Inspired & Rounding Up: October

I am feeling so inspired lately to create around & for the house. It's something I don't normally feel & quite honestly don't know what to do with. I will be the first one to tell you just how lazy of a human being I am. This surge of creativity in my mind is really battling my laziness & I'm not really sure who is going to win to be honest. I would love to say that I will explode with productivity & get some of these ideas out of my head & turn them into real life but I know myself too well to make such a bold statement.

My little OCD mind can't get enough of lists & spreadsheets. Things to cross off & zero-balance. Those are the things I dream about. I've been creating lists everywhere. My head. Notes in my phone. Email drafts. Notepads. Lists of things I want to do & the tools I will need to accomplish them slowly, one by one. The only problem is that I keep losing them. Accidentally deleting them, throwing them away or forgetting to save them altogether.

Unfortunately, almost every single task requires something that I do not have on hand & already own which means every single one requires money. Which means, no tasks for me.

This girl has got to get herself a real vacation & focus on a few priorities like finally becoming debt free, having an emergency fund in place & breaking down our budget before I throw money to paint brushes, caulk & nail guns. I hope that this feeling stays well into the new year, as daunting as it is, so that I can finally get our home that we love oh so much a little more tolerable & ready to sell when the time comes.

My new cross-stitch project will just have to hold me over until all of those Home Depot & Lowes gift cards come flooding in for Christmas.

& in other news:

1. We got a free date to a Barons hockey game, courtesy Ryan's work of course.

2. It's finally Thunder season & we kicked it off at our first game. Okay, it was only a preseason game.

3. Halloween around the corner means we've been watching classic horror movies to include When A Stranger Calls Back, The Shining (shown above) and Carrie & we went to the best Haunted House to date.

4. I'm obsessed with my leather jacket right now.

Hey look, an entire post without mentioning my dogs or animals in general. It is possible!

Barren Barons

We love watching the OKC Barons

We are blessed to get free tickets to events from Ryan's work fairly often.

We took our good friends Jeremy & Natalie with us last night.

I love random weeknight double dates.

YOU GUUUUYS, do you see how empty the stadium is?

It's so sad! The Barons need some more love from it's city!

1. I still think hockey is the hardest sport of all time.

2. Hockey is the only sport I want to go into overtime.

I like watching shootouts.
3. Kids 8 & under playing hockey is the cutest thing I've ever seen.
They had a kids team come out & play in between one of the periods
& I thought my heart would burst.
I wanted to steal those children.
My phone died so I had to use Ryan's & he has the crappiest camera.
There was one 6 year old kid that was the smallest of both teams
& he made the only two shots made within a few minutes.
He was obviously born a champion.

See what I mean about his awesome camera?

"I'll run back to your arms. I'll run back to your arms. Again." - Black Canyon

I have been majorly slacking with keeping up with this.

My life is not exciting enough to fill this thing as often as I'd like.

Let's give a recap of our life since our Oklahoma Adventure in Guthrie, shall we?

We got XBOX Live which is probably a bad thing. We're enjoying it way too much, losing too much sleep because of it and no longer have motivation to clean our house. Our evenings are now filled with playing Halo and talking trash with our friends over headsets. (Another huge plus to our Live account is Hulu Plus on xbox so now we don't have to plug the laptop up to the TV to catch up on shows.. it's not like we have time for catching up in between working, eating, sleeping and Halo though...)

Ryan and I went to our first Barons Hockey Game of the season.

We went with some of our closest friends to the Trail of Fears in Lawton for Halloween. It was.. I don't know. It was fun. Don't get me wrong. I'm just glad that we went with who we went with or it wouldn't have been worth the money. Spending the time together and laughing with friends makes anything worth it. We got the worst service of my life at Pizza Hut in Lawton and they couldn't have cared less.

Ryan won tickets to the Durant vs. Griffin charity game at the Cox Convention Center which was crazy fun. I found a new love for CP30 and confirmed my hate for Lebron James.

We went to Six Flags with Jeremy and spent Friday night in a hotel. Attention anyone that ever needs to stay in the Dallas area: I highly recommend Element. It will be hard for me to stay anywhere else now. The hotel was beautiful. It was clean and crisp feeling. It has an outdoor heated pool (which we thoroughly enjoyed in the 40 degree weather). The entire hotel is eco-friendly and green. The beds and showers were heavenly. The complimentary breakfast was wonderful. I could go on and on. These pictures don't do it justice.

Six Flags was a good time. I'm glad we got to use our season passes one last time. We probably won't be returning to Six Flags Over Texas for a long time. You can only go so many times before it loses its thrill. I think we're kind of at that point now. We know what to expect on every ride. Although it's still fun to ride them, it's not so much an adrenaline ride. Next year I hope we can make it to Cedar Point or even a different Six Flags.

 

Our hotel suite complete with full size dishwasher & fridge.

We were interested by the "little flush" and "big flush" options on this toilet

You can't really see the shower head but OH MY GOODNESS.

This bed. AHTHISBED

I finally got productive with painting our house. My hallway is no longer brown thanks to Natalie. We had to put two coats on to cover it up and I have had to put three coats on the ceiling so far. Why the people before us thought it was a good idea to paint the ceiling of our hallway dark brown I'll never understand. No other ceiling is painted but that one and it's the smallest area! I think the white ceiling makes a difference. Now lets see how long it takes me to move on to another room....

.....I finally got Ryan to sit down and have a Lord of the Rings marathon with me. We only made it 4.5 hours(exactly halfway) but I think that's pretty good for one night.

Snowmaggedon 2011

*Sorry this is an unexciting post without pictures. My pictures are refusing to upload properly.

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind. Not because we've been busy but because my mind is so full that I’m lost inside it. So go with me on this one; it’s not going to flow smoothly.

Weddings are on the rise for 2011 and we better get financially prepared. By the time this year is over Ryan will have been in 4 weddings back to back and I in 2.

That leads me to the point of my sister got engaged! I am extremely happy to see her so happy. It’s a great feeling knowing that she’s loved and taken care of. Full force wedding planning has begun and it’s going to be a long 7 months. Engagements are hard and I believe, very important. They teach you a lot about your future spouse, how you will deal with stress together, and life in general. I pray that Mallory & Jer get the most out of this time together and don’t pull each others hair out… too much anyway.

More than anything, I've prayed my mother would find a good man for almost 10 years now. She’s found one and he’s everything she deserves. We’re all crossing our fingers and hoping to hear wedding bells sometime soonish. It’s amazing to watch my mother act like a school girl in love for the first time. It’s also amazing to watch her change and grow through it all. She is a wonderful woman I tell ya.

Ryan and I have both been feeling very discouraged the past week. We weren't sure why at first but then realized it all comes back to money. We've been working really hard at doing everything right which means that life throws “wrongs” in your way. I’m so anxious to see Dave Ramsey on the 19th and be filled with encouragement once more.

Oklahoma has been hit by a huge Global Warming party for the past week. You can tell by looking out your house and seeing the blazing hot sun beat down on the fiery pavement. Oh wait… that’s 12 inches of snow… two weeks in a row… in Oklahoma. And our neighbors always have the most amazing icicles in the world. I was tempted several times to go steal them and also to take a picture… but then realized that might be a little weird to post pictures of your neighbor’s house… especially when they read your blog.

Snowmageddon 2011 was pretty amazing for the Griffis house. Wonderful perk of being an OU employee? You get 5 paid snow days. Unfortunately, ours was spent without heat. Our heater decided to break (again) on Monday night approximately 1 hour before the storm hit. We had just enough time to drive to Warren & Kim’s (thank you!) and grab two space heaters and get back before the freezing rain came down. We lived by space heaters for about a week and a half. I’d forgotten how wonderful it was to wake up and my entire house be warm, not just my bedroom. We managed to stay warm and had fun despite the lack of heat. But I was overwhelmed with joy when the new motor did finally come in. I can’t lie about that.

We stayed completely indoors from Monday to Thursday. Mr. Cooper came over and stayed with us the first night. What better way to spend a snow storm than to be snowed in with your best friends? (Mal & Jer, shame on you for missing out. :] ) The rest of our break was spent lounging around the house and staying up until morning & sleeping in until afternoon. By the weekend, the roads were fine to drive on and we ventured out to a Barons Game with Jeremy and Natalie. Hockey still amazes me.

We also helped celebrate the wedding of Rachel Roberts & Drew Apple at their pre-wedding wedding reception? They're cute and I’m super happy for them. Kate’s birthday was celebrated and delicious food was had at Warren & Kim’s for Super Bowl Sunday. That woman can cook.

Another week has now passed and I’m very thankful it is the weekend once more. Hopefully my sister will find a wedding dress tomorrow (eek!) and we can spend the weekend relaxing without a care in the world.

This is the only picture that would load.. showing how fat Ryan and I got during the snow storm. 12 eggs, 1 pkg of bacon, and 8 biscuits... SO WHAT!

"I can fly higher than an eagle. You are the wind beneath my wings." - Chickasha Theme Song

We are back in the work groove and it’s not very fun. It feels like torture being off for so long and having to go back.

Other than a few bumps, our break was splendid. We spent Christmas Eve at our house with Ryan’s mom and siblings (we missed you Christen!). Darren hung out until he had to go home to Skype with his wife and Jeremy came over to stay the night. Ryan and I decided to open our gifts at midnight (which I think we’ll make a tradition). It was fun waiting for the clock to turn to 12:00 before I could rip open my present. 11:59pm was the longest minute of my life. Ryan got me the coat that I’ve been wanting for a few months now and I was very excited! The three of us ended up staying up until 3:30am playing a new video game. We would have stayed up longer but Jeremy reminded us that we had to wake up at 9:30 so we should probably go to sleep.

We woke up late morning and I made waffles for the boys before heading to my mom’s house. The Manuel’s have always been big on Christmas morning. Every year I’m surprised by the amount of gifts under my mother’s tree. Her heart is made of gold I tell you. It was cute to see my mom’s reaction to the iPod Shuffle we all pitched in to get her. She just looked at it a minute and laughed while saying “I have no idea what this is.” J Oh mother, technology has passed you but you try and that’s what matters. Haha. This was also the first Christmas with Jeremiah there. Apparently my sister is extremely in love with this guy (thanks to her little sister pointing her in that direction for months) and we all love him too.

We spent some time with Jeremy at his aunt’s house afterwards so that he could see his momma. His family was very sweet and extremely welcoming. It was funny how I felt at home with his family. I suppose since Jeremy is so much a part of our family, that I already feel a part of his although we don’t know one another. His mother’s words to me were “So you’re the one who takes care of my son.”

Christmas Evening was spent at Warren & Kim’s house which is always a good time. The men enjoyed playing Wii Golf while I enjoyed talking with Kim. Early that morning Jeremy had said to us, “Congratulations on not getting the crap that’s been going around lately.” As Christmas evening progressed, Jeremy’s words came back to haunt me and I started to get body chills and aches. I haven’t been sick in almost 5 years so I’d forgotten what it felt like to be achy. I was confused at first by how I felt but within a few hours I knew I was in for it. By the time I got home around 10pm, my temperature was 99.4 and I was freezing cold. Ryan was exhausted and went straight to bed while I stayed up and played some more video games with Jeremy. I figured that I felt so uncomfortable I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep anyway.

I spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in bed pouting about how I was ruining our vacation. I was coughing so badly that I was gagging and my stomach was so sore that it felt bruised. The coughing also seemed to make my kidneys and lower back hurt severely. I had to miss our family Christmas in Enid which I was really upset about. I still had a fever when I woke up Sunday of 100.5 and couldn’t risk going and getting everyone sick, especially my grandma. This was one of the first years in a long time that I was actually looking forward to going to Enid and I had to miss it. By Tuesday I was so sick of being in bed that I got up and went to the doctor. Seeing as though I haven’t been sick in 5 years, I don’t have a primary care so I went to one of those urgent care places. $80 later I had prescription cough meds and antibiotics. Was it worth the $80? Not really. Next time I’m finding a PCP.

I mainly forced myself to go to the doctor because I bought Ryan tickets to the Barons hockey game on Tuesday night for part of his Christmas gift and I needed to be well enough to sit in some bleachers for 3 hours without wanting to jump over the glass and let the hockey team kill me with their ice skates. The game was really fun. We’ll have to go again now that I’m feeling better and know how to get cheap tickets. I’m pretty sure that hockey is the hardest sport to play. It seems almost impossible to me.

The following days were spent eating at Ron’s Hamburgers, checking out the Plaza District, dyeing my hair fire engine red, going to see True Grit (AMAZING!), Edna’s with Jeremy and Kate (& finally meeting the mysterious Michael), coughing, Joey’s Pizzeria, staying up until 4am, shopping, my mom’s boyfriend Preston coming to town, snow tubing at the Ballpark, coughing, ice skating & Black Swan double date extravaganza, New Years, yelling at some dumb kids in our neighborhood at 4am for driving through the sweet old woman who lives next doors yard twice, coughing, tears, cuddling, dyeing my hair to a reddish/brownish color, our heater breaking, our refrigerator breaking, our bedroom ceiling getting closer to collapsing, coughing, and dreading the day I returned to work.

Double Date Photo Booth

This only lasted 4 days. It was Orange in 3.

My momma and her man. We like him. :)

I really wasn't in a good mood New Years Eve. I was pouty and really quite depressed. I was surrounded by those I love but I suppose you could say I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders lately. The clouds have come back as of late and I’m trying hard to push them away. My husband helps. I adore that man.

I’m making a New Year’s Resolution for maybe the first time in my life. My goal is to save more money by cracking down on our budget and living like we make $10,000 less a year than we do. We've decided this needs to be done. Our house seems like it’s falling apart around us and it’s all we can do to keep our head above water. For now, we have but we won’t for much longer. I don’t want to go into anymore debt and I don’t want to have to worry about where the next house expense is coming from. Therefore, until we are 100% out of debt and have our savings built back up we will be saying “no” to a lot more in life like parties, eating out and going to do things. The sacrifice will be much worth the reward.

I hope everyone had a really good Christmas and spent a lot of time with their loved ones.

Here are some pictures from Christmas and when we went to Chickasha to see the lights two weeks ago.

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party



Ryan and Jer loved the teeter-totter a little too much.