Birthday :)

     This year, my birthday was relatively quiet. I was actually at home (or close to it anyway), which is kind of a rarity as I get older. Usually with my birthday being so close to July 4th, there's always a trip of some kind planned and I'm off somewhere like Key West (that's where I was last year) celebrating from afar. Not that I ever mind going places like Key West for my birthday, haha! This year though I've been gone so much and then so busy when I was here that it was great just to be around home and have a relatively normal day.

     As far as celebrating, my parents, sister, grandparents and I all went out to eat the Friday before my birthday to Craving Catfish, and on Sunday after church we all came to the house and ate barbecued chicken, homemade ice cream, and the cupcakes I found a recipe for on Pinterest I wanted to try. I did have to work the day of my birthday, but the lady who shares an office with me, Angela, surprised me with a deskful of candy and a homemade birthday card. The night of my birthday Molly, Molly's friend Bethany, and Meagan took me out for a lovely evening of dinner, Magic Mike, and late night dessert at Tutti Frutti. We all loved Magic Mike - we're young women, three of us are single, and those gentlemen in the movie are PRETTY, what can we say? - and Meagan and I very much enjoyed our first experience eating at Tutti Frutti. We all do want to go see Magic Mike again properly, once it gets over the initial new movie crowd. The movie sold out early (luckily we had pre-ordered tickets) and we ended up having to split up and getting awful seats, so we either watched it with cricks in our necks in the front row or from the very very back. Not that we didn't still enjoy it! We just think we'd enjoy it more from a good seat :)

     Anyway, I actually do have pictures! I've always been awful about forgetting to take pictures, so I am getting better!

'Testing' the camera...

Attempt #1 to fit everyone into the group shot...

Attempt #2, much better!

Meagan and me with our first Tutti Frutti! Yum-o

     And I have to give a report on the cupcake recipe I tried out, because it is too good to keep to myself. The pin looks like this, and it's on my Good Eats board if you follow me. If you don't follow me, you should!

     The recipe is for Moscato Cupcakes. It is a surprisingly easy recipe, no ingredients you wouldn't already have or hard to handle mixing methods. I made a double recipe, and it made 24 of the biggest cupcakes I've ever seen. I doubled the icing as well, but I probably could have gotten away with a single making. It makes a TON! But they were amazing, definitely worth making again! The cake was a buttery vanilla flavor, and the icing was light and tasted just like the moscato. Really good for summer, not heavy at all. 

     By the way, if you're worried at all about cooking with wine or alcohol, set your fears aside. The cake recipe only has 1/3 cup per batch,, and the alcohol in the wine bakes off leaving just the flavor. The icing only has 3 tablespoons for each huge batch, so there's no way you're going to get any alcoholic effect. The flavor you get from it is well worth using wine in your cooking.

     Here's what they come out looking like:

Un-frosted, they look like huge muffins. I actually ate one for breakfast the other day, and it was great! Light, no strong flavor, kind of like pound cake.

Here's one of the iced ones. I didn't go all out with the icing - my family was practically drooling over my shoulder waiting on me to hurry up and get finished. And I only put a small amount on each cupcake. This icing isn't strong or heavy, but the cake is so good you don't need a ton of it gooped on there. 

     If you think you like cupcakes, you haven't lived until you try these! Go now and get out your mixing bowls! Trust me on these, you won't regret it! 

All the Single Ladies - YOLO

    This is for all the single ladies out there, to make our lives a little more fun and exciting! Not to mention less boring and mundane while you're waiting for your perfect Prince Charming!
     The way I see it, we're at a disadvantage a lot of the time. There's a reason God calls a spouse a 'help-meet', because he HELPS you MEET all the needs you can't do! Like heavy lifting, dirty chores (taking out the garbage), yard work (which I loathe), and all those man chores we just weren't prepared for earlier on in life (working on the car). No matter what they say, I think Triple A was formed by a bunch of widow women and single collegiates just because nobody would pull over and help them when their car broke down in the rain.

     This is a list I've put together - with a little assistance from some of yall :) - of things we need to be offered, free of charge, until we pair up with someone more testosteroney than we are. The 'bonus package', we'll call it, for being Single Ladies' Club.



For the Home:


• Door-side Garbage Pickup so we don't have to load the heavy bags in the can, lug the heavier can to the end of the driveway, and then chase down the can and lid from wherever the garbage men have let it land.

• Easy open lids on EVERYTHING. Nothing is more frustrating than using everything in your kitchen to try to beat your way into a jar of tomato soup, then finally having to go find somebody with a boyfriend over to borrow his manpower.

For real.

• Electronic Programming Service. Best Buy would make a million bucks if they offered this along with their free installation. Men are the ones who can instinctually program TVs, DVD/VCR combo players, the DVR, you name it, without a single glance in the direction of the instruction book. Most of us women...we don't even know what half the buttons on our remote controls do, and our daddy installed our TV for us.

• Home Repair Hotline. Ever had your plumbing break at 2am? Or needed to fix the frozen A/C when your dad was completely unavailable? Yep, every one of us has. So, just like we have 24 hour help lines for our banks, our tech support, and our catalog shopping, I vote we hook up the Home Depot men and give us ladies some backup! We don't need them to come do it, just tell us how to not blow our houses up while we try.

I have a bag just like this, except it's purple. And my tools are much better. Like cordless power drill better.

• Complimentary food delivery, no matter where you live. I live in the boondocks I know, but if I pay good money for your food, you can bring it to me. It averages out with the folks that live a block away from your store.
     Also, cookbooks and recipies for ONE. Eating out is expensive, it gets old fast, and it's just not as good for you. Plus you can't go in your floppy tshirt and no bra and makeupless face. There is nothing harder than cooking good food for just one person and not having so many leftovers they go bad before you get sick of eating them.



Protection:

• Security Guard Service for those late night noises that sound like robbers and creepy stalker guys. And to occasionally walk the dog when it's after dark and we don't want to go outside and get murdered.

• Scary Movie Companion Service. We aren't scared to watch them, we're just scared to watch them alone.

• Free tasers and/or pepper spray provided to us by the police department. I believe every college age and young adult woman who is ever out alone should carry one. If you've ever been to Tupelo's West Main Street Walmart, or to the city of Columbus in general (Caitlyn...) you know how it is to feel vulnerable and threatened.



Shopping:

• Valet Parking at Wal-Mart for rainy days, because everybody knows it's the husband's job to go get the car and bring it around to the door so you don't get soaking wet.

• Gas Pumping Service. We can pump our own gas, we just don't like do. Especially if it's rainy or cold. Or we have nice clothes on. Or it's late and the gas station is skanky. And of course, the man pumping the gas would be a gentlemanly nice man, not some toothless old redneck creeperman.



Just for Fun:

• Rent-A-Ring - Sometimes you just need a ring on THAT finger. It gets you out of some situations you'd rather not be in - guys you don't want to date, people always asking 'When are you gonna get married?'... plus, it's just dang fun to shop! I say they should let us single gals try out the rings. One day of wedding ring bliss. Product testing, we'll call it. We have to decide which one we'll want one day after all, right?

Does this ring make my hand look small? Nevermind, I just grow my nails out :)

• Single's Night for restaurants so we can go out to eat alone and not be stared at like lepers. Sometimes I just want to eat Olive Garden, and I don't want to have to hire somebody to sit across the table from me just to make me look normal. Same thing applies for movie theaters. Bonus - we might actually meet our Prince Charmings! And no PDA from the teenagers making out in the back row.


• A sign, t-shirt, tattoo, something for every wedding or family event we have to go to that says ‘At weddings everyone kept asking me when I was next, so I started doing the same to them at funerals.’ Yes, we’re still single. No, we aren’t doing it on purpose.


Yes! I say we're entitled to all this! And much much more! We're single, but that just makes us all the more precious to society I think :) Enjoy ladies!



New Job - Here's the Story

   

     So I've been at American Flooring for almost two months now :) And I'm still loving it :) I think I may have finally found at least a little niche in my life that I can get comfortable in for a little while. And that, my friends, is a huge answered prayer in my life. I've been a little lost thing wandering around in search of a direction, a purpose, an anything really, for a very long time now.
 
     Being able to have a routine is such an under-appreciated thing, y'all. Now I am not a morning person. Quite the opposite - I'm at my peak between suppertime and when the sun comes up. I'm willing to get up at whatever hour is necessary, but I'm usually going to need a good thirty minutes to an hour of minimal human contact for me to get the day started off right. My dad is great at respecting my morning-ness - if he needs to tell me anything he usually just texts me from the kitchen rather than testing how awake I am yet lol.
     But just being able to have a reason to set my alarm clock for each coming day, to pick out my nice clothes each night, to fix my hair and makeup all pretty and know I'm confident in myself when I go out the door, it just makes you feel so much better about yourself. As my aunt Ann Russell once said (in her sugar sweet Southern accent), ''If you'll just get up evrah mornin' and just brush yo' hair and put on a little lipstick, why, you'll just feel so much bettah about yo'self.'' Well Aunt Ann, you sure are right. Now most days I get to all the makeup except lipstick (Burts Bees, anyone?) haha, but it's so great to have a reason to get fixed up everyday. You really don't realize it until you go without that for a long time.  

     As far as the job itself goes, I don't think I could have made up a better job if I tried. I have a great boss, very laid back and easy to learn from. Our office environment is pretty relaxed, no big deal if you have to take a cell phone call (if you're lucky enough to get signal in our big metal building) or if you need to run an errand to the post office or bank. We even get to wear jeans one or two days a week. Gotta love that! I love the lady I share my office with, Angela. She and I get along really great - there are rarely any dull days with the two of us! She's been really great about helping me learn as well, especially with all the many ins and outs of the computer system, pricing, dealing with suppliers and installers, all that jazz. Just about everyone I work with is super nice and fun to be around, always coming in with a new crazy story of what happened on the job site or what client of ours did something nuts. We even have an office cat, Trouble, who has already decided he loves me and comes around me when he thinks he's desperate for attention.

He was keeping me company Saturday while I was pricing new carpet samples. Fat little kitty, no?

     I really enjoy what I do, even the sales part that I was worried about at first. I love the interior design part of work, all the picking out backsplashes and tub surrounds for people. The office work isn't bad to do, mostly it's just straightforward sales paperwork, so nothing complicated at all. And sales, I've decided the key to that is basically just smile, actually listen to what they want, and be basically so sugar sweet they can't help but like you. Most of our clients are just regular people, nice and normal, easy to work with. We only have a few customers that we fight over not answering the phone for, but there are those types in every business. The too-picky people, the complainers, the ones who call just about every single day for no reason whatsoever. We have those caller-ID numbers memorized!


     Funny how everything works together, even when you never thought it would. I actually originally went to college to study interior design. I spent two years in MSU's program, then changed my major because their program didn't really fit my idea of where I wanted to end up as an interior designer (I wanted to stay around here and just be a home designer, while their program was more geared to those who wanted huge salaries and to live off in NYC or LA and design for huge firms with even bigger projects. I decided I could live without all that.). After trying out a semester at MUW in art education, I just settled on getting an AA in business. I just wanted something quick, something useful in a wide variety of jobs, and something I could combine with my art, cooking, or whatever later on.
     The job I have now is such a rare thing for me, in that it combines all of the things I went to school for and like to do. I set out looking for a job I could tolerate doing every day, just a job to make money, stay at for a couple of years until I made a more permanent decision about my career path. I never thought I'd see a want ad needing office help, good with computers and bookkeeping, but also good with colors and decorating. But, luckily God watches out for even the different ones of us out there, and even though we may have to walk a longer, more twisted winding path at times to get where He wants us to go, once we get there it's pretty darn sweet. I can't guarantee that I'll stay at American Flooring forever, but for now I'm as happy as can be, and I can't ask for more than that :)

May - Thankful Month

     So (yes, I realize just about every blog I write begins with 'so', but really, how else am I just spontaneously going to burst into written one-sided conversation with yall?) this month has been a pretty regular month on all counts. I'm kind of excited that I now have a 'regular' lifestyle. Believe it or not, I had actually missed that so so much! Get up at the same time every day, go to work the five same days every week, get that paycheck every two weeks (best part, hands down. Filling out that deposit slip isn't gonna get old for a loooong time). It's amazing to me how about a week of getting up at the same time, and early at that, can iron out years of a crazy erratic college sleep cycle, even for this committed night-owl. I'm actually now usually getting ready for bed around 10:30, 11:00. Compared to my previous bedtime of 3 or 4 a.m., that's sort of a miracle.

     Church activities have bloomed - my college/career group friends decided our youth were getting bored and distant without any of the fun extra activities like we all used to do. So, we did something about it.  We've been playing Ultimate and softball, going bowling, attempting to put the local fast food places out of business, just having fun. You know it's fun when Alyssa gets her tail out and actually plays Ultimate - she who until last week didn't even know what Ultimate was. Anyhow, it's an amazing thing to see how much fun these kids are having. Things like that are where your youth group bonds. Somehow it's easier to love each other after you've all just got hot and sweaty together running around like crazy people trying to fight over who has possession of a Frisbee.
     It ended up being a really good thing we started this up. Last Sunday our youth minister Bro. Glen Reeder announced that God had told him it was time to move on, and that he had taken a music and youth minister position at another church. They've been with us for eight and a half years, since I was just in high school, so it's a big change for our kids. Understandably, they're all like little lost puppies, no idea what's coming next for them and who's going to be there to lead them through it. So it's great we had this activity schedule already going, and are planning to keep on with it. Until we get a new youth minister, and even afterwards, our kids are gonna need some TLC. Good thing we're pro's at that!

     Off subject here, but I'm just wondering if any of you other bloggers are just not in love with this new Blogger layout? I am not a fan. For one, I don't run Google Chrome, and it doesn't work well with most of the other websites I run. And the new dashboard layout is just not friendly to the way my brain works. The developers must be friends with the Facebook Timeline people.

MAY

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Adjustment Bureau - Phillip K. Dick

The Nanny Diaries - Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Dark Road to Darjeeling - Deanna Raybourn

Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers
Home to Holly Springs - Jan Karon
A Journey of Desire - John Eldredge
The Dead Travel Fast - Deanna Raybourn
A Dance with Dragons - George R. R. Martin

     Only ten this month. Less free time, less book reading (not complaining though!). But there were some really good new books in there I'd never read, and ten books brings me to 59 for the year. I've topped 50 books, so if I was following the real Centurion Challenge rules, I'd be over halfway there!
   

     To end on a really really good note, big big thing coming up - mission trip with the Sunday school class to Dinosaur, CO, in only 15 days! I'm so so glad my boss is amazing and agreed to let me go. That was a big worry of mine finding a job at the time of year I did, but my boss happens to be very mission minded (He's actually involved with Global!), and our work environment is pretty laid back in the summer. I didn't even have to use my pitiful face once haha!
     I've been looking forward to our trip for forever it seems like. I've stayed behind on the other trips my family has taken this year to be able to go, so it's going to be nice to get out and finally not be the one stuck at home with two needy dogs haha. I'm only too glad to use my vacation days up on a mission trip, especially when I know the trip is going to be awesome. Anybody who's ever been off on a Debo trip before can attest to that! Is it ridiculous that I kind of already want to start packing? Anyway, expect large amounts of blogging, with pictures that are actually mine for once! I'm so glad I bought a good camera for Ecuador, even though it's ended up being used for a myriad of other things. I'm hoping to sneak away with one of our mi-fi's, in hopes that Dinosaur has decent AT&T coverage (I seriously doubt where we're going has free wifi). So maybe y'all can get semi-live updates, and I won't have to catch everything from two whole weeks of tripping once I get home!

Getting to add a TON of states to my list - even going out as far as Utah! I haven't been to any states between Arkansas and Nevada, so I'm excited! Even to drive through boring old Kansas :)

The BIG Month of April!

     Whoa! Has April been as big/good/crazy a month for everyone as it has for me? I kind of hope so! At least, I left April much better and happier than I entered it, so I'd hope everyone else had that chance :)

     Best thing from this month: I have a new job! I already posted about it, since I was waaay too excited to contain myself until now. I'm an office help/sales rep/design person at American Flooring in Saltillo. It was a definite God thing, all the way through.
     Next best, I'm on my way to being completely migraine free, for at least the next year. Definitely a huge deal for me! Already I'm really enjoying the in-process improvements.
     Anyway, on to the list:

APRIL

Abiding Darkness - John Aubrey Anderson

Wedgewood Grey - John Aubrey Anderson

The Testament - John Grisham

A Painted House - John Grisham

*Dark Road to Darjeeling - Deanna Raybourn

All Through the Night - Mary Higgins Clark

The Lucky One - Nicholas Sparks

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (yes, I reread it)

Thirteen Moons - Charles Frazier

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt - Ann Rice
Mercy - Jodi Picoult

Total for the month: 11, Total so far: 49. Almost to the halfway!
     Favorite this month...well, one of my favorite books ever is Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier. I have it on cd so I can enjoy it in my car on my way to and from work. The narrator is Will Patton, great reader for a slow Southern book.



Migraine Sufferers, Read On

     Most people who know me know I've had migraine headaches for years. As in, since I was in middle school. I've been through just about everything on the market you can try for them, from plain old Advil to watching my caffeine to the popular meds like Imitrex to shots in the ER.
     Migraines are a strange, strange thing to have. I'm convinced they're one of the most complicated diseases out there. Just about anything you do can affect them. Sleep. Hormones. Drinking one too many or too few cokes. Stress. Sitting next to someone with strong cologne. And just the same, there's a ton of things you can do to get rid of one or make one better. Sleep. Change the light. Take a bath. Eat. Caffeine.
    
     Mine are genetic. My mom has had them forever, and a lot of people in my family have them too. I don't have too many triggers, and they're pretty easy to watch out for. Strong perfume and cologne is the worst one. Black Amethyst from Bath and Body Works can give me a headache in one sniff! But I can also have one just from waking up and bam! I just have one. Hate that so so bad it's not funny. I think they should be fair and give me a little warning.
     The problem for me is since I've had them so long, they're getting really hard to treat. I've long been nearly immune to the effects of Advil and Tylenol type medications. I'm hugely allergic to the family of medicines called triptans, Imitrex and all those medicines especially made to get rid of migraines, so a lot of the most used meds to get rid of migraines are off-limits to me. That pretty much leaves straight pain medications. And the bad thing with those is the longer you take them and the more you take, then the more you have to take and the stronger strength you need for it to work. You ever wonder how drug addicts get where they are? I know, but I'm pretty sure I have better willpower. It's tempting to just resort to the strongest stuff you have, because you know will work way beyond what you need, and you know you won't have to come back later and take something else. I won't say I haven't done it before. But that only leads to needing something stronger than that stuff, so how are you really helping yourself anyway?

     So instead of becoming an addict, I tried something very new. Actually, most people probably haven't heard of it before. I got shot in the head.
     Lol, I'm actually not far from kidding, but I am using the phrase a little loosely :) I actually have had a procedure called a nerve block done on my head, and the way they did it is to stick a needle straight into my face...yikes!
     It's really not at all as bad as it sounds. I was all freaked out for my first one, I  mean, who wouldn't be? But you get a choice of what type of sedation you want between Verced and laughing gas, if you want it at all (Believe me, you do. I get Verced, gratefully.) and it's over and done with in about an hour. You're numb for a few hours where they shot you, kind of like going to the dentist for me since they shoot me in the face, and you might have a little soreness there the next day, but whatever pain they're treating you for is definitely better.
     The best thing about these things is that it helps your pain long-term. I had my first block, a temporary one, two weeks ago, and I haven't have any pain whatsoever in the right side of my head since. The shot they give you basically coats the nerves that are bothering you in medicine that numbs and starts to kill them, so you quit having whatever pain you've had. They do a set of three temporary blocks to get the location absolutely right, then a final big one to make sure all those nerves are dead. Then you won't have any pain whatsoever there for six months, a year, maybe even more.

     I'm getting a set of three temporary ones on each side of my head, then a big one on each side to finish. I'm all for no migraines for a year or more!
     Today I had my second block on the right. Actually, I got a two for one deal. Technically I was only going to have one, but it didn't work quite right and my doctor is a perfectionist - not a bad thing at all! - so I got another so it would work like it was supposed to.
     The blocks I get are called Sphenopalatine Ganglion blocks. You should be impressed...I didn't even have to spellcheck that! The way they do mine is they inject a needle right in front of my ear, kind of where some people get piercings. The nerves they hit numb my face from my cheeckbone to my jaw, and all the way from my ear to the midline of my face, but the area that it's working on killing for my migraines is behind my eye and up in my temple. Crazy, right? Today I got the freebie block because when I woke up from being sedated none of my face was numb. The second one wasn't as fun, since I had to be awake. My doc wanted to be absolutely sure he got the right thing. These blocks aren't bad normally, but being awake is something I hope to not repeat. The Verced usually makes it to where you don't remember even if you are a little awake for parts of it, but that second block today I remember all too well! Yow!

     I go in two weeks for my last temporary block on that side, and my big block will probably be two weeks after that. I'll update everyone after that, and let you know how it goes! So far, no regrets!
   

On the Job Train!

    That's right! Alyssa Falkner is now among the ranks of the employed! You're now reading the post of the newest employee of American Flooring of Saltillo. I'm their new office help slash sales and design consultant :)   I've been working just about two weeks, so I can say that I think I'm going to enjoy doing very much for a good long while.
     This entire job opportunity has been a total God thing, beginning to end. My dad found this generic ad in the Daily Journal, no business name, for an office worker with a business degree who also had experience with colors and design elements. Well well well...that doesn't fit me at all, does it? haha. My dad faxed them my resume right away.
     I was a little scared to give a resume to a generic ad, I mean it could be anything from Lowes customer service to working for a telemarketing company selling fast dry paint. But dad explained that lots of companies don't tell who they are when placing want ads; it keeps everyone they know from calling and volunteering their unwanted nieces/nephews/children/etc. for employment.
     Well, to my utter surprise and no small delight, I got a call that very afternoon about that resume. Kind of surprised me, but hey, I wasn't turning it down! American Flooring in Saltillo wanted to meet with me the next day (again surprising me, but I'm all for getting things done quick), so an appointment was made.
     9:00 the next morning came, and I was sitting in my new boss' office. They were in need of office help that could actually do a little bookkeeping, process orders for them, and run the computer program that they work their insurance cases up on, but they also needed somebody who was good with design that when customers come in I could help them pick out the flooring they wanted and make it look good.  Best interview I've ever had, so I was super excited when I left.
     The next week, I got a call back for a second interview. After meeting a few minutes, I walked out an employed person. Can we say a big hallelujah? If you know me, you know I didn't just need a job, I NEEDED a job!

     So far, it's an amazing job. I love the pace of how everything runs, even when we're busy. All my co-workers are great about me being new, and really laid back and fun. Of course there's always that one guy that's a little strange and not a little crazy...but hey, we have to have something to entertain the rest of us, right? haha
     I work 5 days a week, and generally my off day is Wednesday. Hours are good, and the pay is even better :D  What more could I ask for?

     And of course, with the new job comes me being newly obsessed with all things floor. Do you really have any idea all the kinds of things you can do on a floor? Neither did I. But happy for us, Pinterest is a never ending source of creative floor love! Here are some of my favorites:

Chevron tiled bathroom floor...your installer might kill you for all those angled cuts, but oh it's so pretty!

Now this I want. Install a niche like you'd put in a shower, but for a backspash instead. Great for all those salt and pepper shakers and stuff that's cluttering your countertop.

I love this shower. Plain old subway tile, but with a color pop. This would be great for remodeling an old shower/tub-in-one unit.

More chevron. And in gray! So pretty.

Continuing the chevron onto the walls.

Again, plain old subway tile in the shower. But wow, that window just jumps the elegance bar from boring to amazing! Love it.

This isn't my favorite color combo, but this linear trim is in like crazy right now! Especially tan/browns and grays.

Now this, I would have in my house. Absolutely, yes. And I will be having the extra faucet over the stove range. No more lugging heavy pots of water back and forth from the sink!