Midweek Confessions - HS Reunion Style

Um... sorry to fall off the face of the blog planet last week! I left Thursday morning to go home for my 10 year HS reunion.  I was a class officer way back in the day so we've been working on planning this event since mid-summer and I'm thankful to have it behind us now.  And now,  here are my confessions/reflections from the weekend:


- high school students: if you are at all interested in becoming an officer your senior year which will then require you to plan a reunion ten years later, DON'T DO IT!!! you may think it will be worth it to put it on your resume as you apply for scholarships and colleges, but it's not. trust me. because eventually it will just be one big headache trying to pick a date that can work for all 275 students {impossible} and only half of the 50 people who signed up will actually show up. {losers.} {kidding.} {kind of.}


- everyone can give a big "hallelujah amen!" that almost all of us who showed up look relatively the same and seemed to be within ten pounds of our h.s weight. well, except for the one who is now living in new york and looks like a dad gum model, but we won't let her break the curve for the rest of us who have had kids!


- despite the fact that a lot of us are at least facebook friends and "keep up" with each other, there is a ridiculous amount of pressure to pick outfits for an event like this. I am ashamed to admit that my inner seventh grade girl got the best of me at times and I chickened out of a cute outfit that included an adorable hat.  funny how it's easy to be confident in your current life but hard to do in your previous.


- as seen in last week's confessions, I had plans to print out everyone's senior picture that was attending. {partially so that we would hopefully remember who we were and mostly because they're really funny.} as I went to walmart to pick them up, the photo lady wouldn't give them to me. turns out it's breaking two copyrights to print them: both from the yearbook and the photographers. major bummer.  lucky for me though, another store in town has a photo booth where they just print straight out and didn't check them so I was able to secure our entertainment for the night.  {please don't t turn me in for breaking copyright laws. I promise they were all thrown away at the end of the night!}


- the problem with handing out pictures to people is that I knew there was a chance I wouldn't recognize someone. so I spent a good deal of time looking over names and faces so I wouldn't somehow end up embarrassing myself. we sorted the pictures by first name and I was doing really good passing them out.  until the one girl who's face I've been struggling with walked up. she looked like an ashley in our class, but I knew she wasn't ashley. so I sat there {in front of a big crowd mind you} fumbling over, "oh man, how did we organize these? I can't remember I'm having trouble figuring them out." praise the lord the other workers who were helping me were smart enough to not yell out "they are by first name!" which only confirmed that I was not at all smooth in trying to cover up the fact that I couldn't remember her name.  ay yai yai.

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and in no relation to midweek confessions, here's a freebie print I made to celebrate the start of october!

i'll never forget several years ago when kelly posted about her pumpkin patch days,  specifically the times in her life when she longed so much for them and how enjoyable they are now that she's finally living them. it struck a cord with me at the time with the wishing and hoping we were doing for a family and also seemed to touch several of my blog friends, as they commented on it too. they were going through a really rough time too and I've spent many nights praying for their pumpkin patch days to come.

guess what? those that I have prayer for have literally put up pictures in the pumpkin patch and are now living the dream they waiting for. and it just makes my heart so happy to see how happy they are. so, i'm not sure if you're living your pumpkin patch days or dreaming of them, but here's a print to keep you encouraged along the path!

download here

download here

{it's a pdf that can be downloaded and then printed off, in case you're wondering!}

check out e, myself and i for more midweek confessions!

Midweek Confessions

we think that Griffin is in the process of cutting his molars, which is making for one cranky little boy. {If it's not the molars, I'm toast.} To try and off set the needy, clingy, cry baby he's becoming, he's pretty much ruling the house. Yesterday he got to actually hold his frozen go-gurt and rub it all over the kitchen floor, cabinets, fridge and stove. Today he got to play in the dishwasher, both while I unloaded it and the reloaded it. He particularly enjoyed pulling out the bottom tray and rolling it all over the kitchen and banging the wooden spoon {with leftover mashed potatoes still on it} on the floor.

momma was just happy he wasn't crying.



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the go-gurt may still be on the floor, cabinets, fridge and stove waiting to be cleaned.

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after finishing painting our bedroom on sunday night, I had a celebratory ddp at 9:30 p.m. which was a totally great idea until 1 p.m. until I couldn't sleep and I was cursing all things with caffeine. until monday night, when I once again had a ddp way too late and started the cycle all over.

when will I learn?

{probably not tonight.}

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any guess what these items have in common?



what I like to call "10 year reunion prep!"

not pictured: a really good pair of spanx.

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just kidding.  it's not really considered reunion prep when they're all a part of your normal beauty routine, right?

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and just for fun, here's a flashback to my senior yearbook photo:

as much as I love my short hair, if I'm being truly honest... there are days I miss being able to bump up my hair like that!

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don't forget to check out #6SecondsFlat with Wendy's for your chance to win 6k!


head over to e, myself and i for more midweek confessions!

Midweek Confessions

1.  Sometimes I think that I am just not cut out for this minister's wife business, as shown by this conversation I had with a youth kid last week at dinner.

{background: I am now cooking the wednesday night meal. cody has repeatedly said he tells the jr. high students this is a snack and NOT their dinner. I mean they eat at 4:40 for crying out loud!}

so the students have been served their 5 mini corn dogs, mac and cheese and 2 oreos. a few asked for more while going through line, but most accepted that there were still a lot more people to feed. one girl came up though asking for more. I told her she would need to wait until after church and her mom could make her dinner when they got home and she replied "but she's picking me up soon so that I can go to Calvary {another church in town.}

I gave her a look and replied, "Do you hear what you're saying to me?" She gave me a questioning look and I continued on... "Because I'm hearing you say, 'do you have any more free food to give me while you babysit me before my mom comes to pick me up and take me to my real church?'"  She gave me a quick smile and took her plate back to her seat.

Oops.

2.  Other times I feel like I am the greatest minister's wife out there. At Monday Lunch one of our mom's caught me on her way out and said, "Abby, I just want you to know that I really appreciate how active you are with our youth. It's been 35 years since I was in the youth group, but I still remember that our youth minister's wife was a lot like you and it really makes a difference for the kids. Thank you for what you do!"

I was walking on cloud nine.

Until I rounded the corner and another mom asked, "Abby, do y'all do much for the high school girls?" "Well, we're in the process of trying to start a high school girl's Bible study but I'm not quite sure what day it's going to be on." "Oh, ok, well because {daughter's name} said you really spend most of your time with the junior high students and I mean I guess that's fine. You'll grow up with them and that's good. She just really needs a good role model in her life." 


wah wah wah. minister's wife fail.

3. Why is it that I am almost 30 years old and yet I have a mountain on my face like I am a 15 year old going through puberty???????????

totally not cool. and how come I haven't figured out a way to actually conceal breakouts like this? got any tips before I have to face the public again?

4. Yesterday I managed to burn my pointer finger on the hot glue gun, grate some skin off of my middle finger and somehow caught the grater on my thumbnail  so it broke it back into the nail bed, all on the same hand. I then proceeded to forget to put enough sugar in my zucchini bread mix, which means it tastes ok but not awesome like my mom's. Maybe I should take a break from cooking & crafting for a while.


5. This is my mom and I after a long day at the Living Proof Live Simulcast.

I have my sister in law to thank for my super cute outfit. She got me THIS top from  Forever 21 and adorable scarf from Aerie for my birthday. {technically it came from my brother too, but I think we all know he's not stepping foot in those stores!}  This is your friendly PSA to tell you HOW AWESOME THIS SHIRT IS!!!!! It is like a sweater material, yet is comfortable like your favorite worn in t-shirt.  My mom has already picked up her one and my sister in law is hoping to get her one too. Trust me, you will want this shirt in your fall wardrobe!


Head over to E, Myself and I for more midweek confessions!


linking up with the pleated poppy too! 

Midweek Confessions.

1. I just finished watching an episode of House Hunters that has practically left me speechless. This couple was looking for a new place to live in Nashville. Among the list of requirements for the house was a good backyard and an extra room with lots of sunlight for their TURTLES, which were very important family members. So important that she took them every single week with her when she traveled for work. I mean, I've known a lot of people who love their pets, but I've never seen someone go that crazy over turtles! In the end they chose a spacious house with a big master bathroom because the turtles liked the size of the tub. And I wish I was making some of this up!

2. I totally let Griffin play with the dishwasher on Monday so I could have a few minutes of peace and quiet. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!

3. While at home last week, my mom and I took Griff to McDonald's while we were waiting on some paint to be mixed.

The kid is a natural. Here's hoping I can still get him to eat veggies after tasting the goodness of fries!

4. Speaking of Griffin... I love that kiddo and we have some really great days together. But man, it sure is a good feeling when you lay them down in the crib, close the door and take in a deep breath... it's bed time! Surely I'm not the only parent who loves this time of day, right??

5. We somehow got sucked into watching Shark Week tonight. This particular show is all about people who survived shark bites, including some actual footage and pictures of their injuries. It is a train wreck and I cannot look away, but it also confirms why I am more of a pool person!

Check out E, Myself and I for more Midweek Confessions!

Midweek Confessions

Last night I was doing one final bathroom run before we headed to bed. As I walked past a pile of clothes waiting to be washed today, I noticed Cody had dropped a shirt in it. The shirt that he had on for a total of 5 hours last night after work, while he pretty much sat around the house, played with Griffin and did absolutely nothing to actually get it dirty.

I couldn't have even stopped my mom coming out of me if I wanted too. Thanks to some prompting by me, Cody saw the error of his ways and put the shirt up. He also won't even do it again, or else I told him he's on laundry duty for a month!

And mom- I'm sorry for all of those times I stupidly put clothes in the hamper when they were obviously still clean. I see the error of my ways now!

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I think Pinterest is a wonderful thing, but I also think it's ruined blogging a little bit. Because I have a super easy tip to share with y'all about how to keep your tupperware from getting stained, but thanks to Pinterest, I feel like I have to create a super cute picture to go with a lengthy blog post so that I can be the next pin-nomenon.  It's too much people!

Here's your cooking tip with no frills attached:

Next time you're putting food into a container that will most likely stain tupperware (for example: spaghetti) spray with it with cooking spray before putting it in and you'll keep your container clean!


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I realized today that I know absolutely nothing about parenting.  Specifically disciplining a 10 1/2 month old. I had to get on to Griffin several times for continually getting into the kitchen cabinet under the sink, which of course contains lots of things he shouldn't be playing with. It didn't matter how many times I told him no, smacked his hand and moved him away, he kept coming back to it. And actually, he would smile bigger at me each time after I told him no!

So do you just keep at it and eventually they get the hand of it? Help!

{I also bough baby proofing supplies yesterday... just waiting for Cody to install them!}

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So my #50MilesInJuly probably isn't going to happen. I knew I would lose a week to camp, but Griff getting sick knocked me back a few more days and now I need to do like 3-4 miles a day for the rest of the month to make it. And y'all, I'm just not that dedicated.  But I'm telling myself that every mile does count, and even if I only make it to 25, it's still more than I did last month.... Or something like that!

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I started a new diet today, just to help cleanse from vacation and camp food overload. Why is it as soon as I decide I'm not allowed to have coffee, the weather is perfectly set up for sitting on the back porch, enjoying the cool weather, rain and a great cup of coffee?  Sigh. Let's hope this weather comes back again soon!

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What are you confessing this week? Check out E, Myself and I for more!