I Heart Swagbucks

You all know that I love a frugal find. I have heard about Swagbucks for a long time and finally decided to join. In two weeks, I have earned over $15 in various gift cards. Even better is that using it is really simple. You earn "swagbucks" through searches (like you would use on google), finding codes, referring friends, no obligation surveys. I am totally hooked. So I am using my gift cards to buy birthday and Christmas presents for the family. Today I bought Miss Mia a present on amazon. It was originally $12, then I used $10 of my gift cards, a my free Amazon Prime for no shipping or taxes and paid $2! Soon she will have her new Melissa & Doug set & it only cost me $2!! Pretty great right?

If you would like to join, click here:

A Funny Thing Happened At Walmart

Miss Mia & I were doing a little shopping at Wal-mart Tuesday afternoon. Now, I am not a frequent Wal-mart shopper but I needed a bizarre mix of things. Thus to save us time, I swallowed my pride, and made the trek. We ended up in the kitchen section and Miss Mia spied the Paula Deen cookware. At the top of her little lungs, she began to shout, "Look! My Nana! There's my Nana!" Of course being my daughter, most of the store heard her. A few people looked and smiled. Finally one lady, who had been staring at us for a bit, came up to us. She looked really shy and said, "I am the biggest fan of Paula's. We TiVo all her shows and have all her books. Could I get your autograph?"!! She was almost shaking from nerves that I couldn't laugh at her. I told her I was so sorry but Paula only has two sons and I am not married to either. My daughter is just under the impression that my mother and Paula are one in the same. She laughed and was very sweet about it. We called "our" Nana all about her almost celebrity! = )

So what do you think? Separated at birth?

Nana...aka Not Paula Deen

The "Real" Paula Deen

If only you could her them both speak! Then you would see how Miss Mia could get confused..and watch them both cook..Yumm-O!

Welcome Back....

Welcome back to our NEW Red Raider Home located in Houston, Texas. Our little family has been through much in the last 3 months. We lived apart for a month while I completed a fellowship I won through June. We all rendezvoused at my in-laws house the first of July and lived with them until our house was ready. Last Friday we finally got to move in!! We are basking in the large open spaces and having our own area again. I am basking in cooking again after living in either a hotel or someone's house for over 2 months! Miss Mia is so excited to have her toys back, she is beyond control.

So welcome to our house. Complete with Bentley and Miss Mia playing and watching Toy Story 2!


View from the living room/dining room into the kitchen and entry way.
I love this house's kitchen. The house was built 5 years ago but all the appliances are 1-2 years old because the sweet lady who lived her before us hated all things that weren't Kenmore. Thus, we have all new appliances. The fridge is three weeks old!
View out of the kitchen...and of the best pantry ever. I'll post about it later. Seriously, I have waited so many years for this pantry and kitchen.
Corner view of the kitchen with our green bookshelves. Oh, how I missed our stuff!


Down the hall we go to Miss Mia's room with her new door sign made by a sweet lady I found on Etsy.
Reading area, toy box...all our attempts to control the chaos
Her most beloved bed and even more beloved kitchen and pea pod tent that has to be up at all times for her animals to go camping.


Miss Mia's bathroom complete with picture of her and her Papaw feeding chickens!
Our utility closet. Hubby makes fun of me for decorating it. I loathe folding clothes, so if I can make the process better with some decorations (particularly the Shaq and Chipper Jones bobble-head dolls) then its just that much better.

Down the hall we go into the master bedroom...

My birthday was a few weeks ago and Hubby and my parents collaborated on all new bedding..including 800 thread count sheets!!! Hallelujah!

Other view of the bedroom including doors to the HUGE closet and master bath...

Love this bathroom!
Although you can barely tell from this picture, the thing I love most about this new house is the garden tub with jets! Judge me if you will but after a week of moving, sometime the only thing that gets me through the day is knowing that I have those jets at the end!


More to come...from the right side of the Red River!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Oh, where do I begin? I think there are too many changes happening in our world to even begin. So here is a sort of "David Letterman style" top ten events/changes in our household:

10) I finally joined the rest of civilization and watched the first Twilight movie. I was fully prepared to judge and of course it bit me on my backside and it was that horrible. (I promised my nephew that I would read the books with him. So I decided to watch the movie first, see what I was in for. I am really judging myself for not hating it more.) = )

9) Our church is doing a garage sale as a fundraiser for their summer mission trip, and I have decided that it is my mission to personally donate most of our house! = ) Seriously, our garage is beyond full of items. How did we get this much stuff in only 6 years of marriage? Especially given the fact that when we got married, all Hubby brought was his clothes and literally 2 small paper boxes of miscellaneous stuff.

8) The class I TA for have their research papers due this week. You cannot imagine the belly-aching that a 10 page paper can cause. I awoke this morning to literally over 25 frantic e-mails. (Papers are due today) I have been meeting 2-4 hours every single day with students. I am thinking about recording my responses and posting them on you tube because I am saying the same thing over and over. With papers due today, that means that I have 90+ papers to grade..that's 900 pages (turn around time, one week!)

7) Went to West Texas for a great Easter weekend with my parents, grandparents, & brother's family. Such a great visit. Funny to watch my highly competitive family play Cranium. Even more fun when you put my mother and Hubby on a team. Oh, the horrors! hehe


6) Miss Mia has decided that the "terrible twos" can be quite fun. She has announced in the last few weeks that she "will never sleep ever!" (actual quote) and when she got in trouble and I told her I would spank her or put her in time-out she said, again direct quote, "well, then just spank me then!" Oh Lord, come to my rescue! I have since seen her put her bear and gator in time out. I asked her what they did to earn the punishment, and she said "gator looked at me funny."

5) I won one of the big fellowships that I really wanted for this summer. All of July, Miss Mia & I will live in Lubbock as I research for my book. I am so excited!

4) My Duke Blue Devils won the National Championship & saved my bracket!!! Thank you Duke..and thank for my whole $5 in "winnings" from Hubby! haha

3) Finished my Comps- and we all survived (thank you Lord!)

2) I have an interview to teach with a small college in Texas (very exciting)

1) We are moving to Houston at the end of June!

Is that a light I see?

Dear blog,
Please forgive me for my continued absence. I do think about you everyday. I check my favorite bloggers daily. I just don't have a lot of free time on my hands. Most of my free time is spent trying to get a little sleep, folding the mountain of laundry in my utility room, or trying to raise my child. Life is beyond hectic, but tomorrow will hopefully be my last written exam. Tomorrow is my last written, and luckily it is in my major field. My brain is beyond mush right now. Hopefully, with a good night of sleep, all will be restored and I will be able to sit and right beautiful essays for six hours. Next, I am hoping that I will have passed all of my written exams and then can move on to the oh so dreaded oral examination. I get nauseated thinking about the entire process, but I have to pass this next one to get to the next.
I do apologize for the boring Comprehensive Exam talk, but my head does not know how to talk about anything else right now. I have found lately that I cannot have a conversation without bringing Comps into the mix. I find myself introducing myself, "Hello, I'm Ashley, and I'm taking Comps right now. Please don't judge me yet, and wait for a better first impression once I am not wondering the extent to which the American Revolution was truly revolutionary."
My poor house is in total neglect, my baseboards are missing my loving scrubs. Did I mention, there is a pile of laundry in my house that is higher than most points in Texas? Did I also mention that I forget what more than 4 hours of continuous sleep feels like?
Did I also mention, that while I do study, basically non-stop, that I have a bit of a internet deal finding addiction? Bought a few cheap finds off Anthropologie, Miss Mia got a $11 Michigan State Cheerleader Outfit
(Makes her Grandpa 'Paddles' who is a Spartan alum very happy), and then found a few to die for pieces of jewelry that some of my family and friends will find in their Christmas stockings! = )
So dear blog, please do not give up on me, for I will return. Hopefully with more fun and exciting stories to tell. Even better yet, I'm hoping to get a coupon class going soon both in person and a web-based version. But for now, my notes need one last glance over before tomorrow...

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

I'm taking a small break this morning to peruse through some of my favorite blogs before I go back to the trenches of studying. Tomorrow will probably be the hardest exam of my academic career. The thoughts are quite vomitacious.

Upon my searching, I found this poem found by chikaustin. Holy cow did this thing speak to most of my life. I am quite a Type A personality but since becoming a mom I have found that it is beyond easy to get distracted with the forty billion things we have to do. I know many single girls that this would apply to as well..but I won't name names. ; )

If You Give A Mom A Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin,

she’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

She’ll pour herself some.

Her three year old will spill the coffee.

She’ll wipe it up.

Wiping it up she’ll find dirty socks.

She’ll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

she’ll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her

she has to plan for supper.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She’ll look for her cookbook.

The cookbook is setting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse

that is being dumped out by her two year old.

She’ll smell something funny.

She’ll change the two year old’s diaper.

While she is changing the diaper the phone will ring.

Her five year old will answer and hang up.

She’ll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.

Thinking of coffee will remind her

that she was going to have a cup.

And chances are… if she has a cup of coffee

her kids will have eaten the muffin that goes with it.

– author unknown

Countdown..

Please don't give up on me. The posts haven't been priority of late with Comprehensive Exams coming up. I take my first this Friday. I am nervous, anxious and just so ready to get them over with. Hopefully it won't get too bad and the ulcers won't flare up. Please send a prayer in my direction, especially for my family who also have to endure Mommy or wife, or daughter, or aunt, or BFF taking Comps this month!

Oh, and did I mention that in the midst of this madness, I am doing a diet detox? (And putting Hubby on one too?) Hubby has even started a blog to document the pain that an opinionated West Texas wife does to a man. You can read his blog at www.thehungryhubby.blogspot.com

I have so many good things to post when I do come back. I've been keeping photos..Miss Mia is in the midst of potty training, the weather is finally warm enough to play at the park, and I have made some truly amazing creations in the kitchen..But all of that will have to wait...