Feels Like Spring

I know, Its only January but our temperatures here have been unseasonably warm.

The morning temperatures have been in the 50's and then warm up to the 70's by noon. It feels like spring.

I looked out the window this past weekend to find a sign of spring. It was a dandelion all alone in the middle of the back yard. I had to run out and snap a photo of this cutie.
We will have a hate relationship come summer.
  

 

I may have even talked to it. 

Ok yes, I did talk to it. Silly me.

As I was pulling into the driveway after work yesterday, I noticed my Camilla bushes (also known as "Tea Flower") were in full bloom. I think they are so pretty and look great in a vase.

 

I have a white one on one side of the house and a pink one on the other. Again, I had to snap a photo. 

 

These bushes are suppose to bloom in late Winter.

shhhh they think its late Winter.

I woke up this morning to birds singing and dancing; I think they may be confused. I love the sound of birds chirping in the mornings. I also love the sunshine beaming through the windows as I awaken but I'm not getting that yet until time starts changing. I guess "time" is something you can't confuse.

Its another beautiful day as the temperatures once again will be in the 70's.
I hear that by the end of the week, temperatures will be back to 30's in the mornings and 50's in the afternoons. I still do not think ill be needing a coat.

Moving Fiasco

My daughter and her roommate decided to move again. This will be the fourth time we have moved our daughter since she graduated college.
She keeps moving closer to uptown. She likes being a city girl and she also works here.

 

It was only about a 3 mile move but it still takes the same man power.
She is on a 3rd floor apartment with a forever long hall that leads to the large elevator. Moving things seem heavier and bigger now that we are older, so with that in mind, the girls decided to hire a moving company to move the furniture, large items and boxes that were stacked and ready to go.
The roommate was out of town but she had her things ready for the movers as well.

Saturday we rushed through breakfast, packed some tools and headed to Charlotte to help with getting the smaller things out and walls spackled at the old apartment and help get things in order at the new apartment after the move.

The movers were suppose to arrive at 12 noon.
We waited.........

1:00 came and still no movers so we called to find out an ETA.
The movers apologized and said they were not going to make it out due to family emergency or something like that. Great service huh?

So there we were, it was raining outside, and we left the pickup truck at home. Even if we could find someone to help, it was raining and a pickup truck would be useless.

After desperately searching for another moving company, we found one that would do it for more than we wanted to pay, but we had to get moved. They said they could be there between 3:00 and 3;30.

We grabbed a cart from the office and started loading our SUV with the smaller boxes. We were ready to take them over to the new apartment but we couldn't leave because it was to close to 3:00 and we didn't want to miss the movers.

So we waited....

 

and we played.....

 

and we waited.....

4:00 still no movers. We were fit to be tied, We were grumpy and the daughter was in tears. By now, we could have already moved half of this stuff ourselves. We called the movers, and left a message on their voice mail to just forget it, we want to cancel.
They called back and said "please do not cancel, our guys are pulling in now".
So we rush down to the loading dock and.....we waited....

4:30 still no movers. I called to tell them (again) to just forget it. We are tired , they lied and we will figure out another way. They begged us to wait.......assured us they would be there in a matter of seconds.....we waited.

5:30 Finally!!! They came......In a U-Haul! (a U-haul was actually gonna be our plan B).

I'm sorry to say this, but there were five large men and one woman that looked like they just escaped prison.....I kid you not! And only two of the six were the least bit friendly.
But we were desperate....

They get to the apartment and the price just went up because of the 3rd floor and long hall these men will have to battle. But we argued over this and got the price back down....Nice try.  I mean, We literally only had two beds, three dressers, a sofa and a TV table other than a few large boxes for them to move.

The guys were tired and acted like they were being forced to work.
Ok, first a real moving company will come equipped. These guys had no hand trucks, or anything! Really? But after a few hours, they eventually got the stuff loaded on the truck, and moved into the new apartment.

 

Once the movers left, we put her bed together and got back home at 11:30 pm. We were so tired.

 

We headed back the next morning to help get things unpacked and in order. We hung her curtains , mirrors and pictures, got her internet set up and cable working. woooh . We are done.

 

We learned a lesson and will probably never use a moving company again unless its a well reputable name even if it cost us more.

Isn't that the cutest kitchen though? My daughter was like "no cabinets! Where do I put my dishes?". On the shelves my dear. 

 

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A New President

Happy Inauguration Day!

After eight long years, we now have a new face leading our country.

Hasn't It has been the craziest year? The nastiest campaigning and most awful news coming at you from all directions? I'm ready for things to settle down and lets get the ball rolling.

Not everyone is happy about President Trump being the new President but I have to admit, I'm pretty excited to see what he will do. He is strong and stands up for what he believes. He doesn't sugar coat anything. He says it like it is no matter how rude he may come across. I don't agree with everything he says but I'm willing to give him a chance. I think he needs to be a bit more humble and I don't think he handles criticism well. But hey I like him and when he says "Lets make America Great again", I believe he means it.

Will he do everything he says he will do? Probably not. But I'm excited to see him try.  I'm ready to have a strong military and secured borders. I'm ready for a new choices in health care and hope for more jobs coming in and less going out. I'm ready for the country to buckle down on crimes and have more values.  

People need to set aside their differences and come together. The president needs our support. He needs our respect and he needs our prayers, but you don't have to like him. 

 

Ok, so I had to purchase these cool socks to wear today. My blogger friend BJ got her a pair too and in her words "These have GOT to be the ugliest socks ever!" 

I agree but they gonna be fun! 

So here's to you President Trump. Lets make America Great Again!

No Bake Energy Balls

Do you ever have a sweet tooth or just need a little bite of something that's satisfying, healthy and gives you a little energy boost?

Sure you have.

Well look no further than this great little recipe I'm going to share with you today.

I have a busy weekend ahead and will using a lot of my energy as we will be helping my daughter move....AGAIN. more about on a later post, so first let me tell you about these little energy balls.

These little nibbles are great before or after a workout to add energy. They are just enough to satisfy you. I keep them in the fridge and grab one when I'm hungry before time to eat. It will satisfy that craving. It tells your mind you just ate a large candy bar but tells your hips that you just had a bite of oatmeal and honey.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raw oatmeal ( I used the quick 1 minute ones)
• ½ cup peanut butter ( I used Jiff Natural low sodium. Just as good as the other)
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup mini semi sweet chocolates (optional)

Instructions

1. For best results, place oats in a food processor and process until oats are a course powder. pour into a mixing bowl.
2. Add peanut butter, honey, and vanilla to the oats. Stir until well combined. (this is the hard part)
3. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Roll into a small ping pong sized balls (about 1 tbsp each).
5. Place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes where they will get firm. (I just put them all in a bowl. They didn't stick to each other.)

Each ball has 87 calories so don't go all crazy on them if your trying to loose weight. Other wise, eat all you want.

You can mess around with these and add other things to them such as nuts, raisins, etc...

They are sorta hard to mix up but if they are too dry, add more peanut butter. If they are too sticky, add more oats. But with this recipe, mine were perfect.

ENJOY!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Today I had a baby shower to help with. It was for my niece. This will be her second baby girl. Shes due in March. My sister in law hosted the shower at her home and me and my daughter along with other family members, helped with the food and pickups. The theme she wanted was "baby its cold outside" while using pink and gold for the colors. 

It was originally scheduled for last week but due to the snow, we figured it would be best to reschedule it for today. I think the snow would have made the theme more appealing though. 

Today it was in the 60s and beautiful outside. 

I decided to make little smokies in the crock pot. I mean, arent those at every shower? Ha.

I made them by adding equal parts of grape jelly, mustard and BBQ sauce then let them cook for a couple hours before serving. They are always a hit.

I have to brag a bit on the gift my daughter made for the baby. Now, my girl loves cupcakes so this fit her creativness well. She used little onesies and newborn socks and created these adorable useable cupcakes.

  

 

 

Speaking of cupcakes, whoever made the real things, they were delicious!

They were pink with snowflakes and sprinkles.

 

I decided to make home made butter mints. I made these before the shower was rescheduled so they were in my house for a week screaming at me everytime I walked by them. It was hard not to snatch one or two but I did good at ignoring the notion.

 

I used moms recipe which consist of powdered sugar, corn syrup, Butter , mint flavoring and a drop of red. I used a fondant cutter as a press to look like bows stamped in the center. They turned out sort of ugly but what was done was done. I made too many to start over. No one seemed to care what they looked like.

I also made these fun little rice crispy squares dipped in pink chocolate melts and sprinkled with edible gold flakes. 

 

It's hard to see the gold flakes in the photo but I tried to get a quick shot before everyone started grabbing them.

I cheated on these though. I used premade rice crispy treats and cut each one in half. No one noticed.  

 

The shower turned out nice as it was just a drop in which meant no goofy games and staring contest. 

She liked her gifts she received. Remember the crocheted set I made? It got a lot of ohhhs and ahhhhs.

 

I decided to make a white pair of boots to go with the set. The pink ones I made first just didnt look right to me so I did a do over in white. 

Its been a long day and im tired. I got the call from my daughter that shes back home safe so now Im calling it a night.