Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law - "If it can go wrong it will!" This is how Michael and I felt right around 7:00 pm on Saturday night up until I finally went to bed last night and decided "I'll get through whatever else goes wrong!" On Friday and Saturday, Michael and I attended the Ignite Marriage Conference at our church. Only speaking for myself, I learned so much, and I am so grateful that Michael and I are committed to making our relationship stronger. I was on a high Saturday afternoon leaving the conference, and I thought to myself, "the rest of this weekend is going to be great, and I can't wait to get home and talk about all we've learned!" Just a side note - Michael had to work Saturday afternoon, and I stayed for the last session by myself, and I couldn't wait for him to get home Saturday evening so he could tell me how much he loved the conference and how it made him realize I was the best wife ever! Okay, so maybe I was a little too optimistic! :) At 5:30 pm on Saturday, Michael called and said he was able to leave work early and he was heading home soon. Him leaving early never happens, and I was so excited. He asked what I wanted for dinner, and we ended the conversation by deciding on pizza. About 6:00 pm, he called and said he was heading home with two barbecue sandwiches and some chips he got for free at work. And the steam started billowing from my ears, but I made myself calm. The lessons of the conference started repeating themselves over and over in my head! I was so looking forward to that pizza! I don't like barbecue on a good day, and free, dried up bbq sandwiches from his work sounded awful! But...I had learned to be a patient and loving wife, so I agreed to the free sandwiches. Besides we have recently committed ourselves to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, and Dave would be proud of me for saving money! At 6:30 pm, Michael called again. He said, "Brandi, your wish has come true and it looks like you won't be eating barbecue afterall. I was driving down the highway, and I put my foot on the gas, but my car wouldn't go. I'm stranded on the side of the highway!" WHAT!!! But I had it all planned out...dinner and talking! Now he's on the side of the road waiting on his friend Eric to come help him out and who knows how long it's going to take! Did I mention, this is one day before we were planning to do our first budget since we have been married! Dave Ramsey warned us over and over in his book about "Murphy's Law"...if something can go wrong it will! The night before our planned Sunday budget meeting, Michael's car breaks down one day after getting serviced, and we know it's probably going to cost us! But wait...it gets better! Eric and Michael got the car pushed to a parking lot on Saturday night. Michael got home around 8 pm with his cold, soggy barbecue sandwiches. He didn't make me eat them, and we took my car to Taco Bell. It was kinda gross, but I was starving. Sunday morning, we got up and headed to his car to wait for a tow truck. His car miraculously started, so we decided to see if we could get it to the shop ourselves. He drove about 500 feet and once he got on the main highway again, it quit! So there we were on the side of the highway, with him pushing his little car and me at the steering wheel hopelessly making it to the next parking lot! On Sunday afternoons, you are at the mercy of any tower who you can find working. We called three times and we kept getting put off. So we killed some time with lunch and a trip to the bookstore. While we were at the bookstore after hours of waiting, our real estate agent calls and says an agent wants to show our house in two hours. Sure no problem....if we weren't on the other side of town waiting on Michael's car to get towed and the house didn't need to be picked up, dusted, vacuumed, mopped, sanitized, and de-furred, which on a good day takes us about 2 hours. We couldn't turn down a showing, so Michael took me home and I began cleaning. Everything was going well because I was determined to hurry up and try to enjoy my afternoon, and on our way back to the house, the man called us back and said he would tow Michael in the next 30 minutes, so our luck was turning around! I was upstairs, in the middle of vacuuming (I hadn't made it to the other two floors yet) when all of the sudden our brand new vacuum just stopped! I thought it came unplugged, but it looked to be securely plugged in to me. I unplugged it just in case and plugged it back it, but nothing! This was my worst nightmare! Two more floors to go, and have you seen the dog hair my little 18 pound baby sheds! I didn't know what to do! Michael got home shortly, and made it work again, well...for 15 more minutes! It quit again! Needless to say, the other two floors didn't get vacuumed, and I resorted to lent rolling both of our dark brown couches to hide some of Scarlett's hair! It was the best we could do! So after all of these disasters, we had a nice afternoon at the park while our house was being shown, and we came home to tackle our budget. I don't care what anyone says, budgeting is stressful because it requires a lot of discipline, which is a virtue I need to work on daily! But we got some things accomplished, and I had a good night's sleep! I want to thank Church of the Highlands for giving me the opportunity to attend a marriage conference before these disasters occurred because it gave me a little patience with my wonderful husband :). I also want to thank Dave Ramsey for warning me about Murphy's Law...this man is absolutely right! If it could go wrong it did, but we made it through!

Ya Ya

This weekend, we had some visitors! My mom, along with her two sisters Donna and Paula and her good friend Barbara came to Birmingham to see me. It could not have been a nicer weekend, and we had so much fun. I don't think that any other foursome could laugh as much as these women do and be so crazy - so Michael and I fittingly call them the Ya Ya's! I can't tell you all the juicy details of this weekend without causing embarrassment to the Ya Ya sisterhood, but a stopped up toilet, a curious security guard, and a stack of napkins will remind all of us how much we laughed this weekend. I am so glad they came with my mom because she seemed really happy! I miss getting to see her and my family all the time, but at least I know she is enjoying life and is being kept in good company.

Here is a pic of the Ya Ya's at the Vulcan statue in Homewood - this is where it all went downhill for my mom (second from the right) who could not stop laughing!

Three sisters, my mom Johna on the right with Donna and Paula

In between laughs, we calmed down to take a picture together.

My! What a long neck you have mom!

My mom laughing hysterically in the Vulcan Musuem...this was right before the security guard walked over to see what in the heck she was doing! We ate a lot of course! On Saturday, we went to the Fish Market downtown. After a day of shopping on Sunday, we ate at Chuy's Mexican Restaurant. After dinner, my aunt Paula made Chocolate Lava Cakes with Nutella in the middle. It was delicious...but my diet started on Monday!

I'm sad the Ya Ya's are gone! But I had a great time with them, and can't wait to see what our next adventure has in store for us!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is not one of my favorite holidays, and Michael and I don't make a big deal out of it, but it is nice to show a little more love on Valentine's Day I guess! This was our 7th Valentine's Day together, and the only two V Days I remember are last year's because I blogged about it and can look it up and our first V Day together because it was a little disastrous! I may be unsentimental, but I bet Michael can't remember either! Not to be too cheesy, but I truly believe that we have such a fun relationship and are such good partners that we celebrate our marriage every single day! It amazes me to this day that this boy and girl below are still together and happier than ever, and I don't need Valentine's Day to make me honor our relationship. But to those of you who ooh and awe over this day, I hope all of your expectations come true and you are enjoying the Valentine's Day of your dreams! We did celebrate Valentine's Day yesterday by spending the afternoon at the park, and then we made dinner last night. Michael made the most sinful Texas Sheet Cake, and I made his new favorite dish, Shrimp Pad Thai. We love Thai food, and I have never been able to make it at home and have it taste anywhere near what it tastes like in our favorite restaurants. I came across a new recipe about a month ago that called for ketchup in it! I was very skeptical, but everyone who had tried it swore by it on the site. I made it in January, and we were elated with how great it turned out. Michael asked me to make it again last night, and it didn't disappoint! To show my love to all of you on Valentine's Day, here is the link to this amazing and easy pad thai recipe. If you love Thai food, you will love this. It calls for fish sauce, and you probably won't find it at Wal-Mart. Try Publix, Kroger, or your local Asian market. You can't skip out on the fish sauce. Here is the link to this great recipe! Enjoy! Cooking Light Shrimp Pad Thai

Snow in Birmingham!

Last night, Birmingham got a little bit of the snow that all of our friends and family received earlier in Arkansas. We only got 2 inches or so, but hey, we are in Alabama, so snow is a rare occasion! Around 9 pm, we went outside to play, and Michael built a big snowman! Scarlett just ran around the entire time trying to eat the snow. It was a lot of fun playing in the snow, but just getting it one time is enough for me! It is so cold tonight, and I am more than ready for spring. Just as long as it snows once, and only once, a year, that's perfect for me!

Michael rolling his first snowball for the bottom of his snowman!

I decided to pitch in and help! It was so heavy, I could barely push it!

Michael and Scarlett with the ugly, leaning snowman with no face!

The snow melted pretty quickly, but it was beautiful looking out of our kitchen window.

Our Weekend

I cannot believe it's Monday night already! This weekend flew by like always! We were pretty busy on Saturday and Sunday, so I feel like I'm just now winding down. On Friday, I did not check out Glee or a classic book like I said I would. In fact, my weekend library selection took a complete 180 from what I had originally intended. Friday afternoon, as the library closed, I walked out with The Tudors, Season 1 and Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover! We watched two episodes of The Tudors on Friday night, but I didn't get into it like I thought. I really hoped I would, but like Michael said, it reminded him of a drawn out series based on The Other Boleyn Girl. I didn't get into the series, but I definitely liked King Henry VIII (though something tells me he looked nothing like that in real life!) Yesterday, we both started diving into The Total Money Makeover. Dave Ramsey warns you that the book will make you feel uncomfortable, and it will change your life. Three chapters in, and we were both feeling very uncomfortable! Trust me, I felt the need for a makeover instantly. This is a great book, and we both can't put it down. Right now, in fact, Michael is sitting beside me reading away. I hope we will put to use many, if not all, of the great tools Dave Ramsey offers.

On Saturday, Michael and I volunteered at our church's Dream Center. We helped with a group called "Cooking for A Cause" who serves lunch once a month to families in need living in the Woodlawn area of Birmingham. It was really rewarding, and I am glad we volunteered together! Saturday afternoon, I feel like we spent hours cleaning house. I think I have decided that when we actually decide to buy our home, smaller is better! There's less to clean! Saturday night, we hung out with some of our friends, and we literally spent hours battling each other in dance offs with our friends Jessica and Jim's new Kinect Xbox game! I was scared to get up and dance in front of everyone, but once I battled for the first time, I was hooked! You should have seen Michael busting a move! If you haven't experienced the Xbox Kinect, you will love it. It pretty much puts the Wii to shame!

Yesterday, we got kicked out of our house early in the morning for a showing, so we grabbed some Starbucks and took Scarlett to the park. Yesterday was the first sunny day we have had since last weekend it seems, so it was nice to get outside though it was still cold. Yesterday afternoon, my friend Jamie had her baby shower for Elijah. It was the first time I have gone to a "tea" baby shower, and it was really neat. A tea is a come and go shower where you give your gift to the hostess and they unwrap the gift and display it. It was neat because Jamie got to mingle with everyone who came to the shower, and no one had to wait around to watch her open each gift (which would have taken forever because she had more than 50 it seemed)! I thought it was fun to get to walk around and see all the gifts displayed. I left the shower wondering to myself, "Do babies really need all of that stuff?" I didn't know what half of the gifts were used for!

Last night was the Super Bowl (who cares?)! Michael and I stayed home and watched the game a little while, but it was boring. I didn't really even pay attention to many of the commercials except for one. I absolutely adored the Volkswagen commercial with the little boy dressed like Darth Vader. It was precious! If you missed it, click on the video below. I promise you will love it! Finally, the Super Bowl came to an end, and the best part of my night finally arrived. Glee!!!! I love this show, and it was a pretty great episode. It was a great ending to an all-in-all great weekend!