ShamWoW?

Arriving home this evening from our fifth and final family Christmas celebration, Mark and I started unloading, unpacking and attempting to find places for our new gifts and trinkets.  Though we've already done some major sorting followed by some significant Goodwill trips this year with all of our moving about, we did of course find a few more things that we no longer needed as new Christmas items replace the old.  One of these "old" items, happened to be my pile of ShamWow's.

You have to understand... when we registered for wedding gifts, I was SOOO excited about the ShamWow's!!!  I wanted them bad, and some dear friends of ours bought them for us.  I was thrilled!!!

Of course, as many of those things go, once I got them home I didn't have much use for them... you know, waiting around for spills to happen.  So my first reaction when Mark finds the pile of ShamWow's is excitement, let's clean some messes!  Then I think about it and say, well... I really don't use them that often... I guess maybe we could give them away?

...Then I falter again...

So my hysterically logical hubby takes the stack inside, picks up the water pitcher and proceeds in pouring it all over our kitchen floor!!! 

I stand AGHAST. 

Then -- just like in the infomercial -- Mark takes a large ShamWow, lays it over the puddle, pats it on one side, flips it over, pats it on the other side and picks it up.  Of course the ShamWow is fairly filled with water as any towel would be but um... the floor is still preeetty soaked.

Needless to say, he won and the ShamWow's went to the Goodwill box.

*sigh*

I feel I may regret this... perhaps I'll buy a new box in the spring?

So... anyone else have experience with the famous ShamWow?  

Do share!  

I'd like to know if others have found them useful... then maybe I could convince Mark to rescue them from the Goodwill box...  ;)

The Wedding was Wonderful...

Everything was beautiful.

The ceremony was wonderful, the atmosphere, the food, the music...

The company and time spent together... just wonderful.

My most favorite part, of course, was when my husband arrived on scene...

It had definitely been way too long since I'd seen those baby blues.  =)

I'll post more soon, but as of right now I'm caught up in the throws of having skipped out on over half a week's classes in order to be at this beautiful cross country affair.

So much reading to get done... so, so, so much reading...

I'll see you soon lovelies... and I'll bring pictures and videos!

Padre Island Anniversary Trip

An overview of our wonderful trip to Padre Island National Seashore to celebrate the first of many happy anniversaries to come!  =)

I'm just not up for writing a lot tonight, so I'll let the pics sum it up.  =)

It was a wonderful trip.  We loved spending time together, relaxing on the beach... a great way to celebrate our first year of a wonderful marriage... =)

Bring on the Beach Bummin Baby!

Okay readers, I realize my posting consistency has been a little crazy lately... we'll I don't think it's going to get better any time soon!  This summer {like most others} is going to be pretty crazy for us!

This is where the hubs and I will be bummin around for the next five days to celebrate our one year anniversary!!!  =D

Yes. Please.

True testament to the fact that you can vacation, and vacation well, on a budget.

We will be paying just a few bucks a night to camp at the site that has cold water rinse showers and restroom facilities near by.  The only other costs will be groceries and maybe going out to eat for our anniversary dinner... I can't wait!!!

I've never camped in sand before, this should be fun!

(And probably more comfortable sleeping than hard ground!)

We leave tomorrow morning... so excited!!!


PS...
An update on our precious Bayley Rae:
 
She's doing much better.  Here are some pictures of our recovering patient. =)
(Oh, and don't worry, she is in very good hands while we are away!)

I took the cone off of her when we got home.  Really, she was just desperate to lick... her paw was still all bloody.  =(  I gave her a little sponge bath but she continued to bath herself for probably the next two hours! =)

 Once she was content with her cleanliness, we crashed on the couch to watch our favorite lazy day movie, Pride and Prejudice.  =)

 We put the cone back on her right before bed time since we wouldn't be able to make sure she wasn't chewing her bandage.  She's inviting daddy to join her in the cone!  hahaha

My sweet baby!  So glad she's doing better.  =)  Definitely back to her cheerful self!

Once Upon a Camping Trip

Last weekend Mr. Young and I decided {rather last minute I might add} to go camping at Palo Duro Canyon; the second largest canyon in the nation.  Hubs arrived home just a bit earlier than the usual time, we packed ourselves {and Miss Bayley}, loaded up the car and headed out!

We arrived just before sunset, got checked in and drove down into the canyon... it was beautiful.

It was dark by the time we got our tent set up and a fire started, but all was well. 
Bayley couldn't quite figure out the whole "tie out" concept...
kept running through the picnic table... lol

The night was chilly.  Hubs and I were fine in our 30 degree sleeping bags, but Miss Bayley was shivering.  She spent most of the night in one or the other of our sleeping bags.  Good morning Bayley!  =)  Stayin toasty with dad...

We had some delicious oatmeal and smores for breakfast (haha) then headed out on the trail

To the top right of my hubby you can see our goal; the lighthouse.

{The trail we were hiking was The Lighthouse Trail}

Lots of beautiful sites... and beautiful flowers...

Finally {and after one insane 60 degree incline}, we are within reach... Good job, Bayley!!!

And then we hiked the rest of the way; right up to it...

Yay Us!!!  We're so proud... it was a fun little jaunt.  =)

All in all, a successful mini hiking trip.  =)

We had so much fun together... it was great to get away from the business and distractions of life and focus on spending some quality time together.

Palo Duro Canyon, we will see you again soon... =)

HELP! In Need of a Tie Rack!

Okay readers, it's your time to shine! 

I need help.  

My husbands ties are driving me crazy.  They're slung over a regular hanger and with his clothes on the top and mine on the bottom, they drag all over my clothes making it difficult to see them, cover up my flip flops {which abide on the shelf below}and slip off easily and often as we push hangers back and forth.

Here is my challenge to you.

I have been looking online for a DIY tie rack with no success.  

Can you find one?  

-or-

Can you come up with an original idea of how I might make one?

I really need some help here but just can't believe that I have to go buy one.  There has to be a simple way to make one myself.  =)

Okay y'all, let me know what you come up with!

Well as a Last Minute Decision...

Mr. Young and myself had decided to go camping here for the weekend.  

Truly it was a last minute decision, it shall be an adventure!  =)

Oh, and Miss Bayley is coming with us for her very first ever camping excursion, yay!

Two Steps Closer to Debt FREEDOM!

Hello beautiful blog readers!!! The hubs and I are just so excited, I had to let you all in on the celebration! =)

We are officially two steps closer to our goal of living debt free! Since our tax return was deposited into our account this month we've wiped out our BOA credit card which holds the loan for our truck as well as my UMKC account balance, WOO!!! =)

Our remaining debts now stand as our student loans and the mortgage... SO EXCITING!!! We've worked so hard to get to this point, we can't believe we're staring it in the face now!!!

Baby steps, taking them one at a time, but it's paying off... literally!!!

If you're buried in debt and can't seem to get out, I highly recommend checking into the Dave Ramsey plan for finding freedom from debt.

Thanks for celebrating with us fellow blog friends!!!

The Journey to San Diego: Thursday, Day 1

Well at first I decided I was going to post our San Diego adventures by each day. Then I spent an entire day editing those pictures and realized just how MUCH we did in each day we were there! So I've changed my mind. I will post one adventure at a time. =)

Okay folks, now presenting, our San Diego Adventures...

The Journey to San Diego: Thursday, Day 1...

This will be a short one since our plane didn't even leave Amarillo until 6:05pm. For any of those who have experienced the wrath of the panhandle winds, you can relate to this. It was "blustery" day in the panhandle with winds gusting upwards of 50 mph which made our departure out of Amarillo a bit sketchy. Given that I grew up in small planes with my dad piloting, I can honestly say there have been few flying situations that have ever made me nervous... I believe this one ranked. I've never been in a commercial aircraft that pitched to the side like that... crazy. But we made it to Denver where it was a sketchy landing as well due to the approaching storm. This was actually quite exciting for me when I realized, I've never flown in the rain before... new experience, woo! May sound strange, but I was actually quite excited about this.

Clearly... because I took a picture... After another bumpy ride out of Denver we finally touched down on the San Diego tarmac at 9:20pm, found our rental car and started on our way to Ryan and Karissa's apartment. We couldn't have been on the road more than two minutes when we had our first encounter with the "California style" of driving. Never seen anything like it... crazy Californians... dude tried to run us out of our lane... and he knew we were there! *sigh* It was a bit shocking. lol

When we finally found the apartments Karissa flagged us down in the middle of the road. We were SO excited to see her, Ryan and Nachelle... been looking forward to this since Thanksgiving when we first came up with the idea!!! We had of course vowed on the plane that we would not stay up late chatting but would go to bed early as we needed to. Not sure why we even thought that was a slight possibility. So we stayed up chatting, laughing and catching up...

and I took this picture of Ryan and Tychon...
That dog is so stinking hilarious. There's just something about his voice... makes me nearly pee my pants.

And that's it really because then we went to bed. The next few days are FULL of adventures and craziness... this is only the beginning! =)

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.