supper.....)

The hubby has been planting watermelons this week and has been coming in late every night--tonight when he came in, he had our friend, Travis with him. Travis' wife, Cori is out of town and poor ole' Travis needed some FOOD! ha-ha. While we were waiting on the rice to cook and such, Travis helped out Nolan with some homework......isn't that a sweet picture?
All in all, a great day (except this pollen we're fighting)--

~CB~

Save the Tatas!

I'm sorry y'all...I could NOT resist using that as the title to this post. I've always wanted one of those stickers that say "Save the Tatas" but just knew the preacher would look at me all weird-like when I drove up to church on Sunday morning with that all up on the back window of my van!
HA!

About a week or so ago, the WHS Baseball Team hosted their annual "Catchin' a Cure for Cancer" baseball tournament. This is the second year they've had it and it is always such a good crowd and we have a great time!

Me and Mandi (this is an awful picture of me, but Mandi looks good)

3 coaches wives....Me, Jackie, and Mandi

The boys even wear PINK! It's great! But I can tell you that as soon as the game was over, they were changing back into their red and white! ha! These boys can only take pink for so long! hee-hee-hee

After the game(s), the hubby and I headed over to our friends' house (Travis and Cori) for some steak! Travis cooked us up some BEEF (it's what for dinner) and it was delicious! We had another set of friends (Greg and Jill) who met us there and we had a great time together!

Here is Jill looking up a recipe for an appetizer........I was sure hoping Cori wouldn't sling that dish water on her laptop!

The girls (Cori, me, and Jill)

Here's the guys after dinner doing what they do best...shootin' the breeze...could be cuttin' the fool, I'm not sure which at this point.

We had a great time with each other and look forward to getting together again soon!

~CB~

Nothin' Beats FREE!

Nothin' beats FREE! You don't find many things in life that are free, but I sure did the other day at Target (technically it wasn't me since one of my co-workers picked this up for me using my coupons).......This toothpaste is priced at $1.49 at Target. I had a .50 manufacturer coupon and a $1.00 Target coupon, which equals FREE. Yes, I realize it has an overage of .01, but at Target they don't refund you the difference, they zero it out. I'll take FREE any day.


~CB~