Monogrammed Teacher's Giveaway!

So I get home yesterday and I have a package waiting for me! I opened it with great anticipation and I found this cute setup...

There is a very sweet note on top...

Followed by a package of monogrammed notecards...

And this adorable monogram in a frame...

And here's one more picture of the whole package...

Thank you so much, Monogrammed Teacher!

Okay, so I have totally neglected my blog...

and I have missed my blogging friends so much!

Last week was terribly busy-I had meetings after school every night, and when you add my hour's commute into the equation, equals no blogging time! I had every intention of catching up over the weekend, but that didn't happen either. A few random thoughts to catch everyone up with what I've been doing, and then I'm off to read everyone else's blogs because I have missed them so much!

This is our last week before Fall Break (yeah!) so school is busy. Everyone is ready for this week to be over so that we can enjoy a week off.

We are leaving for a quick trip to the Smoky Mountains on Saturday. We have rented a cabin in Gatlinburg with two other families for Saturday and Sunday. I am so ready for this trip! My parents have a vacation place in nearby Townsend, so we will be spending time with them also. My birthday is on Monday, so we will be celebrating that too.

More deer sightings tonight. Mr. P and I had both had a long day and were semi-grumpy, but after watching them frolic in our backyard, it put us both in a considerably better mood : )

The giveaway from Monogrammed Teacher came in the mail yesterday and it is adorable! I will post pictures soon.

Okay, I'm off to upload pictures and check out other blogs. Have a great night everyone!

Thank you, Monogrammed Teacher!

I won the Monogrammed Teacher's giveaway!

Thank you so much!

The View From My Back Door

The usual view from my back door....peaceful and serene.

Tonight I glanced out the door while cooking dinner and this is what I saw...

I was trying to be discreet and open the door to get a good picture, but the door creaked and it startled them.

Going, going, gone....back to the woods!

Even Miss Sunny was respectful of the wildlife. She simply observed them from afar with her legs crossed in such a ladylike way.

These things help this city girl appreciate the country!

Another day off!

We are out of school again! I was truly surprised to get another day off, but I can certainly get used to all of this leisure time. I used my time wisely yesterday by running 6 loads of laundry, washing the linens in the guest bedroom and getting it ready for another guest, going grocery shopping, and straightening up the house. I've been a bit lazier today, but I still have a few chores that I'm going to do.


Since I have some free time, I thought I would do some virtual shopping online. Here are a few of my finds:

How cute is this sweater from Old Navy?? And it is only $29.99....

These trouser jeans from JCrew are so cute. I'd love to order them online, but I think I would have to try them on in the store because they might fit too baggy for my short, stumpy legs. Oh, to be long and lean....

It is almost boot season and I could not be happier. Nothing beats a great jeans and sweater ensemble topped off with a great pair of boots. These J.Crew boots could certainly help me look taller.

I love this Keaton Organizer Briefbag from Brighton in black/chocolate. I could load it up with my laptop, school files, and essentials so easily. But at $500, it's a little out of my price range right now. But a girl can dream...

In addition to virtual shopping, I've been sitting here watching an old 90210 episode-the one where Emily goes all Fatal Attraction on Brandon after he dumps her for putting ecstasy in his drink at the underground nightclub. Does anyone else remember this one or am I showing my age here? This is why I shouldn't have too many days off of school in a row : )

So what do you think?

It's amazing the trouble I can get into when I have a day off! I decided to spiff up the blog, and found The Cutest Blog on the Block website. She has such cute backgrounds and I decided to go with the pink and green plaid one. I guess my love of redecorating has carried over to my blog!

Hurricane Ike blows through Kentucky??

Well, we had quite a day in Kentucky yesterday. We had a severe windstorm that blew through the state. Now we are used to high wind in Kentucky, heaven knows we have enough severe storms and tornadoes throughout the year. But yesterday's weather was unlike anything I have ever seen. It was pure wind, with no rain. I think that we were on the outskirts of what was left of the hurricane, but parts of the state look like we acutally had a hurricane. There are trees and power lines down everywhere, roofs blown off of houses, and debris everywhere. Many schools systems and businesses are closed today, including my school.

It was pretty windy when we got up yesterday, but nothing that I really thought was anything major. When we came out of church, the wind had bigger gusts than when we had gone into church. We got home to discover that the wind had blown our wrought iron patio furniture all over the deck. Thank goodness I had gone out in the morning and moved the rocking chairs on our front porch, because if they had blown around, they would have gone through a big picture window in our great room. I was out on the porch later in the afternoon when a huge gust of wind blew up. There was dirt and debris flying everywhere. I couldn't get to the door, so I just sat down on the step and put my head between my knees until the wind died down. It was kind of scary! Our house didn't have any damage, but I feel so badly for the people who have no electricity and phone, or who have trees on their houses.

Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me. We followed the hurricane coverage over the weekend, and I felt so badly for the people in Texas who lost everything. I never dreamed that Ike would come this far north and wreak such havoc up here!

Great Weekend

Well, we had a great weekend at the Putter house! My parents came up to visit on Friday and they stayed until Sunday. It was my dad's birthday on Friday, so my brother, sister-in-law, and niece drove up on Saturday and we had a cookout for my dad. It was so great to have my family up here, especially my brother and his family. My parents visit us 5 or 6 times a year, but usually Mr. P and I drive down whenever we have family get-togethers with my brother's family.

My brother is a big fisherman, so he and Mr. P went over and fished in our pond. The dogs went with them and provided proper entertainment while they fished. I don't think the dogs scared the fish away though, because they caught a few bass. While the guys were gone, my sister in law and I talked and caught up on things. We hadn't seen each other in a while, so it was nice to chat.

We grilled steaks and chicken and had roasted potatoes and baked beans. I had also made some snacks for us to have in the afternoon. We had two types of cake for my dad. He loves jam cake, so Mr. P (who is quite a good cook and baker) made one for him, but we also had a regular white cake for him too.

We watched the UK football game that night, and our friends that we go to the UK games with came over to watch it with us. They brought their twin two year old boys, and my family just loved them. They are so cute and provided us much entertainment during the game!

On Sunday, Mom and Dad left to get back to Nashville and Mr. P and I crashed. We were so tired! I love having guests, but it really wears you out too. I felt like I spent my whole weekend cooking and cleaning, but I wouldn't trade the time with my family for the world.

Monday, Monday

I spent the weekend catching up on Gossip Girl and 90210, so I am all set to watch them in "real time" this week. I've been driving poor Mr. P crazy because if he is flipping channels with the remote (which he does ALL the time) and landed on either of those shows last week, I would say "Keep going, I don't want to see any spoilers!". Hee hee. I feel like the biggest dork about both of these shows, but I am totally addicted to Gossip Girl. I had watched the original 90210 when I was in high school and college, so I thought I'd try out the new one. It was pretty good, so I'm going to keep watching, at least for a little while.

I have lost the cord to my camera, so I have no way of loading all of the pictures I've been taking lately to the computer. I hate not having pictures on my posts, so I'll post about things that I already have pictures of...

I made these two cheeseballs for the Labor Day cookout last week. I don't know if anyone has tried these Wind & Willow products, but I have tried several and have yet to find one that I didn't like.

You can find these in boutiques and specialty shops. For those of you who live in my area, they are available at The Red Brick Cottage. They also have a good website with recipes and products-http://windandwillow.com/.

Has anyone else tried these products?

A Week in Review

Tuesday-I woke up with the mother of all migraines, only made worse by the fact that I heard that the Vols lost to UCLA in overtime. I went to school, but left at noon because my headache had only gotten worse. I felt like a slacker because I never take sick time, but I came home, took some good drugs and crashed in bed. I woke up around 7:00 pm, sat up for a little while with Mr. P, took more drugs and went back to bed. I missed the 90210 premiere, but it is waiting for me on the DVR.

Wednesday-Woke up feeling better-yay! I still had a bit of a headache, but thankfully Excedrin Migraine held it at bay. I went back to school and played catch-up on all the things I had missed. Faculty meeting after school, then rode home with Mr. P, and went to bed early. I wore brown plaid pants, a crisp white blouse with a sweater vest and loafers to school today, which made me feel all fall-ish. That put a spring in my step!

Thursday-Is there something wrong with me? People at school keep coming up to me asking me if I'm okay or if I'm sick. I feel fine and thought I looked fine...hmmm. Maybe I'm just tired and it shows. Came home from school and wanted to blog, but I had test score data to look over and evacuation plans to evaluate. Exciting things, huh?

Friday-School picture day! The kids were all excited and looked so cute. Of course, we haven't had rain in over a month and we have a downpour on the morning of school picture day. Some of the kids came in looking absolutely bedraggled. I can't complain though, we desperately needed the rain.

Saturday-I got home really late from the show last night, so we slept in this morning. I have a list of chores for today, including getting the guest bedroom ready again because my parents are coming for a visit next weekend. I also have more test data to disaggregate, blogs to read, and laundry to do.

Labor Day

Such a busy weekend for us! We had a friend visiting for the weekend, kicked off the football season by watching several games, went on a hayride, watched a parade, and kept an eye on Hurricane Gustav because I have several family members in Mobile. I'll post the details tomorrow; I'm too tired to think right now.

Watched the Cats beat the Cards on Sunday, and now my Vols are playing UCLA. I really want to stay up and watch the game, but I'm one tired girl! I'm going to read a few blogs and call it a night.

I hope that everyone else had a great Labor Day!

Football, Hayrides, Cookouts, and More

Last weekend was a busy one at our house. One of my best friends came to stay with us this weekend and we had a blast. She arrived on Friday night, so we stayed in and had pizza and just hung out.

Saturday morning we went to a volleyball game that one of our friends' daughter's was playing in, then went out to lunch. In the afternoon, we went over to visit my friend, LB, who works occaisionally in the cutest little store in Glendale. Glendale is a neat little town with little boutiques and restaurants. Tiff and LB hit it off immediately and the three of us are already planning an all-day shopping trip in Louisville the next time that Tiff comes to visit. Saturday night, we grilled out for dinner and watched the Alabama-Clemson game. (Sorry about the way that one ended, Clemsongirl...)

C-A-T-S Cats, Cats, Cats! We watched the Cats beat the Cards on Sunday. Not the prettiest game, and the defense scored more points than the offense, but a win is a win, especially when you are playing Louisville.

After the game, we went on a hayride and bonfire with several of our friends. They live on a huge farm, and Tiff got to pet a cow, which she was really excited about. We really introduced her to the country life this weekend, but she liked it!

On Monday, we went to our town's annual Labor Day parade and then hosted our annual Labor Day cookout at our house in the afternoon. All in all, a busy but fun weekend!