Husband

4th of July Photo Journal – Family

I can’t believe we’re already on the downhill slope toward Christmas. Oy! If you watch Hallmark Channel, we’re on Christmas in July… round the clock Christmas movies. Gosh, I love Christmas movies, but that’s another post for another day. Right now, let’s discuss the 4th of July, again… one last time.

This will be in the form of hubby’s family. I only say that to distinguish between our two families although technically when we got married, they all became OUR family. Anyway… Just clarifying right there :).

Now one thing that I should point out just to remember is that Hubby and I were the last ones to the party for the most part. A couple of stragglers came in but, usually, we’re some of the first ones there. When we hosted it, we were first, now that we are just patrons (haha, jokes on them… just kidding) we’re still usually some of the first ones to show up. Then I had to leave to go back to my house to get a trailer to set up the fireworks on. 

When I got to the house, the joke was on me… hubby left his truck empty. I used his truck because at that time they were using the bed of mine to sort fireworks. I hopped in his truck and there were 27 miles to empty. Now, I could have made it to my sister-in-law’s and he could have made it from there to the gas station, but at that late at night, who wants to bother? So I stopped and got fuel for him. I might be nice sometimes, but don’t spread the word! (more…)

I Baked an Angel Food Cake (The Kitchen)

Woohooo… go me, right? Oh… but… here’s where I mention that I baked an Angel Food Cake IN. MY. OWN. KITCHEN. WHAT!!??!!??

Yes! You read that correctly. I baked a cake in my kitchen. In my oven. So super exciting if you ask me!! Today I think I’ll focus on said kitchen. Then the next post will be about said Angel Food Cake. Deal?

The Original Kitchen

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Smoke on the Border

The big shindig… also known as… Smoke on the Border in Gravette, Arkansas. So, we made it. The boys signed up, we hauled everything down, and bam, we were entered. I say we loosely. I helped when they said they needed it or by washing their dishes, but this was all them!

Saturday was the People’s Choice event. Basically, people were allowed to come and walk through the 2 streets blocked off for the event. If people had samples, obviously they could sample it. Samples were cut off around like 2 maybe. Then, the People’s Choice meat was dropped off to the church around the corner at 5 pm. People could buy wrist bands for $10 and they basically got all you can eat meat plus possible sides. Sunday was the main event. So they had the option of entering in 4 categories… pulled pork, brisket, ribs, and/or chicken. The awards were held at the Methodist Church as were all things turned in. And bam, it was all over but the cleanup. (more…)

Smoke off Prep

I’m pretty sure these days I meet myself coming and going. I try not to but dang. Anyway, last week I mentioned something about a BBQ/Smoked meats thing. Well here are the details… FINALLY! 

So we started hanging out with our dive friends in 2013 when we met them. It wasn’t an immediate BAM, we’re friends, but pretty darn close. So throughout the last couple of years, hubby and Jared have been smoking different types of meats for different events. Events include just a night in with friends to dive club meetings to events for the Red Coaters at Chiefs Stadium. The big leagues… in our books anyway.

They have been honing in on our their meat preparations. Wow, that sounds weird. ha! Anyway, last fall they went to Kansas City to a Chiefs game and actually cooked for 60+ Red Coaters and family. Then the leftover meats, they tried passing out to passer byes. A lot of people around our hangouts really like their brisket and pulled pork and chicken, etc, so they told them they needed to start entering contests. (more…)

Remodeling Journal: Demo Part 2

It just so happened there was an auction for home remodeling the Saturday after we bought our house. How convenient. It also happened to be one of the coldest days of the year thus far, other than when we had snow back in November.

The girls went with us. Poor them! We finally sent them out to the truck with the keys and my phone (Tbug had hers) for entertainment. It wasn’t going fast and boy was it cold. I think Cold is an understatement at this point. Holy cow!

They had cabinets, flooring, wood, paneling, sinks, fans, you name it… We walked away with the tile for the backsplash of my kitchen, which apparently at this point I can’t find a picture of. I didn’t have my phone (read above paragraph) and hubby never sent me the pictures I took :).

We called it quits long before the auction was over. It started at either 9 or 10. We left at 1. It was cold and boring, and the things we wanted still hadn’t sold. I talked to a couple who went to these often and they said that one of the previous auctions lasted until after 7pm the last time.

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Christmas 2018

This Christmas was quite a blur. Between buying and remodeling a house and Abug being at preschool, this Christmas season was quite the blur. They say that time doesn’t slow down, it only gets faster as you get older. I believe that is true. But I sure wish it would slow down!

This year for name tags, I printed off Christmas pictures from years past. I tried to include the person who the present was to in the tag, but that’s not always an option (ahem, my mother). I also tried to put bows on the packages. They were just so darn pretty. Especially under the tree.

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Oh Socks…

Here we are, the last day of 2018. I’ve tried typing 2019 a few times and my fingers always slip up and I wind up typing 2018. Oy! I’ll wish you luck with that new task just as you should wish me luck!!

So being the last day of the year, I’ll leave you with a weird/funny story. I really should recap Christmas but I haven’t edited all the photos yet. I guess that’s what happens when you get busy remodeling a house…

Once upon a time, I think I told you the socks story but… My grandma used to always give me socks for Christmas. Then she passed away in 2007. Hubby and I didn’t start dating until 2009, but I swear I didn’t make this comment until I was dating him, but I questioned who would get me socks for Christmas now. So silly and stupid I know… But I did say that.  (more…)

Ft. Worth 2018

Every year, I really feel like one of the true starts to the Christmas season is the trip to Ft. Worth. Since the hubs and I have been together, we’ve been able to attend Fort Worth and the NCHA Futurity every year. This year was no different.

Thursday night we headed out after everyone got off work. We made it as far as Dennison, TX, before calling it a night. The next morning, we woke up and off to Fort Worth we headed. Before we left the hotel though, we grabbed breakfast. Abug did her own hair for Breakfast. Who is to argue with a 4-year-old?

Then we were off. As we got closer to Ft. Worth, we dealt with more rain. Usually, we have to rent a vehicle to haul all of us. This year we had a white Ford Expedition. On the lot, they had a Chevy Suburban, but we thought we’d like the Ford better. After getting home, we weren’t sure if we wouldn’t have liked the Suburban better? Possibly more cargo room… but I guess one will never know. (more…)

Getting to This Point

Thursday morning… November 29, 2018, a day I never figured would happen. It was an uphill struggle the whole way. I had a meltdown a few times along the way. We all did. It was frustrating as hell (pardon my language). If you’ve ever thought about buying a foreclosure house, my thought is… DON’T. Okay, maybe that’s being a bit melodramatic.

I was told if it was worth it, keep fighting. There were days I questioned my sanity and wondered why I thought it was worth it.

With all the buy/flip shows on HGTV and DIY Network, everyone seems to want to buy houses and flip them these days. That wasn’t our goal… for the most part anyway.

Remember back to September 2016, we sold our house. In fact, we moved out on our Anniversary weekend. That weekend felt like a slap in my face. These last few years haven’t gone anything like I thought they would. I can guarantee they aren’t anything like 25-year-old Nicole thought they’d be. Maybe that’s the fun in life… maybe not. I’m not really sure. But… needless to say, we sold our house and moved back in with my parents. That was just supposed to be a stepping stone to the next thing. (more…)

Christmas Tree 2018 (And a Surprise)

Finally, the tree went up at our house over the weekend. I’ve been pretty much chomping at the bit (horse term) to get that tree up. I would like to say it went up without any hitches, but it didn’t… NOT. AT. ALL. In fact, I think the term hitches is a nice way of saying how things went on Saturday when we put the tree up. Sad day! Part of me wants to jot those memories down and part of me wants to forget it ever happened. No use in dwelling on the past, right? Let’s just say, Christmas is my favorite holiday (followed so close by Thanksgiving and all of the rest of the holidays) and I used the phrase, I Hate Christmas. Sadly, I try to teach Abug not to say hate. It’s something I try to instill in Abug, don’t hate. Yet I was so frustrated I kept saying HATE. Hypocrite! (that was directed at me, not you :))

The Tree

A few years ago we bought this tree at Lowe’s on sale after Christmas. Best purchase we’ve ever made when it comes to Christmas trees. It goes together so nicely and yeah, I love this tree. Plus, I’m a white light girl and hubby is a colored light guy… This tree flashes back and forth between white lights and colored lights. Best of both worlds!

My friend Harriett told me I needed to make a tree skirt for my tree, but it was too late to start it when she suggested that… so next year. I’m holding you to that Harriett! So Abug decided she was going to put the tree skirt on the tree… (more…)