Have I lost my mind?

Let me start with this - 

I,Jennifer, am NOT a runner. That being said ... I started training today for a half marathon ... In 12 weeks ... Yeah, that's 13.1 miles ... Running. 😳 

 I have a problem saying 'no' to people which is why I was able to be talked in to doing this. ::shaking my head:: this will be interesting and I will finish ... Even if I crawl. I WANT that 13.1 sticker for my car and to prove to myself that I can do more than I ever thought possible. 

Vacation

Where did my 12 days off go? Too fast for sure. I got back Tuesday night and thankfully had Wednesday off and I stayed at home to sleep and recuperate before work the rest of the week. Had a fun trip to Disney but I am wiped out! 

We stayed at Disney's "art of animation" resort and we were in Radiator springs! So cute with all the "cars" characters.

I took way too many photos but wanted to post a few of my favorites. 

I stood in line for an hour to get my photo with Chewbacca! Preston was sssooo jealous. He kissed me! LoL and I'm not sure what the ewok was doing, maybe he was saying turn the camera off we needed some privacy. Ha

Last year we didn't see these people! The lady playing the evil stepmother was so funny, she has just the right facial expressions! Sadly we couldn't get our photo with them because they were about to do a parade and we didn't see them again after that day :(

Cinderella's castle just magical :)

Princess jasmine at breakfast in the castle, aren't their costumes fabulous? 

My favorite thing to do is watch the beauty and the beast show, who needs broadway? I recorded it so that I can watch it again. It's just fabulous!! Love them :) makes me think of Preston and I lol you should see what my "beast" looks like now!

This is one of my favorite photos of the trip, waiting in line for a ride and took this photo. Julia has the real look of fear on her face lol

Chalk board craft :)

I am so proud of myself and even though it took me all weekend I made an awesome (to me) chalk board for our kitchen/dining area out of an old cabinet door. And now I shall just post the progression photos from start to finish!

Redecorating

Preston left Wednesday for a loooooong time, I may get lucky and see him for a few days at the first of August ... If not then it will be the first of September and only for 2 days :( so yeah that's a long time. I need things to to keep my mind off of that so today I decided to finally get things for our patio. We have lived in these apartments for almost 2 years (yikes!) and we have never gotten patio furniture! I love to sit outside and read and I had a hammock chair that we got in Cozumel hanging outside last summer but Kimberly and Preston hated that thing so I was told not to put it up this year. Bummer. So today I went to big lots (yep I shop there and I don't care) and found beach themed chairs and bright colored pillows and a small table and a little decor. I really like the way it came out and the only thing I really need to get is some of the big round colored lights on a string to hang outside above the chairs :) Margaritaville anyone? :)

Coconut oil

Who would have thought that putting oil on your face was a good thing? Not me! I have always had oily skin and its so annoying (but they say you'll wrinkle less and later in life :wink: ) I'm constantly looking for a good makeup to help reduce shine and I use the oil blot sheets daily (love them) and unfortunately a little over a year ago I decided to get acne. I thought I was in the clear because I didn't really have an issue with that when I was in my teens ... But 25ish hit and bam! It was so bad that I had to go to the dermatologist and had all sorts of things done and took this high power medicine where I couldn't even be in the sun last summer (pasty is the new tan) and these things helped a lot but I'm still left with red spots on parts of my face and every few weeks I'm still having minor breakouts :-/ I use a powerful face wash that's really hard to get my hands on now but it does its job to keep acne away but these spots i just cant seem to get rid of. makeup covers them but i used to only wear Powder (I hate wearing liquid foundation) and id love to get back to that. So last week I read somewhere all the fabulous benefits that coconut oil may provide for you (inside and out but right now im only interested in the skin part) So did some searching and found a fan favorite to use and I went to the local granary and bought it. I've been using it for a few days, I will wash my face at night (with my heavy duty wash) and put it on in place of my moisturizer (I also have dry skin around my mouth because of my powerful face wash, I just can't win) then I will wash in the morning with my gentle wash and then put the oil on again and wear it under my makeup (as moisturizer again) I tried not to get my hopes of BUT I am happy to say that just after a few days the red spots have visibly started to fade away!! And my skin feels better and looks better! I never would have thought. So there you go, google the uses (even for cooking!) it might be something that you could benefit from too!

Packed weekend! I'm tired

Preston came home late Wednesday night and so I decided to take some much needed time off work and have a 4 day weekend. Thursday we had a family day (Preston, Kimberly and I) we all slept in and spent the day at the mall and eating junk food and just being lazy in general. It was nice and we ended the day with my new favorite dish (different recipe) chicken spaghetti.

Friday was a pretty laid back day too (I knew our weekend was packed and I really wanted to have Thursday and Friday to relax and not have plans and go with the flow) we didn't do much during the day, we visited his parents, Preston got a new phone (it's not an iPhone!) and we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse with our friends and ate too many of their rolls!

Saturday we went to the renaissance faire in troup, I have never been and Preston hasn't been since he was younger. I actually enjoyed it a lot. Preston took some axe throwing lessons and he was able to at least hit the target by the end of it. I was so wiped out Saturday that I fell asleep pretty early that night. I am 80 after all.

Sunday is my favorite day because we went to watch the Rangers play!! And that's my favorite thing to do! It was an awesome game with lots of home runs and a grand slam by Cruz! I love being at the exciting games with lots of crowd participation. I'm ready to go again, hoping to work in another game before Disney trip.

Back to work tomorrow :-/ it was beyond nice being off for 4 days but they went too fast! Hoping for a good week with short days and long nights.

Time, who has it?

Ah so much fun has been going on and too much work also! Why do we have to work? All we do is work to pay bills ... I just want to spend time with my loves every day and be on a permanent vacation and never have to work again ... What a nice dream :) but I try to have fun when I can anyway, like weekend before last ... Opening weekend for baseball in Texas, need I say more? Oh how I looooove baseball, even though we were playing against Hamilton and everyone boo'd him it was still a fun game (we lost too btw) but I didn't care much. Hamilton will always be my número uno and people will get over his trade eventually.

Major thing I did last week was chop my hair off and get some highlights! I love it. It's only hair it will grow back. Preston has been wanting me to cut it shorter for a while and I finally gave in and I'm happy I did. I think it also makes me look older which is fabulous I'm tired of being 18 ;)

This last Friday night I had my two girls for a sleepover and had lots of fun with them! Friday night was soccer practice,sonic to eat and play, orange leaf for dessert and then back to my apt to watch a movie till they passed out at 9. Julia (5) plays soccer and its so cute watching them all run around chasing the ball. I loved going to her games Saturday, these babies are family to me and I love to spending time with them. Only 43 days until we all fly out to Disney World!!! We are so excited :) I haven't had a week long vacation since we last went to Disney in dec. 2011! I'm so over due for 11 straight days off of work just relaxing and having carefree fun! Only thing that would make it better would be if Preston was with me.

Preston is headed home! He should arrive Wednesday night, it's been a long 3 weeks and he will only be home for about 2 1/2 weeks and then he is gone for months:( praying hard he finds a new job SOON as always because we are both tired of this. I have lots of fun things this weekend planned for us! Stay tuned!

Happy Easter!

What a yucky stormy day but we still made it to church for a great cantata and play the youth did. Today I got Facebook back, 6 1/2 weeks flew by after that very difficult first week lol. It was a sacrifice for sure! Preston and i are not together today sadly, so we each took a photo this morning and made an Easter collage (yep his face is getting pretty hairy ... He will look like duck dynasty by November for sure! Gross )
Hope everyone has a great day and remember He is risen!

Pinterest project!

I saw on Pinterest a few weeks ago this baseball wreath and decided I just had to make it! Unfortunately all my family played in the last 10 years was softball .. And I needed used baseballs so until I can collect enough of those I did a trial run with the softballs, it came out pretty cute. I had dad help me make it (drill through them) and could my dad just get a hand drill and do it like all the normal people? No. Why did I ever think he would lol. He had to get on the computer and put his engineering and math together and figure out just the right angle and everything, silly man. But I suppose it's as perfect as can be that way! Here is the finished product, hoping I can do a real baseball one soon! If you know of any laying around let me know ;-)

Last weekend home:(

This week passed quickly :-/ I didn't take any full days off but I did get to leave early a few days and spend some time with my husband, he leaves tomorrow for 3 weeks so we tried to pack some fun and good food into this weekend.

Friday night we went to a local hole in the wall BBQ place for dinner and they had live bands that night that we enjoyed, until Preston spilled some of his drink on a strangers phone and he wanted to leave before it messed up lol (she dried it right away and it was working fine but he wanted to go anyway)

Saturday we had sushi:) yummy we had good seats at the bar and got to watch the chef make the sushi! After that we met up with BFF Lyndee and her husband and daughter and we went to the movies and watched "the incredible Burt Wonderstone" we enjoyed it and laughed quite a bit, love love 'Michael Scott' I'd recommend it.

Sunday our cousins (Casey & Erica) from LA came down and brought their daughter and new baby! He didn't like my boney arms but I got him to fall asleep in my lap, I need to get some more meat on me so it's more comfortable for babies I guess lol. We had a good day with them and had a yummy dinner at Casey's favorite 'jalapeño tree' and we ate way too much but it was worth it!

BBQ date night Friday

Sushi bar!

Baby Cooper! Sweetness

Baby cooper called me the other night to video chat, I bored him to sleep!

Hope everyone has a great week! Unfortunately it's Monday again tomorrow! But it's getting to close to BASEBALL time! Woohoo'

lots of miles this weekend

this weekend we had cabin fever after a long work week ( for me) and too much time locked up at home (for Preston) - Friday night we hit the road to Louisiana to have dinner with my cousin Erica and her Husband, Casey ( also known in the family as my cousin husband lol) pics below. we have a great dinner at Tokyo ( their version of our Shoguns) super yummy and worth the hour and half one way drive.

                                           Cousins :) and my big dimple that makes my face lopsided!

Saturday we went out to mom and dads for a bit to celebrate grandma Ware's 100th birthday! wowza! still kickin' it too. Saturday night i babysat because it was my kids mama's birthday, im thankful for her! sincg we we didnt get to spend Saturday afternoon/night together we decided Sunday to be spontaneous and we drove to Athens to a little red barn sale - i have been searching for an old wooded 6+ drawer dresser with some character to repaint for a nursery eventually, they had one i liked at this sale but i think it was a little too pricey for something i want to redo so i will keep looking on craigslist :-/ Tyler area is just hard to find stuff in, hey you guys that dont live here keep an eye out :) thanks. Preston found an old metal sign off of an 18-wheeler that he got for a game room some day so he was happy, we stopped at another antique shop on the way home and it had a lot of antique clothing and everything in-between  i want to go back there and take a longer look around. We really enjoyed our day and decided its something we want to do when he is home to have some fun time together. i cant wait till our next trip! :)


  a dresser like this would be PERFECT! $50 - but ore city is too far to drive :(  but you get the idea - character, real wood not plywood junk. ill keep searching!

Thankful for my job!

This week was not too bad and went by fast, it's amazing how fast the weeks pass now. Today I am thankful for my job, I work for TMF in a clinic and this week they had an 82 employee layoff from the top to the bottom, one really nice girl i knew from a sister clinic was laid off and its sad, but I am so thankful I still have a job to go to. For the most part I really like my job except for the occasional angry patients lol but I try not to complain too much about it because I don't know how I'd live without it. So Thank you, Jesus, for keeping me where I am.


We bought tickets to go to the renaissance fair next month, I have never been and have wanted to for years! Get a turkey leg and watch some jousting? Yes please. I got tickets for $7 on LivingSocial verses paying $15 a piece on site! I get a lot of great deal on this app, most things are in the Dallas, rockwall, Ft Worth etc areas but some are around home or just online things and I love checking out daily deals, I've done other stuff on there. If you haven't heard of it sign up! It's free and lots of cool things come up! Photo deals, nails, massage, clothing, food, shows and everything else.

Preston was scheduled to come home Monday but he is getting in early and will be here this weekend! He will be home for 2 weeks and then gone again and after April it will be months! So hopefully we can enjoy some time together while he is home, unfortunately I will be working the whole time so we only have evenings and the weekend to hang out! Hope everyone has a good weekend, spend it with the ones you love!

On this day ...

4 years ago we said " I Do" ....
8 years with this crazy man.
Wow.
That is an accomplishment.
Lets get started with this next chapter!
It is sure to get exciting ;-)
Happy Anniversary Preston Lee!

TGIS!

Forget Friday, you still work that day, get excited about SATURDAY people! :) This week was uneventful and actually passed quickly which I prefer when Preston is gone. He sent me his "home" schedule for the rest of the year and its pretty bad as usual ;( he isn't home at all really in May June July September and October, home here and there in between. Praying hard for a job change in the next 6 months, something better for us! Lots of goals to complete this year so that we can hit the ground running next year and I'm working hard to keep on track!


I had to make myself promise last night not to look around online at houses anymore until we are ready to search in dec. because I found the perfect house and it won't be there in 10 months which made me sad lol so no more house searching for me!


Last night I made dad take a trip to sams with me (because I don't have a membership) and stocked up on some things I eat a lot of, this will last me probably 3 weeks and saves a lot of $ verses buying at Brookshires & Walmart. I will have to go and get a few small things at Walmart though but the bulk is done!

The past two weekend I have had kids and so I'm not going to lie, I plan to stay in pj's or sweats and spend a lot of time rotating between bed and couch watching movies and eating snack food and doing a lot of nothing! Sounds great to me, wish my other half was here though! 1st movie Of the day is Dirty Dancing and I'm thinking of Frequency next :) my brothers may be coming over tonight to playing video games with my sister and if they do ill have to make dinner for them, good thing I just bought 6 pounds of spaghetti!! Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Look what's in Fort Worth!

Titanic artifacts!!! It won't be there much longer either. Preston will be home the week or so before it ends and I have got to make him take me! I'm a little obsessed with Titanic, I LOVE when stuff about it is on the History Channel, I could watch it all day! :) take me Preston, please:)

New baby:)

This weekend was full of kids! Julia Ann had her 5th birthday party ;) and I helped her mom after that with a few of the girls that had a sleep over at their house and did princess hair and nails etc. lots of fun, wore me out!


Sunday my sister Katie and I drove to Louisiana to meet our new baby cousin Cooper! Isn't he a doll? So tiny but still looked big with me. Sweet baby boy.


Now I'm home and trying to rush around and get laundry done, I was supposed to dust and vacuum and deep clean my bathroom this weekend ... That didn't happen. Oh well kids are more fun anyway :) Preston will be home in a day or two for just one night before he leaves for two weeks, and so it begins!

Sushi :)

I never thought I would be one to eat and actually enjoy Sushi, because I hate fish/seafood. Until recently the only seafood I would put into my body was shrimp scampi (love that yummy greasy stuff!) Shoguns is a hibachi restaurant in tyler and can be quiet expensive to eat there but we discovered that sitting in the sushi bar area and just having their yummy house soup and fried rice was a nice cheap meal and we eat there often. Preston is one who will eat anything and he liked to get sushi too and one day he finally got me to try some and its now my favorite - Shrimp crunch roll - it just has a piece of fried shrimp on top and there is some crap, avocado and cucumber inside with a sauce on top. Delicious. I also love their Texas roll now it's about the same except no shrimp and it has a slightly spicy sauce, and I always dip each bite into a little soy sauce. So I don't eat the weird raw stuff but I definitely enjoy the others! I'd say be brave and give it a try :) last night I went to have sushi with Katie & Jared and it was great! (The dragon roll was Jared's .. I did not try that one)

27 years :)

First of all I just discovered that Blogger has an app! Hallelujah that's is sssooo much easier that trying to do it from the web on my phone! Anyway back to what this post is about ...


Today my crazy husband turns 27! He is the Beast to my Belle, the peanut butter to my jelly, He is my other half that makes me whole. We have been together 8 years and they have flown by, we've grown together, apart, and back together many times and although its been tough I would not change it. I love you to the moon and back and don't you forget that.
Happy day of birth Preston!

- your wife

Lent & Kids

This year when trying to decide what to give up for Lent the first and only thing that came to mind was our beloved, addicted FaceBook .... not internet or blogs, just Facebook. I can do that right?  its only been 4 days and i feel like its been a month already ... i feel completely lost and out of everyones lives because i cant see what everyone is doing! I have to actually call/text someone to talk to them - weird! I don't know what to do without FB asking me "Whats on my mind" every day lol I only have like 40 more days-ish .... at least i get it back the week before Baseball, I cant go to games and not post photos! aahhh the horror! seriously though its been hard to shut that out of my life but i'm hoping to learn from this experience. 

XOXOXOXO



                          I am with the kids this weekend .... don't you just love them? I do!
I even got a quick photo with Jacob - see he does exist too he just never does photos.

I am never bored when i'm with them that's for sure, i'm not sure if this video will upload correctly or not i have never tried that before but anyway i'm on my laptop playing around and listening to music and i look up to see the girls rocking their dance skills. 

I also had a couple of hours with Jenna ( Julia was at dance) and so we played beauty shop and fro-baby got her hair straightened! took forever. she brushed it and played with it all day she loved having "long princess hair" poor baby was upset when i gave her a bath tonight and it went back curly. she is cute either way but it was nice for her to have manageable hair for a few hours lol. I'm letting her sleep in braids tonight with heavy duty WEN conditioner in it and ill rinse it out in the morning and she will have pretty curls for a day before they fro out.

the girls said they want to stay up all night ... meaning until they have melt downs from exhaustion and i make them go to bed ... which could be soon.

Tomorrow I should get home after lunch and ill have to get laundry done and then i plan to veg out with Preston one last night before he leaves till mid march.  Good night!

Jen-

The Majestic

• Saturday night we did a very grown up thing and went to Dallas with a few friends to the Majestic Theater to  see our favorite comedian Anjelah Johnson! this lady is seriously funny. we have never been to a live comedy show and after this i hope to go more, we scored fabulous floor seats for super cheap because Lyndee follows Anjelah on twitter and she had a pre-sale deal a few months ago when we bought, unfortunately you cant take photos during the show so none of her :(  none of us had ever been to the Majestic theater was absolutely beautiful, brought you back in time check out one of my favorites from her below :) 
• .Nail Salon

                                               best time! We laughed until we cried

Today (Sunday) I am recuperating and doing laundry etc. i'm making experimental food for dinner .... meaning we may be eating cereal if its not good lol. trying to make some type of meatloaf and doing it in a muffin pan, i just threw ground beef and a couple of seasonings and a little tomato soup and bread crumbs and cheese and tossed it in .... scary. 

Next week is going to be busy between work and babysitting i'm off to bed early, here's to a good week!

Jen -