a little bit of thanks...

Gosh, I knew it had been quite some time since I last blogged but, I had no idea it had been almost 8 months!  I guess life just gets the best of us sometimes...maybe I can do better (but, don't hold me to that!)

Anyway, what a day this has been.  Yesterday was my last day of work for 5 (yes, FIVE) whole days and I could not be happier.  I mean, not that I don't like my job but, it has been over a year since I have taken an uninterrupted break from work for any amount of time.  I guess the last time was our honeymoon....(oh, to be back in Hawaii!)

Isn't that a view to be thankful for? 

But, for now, we'll just hang out here in good ol' KY!  Back to my break from work.  Lately, I've been super stressed out about work and things that have been happening.  I'm not sure why I let things bug me so much but, I when I feel strongly about something I just can't let it go.  So, I simmer over it!  (flaw #52)  On Friday afternoon, I met one of my Girl Scout leaders (I work for Girl Scouts, in case you didn't know) at her workplace and, I could tell it had been one of those days for her (because it had been one of those weeks for me!), she looked up at me from her desk and said, "When I leave here at 3 o'clock this afternoon, I'm pretending that I don't have a job until 8am on Monday morning"  I thought this was a great philosophy!  So, on Tuesday afternoon, when I left work I decided I would be pretending that my job did not exist until Monday morning.  Not only did I not bring a single work related thing home with me, I even turned my email off on my phone.  Mainly because I have no self control and I feel guilty for hearing the little sound  go off and not checking my email...then, I check it and feel I have to reply instantly!  So, for the second time in THREE years, I am on vacation and NOT checking my email!  It is a great feeling :)  Please don't get me wrong, I am super thankful to have a job that helps to provide for my family and allow us to do the things we like to do but, sometimes a girl just needs a break!

So, to celebrate my "pretend unemployment", my mom and I spent the day shopping and I managed to mark a few more things off of my Christmas list.  My Christmas list is almost completely finished!  Just a few more things to purchase and I'll be done!  Mom and I usually shop on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving because 1) the stores almost always have great sales and 2) I'm not strong enough mentally to handle "BLACK FRIDAY" 

When we returned home, I decided I should try to reconfigure my living room furniture so that on Saturday I can put up our Christmas tree (yes, I'm a firm believer in "the tree does not go up until AFTER Thanksgiving"...one holiday at a time!)  I felt like I worked forever...but, I think it was only like an hour and a half.  Hopefully, this arrangement will work.  Guess we'll find out on Saturday!

After my furniture escapade, I decided I would begin baking some goodies to take to our family gatherings tomorrow.  Until about 8 o'clock tonight, I actually had not given it the slightest thought, isn't that terrible?!  So, I pulled out a few of my cookbooks and came up with "Pumpkin Muffins" and "Carmel Apple Tartlet" MMMMMM!

Now, typically I'm not a pumpkin person but this recipe seemed super simple and I was sure that someone, at some gathering would eat a couple.  Let me share the simplicity of this with you:  a box of spice cake mix, 8 ounces of pumpkin, 1 egg and 1/2 cup of water.  mix together, divide into muffin cups and bake at 350 for 17-20 minutes!  I decided to add cream cheese icing to the top and maybe a little pumpkin spice sprinkle too!  Just for good measure :)  These little muffins, soon to be cupcakes, smell divine!  My house smells fabulous and I didn't even turn on my Scentsy tonight, HA!  I thought I'd share some of the process with you:

The batter (yes, I tried it and it was good!)

Right out of the oven (excuse my terrible picture taking...i need some practice!)

So, for now, 3 dozen muffins are hanging out on cooling racks waiting to be transformed into cupcakes!  Let's hope they survive Mr Carter's arrival and don't get eaten.

The Carmel Apple Tarlets are actually a recipe from Pampered Chef...also super simple!  I prepared my little shells tonight and I'll just mix the apples and carmel tomorrow and drop a little in each shell and bake until golden.  They are probably one of my favorite PC recipes EVER!

the shells with a piece of carmel in them, refrigerator ready. 

Being in my kitchen for a few hours tonight was such a blessing to me.  I have always really enjoyed cooking/baking and since Mr Carter and I work opposite shifts and I'm usually not at home until late, cooking has practically lost it's appeal.  I'd much rather pop open a can of tomato soup and make a grilled cheese than spend time cooking and cleaning up the mess...not to mention, having the leftovers!  It was almost relaxing and very soothing (yes, I know that sounds crazy to you) to be giving my kitchen a good workout.  I did learn a few things though, a) I need a rolling pin & b)a bigger cutting board wouldn't hurt either!  (Just in case you're looking for something to buy me for my birthday or Christmas, ha!)

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and spend it remembering ALL of the things, big or small, that you are thankful for.

And, in an effort to be better about keeping my blog up-to-date, tomorrow when the cupcakes are iced and the tartlets are golden, I'll snap a few pics and share with you!

Struggles

I feel like this post is going to be a little "all over the place" so, hang in there! 

In general, I feel like I'm a pretty positive person.  Yes, I have my days where I'm quiet the bear, but who doesn't?  But, I think for the most part, I am an optimist.  I like to see things with a "glass half full" mentality or at least I try to find the humor in situations.  I mean, what fun is it to be negative?  And really, who wants to be around someone who brings them down?  I think for me, that is why I try to be positive.  I want to have friends who actually enjoy my company, I want my family to enjoy the time they spend with me, I want my co-workers to look at me in a positive light and I want to positively influence others.  On the same token, I really like to surround myself with positive people, because I have no desire to surround myself with negative nancy's.  Not only do they tend to bring me down but they get irritating! Am I right?  I mean do we all remember this guy?

Lately though, that is all I seem to encounter.  I feel like I'm being attacked!  I'm not sure if it's the crazy weather we've been having or what but enough is enough!  I've always had the attitude that if something is having a negative impact on you, you should do your best to get rid of the negative influence...whatever it may be.  However, this time it's a little more difficult.  Today, I began to wonder if it's me.  Am I the negative?  I know this is probably what everyone thinks but I honestly really don't think it is.  This may sound a little crazy but today, I actually ordered this book

I absolutely cannot wait to read it!  Maybe it will give me a little insight and possibly even give some insight on how to intervene.  I'll let you know how it goes :)

 On another note, we have been having some CRAZY weather in Western KY. I think today is the first day in almost 2 weeks that we haven't experienced rain or severe storming. I believe we had a tornado warning issued practically everyday last week, it was pretty scary! This week, we've been dealing with flooding. Here at the Carter house, we have had water to seep through our walls in the laundry room, I feel like I've become one with our shop-vac, haha! On the bright side, at least the floor will be really clean when all of this is over. In addition to the water in our laundry room, our yard has turned into a swamp! We haven't mowed in FOREVER! But today I just couldn't take it anymore, I mowed our swamp. Well, most of it. Hopefully, it'll dry up soon and we can take care of the rest of it. I'm afraid our dogs are going to get lost out there! Although our laundry room and soggy yard have been really inconvenient and irritating for us, I feel very fortunate that we are able to stay in our home and have not lost any of our belongings. Our area has been hit extremely hard with flooding

This is a major highway in our area, HWY 109

 One of the towing companies is actually acting as a ferry to get residents across the high water.  In one of our neighboring towns, this truck is your only way in or out!

 It's so sad to see people lose their homes and belongings.

The last three are actually pictures of the highway right in front of my parents house.  The water is rising daily.  And getting closer and closer to their house and garage and there is not anything we can do to stop it.  The county actually came out and sandbagged around it and the water hasn't gotten high enough to go over them but mom said today water is beginning to seep under the bags.  They spent one night with us but they just really want to be at home.  The last picture is their driveway, you can see the top of their mailbox which is across the highway.  All we can do is pray for some relief.  Hopefully, the rivers will start to go down and all of this water will have a place to go.  They are actually predicting some rain for the weekend, let's pray that it misses us!

Happy Day

Two sweet babies had a photo shoot today, here are a few of my favs:

OUCH!

Last night while attending a meeting for work, I had a MAJOR OUCH! I really wish I had a cool story to go along with my injury but, I don't.  I actually feel like a really big dummy!  I was sitting in my chair and as the meeting was winding down, I began to get up to collect some papers for a door prize drawing.  As I started to stand, my ankle completely rolled out from under me and I fell straight to the floor.  Talk about embarrassment!  In front of a room full of Girl Scout leaders I'm laying on the floor with tears in my eyes.  Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge wimp and my pain tolerance is less than 0.  I got up and got myself back into my chair and I realized that I could really be hurt.  I roll my ankles A LOT, but I really felt like this was worse.  My toes were tingling and my ankle was throbbing!  I had agreed to stay after and speak with a concerned leader about some issues in her troop.  But as soon as I got myself out of that building, I burst into tears and called my mom.  She suggested I stop at her house on my way home (I think she may have underestimated the OUCH factor!), she said she'd look at it and put some ice on it.  When I got there, she looked at it and sent me to the recliner with an ice pack.  After about 30 minutes, she and I agreed that I probably needed to see a doctor.  Here comes the fun (and sad) part.  Mom had both my niece and nephew, who are both under the age of 2 and Keil was at work (a downfall of second shift) about an hour away.  So, I drove myself to the ER.  Luckily, on a Thursday night, they weren't that busy.  I was seen pretty quickly by a Triage Nurse and she said she was pretty sure I had a fracture. 

As I waited to go to X-ray, I was busy texting both my mom and Keil, keeping them updated.  Keil was ready to leave work, he had actually already asked his supervisor if it would be a problem.  And, mom was busy trying to get the babies to sleep so she could come sit with me.

After X-ray, I finally got to see a Dr. And, did I mention that I got to tell my super lame story at every stop.  How embarrassing?!  The doctor actually said to me, "So, you weren't running or even walking?  You just stood up?"  I simply shook my head.  Here are a couple cool pictures of my super fat ankle/foot!

This is the view from the side, I don't even think it looks like a foot.

And this, was my view.  I really wish I had gotten a pedicure yesterday :)  My little toes look like vienna sausages!

The GOOD News:  The ankle is not broken.  It has an Inversion Sprain, which basically means I hurt all of the ligaments on the outside of my ankle, the ones that hold my tibia, fibula and talus together. 

The BAD News (So, the Dr said):  I will wish it was broken because it's pretty severe and there is really nothing that can be done to "fix" it. 

AND, my 4th & 5th metatarsals are fractured.  Those are the little bones on the top of the foot that connect the toes to the ankle. 

So, they wrapped my entire foot, toe to lower calf, in something similar to an ace bandage but it's stronger to give support and but a hard brace around my ankle.  Oh, and I got some snazzy crutches (that I absolutely cannot walk on). 

For the next 7-10 days, I will be restricted to crutches and sleeping on the couch (because, I cannot get tackle the stairs).  Then, I have to go back and have another x-ray taken to see how the bones in my foot are healing.  The doctor said the only way they will heal is with lots of rest, which I am not good at!  I have been on this couch for WAY too long.  I'm going a little crazy and my dogs really want to take a walk.  Luckily, my mom offered to help and she brought me dinner tonight.  I've thought about offering to pay the little neighbor girl to walk the dogs a few times a day until I can do it again.

Keep Checking Back for Stir Crazy Posts :)

Wow, really?!  Just by standing up!  You can't make this stuff up :)

The Dark Ages

That is where I feel like we are here in the Carter household.  You know, before TV!! :)  Last Wednesday night, I hurried home to watch my shows on DVR and to my surprise my satellite was "searching for signal", it lasted for about an hour, which it never does unless it's storming, so I decided to take on technical support.  After and hour and a half, 4 customer service reps (3 of which spoke English, which made me happy) and countless troubleshooting efforts, the solution was for them to send a technician to our house to solve the issue.  In addition to "searching for signal" the remote in our bedroom just gave up!  It quit working, I changed the batteries and reset the remote several times (per the CSR) and had no luck.  So, instead of sending me a new remote with the technician on Sunday, they said they must mail it. Day 1:  No problem, I pulled up my Netflix and snuggled in bed with my pups!
Day 2:  I really wanted to watch the news, I usually enjoy listening to the news while I'm getting ready for work. 
Day 3:  I worked most of the day and picked up my nephew for a little QT.  Then, the hubster and I, along with my sweet nephew, joined his family for a couple of birthday dinners (Mr. Carter's included)
Day 4:  YAY!  I made it...no tv for 4 whole days and I survived.  The tech arrived early to solve our crisis and was in and out in just a few short hours.  WE HAD TV AGAIN!
Monday morning as I was up and getting ready for work, it happened again.  "Searching for Signal"  UGH!  Seriously?!?  I immediately called the technical support number and because of all of the troubleshooting that was noted on my account, he very quickly suggested that we schedule for another technician to come and take a look.  Earliest opening...FRIDAY!  Oh goodness, 5 more days without tv, what will we do?
It's been strange around here, and quiet!  Don't get me wrong, I don't just set and watch tv for hours and hours when I'm home...unless it's raining and Sunday and I have nothing else to do!  But, I usually have the tv on while I'm in the kitchen or folding laundry and especially when I'm getting ready for work.  It has been a bit of an adjustment and all I can say is "Thank God for Netflix!" 
If our problem is resolved on Friday, we will have made it almost 10 days without tv!  Mr. Carter said today that he was actually kind of enjoying not having it to distract us :)  So, for now, I'll enjoy the silence.  BUT, come Monday when The Bachelor season finale is on...my satellite signal better be flawless!

Can you imagine living without tv, permanently?

Lunch Date

Today I got to do one of my favorite things, have lunch with my husband!  This may seem simple to most of you but because we work opposite shifts, we very rarely get to have a meal together and doing so excites me to no end.
I thought I'd share my lunch recipe with you, it's super simple and super yummy!  And best of all, you prepare it in the microwave :)

Mexican Chicken Lasagna
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves: chopped
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (28oz) can enchilada sauce
12 (6in) tortillas
3 cups shredded chicken

Place cream cheese in microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 30-45 seconds or until very soft.  Add cilantro and 1 1/2 cups of cheese to cream cheese, mix well.  Spread 2/3 cup of the enchilada sauce over bottom of casserole dish (I use a Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker).  Pour remaining enchilada sauce into mixing bowl; set aside.
Dip four tortillas into enchilada sauce in mixing bowl and arrange over sauce in baker, overlapping as necessary.  Scoop half of the cream cheese mixture over tortillas and spread evenly.  Top with 1 cup of chicken and 1/3 of the onion.  Repeat layers once (4 tortillas, cream cheese, chicken/onion).  Dip 4 remaining tortillas into sauce and arrange over second layer.  Top with remaining chicken and onion.  Pour remaining enchilada sauce over lasagna and sprinkle 1/2 cup monterey jack cheese.
Microwave, covered, on high for 12-15 minutes or until center is hot. 

A Day at the Spa

...the doggie spa, that is.  Jenna LOVES her groomer, Justina at The Pampered Pet Salon.  The funny thing is that Justina actually called and let me know she could work Jenna in because one of the other groomers, who lives on our street, mentioned to her how shaggy Jenna was looking.  Isn't that pitiful?  Can't you tell how excited she was?  Here is her before shot:

And After:

She was even more excited to be home with a fresh new do :)