His and Her Weekend Shenanigans (12/9/13)

 It's time to share our

If you are new to our blog, WELCOME!! To make our posts easier to navigate, purple means Amanda is sharing, red means Sean is sharing, and blue is for both of us. Enjoy!

Friday:
One of the panes of glass on our sliding glass door got hit by a bb/pellet gun last week. It had shattered but stayed in place pretty well. I spent the morning calling glass companies for a quote to replace it. I got home and the glass had started to come out in chunks and was laying all over the patio so I spent well over an hour removing the rest of the broken glass and cleaning up the broken glass that was on the ground. It wasn't how I wanted to spend my Friday afternoon but at least it was warm and I wasn't out there in the cold or rain doing the same job.

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Saturday:
We both went for a haircut first thing Saturday morning. Sean was overdue and I have a standing appointment every four weeks...one of the fun things about having short hair. I told my stylist, whom I love!! (if you live in my area and you need a stylist, I would love to recommend Sarah to you - contact me!), that I was not loving my haircut right now. She made a few suggestions and got started. I am loving the small changes she made because it is easier for me to deal with and looks great!

I went home to get the muffins I made and gift I bought and headed to the Yarn for Breakfast Christmas and Anniversary Party. I have talked about this group on the blog before, but I am happy to say again that I *puffy heart* love these ladies! They are the happiest, smiliest, kindest, and sweetest women I know. They welcomed me into their group with open arms last January, helped me with my knitting, helped me with all my other problems, and gave me a place to feel welcome and happy. With the way this school year has been going so far, I don't know what I would have done without them! The party started with everyone enjoying each other's dishes and chatting. We then did a Secret Santa exchange, the dirty Santa version with lots of stealing of gifts. I ended up with a beautiful skein of fingering yarn (perfect for a pair of socks - my 2014 knitting goal is to learn to knit socks). They did a few prize drawings (the Anniversary part) and then we chatted some more. Before I knew it, 3 1/2 hours had passed. Here are some photos from the party. I had the best time!

Talk! Talk! Talk!

Peg stuck a bow on my head so I stuck one on Mary's. We left the bows on for a while so I snapped a photo.

How beautiful is that yarn?? Laura is so talented!!

Sean and I went to the WBHS Craft Show when I got home and picked up some items for our Scentsy, some Gourmet Cupboard items, and some cookie mixes that look delicious! We made one of the Gourmet Cupboard soups - White Chicken Chili - for dinner and it was AMAZING!! We are going to contact the lady who sells at the craft show soon to try to order some more. It was so good! 

Sunday:

Four hours! That's how long I graded papers on Sunday. I got so behind because of my busy schedule and not feeling so great (three head colds back-to-back will exhaust you for sure!). I told myself that Sunday I was getting those papers graded no matter what. Interims go home on Tuesday and I needed to be ready. I am happy to report that, with the exception of one quiz that I left on my desk at school, I am ready for Interims. Whooo hooo!!!

I checked, I edited, I conquered!

It was wet and cold outside so I had a case of cabin fever today. I did most of usual chores including the grocery shopping, filling the car with gas/petrol and cooking lunches for the week. Since I wasn't able to head outside and play disc golf or be active I watched some TV shows and movies on NetFlix. All in all it was a good day, just wish the weather wasn't so miserable.

Cooking lunches for the week and reheating tonight's dinner all at the same time!

 
How was your weekend? Comment below or on Facebook to share your adventures. Of course, you can also click on the button above to go to Sami's site and join in the fun.

Happy Monday,

His and Her Weekend Shenanigans (12/2/13)

We both love long weekends - who doesn't right?!? It's time to share our extra long --

If you are new to our blog, WELCOME!! To make our posts easier to navigate, purple means Amanda is sharing, red means Sean is sharing, and blue is for both of us. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Thursday!
We spent the day with my parents at their house. We got over there early so we could watch the Macy's Parade and then the AKC Dog show - traditions that we have had for years. We ate lunch while we were watching the dog show. Then Dad switched over to football and I started knitting. Dinner was amazing, as usual, because my mom is such a great cook. We had turkey, twice-baked potatoes, deviled eggs, corn pudding, dressing, gravy, and rolls. There were only four of us but Mom always makes enough to feed a small army. I made the desserts and they were pretty good. I might try something different for Christmas. 

I am loving BitStrips!!! :)

Black Friday!
I am not a fan of crowds so I stayed away from the stores as much as possible on Black Friday. I relaxed for most of the morning then headed out to the local course for a quick round of disc golf. My in laws called and they needed me to help set up the TV they had bought during the sales. I headed over there, got the TV set up then came home. As I was getting ready to come home Amanda asked me to stop at Michaels and get some yarn. I was hoping that at 5pm the hard core bargain hunters were at home passed out and I was right. The lines were pretty short so my Black Friday shopping experience wasn't too bad --  8 minutes and $7 later my Black Friday experience was done!

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Small Business Saturday!
We had many people to check off our shopping list so when I found the Virginia Beach Christmas Market, I knew I wanted to go. I put it on my calendar weeks ago and I was so excited. We walked around and saw each booth and found A LOT of things we wanted. Many people were checked off our shopping list with unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade gifts -- which, in my opinion, are the best kind. I cannot wait for my friends and family to open their gifts. 
I knit a little more Saturday night because there are a few things I want to have done by Christmas. I am not sure I can get it all done but I am hopeful!


Lazy Sunday, last day of break before heading back to the grind!
The day started off at the Platelet donation center. I donate about twice a month as it's one way I can help others in the community. If you have never donated blood or platelets but wanted to I encourage you to go to a blood drive near you. After the platelet donation I went and got Amanda a Christmas decoration she has been wanting, then headed home. The rest of the day was spent doing household chores including the weekly grocery shopping trip.

How was your weekend? We hope you enjoyed your long weekend and that you were able to spend time with your family and friends.

Happy Monday,

    

His and Her Weekend Shenanigans (11/24/13)

*phew* We had a busy weekend. Here's what happened - 

If you are new to our blog, WELCOME!! To make our posts easier to navigate, purple means Amanda is sharing, red means Sean is sharing, and blue is for both of us. Enjoy!

Friday:
I love when my former students come back to visit me. One of them, a young lady who is a senior now --- where did the years go?? ---, stopped by Friday to chat. Two more former students saw her car outside the school and stopped in also. I loved laughing and joking with them, hearing all the fun stories of high school. 
The rest of the night was spent resting and sleeping! 

I got off early on Friday so I went to Bennett's Creek for a quick round of disc golf. I had a decent round but got frustrated a few times when the disc got buried under a ton of leaves and took several minutes to find. However it was not all bad and getting the disc within 10 feet of the basket on hole 3 made up for all of the bad shots.

Nice tee shot on hole 3. Made for an easy birdie.

Saturday: 
A good friend and I met up for a movie. She and I both love romantic comedies, so we went to a movie theater cafe (where they serve real food and movie snacks) to see About Time. This movie is on a limited release but I don't understand why. It is so good!! Click the poster for a link for the summary and reviews. I definitely think you need to get a group of girlfriends together and go see this movie!

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I went out with Amanda and dropped her off at the movie theater. Since it was a chick flick I had no interest in seeing the movie so I headed off to play disc golf. After playing a round I went back to pick up Amanda and we went and bought some different flavoured coffees at Fresh Market, then another stop for a Christmas gift, then Ulta for Amanda's makeup needs and finally we stopped at Romano's Macoroni Grill for dinner. I got the Penne Rustica dish and it was really tasty. After all that I was ready to go home and get some rest.

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Sunday:
I can summarize this day in two words - Thanksgiving Prep! Mom always handles the big meal and I handle the brunch/midday snacks and dessert. On Sunday, Sean and I planned our menu and built the shopping list. He went shopping and then I started cooking and baking. Here's what we decided on for this year:

Brunch/Midday

Carrots with Ranch Dip (because a veggie cancels out the other calories for the day right?)

Chick-Fil-A Chicken Nuggets (because we are a CFA lovin' family)

Cheese and Crackers (simple, but tasty)

Cinnamon-Sugar Candied Pecans (umm, yum!!!)  

Apple-Cinnamon Bread (this looks so, so delish)

Dessert

Layered Pumpkin Dessert (I wanted something different than a traditional pumpkin pie)

Turtle Cheesecake (Sean's favorite dessert is cheesecake and he loves caramel so he really wanted me to try this recipe...if it is half as tasty as the photo shows, it is going to be a hit!)

I didn't feel too well as I think I contracted the cold that Amanda has had for the last few weeks. I spent quite a bit of the day sneezing and dealing with a runny nose. Thankfully that is all of the symptoms so far and I hope it doesn't get worse. I was able to help Amanda plan for the Thanksgiving menu and go to the grocery store and get the items we needed. I'm glad I went today as it was busy enough at Kroger but nothing compared to how it will be on Tuesday and Wednesday. I wasn't a big help when it came to cooking the food as I would have contaminated it. I am thankful that I was able to function almost normally today.

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How was your weekend? Comment below or link up with Sami to join in the fun. 

Happy Monday (of a short week - whoooo hooo!!!!),

His and Her Weekend Shenanigans (11/18/2013)

It's Monday! That means it's time to link up with Sami and talk about all our weekend shenanigans!!

If you are new to our blog, WELCOME!! To make our posts easier to navigate, purple means Amanda is sharing, red means Sean is sharing, and blue is for both of us. Enjoy!

Amanda: 

I have been battling a really bad head-cold since last weekend. On Wednesday, my voice decided to hop on a plane and travel to the Bahamas. I thought that was rude, but what can I do? I managed to get through Thursday and Friday using what little voice I had left but by Friday afternoon, I was exhausted -- which a capital *PHEW*! Friday night and Saturday I did not move from the recliner unless I had to. I watched a bunch of shows on my DVR and knit for a little while. On Sunday, I got some school work done and then it was back to resting. Here's hoping that after a low-key weekend, I will have kicked this illness to the curb!

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Sean: 

We had planned to go to Glazenfyre (a paint it yourself pottery studio) so I could work on one of the many projects I have in progress, but since Amanda was sick I thought it was best to stay home and look after her. I did get to play a quick round of disc golf on Saturday morning and had a good time. I still have a lot of room to improve but I feel that I am getting better every time I play. On Sunday morning I went and donated platelets at the Red Cross. It's something I do about twice a month and it's important to me as it helps cancer patients and others who are very sick. The rest of the weekend was pretty low key and I am hoping the rest will help Amanda get through the week ahead. 

**Amanda's Note: Yes he is that guy who will forgo his own plans to take care of me. I am such a lucky girl!!!**

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What did you get up to this weekend? Comment below or link up with Sami to share your adventures!

Happy Monday,

 

His and Her Weekend Shenanigans (11/4/2013)

 

It's Monday so that means its time to link up for the Weekend Shenanigans.

Friday: 

I had planned to go to the final football game of the season to cheer for one of my seniors who was going to be honored during the Senior Night festivities. It was raining and cold, though, and Thursday and Friday were very emotionally draining for me at work. The student promised to take photos and I headed home to curl up and rest.

Saturday:

Our church has acquired a new church building in a neighboring city and over the last few weeks they have been reaching out to the community to let them know about the church that is coming. This morning was a fall festival and had games, food, candy and some bounce houses. We helped out for a few hours and I was supervising the obstacle course inflatable. Near the beginning was a hill that the kids had to climb. The bigger kids didnt have any problems climbing it but the smaller kids werent able to climb so I spent most of the time inside the inflatable, lifting the smaller children to the top of the hill. The kids had a blast and many of them ran through the course multiple times. I had a blast helping out and several of the adults couldn't decide who was having more fun, me or the kids. 

      

      After helping out at the church we went to check out a new bakery. We met the owner on Thursday night and she was nice enough to take some flyers for the fall festival and put them out at the bakery. We thought that since she was nice enough to help us out, we could repay the favour by patronizing her business. We bought 8 cupcakes and they were pretty tasty. We don't have a good bakery close to our house so we will likely visit them when we are in the mood for cake. After visiting the bakery we went home, picked up the dog and went to spend some time with Amanda's parents. By the end of it we were both tired after a long day out.

Sunday:

Ugh! I could not shake the "blah!" feeling the whole day. I did not wake up feeling my best and I couldn't shake it. I managed to get some Civics lesson plans written but that was it. Nothing else on the to-do list was done. Ugh!

Yes, I have jumped on the Bitstrips bandwagon. Have you?

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Happy Monday,

His and Her Weekend Shenanigans

 

It's Monday so that means its time to link up for the weekend Shenanigans. Normally Amanda and I do this post together but since she was out of town over the weekend I am posting for us both.

Friday: 

We both got up early and I took Amanda to meet her parents for the drive down to South Carolina. Our niece turned one last week and they were driving down to celebrate her birthday and dedication. I had to stay behind to look after the dog and also because I used all of my vacation time this summer when we went to Australia. Amanda and her parents spent most of the day driving as it about an 8 hour drive and I headed off to work.

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Saturday:

Amanda went to Bennett's birthday party. They had lots of fun and Bennett got lots of really nice gifts. They also had a hay ride and other things to do as well. Amanda will blog about this in more detail when she gets back.

I went to play in a disc golf event nearby. It was Halloween themed and had both a round during the day and a round at night. Playing at night is a totally different experience as you can't see the trees and its hard to judge the distance. Even though I didn't place I had a great time and look forward to playing night disc golf again soon.

Sunday:
Amanda went to Bennett's dedication ceremony at church. Lots of the family and friends were there to support them which was nice. After the service they headed out to lunch then back to the house to hang out and play with Bennett.

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 I didn't get home till after midnight which is not normal for me. I was super tired on Sunday so I chose to relax and be lazy for the majority of the day. I put it off as long as possible but after several hours watching Netflix and a nap or two I forced myself to get dressed and go grocery shopping. I didn't want to go but since I had nothing in the house to cook I had little choice but to go.

We will both be back for next week's Weekend Shenanigans. What did you get up to over the weekend?

His and Her Weekend Shenanigans

A little relaxing, a little shopping --- all part of our --

**For those who are new to our blog - WELCOME - purple is Amanda, red is Sean, blue is for both of us. We hope it helps make it less confusing for our readers to know who is talking and sharing. :) **

Friday:
I was able to plan during my planning time on Friday -- I know, crazy concept right, planning during planning?? haha -- so I was able to leave a little earlier than I have been. We spent the night chilling out and relaxing. We both went to bed early because we were so tired from a long week.

Saturday:
It is so hard for me to believe that our niece is turning 1 this week. Sean and I went out shopping for her presents on Saturday. We got some cute stuff and it is all wrapped and ready to go to South Carolina later this week. YAY!!

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We also went to some other shops that we don't get to that often and bought some things for us.  Sean got Ginger Beer (he's going to explain what this is below) and I got some new coffee flavors from Fresh Market. The Tiramisu was good; I could taste the chocolate and caramel but it wasn't overpowering. The Molten Chocolate was horrible. I threw it out. My favorite was the Vanilla Maple. I would drink that each and every morning.

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I went shopping with Amanda to buy our niece's birthday present and a few other errands. We had lunch at one of my favourite restaurants called Zaxby's. My sister-in-law Jenn took me there once and I am now a huge fan. I love it just as much as I like Chick-Fil-A. It's nice that there is a new location that is just 30 minutes away, rather than having to drive an hour to Williamsburg to get my Zaxby's fix.

My fav at Zaxby's - Source

After running other errands we stopped at World Market where I got some Australian Ginger Beer. I drank this stuff growing up and I was excited when I found they stocked it here a couple of years ago. Ginger Beer is a non alcoholic soda that is similar to ginger ale but is not nearly as carbonated and has a much more distinct ginger taste. 

Yummy Ginger Beer! - Source

Sunday:
Lazy Sunday morning - blogging and checking Facebook. Busy Sunday afternoon - grading papers (including essays) and getting things organized for this week.

If grading papers was only this easy! - Source

The only interesting thing that happened today is that I went grocery shopping early then realized that I was missing an ingredient for tonight's dinner so I had to run back out again to get that. Am I the only one who does this??

This is me on this past Sunday! - Source

What was your favorite moment from this past weekend?

Happy Monday,

His and Her Weekend Shenanigans

We had a crazy busy weekend so without further ado, here are our -- 

**For those who are new to our blog - WELCOME - purple is Amanda, red is Sean, blue is for both of us. We hope it helps make it less confusing for our readers to know who is talking and sharing. :) **

Friday:
I worked on Friday until almost 5:30 trying to get lesson plans ready for next week. I really do hate planning at home because inevitably I leave something at school that I need. So, I stuck around working and realized that the high school Homecoming Parade was going by the school. I stood on the front steps and waved at my former students, blew kisses to the girls on homecoming court, and said "hi" to some teachers I know. For the first Friday all year, I was really glad I worked late. :)

Saturday:
I KNIT A HAT!!! Hats are a step up in difficulty level for me because they require knitting in the round. I hadn't done that before. Also, the finishing required a set of double pointed needles which I have been afraid of since I started knitting. A knitting friend, Jen, had some and she stopped her knitting for about 45 minutes to coach me through using them for the first time. I am so grateful because it made me feel a little more at ease. I was still super nervous and anxious that I was going to screw something up right at the end. All that is behind me now though because I KNIT A HAT!!!!

   

One of our friends was moving house and they needed some help lifting some of the heavier appliances. I am not a huge fan of moving but they needed help and offered a free dinner, so Amanda and I went out to help out. It wasn't as hard as I expected so that was a bonus. The rest of their stuff is pretty light so its good to know that the big heavy stuff is done.

Sunday: 
When we checked the mail on Sunday (Saturday was super busy), I found my invitation to my favorite baby's 1st birthday party. I don't know how it has been a year but I cannot wait to celebrate with my sis, bro-in-law, and niece. :) Isn't she adorable?

 I got up early to go donate platelets at the Red Cross. I go every 2-3 weeks to donate and it has been part of my routine for about 15 months now. The platelets are only good for 5 days so that its important that I, along with others, go regularly to replenish the supply. They use platelets for cancer patients which is a cause dear to me and I hope that I am making some sort of difference for someone.

What was your most memorable moment of the weekend?

Happy Monday,

  

His and Her Weekend Shenanigans

We had a crazy busy weekend so without further ado, here are our -- 

**For those who are new to our blog - WELCOME - purple is Amanda, red is Sean, blue is for both of us. We hope it helps make it less confusing for our readers to know who is talking and sharing. :) **

Friday:
After such a long week, both of us were exhausted by Friday night. I knit a little and watched a few of the shows on my DVR. Sean watched some episodes of shows on Netflix. We crashed early.

Saturday:
Errands, errands, errands! We ran around for 5 hours - 
          shopping for Homecoming Spirit Week outfits for me -
          exchanging some clothes that I bought online that were too big (yay for clothes that are too big!) -
          buying some items for my "You've Been Boo'ed" gifts for tomorrow (click here to see what I am talking about) -
          buying Boss's Day gifts (it's October 16 so I went ahead and picked their gifts from Harry and David - went with Moose Munch S'mores popcorn). 
Lots and lots of running around.  But we got to have a fun night at a favorite restaurant with a coworker and good friend, her husband, and her parents. The food was yummy and we laughed a lot. 
I also knit a little more on Saturday night. I can't wait to show you guys what I have been working on.

Sunday:
      I went out to play disc golf and had a decent round. I was driving home and saw a dog walking down the road. It looked lost so I turned around to see if I could approach it and see if it had a collar and tags. When I approached the dog I could see it was in pretty rough shape as it was missing most of its fur, was extremely skinny, and had gunk in its eyes. I didn't know what to do but she let me pick her up so I put her in the car. A gentleman called to me and said he called animal control and they got my info and said they would call back. After a few minutes I hadnt heard from them so I took her home. 
       Our dog got along with the dog so Amanda and I talked about it and thought it was best to get her cleaned up and see a vet to see what was wrong with her. We were hoping that she would need just a little TLC and that we could nurse her back to health. We went to Petsmart's grooming department and the ladies there were super nice and suggested we take her straight to the vet across the street. The vet office took us in and examined her. After a while they came in to talk to us (they were really busy) and let us know that the dog was pretty sick, was around 14 years old and the testing and treatment would cost at least $1000. We couldn't afford that amount so we had to make the heart wrenching decision to surrender her to animal control. We aren't sure what will happen to her but at least she is not wandering around the streets lost, hungry, and confused. She is in a safe place, away from all the rain we got today and from all the cars that drive on that road. It was a tough day emotionally but we know we did everything we could and she is in better care than she was yesterday when I found her.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun and exciting?

Happy Monday,