My Tree and Some Other Stuff.....

As I start writing this post I am quietly listening to the radio in my office. You know how a certain song can remind of you a certain someone? Several Elvis songs remind me of my teenage flame, the one I call my Mr. Big (which really flatters him too much). The one that reminds me of him the most is "Suspicious Minds"...any guesses why? LOL "Blue Christmas" also reminds me of him b/c of this one time that really sticks out in my mind when we heard it in his truck going somewhere at Christmastime. So naturally I hear it every day, several times a day, this Christmas. I'm being haunted by it. Drives me nuts!!

This is my cute little pink Christmas tree. When ornaments go on sale after Christmas I would like to get it some Barbie ornaments.
This is my favorite ornament on our big tree. I went to Vegas in October to visit a good friend from college and absolutely fell in LOVE w/ LV.
This is my other favorite ornament on my big tree. I'm feeling a little like this hippo myself right now. I have been blessed w/ lots of invitations to Christmas parties (I joke I've now been to so many of A's work events they probably think I'm on payroll somewhere). A busy social life makes it difficult to make it to the gym. I will definitely need to get back on track after the holidays!
I work today and tomorrow until 1. I have a few last minute errands to run and then this show pony is hitting the road. I am going home to my Mom's farm for 9 happy days! As much as I love city living I really miss living in the country and being a farm girl. Well, and having no responsibilities or bills to pay too LOL. This was me in 1999.
Even more than I am excited about the holidays, I am super pumped for beginning a New Year! Especially since I plan on moving right after the new year begins and I'm also looking into getting a new car. I started a new job that I am loving in August (an answer to prayer after getting laid off earlier in the year and I am very thankful) so it is "out with the old and in with the new" for me!! I've already begun to go through some of my things to get organized to pack up and move. I've taken some things to the thrift store that I was ready to let go, like ex-boyfriend stuffed animals. I am getting all that stuff cleared out of my way. It feels like getting rid of excess baggage, in the literal and figurative sense. I feel God has richly blessed me this year. I am so ready to welcome the New Year and I have high hopes for 2010!

XOXO
Gamecock Queen

Trinket

Sorry for the poor quality of these pics. I snapped them very quickly of Trinket. I wanted to get her from the back wearing her "Naughty or Nice" t-shirt. Of course, Trinket has been nice this year! She is still hoping Santa will come through with the Juicy Couture sweatsuit.

Speaking of dogs I will be leaving the labs out on the farm w/ my Mom when I return from Christmas. It makes me sad and I will miss them! I have decided it is best for me to move somewhere smaller, cheaper, and more updated. I have been thinking about trying to go to school part time for a Masters for awhile and I really feel the need to simplify right now.

I have grown tired of having to keep up with either doing the yard myself or paying a gardener. It is also difficult only having one bathroom when you have two girls that are always rushing to get out of the door for work each morning.

In addition to all that we haven't been very happy with our landlord recently. Things keep breaking in the house (it's older) and it's been difficult to get in touch w/ her to get them fixed. Once you can reach her, things aren't being fixed in a timely manner. This is not little things either ladies, the faucett in the bathtub fell off (that was inconvenient!) and last week for some unknown reason 1/2 of our house didn't have light. The electricity worked, but the lights did not. We were afraid it was an electrical problem and we were afraid for our lives!

We would like to move somewhere to save some money.
Or somewhere such as a high rise downtown w/ nicer amenities.

Have a fabulous weekend!!
XOXO
Gamecock Queen

Christmas...

I don't really want much this year. The only thing I am need of is kitchen stuff (for those rare occasions when I cook). Yesterday at work I walked into our break room because someone brought in brownies. A group of maintenance men were sitting at the table in the break room eating some. One of them asked me if I made them and I said "No, one of my co-workers did, I don't cook". They all laughed and one asked me, "Never?" I said, "I make reservations." They all busted out laughing. Teeheheheee! ;-)

So, this is my wish list: pieces from my Spode "Christmas Tree" pattern. My Aunt J (my biological father's sister - long weird soap opera story there. I have a relationship w/ her but none w/ him) started giving me pieces of this pattern when I was a little girl. Now they have come out w/ pieces to this set that is "Oven to Table" so you can cook in it! I think Santa may be bringing me a few pieces.

Trinket says she wants a Juicy Couture sweat suit from Santa this year.

Last year I saw the Snuggie commerical for the first time and I about died laughing! At my old job in Public Health all my co-workers made fun of Snuggies too. I guess I have changed my tune, because I bought not one, but TWO of them to give as gifts this year. I got each of my grandparents a Carolina Snuggie. I'm really excited because I think they are going to love them! I've included a closeup of the Carolina fabric.


I can't wait to get out of this office today. For lunch the staff went to California Dreaming and it was so good, I ate too much. I'm feeling stuffed and I'm so ready to go to the gym!

I hope everyone has a good weekend. I'm starting the weekend early to enjoy a Girls Spa Day for mine and A's Christmas.

XOXO
Gamecock Queen

Weekend...

I spent the weekend with one of my best friends, J, in upstate SC. We went out for sushi, went to the movies, watched Taylor Lautner host SNL (what a cutie pie, I would take him to the family reunion yall!) and went to Sunday school and a Christmas Cantata at her church Sunday AM. On the way back home after church on Sunday I almost ran out of gas on the interstate! I thought I had enough to make it and wasn't really paying attention until the red light came on. Then of course I didn't see an exit with a gas station for miles and miles. I really thought I was not going to make it and I just barely made it in time.
Sidenote about my hair, it is superlong now and I love it. This morning while I was getting ready for work my roommate A told me that "super long hair went out of style in the 90s and only redneck girls wear their hair that long." WHAT?! I am about to get it trimmed and I refuse to part with the length. I love it and it has taken me a long time to get it this long.

The movie I went to see w/ my friend was Blindside and I LOVED it. That is the best movie I have seen in a long time. If you have not seen it yet, seriously, go see it! I love football movies anyways, but this one was a notch above anything else. One of my favorite football movies is Varsity Blues b/c it reminds me of high school SO much.

While I was at J's house this weekend she was telling that she had just had a man come out and look under her house. Not sure what you call this man, so I'll just call him a man who looks under houses. J is a nurse and owns the most gorgeous 3 bedroom house I think I've ever seen. She was having a problem with getting standing water under her house when it rains heavily. While the man was out looking under the house he and J were making small talk. He told her that recently he was looking under a house and he found a man living under there. That supports my theory that I think there may be someone under our house!

This afternoon after work I'm finishing up a tiny bit of Christmas shopping w/ A. Trinket has a stocking waiting for her at my Mom's house and we are both getting her some things to go in it. I want to get her a Snuggie for dogs, however I am a bargain shopper and the snuggie was $15.00! I am also looking forward to eating while we are out as we are out of groceries so my lunch was lacking today. I'm feeling like Texas Roadhouse or Outback....mmmm....

XOXO
Gamecock Queen

Creepy Crawly Things.....

A and I have been creeped out for a few weeks now. I heard a weird noise, like someone coughing under the house, for the first time about two weeks ago. A thought that sounded like the nuttiest thing she had ever heard. I told her that I have heard of people living under someone's house before. This is really sad, but there is a large homeless population in the city we live in, so this is not that far out.

Then we got down our Christmas stuff (which I still need to post pictures of) and were HORRIFIED and totally disgusted to find that we have some sort of pest(s) in the attic. We got an exterminator to come in immediately and we got sprayed with a gel that is supposed to be OK to use if you have indoor pets but treats your house for everything. We got the attic and the actual part of the house we live in treated for all pests...rodents, spiders, bugs, etc.

After that we thought that the noises we heard must have been from having pests in the attic. Then A started thinking she heard noises at night. Next we wondered if maybe I was sleepwalking. The year I was 18 I started sleepwalking and did it several times that year. I never did it before and have not done it since I was 18. I don't think it was me that was sleepwalking, because for one thing, I can vaguely remember sleepwalking. For reasons unknown to me I like to be really loud and ask questions when I sleepwalk. When I was in high school, my step dad at the time was from another country and had never seen anyone sleepwalk before. To this day he thinks it is about the creepiest thing he has ever seen. Therefore, I think if the noises were me I would have made a lot more noise. Additionally, when I used to sleepwalk I would only do it when I was really tired or stressed out, and luckily I have been neither in a while.

As a side note Elvis was a habitual sleepwalker. He slept in the same bed as his mother Gladys as a child and wouldn't sleep alone for most of his adult life because of it.

A and I looked under our house one day and didn't see any evidence of an inhabitant, except for some crumpled up paper (it looked kind of like newspaper). I suggested that maybe the person uses the paper for insulation, but then A looked at me like I had really flown the coop. So go ahead and make fun of me.....I got onto my favorite read this morning and look what I saw!!

This is from New York Magazine's website :

"Though this video does not really pass the smell test (it's getting sent around by this apartments blog, which is probably out for publicity), it does raise an interesting point. If you have an apartment with strange nooks, crannies, and storage spaces, would you really know if someone was living in it with you? According to the poster of the video, this clip of a woman creeping through a couple's apartment at night, unbeknownst to them, "is every bit as real and messed up as it seems." We're not sure about "real," but "messed up," definitely. How would you know? Would you, like the guy in the video, even notice if the levels on your beverages were lower, or that there were slightly fewer snacks each day? And if you did, wouldn't you just assume you had been sleep-eating, or that your roommate or partner was a secret pig? We'd definitely go through those options before it would even occur to us that there might be a person involved. Hell, we'd assume it was a ghost before we thought of this. And this is somehow even scarier than a ghost."

The Apartment Creeper!

Posted to New York Magazine by crovzar on December 10, 2009

Click to Play | View Details

Might I just add that the part of this that horrifies me the most is that the intruder and the actual tennant both drink from the carton!! That is SICK! That is yet another good reason why I refuse to drink from the carton.

XOXO
Gamecock Queen

Recipe - A Rarity on this Blog

Since the holidays are here (already - not sure how they got here so fast) I thought I would share a recipe. I like to bring this dish to potlucks and parties. It is kind of heavy so I think that makes it a good cold weather dish, you know in the summer something thick and heavy is just not appetizing. It is very rare that I post a recipe so enjoy!! Oh, and coming from me, you know this is easy to make. It practically makes itself while you nap.

1 Block of cream cheese (I used 2 of everything)
1 jar of pizza sauce
1 small onion
1 jar of black olives
1 bag of mozzarella cheese

Put in a baking dish in the oven, set to 350, for about 25 minutes. Put the cream cheese in first, then the pizza sauce, onion, and black olives, and lastly the shredded cheese. Serve with tortilla chips.

I think I am still trying to decide if I am a cook or not. When I first moved out on my own at age 18 I was NOT a cook. My boyfriend at the time (my first boyfriend, the one I call my "Mr. Big") used to beg me to cook and I refused. He would make fun of me for not being domestic and tell me I needed to get his Mama (a great Southern cook) to tutor me in the kitchen!

After that, when I was w/ "S", the guy I dated for 5 years, I morphed into a gourmet chef! For my degree (which is Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management), I had to take cooking classes. I actually know a lot of techniques and all the fancy names and recipes. I used to love to cook for "S" - I think I was trying to impress him (which makes me throw up in my mouth now). I even hosted a Thanksgiving party at his house one year for our friends and made the whole traditional Thanksgiving spread myself from scratch.

So that brings us up to the present and I NEVER cook. I am a takeout and dine out girl all the way. Sometimes I can't believe how LAZY (there I said it) and spoiled I have become. Growing up on a farm, I always had a TON of chores from feeding the horses before school, to cutting grass in the summer (usually w/ a push mower), and many other chores that it takes to maintain a small farm. Now I don't even cut our tiny little front and back yards, we pay a gardener. I halfway LOVE the new city me and sometimes I don't even recognise myself! So, I have not yet decided if I do or don't enjoy cooking. Sometimes I do, but more and more often it is obvious that I don't! I don't like feeling like I've wasted time slaving away in the kitchen! My affair with cooking seems to be a very brief and sporadic flirtation. :-D

XOXO
Gamecock Queen

Finally Friday....

Is it just me or did this week take FOREVA? For me it did! I totally meant to take some pictures of the new clothes A and I got for wearing to Christmas parties. Turns out the only pictures I took were of us sitting down so you can't see what we are wearing very well. I will make an effort to take better pictures at the party we are going to next week. Well, maybe no one cares about what we wear, but I am excited about our new finds.

We have turned into total bargain shoppers and we have been very successful at finding cute stuff. I found the dress I am wearing in this pic at TJMaxx for only $20! I got several compliments on it too. This is us last night was my work Christmas party. I took A as my date - and she made a better date than many I have been on in the past! LOL

Speaking of dates - well not really b/c this does not count as a date- I am meeting "cute church guy" at church again on Sunday AM. I never responded to his last email (I posted about that earlier) and I still don't really think he is interested. I saw him at work yesterday, wearing the dress I am wearing above, and he was flirty and asked if we were going to church on Sunday so I said yes. At least he can be a friend and maybe I can take him as my date to a wedding or something sometime. He sure is a cutie!! I like a guy that if he is interested, will make his interest known!

Have a great weekend!
XOXO
Gamecock Queen

Not much, but somehow it's so much.....

I don't really have anything new to blog about, although I stay busy constantly. Life has been GOOD and drama free for a while now. I am settling into my new job (I started a new job in August) and I really like it. At first I had my doubts about how I was going to like this job (which doesn't really matter b/c I have BILLS) but I have made some work friends, I am learning the ropes, and all is GOOD!

Since this summer I have been in a really good season in life. You know how it goes -life is up and down like a roller coaster. I heard in a sermon once that you are:

1. About to go through a hard time
2. Going through a hard time
3. Coming out of a hard time

In the past 16 months I have gotten laid off from a job I loved and ended a five year relationship, so I feel like I am coming out of a hard time. I still don't know how getting laid off from my old job works in God's plan for me because I really loved that job, but I know that it was part of God's plan and he had a reason even if I can't see it. Maybe it was just that I needed to grow up more because my old boss babied and petted me. I had it good and I know that is not the real world of jobs! He taught me a lot (both in my career and in life) so I am very grateful that I got to be his assistant for the years we were together. The ending of the long term relationship on the other hand, I can already see how that a good thing. I totally settled!

I have been single for almost a year now (or more maybe? not really sure when qualifies as the FINAL breakup) and that is going good. It has been a big adjustment for me because I have, no exaggeration, had a boyfriend for YEARS. Since I have been a teenager I have constantly had a boyfriend. Dating is WEIRD, but I have grown used to the weirdness (and disappointment) of going out with new guys. Mostly I just have a laugh at some of these FREAKS I have run across in my adventures in dating.

As for the church guy - I just didn't see that going anywhere. He was cute, a strong Christian, and very nice, but we never even went on an actual date. We met for church and coffee a few times and I was never sure if he was interested in me. I accidentally overlooked his most recent email, which was an invitation to go to church again and gave me his cell #. By the time I realized I overlooked the email several days had passed and I don't really want to go to church and coffee again. I know you can never have too many friends, but I have a friend that I go to church with (my roommate) and I want someone, if they are interested in me, to man up and make it clear to me that they are interested!

I promise I will have a more exciting post soon! I have found some great Christmas gifts and some super cute dresses to wear to upcoming Christmas parties. I have become a total bargain shopper. I have been going to Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Ross for everything. I used to go to the mall - J Crew, Banana Republic, Arden B, Express....that is the way to go broke fast! I will have to do a fashion post with pictures of A and I at our rounds of Christmas parties this year.

XOXO
Gamecock Queen