Living alone

I will be living alone (with Jixer and Rebel) for a week while Ryan is out of town. He and Juan are going to Houston for work so I am house/dog sitting. I have stayed in various houses by myself before, or with small children (which I think is more nerve racking than if I were just alone) but something about staying in an apartment just makes me more jumpy. Although, there are a few perks to living alone!

I can look like crap and Jixer and Rebel don't complain, so long as they get fed.

I can play whatever music I want and play it louder than usual and sing along with disturbing other people in the house.

I can sit on the couch and hook my computer up to Ryan's GIANT TV and play The Sims all day.

Things stay clean unless I mess them up.

There are less dishes to do.

You can pass gas and not have to blame it on the dogs.


Of course there are downsides too but I'm focusing on the positive and not the boogie man that might break into the apartment and hack me up into little bits. I really should stop watching Criminal Minds.

Well that's my Southern Soapbox! Pray that I stay safe please :)

Wonky and Woot-tastic

AJ LOVED playing with the dogs!

The most decent picture I could get while
Maegan and I went for a walk.
(Wow I'm WHITE)

I know it's a day late, but on plus side... most of you already know all this stuff because I've been with you all week :P .

Wonky:
   - Don't get me wrong, I adore my nephew. He's the best thing EVER... but 8 hours in a small car with him teething and having an upset stomach is awful. The poor little man cried off an on all the way home from Mississippi.
   - While we're on the subject of AJ.... I have full conversations with myself while talking to him. He will hand me something and I will say "thank you" and he, obviously, doesn't reply so I say "your welcome" on his behalf. I'm polite like that.

   - Maegan, my cousin Katy, and I all decided to go for a walk. For some reason we decided to walk in the woods on an old trail that the dogs use. The problem with this idea is.... the dogs use the trail. They, not only have fur to protect them from briars, but they're also short. We had to duck down and go under an arch of briars (picture above) and at times we (and by 'we' I mean Katy because she was in the lead) had to push back branches and brush and manipulate sticks to hold it back. It was a long process but we made it.
   - After our trek through the woods Maegan and I were talking. I noticed a black spot on her sweat shirt. Then the black spot started to move. I pointed it out to her and she FREAKED OUT. It was a tick. Ew.

Woot-tastic:
   - I am NOT a morning person, however, something about being woken up by AJ in the middle of my bed playing peek-a-boo makes mornings slightly better.

   - Maegan found a pattern for these adorable maxi skirts and since both of us are MAJORLY lacking in our sewing skills we recruited Grandmother (the sewing goddess) for the job! She did an amazing job!!!
   - In south Mississippi it isn't uncommon to drive by someone and wave at them (even if you don't know them), and they wave back. In case you were wondering... if you do this in Dallas... people think you're crazy.

   - I don't know if y'all remember... but Rebel ate my stuffed puppy that Ryan gave me. He ate his face off! Thankfully the Sewing Goddess fixed my puppy! He's whole again!

Sorry this Southern Soapbox is late! It's rather hard/impossible to do this post with no internet. I could have done it from my phone but I'm not very good at using the app and I don't know how to use pictures with that app. Thanks for reading!

Wonky And Woot-tastic Wednesday

It looks like a skirt...

...but it's pants!
From Earthbound

It looks like a skirt...

...but it's shorts!
From Kohls!

Wonky:

   - I always get hungry at midnight. Perhaps if I went to bed before then I wouldn't have that problem?... nah... 

   - On Facebook there is this "like if you..." are a Christian, are against child/animal abuse etc etc etc.... it's really annoying and I wish it would go away.

   - We left at 4:30am to come to Grandmother's house (dad's mom) so that AJ would sleep most of the way... ya he slept maybe 30 minutes for the whole 8 hour trip.

   - Mom, Maegan and I went to Lewisville to go shopping but ended up not being able to do anything that we had planned because there was a down power line and all the electricity was out. Instead, we went to Charming Charlie

   - Last Saturday I was over at Maegan's house helping her give AJ a bath when the lights went out. It was pitch black in the bathroom. Thankfully Maegan was able to put her hand on AJ while I got one of Andrew's(Maegan's hubby) many flashlights. We ended up having to rinse him off in the light from the flash light.

Woot-tastic:

   - Our trip to Charming Charlie was pretty much awesome.

   - Monday Ryan and Jixer came over and we went for a walk along with Rebel. I have no idea how far we went but poor Jixer's legs were about to fall off.

   - Ryan's birthday was last Wednesday but we ended up celebrating on Friday night at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was fun hanging out with friends and spending time with my love :).

   - I'm not sure if this is woot-tastic or wonky but I finally finished the series of books I've been reading. It was only 3 books but I'm hoping she rights more. It took me about a week and a half to finish them (which is a long time for me). 

Ok, well that's Southern Soapbox! Sorry the post is a little boring :/

Spolied... just a little

As many of you know, Ryan used to work at Texans Credit Union as a teller. I also happen to have an account there. It was so convenient having Ryan work at the place I bank at (or credit union at?). I rarely had to go into the bank, unless I just wanted to see him. I would usually just give him money or checks I wanted deposited and he would hand it off to someone to do it for me. It was AWESOME. If I did actually go into the bank to deposit money I knew everyone who worked there and they would pull my account up as soon as they saw me. Didn't need an ID, or my account/member number (which is good because I have NO CLUE what it is.. i think it starts with a 4?) Needless to say, I have never been through the drive thru (except when I was a passenger in someone's car) and have never filled out a deposit slip. Until today. It was so weird not knowing who the person was on the other side of the bullet proof glass and it was really weird to actually have to follow protocol. I'm so spoiled and I love it. I'm very glad Ryan has a new job... but it's a little inconvenient for me :P. 

On an unrelated note, I might be a little MIA for the next week. I can't say why, as it is a surprise and on the very off chance that the person I'm surprising reads this... I don't want to spoil the surprise. I'll post stuff as soon as I can :). I've been trying to come up with some stuff to post that will not reveal what I'm up to and the only thing I've come up with is clothes LOL but, it's possible that I don't do Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday tomorrow or Flashback Friday on Friday. We'll see. I'll do my best!

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox! Have a great week y'all!

Charming Charlie

Most of you know that my favorite store EVER is Charming Charlie. This place is my crack store. It's AWESOME. They have purses, scarves, sunglasses, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, hats, SHOES, leggings, hair pieces and I'm sure some other stuff that I'm forgetting AND it's all sorted into sections based on color! There is a purple sections, pink, green, blue, yellow, orange, black, white, gold, silver.... am I forgetting any?... probably. It's AMAZING. If you've never been... go.. go now!

Anywho... I went today and this is what I bought (because every time I go there... I buy something).

The greatest store EVER!

White and blue clutch.

Adorable brown clutch that
I couldn't live without

3 bracelets

And a pair of GIANT earrings...

Well that's my Southern Soapbox! I hope you enjoyed your day as much as I did!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday

I know, it's late. I'll explain why I'm so slow in a minute :).

Wonky:
   - I hate it when I'm driving down the street and I see a little squirrel darting across the road. He, of course, doesn't make it all the way across and stops right in my lane causing me to slam on the breaks and or swerve to miss him. Thankfully, I am usually pretty successful as I have only hit a rabbit once.
   - I've come to the realization that if I have a child that wakes up before 9am.. it's going to lay in it's crib until then. I don't mind when I do "over night" babysitting because it's only temporary, but if my future kid knows what's good for it.. it will sleep like AJ. AJ wakes up between 9:30 and 10:30 and goes to sleep around 9am. Isn't he awesome?
   - Today is Ryan's birthday and I didn't even get to see him :(

Woot-tastic:
   - On April 11th, 1988 the love of my life was born. 1988?... Holy Crap he's 24... he's old. (will someone please direct Ryan to this post so he can read this :D)
   - When aforementioned squirrel runs into the street and I suddenly become a ninja driver. If only I were always a ninja driver. That would be cool.... or maybe just a ninja
   - OH MY GOSH! I almost forgot this one! You'll never guess who tweeted me (ok, if you read my facebook you can... but that's cheating)(no-it wasn't Ian Somerhalder...)!!! Kristin Chenoweth! I had seen her on Watch What Happens Live and tweeted her saying that I love her and she looked really pretty and she tweeted me back saying that she didn't feel like she looked pretty at the time haha.

   - I've been playing house with the little boy in the picture. His name is Jack. His mom and dad have been at the hospital since early Wednesday morning adopting a sweet little boy :). 

   - I've been reading this series of books and I can't put it down! It's pretty good :)

Ok guys, back to my book! Sorry the post is late but at least it's still Wednesday lol. That's my Southern Soapbox for today, thanks for reading!

5 Things

I hope everyone had a good weekend! Here are 5 things I did this weekend!

Five:
I've spent all weekend being sick. Well, not really sick. I'm still convincing myself that it's allergies or sinuses. I refuse to be sick.

Four:

Ryan and I spent all day Saturday together. He wasn't on call and I wasn't working so we went to IHop and had breakfast together. Then we went Collin Creek Mall to go shopping. He got some slacks and Polos for work and I got two dresses. After that we went on a date to Kroger because he was low on milk. I know, we're so romantic, but it was nice. Even though we didn't do anything different or romantic we spent the entire day together eating, shopping and watching Community(Which by the way, is an amazing TV show and you should watch it too. It's on Hulu.) I kinda love that guy...

Three:

On Sunday Mom made a really yummy lunch! She made baked ham, carrots, cheesy scalloped potatoes, and my favorite.... green bean casserole. It was amazing. Then of course we had Easter baskets. Rebel got a duck for Easter, Jixer got one of those long "wiener dog" toys (I don't know what they're called), and Martin got a hedgehog. All in all, it was a pretty good Easter :).

Two:

For those of you who haven't watched Community, you're missing out. It's REALLY funny. It's become mine and Ryan's TV show. Abed ROCKS.

One:

Sunday I was sitting on the floor in Ryan's apartment reading a book while he was fiddling with his computer (he's been rebuilding it) when I reached for my glass and saw a roach crawling on it. I leaped up on the couch. in one fluid motion, I might add (I'm sure it looked REALLY cool), and proceeded to yell at tell Ryan that their was a roach. He quickly came to my rescue and beat it with his flip flop. He's kinda like a knight in shining armor -except he's a nerd, wearing shorts and rather than a shiny sword he was wielding a flip flop. None-the-less I was grateful to have been rescued.

I hope you had a great, roach-free, weekend and that you all had wonderful Easter's with your families! Well that's my Southern Soapbox! Tootles!

Flashback Friday: Gone Fishin'

First of all, I would like to point out that I am actually posting this on the day it is supposed to be done on (it's a miracle). Now, on with the story!

I have grown up hearing about all these stories of things that have happened to various family members. All of these stories I would classify as crazy, or at the very least, different. Because these stories are so "different" I have decided the rest of the world should be able to bask in the glory that is my family.

Disclaimer:

It's very possible that people were injured in the making of these stories (which tends to make them that much better). Also, due to the embarrassing nature of some of these stories, names will remain anonymous. All stories are completely factual(ok... well they're retold as heard).

Gone Fishin'

This MIGHT be the actual pond that
served as the fishin' hole
(Mamaw wasn't sure)

This story takes place in the backwoods of Collins, Mississippi sometime in the 1930's. It was a time when daddy's raised calves, pigs and chickens and mama's made your clothes and your supper. You lived off the land, for the most part. You relied on your siblings for entertainment, and in this case, they helped you come up with a solution when you had a problem.

My mamaw and her brother were out in their backyard (and by backyard I mean the 90+ acres that they lived on) fishin'. They had been out there for a time and weren't gettin' any bites. They began to doubt that there were actually fish in that pond. Mamaw looked at her brother, and they conjured up a plan. They needed to know if there were any fish in the fishin' hole, and fishin' just wasn't workin' fast enough. They went up to the house, grabbed a stick of dynamite from the back shed (what? don't you have explosives just layin' around in your backyard? Actually, my great grandpa used it to blow stumps out of the ground when he was clearin' land.) and went to work. Yes, the plan was to blow the water out of the pond to see the fish. Clearly they hadn't thought this through, but if they had I wouldn't have a story to tell y'all (actually, they probably would have done it regardless). Mamaw, her brother and their dog all headed back to their fishin' hole to see the fish. The fuse was lit, the stick was hurled and Mamaw and her brother lit out for cover. The poor dog was left behind. And the pond blew. The terrible twosome emerged from their hidin' place to see water fallin' from the trees, no fish, and the dog layin' on it's side. We will never know if there were fish in that fishin' hole, which is now a little bit deeper. In case you were wonderin', the dog was fine. He just fainted.

This story has been told to me by my mother, who heard it from Mamaw. I tried to call Mamaw so she could retell me the story but apparently the 83 year old has more of a life than I do since she didn't answer her phone (she's probably out fishin'... don't worry she doesn't have any dynamite). Family- let me know if you have any stories you want told!

If you missed last weeks Flashback Friday: Cowboys and "bad guys" there it is! Check it out!

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox! I hope this made you laugh!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday

Wonky:
   - As many of y'all know, mom had a bone graft done in her jaw. She originally went in for a tooth implant but they had to do a bone graft instead so she'll go back in about 3 months to have the implant done. Her recovery has been a bit slower than we originally thought. She has been running a fever and her jaw has been pretty sore. Hopefully she will start feeling better soon!

   - Tornado season is here! We had 12 confirmed tornadoes touch down in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Arlington and Lancaster have been declared a state of disaster. Thankfully they all missed The Colony and we were spared. Although, we did spend a considerable amount of time in the laundry room with the dogs and cat. In case you were wondering, the cat does NOT like being held captive in the laundry room.

   - After all the tornadoes passed there was crazy amounts of fog! I could barely see to drive home from Ryan's.

   - Ryan and I were waiting for a table at Buffalo Wild Wings when I saw a man standing in front of us. Well, actually I saw his butt before I saw him. He had, apparently, sat in spilled coffee and there was a big stain on his hind end. I considered telling him but there was nothing he could do about it, so I didn't. Is that horrible?

   - I shouldn't be telling y'all this but.. I've gained 3 pounds.

Woot:

   - It's only been "spring" for a month and I've already gotten one sunburn and started tanning! YAY!

   - New shoes! I got these and a pair of light brown sandals. I'm happy.

   - Mom and I have started learning how to play bridge with some ladies from Mom's church. It's a little complicated but it's similar to Rook so that helps a lot.

   - As a result of me gaining 3 pounds, Maegan and I went to the gym and I worked out REALLY hard. I knew I had done a good job because I was dripping sweat and thought I would go into cardiac arrest, which are obvious signs of a job well done. Right?

   Well, that's my Southern Soapbox. Sorry it's a bit short! Happy Hump Day!

Tornado Season

Man Tornado season has officially begun! We have had at least 12 confirmed tornadoes that have touched down in the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex. The city of Arlington and Lancaster have bother been declared to be in a state of emergency. Thankfully the city I live in was spared but there are a lot of areas that were not so lucky.

In our house we are PARANOID about tornadoes. Whenever a tornado watch or warning is issued Stevenson family protocol is to put on clothes (if you're in pajamas) and put on tennis shoes. This "tradition" was started back when we lived in Alabama. There was a tornado and our neighbor at the time told my mom "You never know what you'll have to walk through if a tornado hits" and it's true! If you're wearing tennis shoes you don't have to worry as much about stepping on debris. It's smart if you ask me. Paranoid, but smart. I wish I had taken a picture of me, Mom, Rebel, Martin, and George all crammed into the laundry room. It was a site to see.

A picture of ONE of the storms that hit the Dallas
Metroplex

Candles and a flashlight just in case :).

Well, that's my stormy Southern Soapbox! Stay safe and dry y'all!

Outside During Spring

Spring hasn't been around for long but we have been outside A LOT! Here are some pictures of AJ playing outside :).

Playing in the hose while Rebel got a bath

Climbing around Aunt Emily's yard

No, it's not AJ. It's my cousin Mollie.
I thought this picture was cute so I threw it in the mix

Pop Pop and AJ

Peek-a-boo!

It was a crazy busy weekend! Friday Ryan and I went to dinner at Twisted Root with our friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. Saturday Mom, Dad and I went with Maegan and AJ to a park near our house. We had lunch with Maegan's small group from church and AJ did his very first Easter egg hunt! Sunday I worked in the morning, then met Maegan, Mom, Dad, and a friend of ours for lunch at Cotton Patch. YUM! A few hours after that Mom and I went to a ladies house to learn how to play bridge.

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox! I hope you had a nice, sunny weekend!