Five for Friday

1.  First things first.  I'd like to apologize to the woman I was mean to yesterday.  You see, we'd just disembarked from a 24 hour road trip (16 driving, 8 sleeping).  When we pulled onto our road and saw her car in our too-small driveway, our feelings about idiot drivers and snow-covered interstates may have impaired my good judgement.  I believe, when she did pull up 10 minutes later and say "That's mine", I said something along the lines of "Are you GOING TO MOVE IT?".  I'm sorry.  And she said she told the neighbors she had to park it there because it wouldn't make the hill.
However, my first reaction is not to go to the neighbors to ask about it.  I'd assume they'd tell me, "Uh, it's not my driveway…"
My first reaction is to check for notes on the car and the front door.  A note would've done wonders.
Anyway, my fault.  It was not nice.  It was not Christian-like.  I'm sorry.

2.  Second.  We left Pennsylvania at 1pm on Wednesday.  We had intentions of driving through the night and we really could've done it, but a snowstorm side-lined us into a Super 8 in Illinois.  It wasn't just snow.  It was ice.

Scout really hated us after a day and a half in the car.  He thought proper revenge would be eating my sunglasses.

3.  Scott got me my purse for Christmas.  He ended up picking "Cinnabar" because they were out of black.  What do you think?  He said, "Return it and get black", but I don't know.  I kinda like it.  (The PX had the purse MUCH cheaper than the retail price.)

He also got us a new coffee grinder.

4.  I received 3 blankets and 3 frothers, as per my list.  No complaints here.

5.  I'm embarking on a January photo-a-day challenge.  I think I got all of December, except the last day.  Sometimes I think, "hey, this would be perfect to take a picture of for today" but then I don't want to reach for my phone.  Oh well.  

Happy weekend!  I hear we're getting more snow.  

I'm sure Missouri's worst drivers will be out in full-force.

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Friday 5

1.  Look at my friend's dog. You will find yourself puppy shopping.

2.  Breaking Bad did not disappoint.  Thank you, Vince Gilligan.  You did what the writers of Dexter just couldn't seem to accomplish. (Spoilers here if you're interested.)

This show only got better as it moved along.  That rarely happens.  (We know it didn't happen with Dexter.  I'm sorry.  Still not over it.)

3.  Two last Skirtember dresses.  Thanks to everyone who participated!  And thanks to Chantal for hosting it with me!

Dress: BR outlet // Sweater: Express // Sandals: Steve Madden (they hurt! and I'm not a fan of how they make my legs look)

Dress: Ross // Sweater: old // Shoes: Nine West

4.  Have you signed up for The 2nd Annual Great Pumpkin Swap?  

5.  I'm going to do so much stuff this weekend.  Clean, clean, clean.  Grade, grade, grade.  Craft, craft, craft.  Bake, bake, bake.  And organize. 

Who wants to bet that something will come along and distract me and force me to do none of that?

Friday 5

1.  This is what I was wearing one year ago.

"Oh my!", right?  It was pretty chilly last September.

And we can probably just call that my participation in #Skirtember for the week because I'm a total failure on that front.    I'm slowly realizing that most of my skirts/dresses are for cold weather, not 95* and humid.  Imagine that.

2.  We started watching Hemlock Grove a few weeks ago.  I loved it so much at first...I insisted on 4 episodes in a row the first night!  It got kinda weird.  But still, I think it's worth checking out.  I really liked the last 2 episodes of the season. Tell Netflix I sent you.  I swear, we're keeping them in business.

The creepy looking dude on the left is Alexander Skarsgard's brother.

3.  Each day I feel like I'm making headway with this new job.  (Classroom pictures to come...)  But then, usually on Wednesdays, I find out all this other stuff I need to be doing and then I feel like I'm going to cry and throw up at the same time. While this challenge is exactly what I'd been craving, sometimes I wonder if I'll ever actually catch up.  As of now, it's completely undecided.

4.  Speaking of...My friends > than Scott's friends. While I was trying not to throw up on Wednesday morning, my friend Kayla was taking Scout to the vet.  He'd had the appointment for a vaccination made long before I got my job.  She'd graciously agreed to take him. She was peed on, cleaned up poop, watched him bleed from a nail-clipping gone wrong, and had to hold him while he got a shot.  Holy cow.  That's a friend.

5.  This is what tomorrow looks like...

I'll see you....sometime...
Happy weekend!

Friday 5s...

1.  Does anyone else have a Keurig that's slowly dying on them?  Does this happen with Keurigs?  Ours was bought in November 2011 and several months ago, it went through the whole always saying "prime"thing and making loud dying cow noises. It eventually stopped that, but then started again last week.  I de-scale it every other month or so.  Have you had this experience?

2.  Funny.

3.  We went to a Commandant Reception on Wednesday.

Sunspots, tan lines, it's all going on in this picture.  We were running late.  Of course.  

I wore the same dress that I did in 2010 for a battalion ball.

I bought new shoes though.

$51 Nine West (on clearance) is probably not a bargain at the PX, but they are cute and surprisingly comfortable. I guess we should invest in our high heels, after all, right?

4. Someone at the reception was talking to me about how he'd been through four Ft. Leonard-Wood winters and they were "brutal" and it was "very cold".  I just let him talk.

When he was finished, I said, "Well, we came from Alaska, so I don't think it'll be that bad."

These southerners.

5.  Shamefully, oh so shamefully, I must admit that I've gone through TWO bags of candy corn since Sunday.  I'm horrified.  There's no picture for this.  No real evidence means it didn't happen, right?

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Friday Facts.

1.  Some recent search terms.

 That's okay with me.

2.  I've gone pillow crazy.  I went shopping with a friend last weekend.  Between the two of us, we came home with 6 pillows.

I got these two teal ones to match the rest of the Tiffany Blue theme I seem to have going.

3.  I love candy corn.  I can't get enough of it.  I'm getting antsy and annoyed because I can't find it on all the store shelves yet.  I found this bag at a grocery store 45 minutes away.  It lasted 2 1/2 days.

I'm getting concerned about what I'll do without a Target and Fred Meyer down the street.  That was how I used to fill my candy corn requirements during the fall season.

4.  I won credit to LaMaLu Boutique in Life of Meg's giveaway last week.  I got this necklace and I love it.  I'm not a fan of statement necklaces (too heavy) and this barely qualifies as one...so it's perfect for me!  Thanks Lauren and Meg!

5.  You may be able to see some lint/hair in that picture.  I had to lint-roll myself before I left the house in this outfit.

Shirt: Target // Shorts and sandals: Old Navy

...because someone is starting to shed a bit.

Happy Friday!

Sharing at Hello Happiness, The Sowell Life, and Lauren Elizabeth

Friday 5s.

(There's a Breaking Bad spoiler at the bottom of this post...)

1.  I'm not sure how he's gotten to be so big.  12 weeks today!  

Remember this?

Ugh.  It hurts my heart.

2.  Here's the Banana Republic dress Scott didn't quite capture last month.  

Dress: BR Outlet ($20) // Sweater: LOFT // Sandals: Old Navy 

3.  Including a new purse.

4.  This is a quick 15 minute circuit workout.  I made it up based on a leg series that an instructor did months ago.  I say 15 minutes because it generally takes me a while to drum up the motivation to do physical activity at home.  If you're motivated, it'll take 10 minutes.  I did this in hotel rooms on the way from Alaska to Missouri.  (Okay, one hotel room.  I did it in one hotel room.)

5.   What did you think of Breaking Bad this past week?  It didn't disappoint for us!  Only 7 left...

Did you watch Talking Bad afterward?  I felt very confused the whole time that was on.  It's Talking DEAD.  Not Talking BAD.  I kept waiting for the host to slip up and say "dead" instead.  I get why they're doing it, but it left me feeling very unsettled.  Not a zombie in sight.  Sad.

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Friday 5

High 5 for Friday

5 on Friday

5 on Friday

True Blood spoilers ahead.  Proceed with caution.  

1.  I taught a Turbokick class on Tuesday.  I made $12.

Cheat-sheets

No one gets into fitness instruction for the money anyway.  Oh well. I got experience and a free workout.

2.  I found myself purse shopping.  Tsk, tsk.  We'll let this one be a surprise for next week...

They're so nice.  They even say thank you after they take my money...

And then I got this and thought, "Crap, did I order more than one?"

3.  Scott broke down a couple of months ago and bought a smart phone.  His first.  When we were watching Shark Week the other night, he said, "Did you see the Snuffy the Seal commercial?".  When I said no, he pulled out his fancy-schmancy Samsung Odyssey to show me on YouTube.  This is the same husband who made fun of me for falling into the iPhone trap two years ago.  The man who swore he'd never have a computer-like phone.  Now he day-trades on that thing.  Oh, how times have changed.

Here's the commercial, in case you haven't had a laugh today.

4. What do you think of True Blood this season?  It's kind of failed to impress me.  But by this point, I am so stupidly addicted to the cast that I can't stop caring.  But I don't like the way they keep introducing "nobody" characters.  Like that vampire who decided to call Jason hers.  Who is she?  And why do we care?  The last new character of any significance was Norah.  And we all know what happened there...

For example, this is my current gripe:

"Jason is now some vampire lady's bitch. This will probably be important later, but not now. For now it is just IMPORTANT FILLER, for future plot twists. Also, Terry died and those fairy girls died too — so by True Blood law, new characters must be introduced ASAP. The cast list must not dip below 2,788." 

-from this site

I love the Sarah/Steve relationship.  It's hilarious.  I don't like that Sarah's become a murderer.  That's a little overkill (pun intended).

5.  I wore jeans for maybe the second time since we've been here. I thought that was worth mentioning.

Plus a puppy photo-bomb.

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5 on Friday

1.  I ditched the gym routine this week and took the dog on some walks instead.

2.  I am so grateful for the friends I've made here.  I used to have friends in Alaska, but everyone PCS-ed on outta there before we did.  When we left, the only people I had to say goodbye to were my co-workers and that was hard enough.  I can imagine it's going to be difficult when friends start moving out of Ft. Leonard-Wood.  Since it's mostly a training base, some are only here for a few months.  I am so thankful for this opportunity to connect with other wives though.  It's been a breath of fresh air.  Especially since we can connect while sitting at the pool.

This has been happening a lot lately, and it makes me so happy.

3.  Speaking of wonderful new friends...one of them taught me how to cook bacon in the microwave.  (Did you know about this?  Seriously, was I the only one who didn't know?)

Lay your bacon in a glass pie plate lined with paper towels.

Cook on high for 1 minute at a time until it reaches desired doneness.  This was 4 minutes. Check it in between minutes.  I should've probably stopped at 3:30.

And...that's it.  Eat your bacon.

4.  I forgot to add a group to my music I don't really like post:  Sugarland.  Holy bleeding ears.

5.  And, finally, still looking for something to do when school starts. 

The latest job application that I'm 1/3 of the way through.  And a pen from Alaska.

Sharing at 5 on Friday and High 5 for Friday

High 5

1.  Scott thinks that crane flies are good because they eat mosquitos, so when one gets in the house, he won't let me kill it.  There was one in the room when I was trying to sleep the other night.  I named him Harry Crane, the crane fly.

2.  I caught up on Mad Men and Game of Thrones this week.  I LOVE DIRECTV and that dang Genie.  I cannot say enough good things about DirecTV.  It's so much better than cable and, honestly, cheaper (I can explain if you're interested.)

3.  My favorite Game of Thrones moment in season 3:

I won't spoil it by saying what's awkward.  In case you haven't caught up yet.

4.  June is upon us!  Anyone want to button swap for June?  If you're already on my shamefully-put-together sidebar and want to continue the May swap for another month, just let me know!  I'm not using PassionFruit and don't really have a limit in mind.

..and, finally:

5.  2 more weeks.

In case you can't tell:

Happy weekend!

Friday Five

1.  I made a giant cookie.  It's the best thing I've made in...months.  I *only* used half a cup of butter, as opposed 3/4 cup.  This is that perfect recipe I've been searching for.  Congo bars be darned..this is better.  I think next time I'll use 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup applesauce.

2.  I got a new phone case.  6 hours after I ordered it, Scott said, "Why don't you go get an iPhone 5?"  No. Why not?..I just spent $30 on an Otterbox.  That's why not.

3.  Every morning this week, I have hobbled out of bed.  I don't know how I'm going to keep up with these classes at the gym.  I know it'll get better (working on an exercise post for next week), but I keep pushing myself because clearly I wasn't even trying in Alaska when it came to exercise.  That's what these last few days have taught me.
By showing up everyday, I'm already making a few connections there.  That's the goal, right?

4.  Did you see my new blog button??  I'm super excited about it because I made it myself (bet you couldn't tell, right?).  I tried 2 or 3 different tutorials but they all ran into that blogger glitch that won't put the text in the grab box.  Angi came to the rescue, sent me a new code, and within a minute, I had a fully-functioning blog button.

(That's how exciting things got around here on Wednesday night.)

5.  Anyway, I lied.  I put pants on for like half an hour yesterday to run an errand (it was only 70* and to the people here, apparently, that's cool).  Then I switched back to gym shorts so I could, comfortably, eat more of that skillet cookie for lunch.

Shirt/pants: JCP // Sandals: Target

Happy weekend!

High 5 for Friday

1.  We picked up my car in St. Louis on Wednesday.  That took less than a month!  As I said on Instagram, my car is born-and-raised Alaskan.  This Sonata will get to experience summer this year (It should have to write me a thank-you note).

2.  Speaking of Alaska, this late season snow stuff is happening.  And I'm not there.  I would laugh.  Really, I would laugh and jump up and down and praise the Lord and all that...but our air conditioner seems to be not working as well as it should (we can't cool it down past 73 in here).  This is a different problem entirely and one I'm not used to.  I feel like I've entered an alternate universe.

3.  Our last landlord was so terrible at her job that she sent our security deposit refund to Montana.  She claims/claimed that I never gave her a new address.  I did.  I emailed it to her and wrote it down on a piece of paper while she was standing in front of me.  If you'd like her name, just let me know.  In case you want to rent from her or something.

4.  We listened to Killing Lincoln on our drive from PA to Missouri this week.  Scott liked the first half and slept through most of the second half.  I was struck with some kind of weird illness this week (Tuesday night) and spent most of the first half trying not to throw up in the new truck (I'm better now), so I didn't catch all of it.  The second half held my attention across the entire states of Ohio and Indiana.  I particularly liked the Afterword and Epilogue because he tells you what happened to every. single. character. in the saga (non-fiction).  I recommend this if you like history.  A teacher friend told me to read it back in November.  I thought, "Oh, I will".  I listened to it in a day and a half.  It made me feel hugely productive. Next up: Killing Kennedy.

Where do you all get your audio books?  We bought this straight-out at Barnes and Noble for $30 because we were desperate for entertainment (Ohio is no joke).

5.  All the stuff arrived.

It's going to be a long weekend around here.

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