Wednesday, March 31, 2010

This morning...

I ran into our bedroom doorway. I am hoping this is not indicative of how my Wednesday is going to go.

Also, fun fact about Mrs. Young: My bed has to be made before I climb in it to go to sleep at night. Even if it goes all day without being made I will make my bed, just to turn the covers down and crawl in at bedtime.

Happy Wednesday folks... 35 hours and counting until we depart for San Diego... woo! =)

Monday, March 29, 2010

Today I became who I used to be...

It was gorgeous out today. About as close to a perfectly beautiful day as it gets. Clear skies despite a few wispy clouds, 77 degrees and sunny with a light breeze.

As soon as I arrived home from substituting today I came home, changed into my comfiest gauchos and a tank top, grabbed my blanket, a good book, Bayley and her long leash and headed for the field. I looped Bayley's leash through a post to keep her within 20 feet of me and spread my blanket out with some assistance from the breeze.

Basking in the warm rays of the sun I sensed the return of a familiar girl. A girl who used to skip class on beautiful days like these to spread her blanket on a nearby hillside and watch the clouds float by. A girl who loved nothing more than taking in deep breaths of the fresh air as she soaked up the sun and creation around her. I've missed that girl, it was nice to meet her again. Bayley enjoyed the basking as well...

Sunday, March 28, 2010

...and later this evening...

I made cookies! =)
After Mr. Young went to work on my DIY backpacking pack again...

Shoulder and hip straps, complete. =) Now to put together the back...
Attaching the completed shoulder and hip straps to the back of the pack...
Mark's finished pack (left) and the back of my pack... progress!
Tryin it on for size... =)

I had to do something fun (since my treasure hunting was a major flop today).
So I threw three of my favorite cookie recipes together and made one grand batch of scump-diddily-umptious cookies.When they came out of the oven, Bayley wanted in on the delicious action too!Needless to say Mr. Young and myself may have enjoyed a few more than we should have....But don't worry, we all went on a run/bike ride to shed those extra calories. =) I took this skilled picture one handed, with my phone, from my bike! Skeeeels baby.Successful evening to be sure.



Want the cookie recipe? Here you go!
  • 1/2 c Butter
  • 1/2 c Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 c White Sugar
  • 1 t Vanilla
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 c Flour
  • 1/4 t Baking Soda
  • 1 c Oatmeal
  • 1/4 Salt
  • 3/4 c Toffee Candy Bits
  • 1 c Chocolate Chips
Cream together butter, sugars and vanilla. Beat eggs slightly then add to butter/sugar mixture. Grind oatmeal in blender or food processor into flour like consistency. Combine flour, oatmeal, salt and baking soda then add slowly to moist ingredients. Mix in toffee and chocolate chips.

Drop dough by the teaspoon full onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until "tips" of cookies
just begin to turn golden. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Replace onto wax paper or rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

Happy Sunday!

Well life is back to normal here in the Young house....

Weekend Summary:
Friday we took Bayley out for her own special play date in the field...

Preparing for the first throw. Bayley: "Come on dad, throw it, throw it, THROW IT!!!"
"...HE THREW IIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!" lol

The usual... she takes the frisbee for a lap before returning it.

After several throws, she started her jumping exercises... Jump, Bayley, jump!

They wore each other out. =)


They were both tuckered. Came in and collapsed on the bed right as I was trying to put the sheets on! So I made the bed with Mark and Bayley in it! =)
(What can we say... we love our dog. She's an only child and, well... pretty darn rotten. =)

...then rented Did You Hear About the Morgans... hilarious. Saturday we headed into the "big city" (Amarillo - haha) to get food for Bayley and research our supply needs for our upcoming backpacking trips this summer...

I found a super cute pair of shoes I'll be budgeting for in the very near future.
Then hubby fixed my computer so it is back up and running, YAY!!! (This is what I'm referring to when I say life is back to normal... can't live a normal life without my computer!!! It's so precious to me, I'm beginning to feel like I should name it...)

Frayed cord? Nothing a little soldering, epoxy and duct tape can't fix, right? =)

Today was church as usual, lunch and some relaxation then a foiled attempt to treasure hunt at our favorite local thrift store which has apparently started closing on Sundays. =( So now here we sit, respective computers in laps, researching our own favorite sites (Mark - backpacking info, Me - other crafty DIY bloggers' sites) and half-way watching some outlandish sci-fi movie, The Chronicles of Riddick, while Bayley trades off napping locations - window, couch, bed, window, couch, bed, etc.

I promise to bring you more exciting posts in the near future. Sadly, I cannot yet reveal what DIY projects I have chosen to tackle because the first two have now been deemed as gifts for various upcoming occasions. =) But posts to come as far as I can foresee will cover the following:
  • A photo filled summary of our upcoming trip to San Diego (we fly out this Thursday, WOOOOO!!!)
  • Full report (how to's and photos) of my chosen DIY projects (after they've been delivered, of course)
  • A personal DIY project... one for us to keep! =)

And hopefully a few other fun things that take place along the way! I apologize for not being more consistent with this blogging thing. We're still new to this blog world and it's taking a little bit to get into a routine. =)

Thanks so much to all of our wonderful friends who keep up with our writings and leave us comments that we love to read!!! We definitely like being a part of the blog world. =)

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Technical Difficulties

Hello beautiful blog readers, how I have missed you!

My sincere apologies for my absence, I've been dealing with some technical difficulties with my computer. I have currently highjacked Mr. Young's computer in order to make contact with the outside world which I miss so dearly.

The charger cord for my computer has become frayed and needs some serious repair work before it will light up that little battery light on my computer again. And so, my computer sleeps indefinitely. My solution? Time to buy a Mac. However, our Dave Ramsey, Total Money Makeover journey to debt free living plan seems to disagree. Shame.

Sigh... Oh my sweet, wonderful hubby... please fix my computer cord so that I might blog regularly and surf facebook, upload pictures and share them with the world!

Dearly missing you oh sweet internet world.

Sincerely, Mrs. Young

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Just an Ordinary Day...

This morning I got up and made eggs over easy and toast for Mark, packed his lunch and sent him off to work. I promptly landed myself back in bed to rest till my heart's content.

I awoke to a hyper and anxious puppy a few hours later, donned my house slippers (a gift from Mark a few years ago) and squinted into the sun as I opened the door and took Miss Bayley out to potty.

After poking around on facebook and the blog for a while I decided to check a few things off of the old "To Do" list. I unpacked, did laundry & dishes, updated my sub records along with our budget and accomplished a few other menial tasks.

I spent about four hours (only one of which I was actually with a class) at the high school as a stand in theatre teacher.

I came home, grabbed Bayley (and her favorite toy) and headed for the field where we spent some quality time together. =)




Bayley and I then paid our daily visit to our friends, Janice and Susan, up at the office -- love those ladies. =)

After Mark tipped us off for his arrival time home we put dinner on and the rest of the evening was spent relaxing and watching LOST.

I call it a successful day. Pretty ordinary but definitely successful. I love my life. =)


Side Note: DIY discovery of the day... check it out! Super awesome clues for the plain window blues!

Monday, March 22, 2010

On the Road Again

Well this post is really nothing but an update of our weekend adventure to KC (and lots of our only child, Bayley Rae)... so we hope you enjoy the pics! =)

Before we left town, Bayley started having a problem with her left eye. We were lucky enough to get into the vet last minute. The diagnosis was a scratched and infected cornea. Here's what her poor eye was looking like. =(

Daddy was so sweet, icing her eye before bed to help the swelling go down...
On Friday we hit the road and pulled into Mark's parents' driveway at about 9:00pm. Bayley was excited to see "Grandma" and "Grandpa!"

Saturday we were super excited to get to visit our wonderful friends, the Hannon's. This was Mark's first time to meet baby Jackson Dean! Unfortunately he is ill and really struggling. =( Hayden and Tracy were saying a prayer for little Jack in this picture...

He did pretty well in spite of it all, and even pulled out a smug little grin for a picture with Uncle Mark and Aunt Whitney!

Mark was so brave, I was impressed! Jackson wasn't the happiest camper but Mark dove right in and did his best to comfort him. (He's going to be such a good daddy!)

In training for motherhood... gotta suck those boogers out!

As usual, it snowed in KC while we were there (I'm now convinced that I'm the curse. Every time I visit, I bring a snow storm... sorry KC!) But Bayley loves it! She can't get enough of running around in the snow! At this point, there was about a foot in our backyard... crazy!

For your viewing pleasure, Bayley and Mark playing in the snow...


Needless to say, little 3.5 lb Gracie doesn't like the snow as much as Bayley... she gets so cold! But Bayley had a good romp and they're both ready to go in now. =)


It was a short weekend that flew by way too quickly, but we were so happy to have been able to make even a short visit home. The drive back to TX was beautiful -- clear skies and sunny.

I love this part of the trip; gorgeous beauts standing up against forever horizons... just love it.
Bayley is an excellent road-tripper. And she loves the camera! (As you can see her eye is doing much better thanks to her nifty eye drops!)

Gorgeous Sunset.
(I'm actually quite proud of this picture. I took it with my hand out the sun roof, couldn't even see the screen! I'm a pro, I'm just sayin... =)

Overall we had an awesome weekend. We love road tripping together... all the time in the car is so nice -- we have lots of good convo! =)

Updates/Posts To Come: More work on my pack this week, My DIY project choice and whatever else comes to mind! =)

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

DIY Fever!

I've never been big into DIY projects myself and really, haven't seen many in the past that I would want to have displayed in my home since they were cheesy or too "grandma-y."

Well as I've become part of the blog world and started poking around to see what others have on their sites I am discovering that blogs are DIY central! So many awesome projects -- cute and cheap! I must admit it, I've caught the bug. I've got DIY fever and I can't wait to become a DIYer myself!

I'm contemplating what might be my first project. Requirements = fun + cheap + relevant/logical for our home + CUTE! Here are some pictures of projects I've seen so far; I'm not so hot at this blogging thing yet but I'm going to try to include links to the people's sites where I found these projects.

Give me your opinions! What project do you think we should tackle first?


This is one I could definitely do now. Decorative is good... =)


I could make these more "sophisticated" decorative (as in, not for a baby room) to match our home and not a name but a word like "love" or "faith" etc...


This one I LOVE. I could make some pretty flower pots to put out on our neglected balcony...


It's maybe a little hard to see here but these are 3D. They have foam on the back with ribbon wrapped around. Like the blocks I would make them match our home...


Roman Shades: Little Green NotebookWe could really use something simple like this in our kitchen window at home!

LOVE this too! We would probably paint ours black since most of our shelves and other furniture is either black or brown...


Well let's face it, I love them all!!! =) Okay, now you tell me, what do you think I should work on first?!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A Grammatical Error in the Space-Time Continuum...

It all started with my cold feet. Every night when we climb into bed Mark lays cozy and warm, radiating heat on this side of the bed while I freeze on my side, unable to warm my own covers. Usually this is the time when I shove my icicle toes under his legs and he gets the hint so he rolls over to toast my side of the covers before we fall asleep.

Well last night my little toe-toes were particularly chilly. After some 15 to 20 minutes of warming on Mark's legs they were still quite frosty. Mark, finally feeling quite sleepy, pushed my feet aside with his as an "it's time for me to sleep" kind of hint. Well I tried to be warm on my own but it just wasn't working! I slowly and sneakily scooted my feet across the bed toward him until my icy little toes made contact. That's when it all happened...

Mark rolls over and exclaims, "You're 30 seconds away from a heat source and you're cold!"
"Huh?"
"What do you mean, 'Huh?'"
"I mean, how can the 12 inches of distance between our feet take 30 seconds for me to cross to get to yours?"
"It's a measure of distance, not time."
"Seconds is a measure of time."
"No, it's not"
"Yes it is! Plus it's not constant. I could move my foot this fast and touch you in a half a second. But then I could move my foot thiiiiis fast, and not touch you for like, ten seconds... it's a measure of time and it's not consistent. Or did you mean that I was 30 seconds off of a heat source? Like I took my feet off of your legs for 30 seconds and I'm cold again... that makes sense."
"No, I meant away."
"But that doesn't make sense!"
"Sure it does. You were on the heat source, now you're away from it."
"Okay, if I was on the heat source, then the opposite of that would be off of the heat source. You know, on and off are opposites?"
"Okay, no. Seconds is a smaller measurement of degrees which is a measure of distance; like from a reference point."
"What??"
"Like, if the center of the earth were the reference point for the angle between your feet and mine. It's a measure of seconds."

This would be the time when I broke into hysterical laughter at my fun-loving nerd of a husband. I managed to communicate through breaks in my squawks...

"Let me get this straight. You just used the center of the EARTH to measure the angle of space between our feet which are lying a mere 12 inches from each other in this bed?!?!"

I mocked his nerdiness and we laughed for a solid ten minutes straight at which point I told him this story would be my next blog post. He strongly objected.

In the end we decided that the misunderstanding all came down to that fateful grammatical error: "away" as opposed to "off of." If he had only said "off of" I would have assumed he meant it they way I understood and he obviously would have meant it the way he understood... we never would have known there was any misunderstanding. =)

Mark finally conceded to my posting of the story with one condition: The post must be titled "A Grammatical Error in the Space-Time Continuum."

And there you have it, folks.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Excitingly Mundane

Okay, I've finally decided to make our first "real" blog post about the happenings of the weekend. After this, we'll work toward more exciting posts...

Our weekend may sound lame, but it was actually really fun! On Friday Mark called me, as usual, when he was getting ready to leave the refinery. He was so sweet. He told me to put my shoes on and grab the camera so that we could go on a "sunset pictures" adventure. =) We didn't really find any big wow photo opps, but here are a few of the pics we were able to snag...

A herd of antelope crossing the road... Mark sees this same bunch every day on his way home!

Just some pretty scenery on a little highway...

You can't really see us, but the sunset was pretty...

After the sun fell out of sight we went to the redbox and rented Up in the Air, picked up a pizza and our favorite ice cream and had a wonderful, relaxing evening.

On Saturday, Mark had to work for a few hours so I took the opportunity to do some spring cleaning. =) Later that evening we went to a Wii party with our Pursuit Sunday School class... so much fun! I didn't take many pictures, but Jessica took some video of Mark and I dukin' in out in Wii boxing. I made a sweet movie out of it but it's been "processing" for like, seven hours now. Any avid bloggers out there have suggestions for me? =)

After church on Sunday, Mark and I started talking backpacking. We're getting really excited about all of the traveling options we're going to have once the warm weather is here! =) So we decided to start working on the light weight pack Mark bought for me a long time ago...

Mark cut out the pieces...
I singed the edges...

I can't wait to see it all put together... it's going to be purple! =) After evening service that night we researched where all we can afford to go and what parks/backpacking options are located around those places... We're so excited!

Well folks, that about wraps it up! I hope you enjoyed reading about our excitingly mundane life!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Blog Birthday...

It's official; we have entered the blog world!

I love keeping up with other people's blogs and now the time has come to start one for the Young's.

I'm not sure yet what to write on our first "official" post, but I'm sure we'll think of something fun.

Until then, hello blog world... we're excited to be here!