Random Friday

1. Photos on the wall

       While I was visiting my family in Georgia last weekend, my wonderful husband was working on his Honey-Do List. Actually, I didn't ask him to do anything while I was gone, but he still wanted to do a few things around the house. One of his projects was hanging my photo collage in our dining area. I had laid the frames out on the bed in our spare room and when I came back from Georgia, there they were on our wall. He did such a great job! And our house looks like people live there and not just squatters. I framed a bunch of Owen's one year photos, some wedding photos, and a recent photo of Tim and I from a wedding we attended. I decided to use a mix of black and white and color photos and I really love the way it looks. What do you think?

2. What's On My Nook + Owen's new favorite

      I am currently reading the third book in The Mortal Instruments series, "City of Glass" by Cassandra Clare. I am really enjoying this series and love the characters and the plot twists. It is a young adult novel, but the plot and writing is pretty mature. Basically from what I've read online about the series, the author really wanted her main characters to be teenagers and explore their coming of age stories and that her publishing company urged her to make them adults. But since they don't really go to high school or deal with their parents asking them to do chores or anything like that, it doesn't really seem like they're teenagers. Plus, they're making a movie of it that will come out next year, so you better start reading the series now because I'm betting it will be the next big thing after The Hunger Games mania. 

      Next up, I have the latest J.D. Robb installment from the In Death series, "Delusion in Death." I love this series so much and have talked about it in the past on the blog. Here's the Amazon.com description: "It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks, complained about the boss, maybe hooked up with someone for the night. Until something went terribly wrong. At first it was just a friction in the air. The noise intensified. The crowd seemed oppressive. Some sharp words were exchanged, some pushing and shoving. Then the madness descended. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead. Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events... And if Eve can’t figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it’s airborne..." 

       And just for fun, I thought I would list Owen's favorite book this week. It's called "Trucks Go" by Steve Light. I bought it for our road trip coming up next week, but couldn't resist reading it to him a few times this week. He loves it! Each page features a different type of truck and on the page next to it is the noise that the truck makes. For instance, "The garbage truck goes Burbaba burbaba burbaba screech beep-beep-beep crunch crunch crunch." Owen thinks it's hilarious when I read out the noises and after we finish he runs around the house going, "Wee-ooh, bam, beep!" and other noises from the book. I highly recommend it for any truck-loving little boy. Owen is on a big vehicle kick right now from school buses to garbage trucks. 

3. Delicious Dinners Cravebox

     My Hunt's Delicious Dinners Cravebox came in the mail the other day and honestly, I was a little disappointed. My box included Hunt's Dinner Sauce in the Cacciatore flavor, a box of Gia Russa instant polenta, a box of True Lemon lemonade packets and a set of plastic cutlery. The box was a limited edition offering just to people who live in Kentucky and cost $10. I just don't really feel like I got my money's worth of the items in the box. I recently saw this sauce at Kroger for $1.99. I guess I just expected to receive a few more Hunt's products since they sponsored the box with Cravebox. Now don't get me wrong, I still love Cravebox and I like their lottery system to win special edition boxes. I just wasn't thrilled with this one. I guess I though that it would be a really exciting one because it was only open to a limited number of people and I figured that would mean the box would be a little higher in value. Oh well. 

4. Fall TV

     I am so happy that all my favorite shows are coming back to television this fall. Well, except the ones that weren't renewed for a second season (sorry Sarah Michelle Gellar). We watched the season opener of Glee last night and I am super psyched for the two new singers on the show and happy that some of the previous cast members have gone to college. Though why they are following Rachel to New York, I don't understand. Stick with the kids at the high school please! Moving on... I am also excited for the return of Once Upon A Time, Revenge, Modern Family, New Girl, Raising Hope, Grey's Anatomy (if only because I've watched it this long and want to see it through to the end of the series), Bones, and Castle. There are also a ton of new shows coming on this fall, but I wasn't really wowed by the premises of most of them. Tim and I are thinking about giving Revolution a try because I will watch anything that J.J. Abrams has a hand in (He also did Alias and Lost, among other things). And we will probably watch The Mindy Project because it is sandwiched in between some other shows we watch. But other than that, I'm not that interested in some of the new shows. Are there any new shows you want to see?

5. Fantasy football

      It's that time of year again. You know, the one where my husband is glued to the TV and his laptop. Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So last week when Tim was drafting his fantasy football team, I tried to get a spot in the league. There weren't any open spots though, so after doing tons of research all day to get ready for the draft, I instead helped Tim pick his team and we are working together. Our team is named the same thing from last year and is called "My Team in Asomugha!" (pronounced Awesome-wa) after professional player Nnamdi Asomugha of the Philadelphia Eagles. We won our first game last week and we're expected to win this week by .72 points. It's projected to be a close one, but our quarterback Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears scored insanely low last night (only 11 points when he was projected to score 30- ouch!) so I don't have high hopes for this week. 

6. Welcome Fall!

     To officially welcome my favorite season last night, I made Caramel-Stuffed Apple Cider cookies. Actually, Tim begged me to make them so I made a quick trip to Walmart for some missing ingredients and whipped them up before we watched the season opener of Glee. These cookies are one of my favorites because they are just so unique and delicious. I love the caramel inside and that the cookies are flavored with actual apple cider packets. Here is a link to the recipe that I use. Anyway, some other things I am looking forward to this fall are the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice latte, visiting a pumpkin patch, and celebrating Owen's second Halloween.

7. Honest deal.

        I have a great deal from The Honest Company to offer my blog readers. Through the end of the month, if you use my link [HERE] to make a purchase in The Honest Company's online shop or begin a monthly subscription with them, you will receive a $10 off coupon. Please note that the free trial does not count toward this deal. This is a great promotion because although I normally would get a $10 credit for recommending this company to someone who makes a purchase, there generally aren't any incentives for the people who actually sign up. This way, we both win! I cannot say enough good things about this company. I have loved every product that I've tried and I am looking forward to receiving my next shipment of products soon (hopefully today!). I plan on doing another review of the products I receive next.