Do Not View If You Have A Weak Stomach....

Remember this picture?

and this one

The guy that's watching our house for us while we're here in New Mexico for the holiday sent us this picture last night with the disclaimer that we need to get a cat....

.....we're officially getting a cat when we get home next month.

Either I'm Spoiled Or Guys Are Jerks

Last night i magically talked husband into going Christmas shopping with me. I couldn't believe it when he said yes. I had put the food in the slow cooker so i knew we wouldn't have to go out for dinner, and it wouldn't be a late meal we would have to wait for when we got home, and we were on our way. We had to get gifts for each other, which is hard when your shopping together, but i was able to hide things at the stores in the mall from him without any problem, but husband can't keep a secret for anything so i know pretty much everything he's getting for me for Christmas. Does that take the fun out of it for me? .....a little, but not really. I made a list for him so it wouldn't be so hard (i'm a hard person to shop for, i admit it), and he followed it fairly well. Basically he spoils me, and i try to do my very best to NOT exploit that. It doesn't matter what part of the year it is, when we're out shopping and looking at things i say i want (one day. in my dreams. if it wasn't so expensive), he'll roll his eyes some times and ask which one i want then pick it up to go pay for it. I have to pry it out of his hands and make sure he knows that i know its too expensive for now and i'm totally willing to wait on it (I would rather get more out of debt first). But on the occasion, i do let him spoil me, and i love him for it. I've never had a guy so willing to spoil me like he does.
So yeah, we had the few gifts we wanted to pick up from the various stores, and there were various bags for all of this. I automatically grabbed the bags and didn't think anything of it. They needed to be carried, i had one hand holding husbands and the other hand was free, so why shouldn't i carry them? When husband offered continually to carry them for me....i said No.
*Gasp*
i know. i feel like a bad person now.
it wasn't until we were walking out to the car and i had opened the mall doors for myself and husband scolded me for not letting him be a good husband by opening them for me that i realized why he had offered so many times to carry the bags. In movies the husband is always following the wife around to the different stores while she shops and he carries all the bags for her. That's what he was trying to do for me. Isn't that sweet?? And i deprived him of that! He then promptly took the bags from me, had me put my arm in his, led me to the car, and even managed to open my door for me after putting everything in the trunk.
I did some thinking about this on our drive home. Why didn't i think to let him carry the bags until the end? Yes, i've always been independent and it didn't cross my mind or bother me to carry them, but isn't that one of the perks of having a man around? Then i figured it out. I've never had a guy offer to carry my bags, let alone really go shopping with me. All the guys i dated before husband were Jerks with a capital J. I always ignored it when i was dating them, but after breaking up i would look back and realize how selfish they were. There were a few ok ones in there, but i'm so happy i held out and waited for husband. He's the best i could ever ask for. I'll be the first to admit it.
So, Husband, I love you. Thank you for being such a great husband and reminding me how great it is to have a real man.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

How Do They Do This To People??

i don't even know where to begin. i'm so bugged right now.

ok, so i'm a fan of Old Navy clothes. They're affordable and really have those great basic essentials that are wonderful and they go with everything. At least for me anyway. I buy the same things in different colors even. I don't shop very often, but when i want or need something the first place i look is Old Navy. I go to the store and i shop online as well (cuz they have the "long" option and because if you can't find it in the store its usually online or vice versa ). i don't buy things very often, but i'm always looking when i'm board, kind of like "window shopping" but online.
So yeah, its Christmas and thats a great time to buy things. Everything is on sale left and right. Last week i did some personal shopping. We're going to New Mexico to see husbands family for Christmas, so i wanted new shirts to take with me. I was looking and found this:

its a "Women's Lightweight Boat-Neck Tee". I actually already have one in black that i've had for a while and i love it, so i decided i wanted to get a few more in different colors. I love it so much i was even willing to pay the $14.50 for each. I should have known better though. Nine times out of ten i find every top i want from Old Navy for under $10 eventually. I was looking at my order tonight and discovered that this particular top went on sale for $6!! S-I-X DOLLARS. I haven't even received the original order i made in the mail yet and already they're on sale for less then half the original price. PLUS! They sent me a 20% discount for online orders this week to my email so i can get them for $4.50 each. I had ordered 3 different colors, so at that price all together i could have gotten the 3 for $13.50. A dollar less the the full price for just one. Does that bug anyone else???
SO, i told husband about this and he told me to reorder it all at the discount price and when i receive them then return it with the original full price receipt. Does that make sense? What would you do in this situation? I'd be saving over $30.... I'm torn. What would you do if this happened to you?

New House Pictures

I've been promising pictures to you all of the new house. After I finally decided how to lay out the living room, found the cord for the camera and uploaded them....i just realized i don't have an outside picture of the house. Dang it. Sorry. So that will have to come later i guess.The house and all the new furniture are great though. I love it! Everything is where i want it, there are only a few things that i still need, but they're things i can live without for a while until we have more money in savings again. That will be after Christmas for sure, but I'm good with that.

So, here are pictures. Just an FYI, i have not hung up any pictures in the house. I haven't figured that part out yet. But there is tons of wall space, and i'm thinking not enough pictures to take up all that space, so i'm looking into investing in some nice art and pictures (or maybe even make my own...).

Our Front Entry

There's a closet and cupboard that goes under the stairs that's very Harry Potter-esk. Upstairs is a long hall that goes to all the bedrooms (not decorated and not set up yet).
i love the cathedral ceilings that go through this front half of the house.

Our Living Room

Our new couch is SO comfortable, and that's husbands new TV that i won't let him hook his xbox up to. Poor husband... :(
I think it needs a nice big potted plant or some kind of something for that corner with the lamp. I also need to get some sort of small coffee table or ottoman. One day :)

The Dining Room

Ignore all the pictures littering the place. My beautiful new dining table is great. Love that as much as the couch.

The Family Room
This is usually where you can find husband playing his xbox.

Don't you love the plaid couches? I can't seem to get rid of them. But with the family room they work fine.

Off behind the love seat is the kitchen

It's very white. White walls, white cupboard and counters, white appliances... I'm planning to paint. I love all the space though.
Don't you love how husband sneaks into the pictures? He's so cute.

This is my pot holder. See that stuff all torn up and hanging out of the side of it? Any guesses what happened?

Did that guess involve a rodent of some sort, cuz if it did then you're right. We had a mouse!
I didn't realize we had this mouse until i found this on our counter Thanksgiving morning.

When i saw it i couldn't grasp what happened. I thought it was so weird that husband would eat a banana that way. But then i figured it out. Our little friend ate a potato i had in a big bag next to the fridge, and he ate through my dish rag to get to the rolls left over from dinner in a bowl on the kitchen table.
We set out traps, that didn't work, and then poison and we haven't heard from him for a while now, so i'm thinking he's gone....i hope.

This is our beautiful new Christmas Countdown decoration we received from husbands brother Jacob and his amazing new wife Natalie. Its adorable, and it came with candy stuffed in it. Score! Its the only Christmas decorations i have up sadly. We're going to be gone for the holidays and husband doesn't want to buy me a tree. Oh well.

So there you are. Pictures of our house. I'll post upstairs pictures one day maybe, after i make the headboard for our bed and get the bedside tables we're living without for right now. The downstairs was my priority because closing the door can be done upstairs when people are over. I'm loving living in a real house though. Its twice the size of the apartment, and 50 times better. We don't have to go up and down a flight of stairs to bring groceries in, the garage isn't a mile away, and we don't have noise neighbors. Our neighbors actually asked if we wouldn't mind if they mowed our lawn for us so its all even. What?? i've never heard of someone wanting to do that before.
Its all great.

Caramel Apple Crunch Pie

I made this pie for thanksgiving and it was a big hit. I couldn't even get a picture of it before we started eating it. I was in charge of the Apple Pie, and when i was in the store getting all the ingredients i found the Kraft Caramel Bits in the chocolate chips aisle. Caramel and Apples, you can't get any better then that! So i decided to try it out. AMAZING! Love it, i'll never go back to making regular apple crunch pie again.

CARAMEL APPLE CRUNCH PIE

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

5 cups Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

1 cup Kraft Caramel Bits (found in the chocolate chip aisle)

3 tablespoons butter

TOPPING

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

6 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup Kraft Caramel Bits

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, Mix together 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Stir in sliced apples until coated with sugar mixture. Stir in 1 cup Kraft Caramel Bits. Pour filling into pie crust, and dot with 3 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle with streusel topping.

To make streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix together 3/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Cut in 6 tablespoons butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in remaining 2/3 cup Caramel Bits.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and continue baking for 35 to 40 minutes, or until filling is bubbling and streusel is golden brown. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour.
ENJOY!

Holiday Decorating...

Ok, i may as well say hi since i've already stayed up past 1 a.m. decorating the blog for Christmas and looking for new music for the playlist.
F-U-N!
I think only my husband, a book, anything Christmas related, and insomnia are the 4 things that could keep me up this late. I'm WAY behind on my blogging, so i apologize for that, but i was doing a little unpacking when i found my Christmas cd's, so i was inspired that this needed to be done.
Please enjoy the holiday music. I know i plan to have this playlist playing as much as possible for the next while. I wish it was acceptable to play it year round...
I promise, i will catch up on the happenings going on for us this weekend. I've taken pictures of it, i just thought the cord for the camera was lost in husbands car (along with half my Tupperware), but he informed me tonight that its in the closet so i'll be jumping on that very soon!