removable wallpaper? Seriously!

Its always a great day when you find a website that has removable wallpaper! As often as we are changing things, this could actually work out in my favor. I was going to just paint an accent wall but I think this looks like a little more fun. Which color and pattern should we pick for my "girl cave?"

Wonder if these would look cute on our wall?

This is a different pattern but I thought it might look kind of fun
Have a fabulous day!
♥ Melissa!

I have a confession to make.... If you know me well then you already know what I am about to confess. I am obsessed with the "barefoot contessa!" aka Ina Garten

About 5 months ago or so I decided that I was going to
DVR her shows on Food network but I really didnt think much about it again. Well while going through our DVR last night I realized that something had been recording over
100 shows!


WHAT?

Really?


Now I call that crazy! Who needs 100 + shows of anything recorded! Well, call me crazy I guess!

Yep, I have over 100 of her shows recorded. Its awful but secretly I am always so excited to learn something new to cook besides my 5 or 10 things that I get stuck cooking!
One of my best friends Misty loves Ina as well and its fun to compare what does or doesn't work while trying out our own little experiments.
Do you like to cook?
What is your favorite recipe?

If you havent ever looked through these particular cookbooks then you are missing out
BIG TIME
I received these cookbooks for Christmas from Mitch and they are awesome!
Have you ever looked through them?
She is inspiring to step out of my little box and try something new!

Ina, you are a little over the top at times but I finally admitted that I am officially obsessed!
There, I said it!
♥ Melissa

I had planned on being a good wifey and making dinner the other night. Needless to say, it has been a long long interesting week and when I got home the other night, the LAST thing I wanted to do was cook. Which is very unusual for me! Mitch decided on 5 guys, and off we went!

If you havent ever been to 5 guys, its AWESOME! They have great burgers and fries. They also have boxes and boxes of these bad boys!
PEANUTS!
Now normally I am a huge fan, but just recently I have had an allergic reaction to something and I just cant pin point what is making me so itchy! Well my friends, I think I figured it out!

I actually sure hope not!

(Pictures taken from Google.com)

be good for goodness sake!

First of all I want to thank my cousin Liz for letting me take these off her blog! I didnt ask but I am sure she wont mind! First things first.... Like every year, we gather together on Christmas Eve either at Auntie Jo's or mama Baird's house. This year we ended up getting together at the Cleggs home and had some delicious food and way too many giggles! As the night was winding down Maddie was startled by some very loud bells and a ho, ho. ho'ing from outside the window. Mitch and I were not able to see how cute she was as we were out in the front yard looking for "santa" and we completely missed him and his loud bells and her reaction (darn it)...... Its amazing how easy you forget how fun Christmas Eve ad Christmas can be with little cuties batooties around.

Maddie looking for Santa outside!
As soon as Santa had left, Maddie ran down the hall... jumped into her jammies and got into bed and was out! So dang cute!

What a lovely Christmas Eve it was!

Its been an interesting one!

So I borrowed these from google because I didnt actually catch our thief in action. Last week I was getting ready for the day when I headed out to run some errands when I noticed something was really wrong. My glove box, middle console, and just about anything else you could open and destroy had been opened and cut up with a knife. I hurry and unlocked my car and noticed that we had a unwelcome visitor during the night. This brilliant being decided to take a knife to the side of my door and open panels that I didnt even know existed! Needless to say I kind of wish I could have caught this piece of work and just given him the GPS that he so desperately was after. After quite some time at the police department right down the street I found out that this fella had been busy. Felt kind of like a kick to the gut and then I felt sorry for the guy.

Speaking of kick to the gut, maybe it was just the back pain that I have recently had. I finally broke down and went to a Dr. and if any of you know me well, you know I only go to the Dr if I have walked on a broken foot for 2 weeks and cant take it anymore and that is about the only time I will go! Apparently I have a disk in my back that is acting up and that might be what is causing my numb thigh.

GUESS WHAT!!!!!!

Nobody on our street has put up their Christmas lights yet! I almost feel guilty turning ours on!

I am grateful for New tires today!


During our famous "blizzard" I realized how rediculous my front tires were! In a panicked effort to just get home, I stopped at the store and bought 14 bags of water softener salt to weigh the car down. The gal who was one of the only checkers ended up blacking out at the register, we waited with her while the ambulance came to pick her up.

Although it has been a long, stressful week.... I am still so grateful that it is Christmas time. I think I will turn on some Christmas music, light a fire in the fireplace and snuggle with Mitch and Hunter tonight.

My awesome cousin Shane!

This sweet man is my cousin Shane Mitchell. He recently was taken from this earth way too young and was quite the class act. I was thinking back today about what an amazing family we have and how much we really do truly love each other. We are extremely close and love to get together and celebrate! On this day, Shane had returned from serving our country and like the Halls do, we celebrated!!
We got up early and lined the yard with as many American flags as we could find. It was truly breath taking.

some of us that were gathered that day.

Did I mention how much I love these people! Truly such a great group !

We will miss you Shane! I know that it hasnt been very long since you passed but I swear everyday I think about your sweet little guy Preston and Holly. We know that you are on the other side sharing the gospel like you did here on earth. We love and miss you and cant wait until the day that we get to be with you again

We garden at Midnight

So we heard the weather was going to be awful and we both have put in a bunch of time at work but we really thought that it was time to get out into the yard and get some things done! Who cares if it was 11:45 at night right! I almost forgot what time it was when I went to get the lawn mower out. My neighbors probably wouldnt have been too thrilled! Especially our next door neighbor that just had a baby

Mitch started in one corner and I started in the other. What a mess! We have about 7 trees in the back yard that are almost taller than the telephone poles so needless to say, we have plenty of leaves if anyone ever needed any!

We accidently took off our back yard fence that goes to the walking trail and golf course and we accidently raked 7 piles of leaves in that direction. hahahah

Super man?

Wicked witch?

Dont ever hesitate to call us in the middle of the night, we will be outside gardening!

Is it too early!?!?!

My cute sister came over and helped me with a project today! Normally Linda is around but she is up helping Diane get her Christmas stuff our for her Gingerbread Shop Store! We went to Michaels and bought some garland and golden ribbon
I guess we will learn by trial and error! We probably took it down 100 times before we got it right!

Audrey made some cute bows that we tried to attach throughout.

Dont you love this time of the year! The snow is falling, the Christmas music is on (a little early but I dont care) and now we are off to make soup and breadsticks!

My new fun finds!

Since I havent blogged in a while I thought I would just show you some of my really fun finds that I have gotten lately! This is my new Burberry bag! I am in love! It could seriously hold 2 liters of Diet coke!

Mitch and I went on a date to Z Gallery at Gateway! Its really sad when the old lady inside knows you by name, I guess we should learn hers! These were in a clearance bin in the corner covered up. We have so many black accessories that I nearly put them back but then I decided that they might be super cute painted! We will see how crafty I end up feeling.

Just another angle

These place mats were in the "holiday section" I thought that they would be cute everyday placemats! They are silver and sparkly! The best part was that they were only $5.00 each! Yahoo!

Just a little closer look. Probably should have straightened the plate but it was late! Oops!

Mitch, being the center pieceI guess! Silly guy!

My mom got us this cute cute rug! Our last one had a little run in the corner so we moved it over by our garbage can where so one can see the run and we replaced it with this! Thanks mom!

Super Saturday here we come

Here are a few pictures of Caramel apples and pretzel rods that I made the other day to show my relief society! This Saturday we are making apples for 2 different wards! It should be fun but I have to say that I am just praying that everything works out perfectly.

This is liquid yumminess when it is all gooey and delish

The finished project!

We will be making

Coconut apples

snickers apples

oreo apples (Pictured above)
Slivered almond apples

Cinnamon and Sugar apples

Holiday Sprinkled apples

Traditional apples

Peanutty goodness apples

and who the heck knows what else! Now off to shop!

Well its almost caramel apple thirty! I dont know why I am so nervous but I guess it will be my chance to be like Paula Dean Ya'll! haha

Pray for us and I sure hope it all goes as smooth as it normally does at home! Hey since we will be making hundreds of apples, do any of you have any requests! I am going to be up to my elbows in sticky, gooey caramel! YUM!

I also told them that we would show how to make caramel pretzel rods and caramel and chocolate drizzled rice crispy treats! (secretly I cant wait! It has felt like a century for next Saturday to get here!) Pray for me!

Can I be honest for 2 seconds. I secretly hate hate hate halloween, but,.....since my Mom and Auntie Jo decided to throw a Halloween party my heart has been softened. The only hard part every year is topping last years costume or the year before... We sure do have a good time but this year my creativity has run dry!!! HELP!

Halloween again?

Is it seriously time for Halloween again? It is my least favorite holiday and I always struggle to figure out the perfect costume, trying to top off what I did last year.
Every year I try to do some kind of pumpkin but for the last 2 years I have tried to just do cute ones instead. I enjoy them much more! This year Mitch and I decided that we would spray our pumpkins rather than hand paint them like we normally do. We went to Michaels and bought some hay and ribbon and then purchased some pumpkins.

Then we went to Lowes and bought furniture fabric tacs. You know the ones that look like giant thumb tacs? They were the easiest way to make the fabric stick. I was going to modge podge it on but it just wasnt working!

I think this little guy is my favorite.

Tis the season I suppose!

Dont you love this time of year! The air is crisp, the leaves are changing and all you really want to do is cuddle up in a blanket and watch a movie with some hot cocoa...
Instead, I have my cup of warm thera flu and a washcloth on my forehead with a lovely big box of fluffy tissues..... and for dessert, cough drops!
Tylenol PM, you have become my comfort and joy!

No internet for me!

Yep, desperate times call for desperate measures!
Sitting here drinking my .99 Diet coke blogging!
(google.com for picture)