Leap Day!

First of all, happy Leap Day everyone!  I've always thought it would be cool to have been born on that day, 'cause then I wouldn't have to lie about my age when I was older.  I guess being born on Hitler's birthday (also day of the Columbine shooting) is just as good. Um...not? 
But anyways!  Remember in my last post how I mentioned I got some moss to make a little terrarium?  Well, I finally assembled it all!  Here it's!

Preeeetty sure that skinny little one in the front is a weed?  Whatever though, I'll give it a chance. 
I want to get some little bitty animal figurines to put in there too, so that all the plants would look giant.  Like a little tropical scene!  It would be so whimsical! 
Also thought I'd show these guys:

I saw on Pinterest that once you cut off the green stem of a green onion, you can put the white parts in a jar of water, and the green will just continue to grow out.  Just snip off what you need each time.  I cut these off to the white less than a week ago, and this is how far they've already grown back.  I was pretty impressed.  About once a week I change the water and wash the roots off.  Pretty impressed!
Well, that's about all I got today.  Hope everyone had a good day!  Tomorrow is my Friday, and then girls' trip to the beach.  Yay!

Weekend

This weekend the husband and I got to relax a little!  After hosting family the last two weekends, it was nice to just bum around, though I would still rather have my family here instead. :)  We hung around the house on Friday night and finished up a Netflix movie.

Saturday, Timothy played golf and mowed the yard, and I slept in and then cleaned house.  About 3:00 we headed down to Tallahassee. 

Timothy got to go into Edwin Watts golf and play around with some golf clubs.  I sat in the car and read because I'm not that interested in golf, plus I'm left handed, and those stores don't carry left handed women's clubs.  So kinda pointless for me.  I was glad to let Timothy look around though, goodness knows he's spent his share of bored hours waiting on me while I shopped.  He walked out with two brand new clubs.  He said the store let him borrow them for the week to try out at the range.  I asked him if they took his credit card number in case he didn't return them, and he said no, they just took down his name and number.  That's a lot of trust right there.  I think it's pretty neat that they let him borrow them.

After the golf store, I ran into Hobby Lobby to get some moss for a terrarium I want to do.  My sister sent me a picture of a pretty terrarium she did last week, and I'm jealous.  So I want to make me one.  We got some succulents at a craft fair a couple of months ago for a ridiculously cheap price, and they've just been sitting in my window since then.  Time to plant those puppies!

After Hobby Lobby we went to Bonefish Grill for an early dinner.  We had not eaten hardly anything that day in preparation for going to Bonefish!  It is quickly becoming one of my favorite restaurants (right after Taco Bell, of course) and we had a gift card!  Yay!!!  The restaurant didn't open until 4 and we got there at about 3:55.  There was already a line at the door waiting for them to open.  That's just a testament to how good their food is.  It was so so good and we both had leftovers to look forward to on Sunday.

On the way out of the parking lot after dinner, we saw this line of geese walking through the parking lot.  It's a pretty busy parking lot, and I was afraid that they were going to get squished!  I had to stop and take some pictures of them, of course.

 After dinner we were going to go see a movie, but there wasn't anything we saw that we could justify paying $20 to see.  So instead, we went to the bookstore, and I was more than happy to spend the $10 I would've spent on my ticket, to get a couple of books.  They will give me more hours of entertainment anyway!  Timothy actually got himself a fiction book as well, a scary one that has been made into a movie.  Timothy doesn't normally read fiction, mostly just nonfiction history books and such, but he thought it looked interesting so he bought it.  At the bookstore, they let you pick 2 films that you thought might win an Oscar on Sunday, so I picked The Artist and The Descendants.  I figured The Artist would win, but I enjoyed The Descendants, so I chose that as well.  If one of your choices won, you got $5 off your next purchase of $25.  Timothy grumbled about my choices after we left, claiming that The Help was going to win, but I told him that if any of the judges read the book like I did they'd be annoyed with the movie and it's inaccuracies as well, so it would never win.  Guess who was right?!  The Artist totally won. 

After that, we decided to try a little frozen yogurt, in 55 degree weather.  It was a little cold for consuming frozen delicacies, but we had been wanting to try it for a while, so we did!  It was pretty yummy, but I'm really bad at estimating how much things weigh, and ended up paying like $4 for it.  I got these little squishy translucent ball things on mine called popping bobas that were flavored mango, strawberry, and passionfruit.  They tasted good, but I just kept feeling like I was eating Nemo's brothers and sisters like that big ugly fish thing did on Finding Nemo. Tell me these things do not look like fish eggs....

 We headed home after that, and pulled in the driveway at about 8pm.  We're like an old couple!  And people, here is when things got weird.  My husband, who usually turns on the golf channel once his butt hits his chair, sat down and read.  And read.  And read.  He read his new book for like 2 hours straight.  I was at a complete loss, it was total role reversal.  I got so bored too, I kept saying, "hey you wanna watch tv?  wanna watch a movie?" And he just kept reading!  He read almost the entire book that night!  And then, the next afternoon, he started reading again!  And read until he finished it.  After he finished it, I asked him if it was good and he just said "nah, not really." All but the last 20 pages were pointless, next time I'll just watch the movie."  He seemed pretty intrigued to have given that revue after he was done.  But anyway!  Hope all of ya'll had a good weekend and had a good Monday.  T-3 days until my girls beach trip.  So excited!!!!!

It's fridaaaaay!

Welcome to the weekend people!  And to make sure we start it all of right, here is a picture of the coolest gecko I know. 

I hope your weekend is as awesome as Martin. :)  My weekend plans include: sleep, yard and house cleaning, sleep, a movie maybe, sleep, church, oh and sleep. :)  Happy Friday!

Oh, and side note: when husband saw me bloggin he said "what ya doin?  bloggin?  what's that a picture of?"  To which I replied, "it's a picture of Martin, to make sure that everyone starts their weekend on the right foot."  He giggled and said "that's the cutest thing you've said in months!"  Umm...thanks?

Excessive?

About a week ago I ordered some office supplies for work.  When we got a package at work yesterday,  the box seemed too big to be anything that I had ordered, so a couple of people gathered around to open it, and we saw this:

In that huge box that could have fit about 3 college textbooks, amidst three of those big blow up bags...was a leeeeeettle box of staples.  We were all like what the heck?  I can't imagine how much they paid to ship this $2.29 box of staples.  I even got free shipping?  Plus, I mean, what is the worst that can happen to staples whilst in transit?  They're little pieces of metal, and I know from experience those things are tough.  You try pulling a staple out of a piece of paper!  Anyways, that's all I've got today...just thought that was funny.  One more day 'till the weekend...yaya!! 

What's in a name?

I had a person that I spoke to on the phone today tell me that I have a pretty name.  I know some people growing up who would always say "I wish my name were..." and then fill in a unique name that was totally different than what they were actually named.  I consider myself blessed to have a name that I have always liked.  My name was actually supposed to be one word, and look like this: Julianna.  I had one great grandmother named Julia, and one named Jewel, so my mom wanted to have a variation of those names in my name.  My middle name was supposed to be Michelle, but my dad said that my name would not ever fit in the boxes on a testing scantron (where you bubble in the letters) if it were that long.  Yes, he always thinks ahead.  :)  Since being told that story, I have checked on every scantron I have encountered and stubbornly report that on each one, my name totally would have fit.  My mom saw his reasoning though, and met him in the middle by naming me Julie Anna, with Anna being my middle name.  It throws people off a lot of times when they're trying to spell my name, and I usually have to spell it a couple of times..."there's a space between the julie and the anna....yes there's an e in between those two as well....yes, two n's in anna."  It is particularly hard when trying to give someone my email address; always have to spell it.  Whenever it's not important to spell my name right, I usually just let people spell it however they like, and don't say if it's spelled wrong. 
What's funny is that you can tell at which point people met me, by what they call me.  My family mostly calls me Julie, expect my mom who usually calls me Julie Anna.  Because of this, most people call me Julie Anna who met me before I could talk, because my mom would tell them my whole name.  In middle and high school, people called me Julie.  I don't really know why I just wanted to be called Julie then, but I didn't really care I guess.  My fellow sports teammates all called me Jewels (often spelled Jules).  My coworkers at the Zaxby's I worked at in high school though called me J.A., something that the manager started.  In college, I decided that I wanted to start going by Julie Anna, and made it a point to introduce myself that way.  That's why Timothy and his family all call me Julie Anna.  I guess because of this, I now call people by their full name, unless they tell me otherwise.  That's why I call my husband Timothy, not Tim.  I know a lot of times that sounds too formal to people, so I apologize if I've called you your whole name instead of its shortened version and you don't like your full name.  Just let me know and I'll stop. :)
Sorry this is such a random post, I just realized today that I am grateful that my parents named me what they named me.  I like having a unique name, even if it's confusing to spell.  So thanks mom and dad!  :)  Because I'm so content with my name, I feel a little pressure to think of a good name for my future children.  Boy's names are completely lost on me, but some girl's names I like are: Riley, Sydney, Sybil, Josephine, Evangeline, and Leora.  Anybody out there who wishes their name were different?  Got any girl's names you really like?  

Meh.

When I got home today, I saw that the beautiful tulips my sister got me for Valentine's Day,just seemed to give up the fight.  They were soooo pretty only just a day ago, a deep maroon, perfectly shaped little flowers.  I kept meaning to get a good picture of them to show how pretty they were, but just kept forgetting.  Well when I got home today, they looked like this:

It was like all of the pedals just flopped backwards.  It looked like they had just given up.  I feel like this some days...Where I get home and just flop down on the couch, tired for really no reason.  I think a lot of it has to do with not exercising very much and just sitting all day at work.  I'm trying to remedy that by starting to run again, so we'll see how that goes. 
Today at work I was in the middle of a conversation and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.  I had one of those self inking date stamp thingys and somehow I got my fingers in between the actual stamp and the ink pad.  Next thing I know, I look down and I have black ink all over my fingers.  About a minute later, the FedEx man came in wanting me to sign for a package and I was like "ummm, could somebody else sign?"  And he was all "oh are you too good to sign for FedEx?" And I had to explain that somehow I managed to get ink all over my hand.  The picture below is after washing my hands like 20 times.  I felt like Jo in Little Women when Professor Bhaer tells her he knew she was a writer because she had ink on her hands.  Only I'm not a writer, just clumsy!

I made sausage gravy and homemade canned biscuits for dinner because my husband's co tennis coach gave us a bunch of homemade sausage.  It was very good!  I was going to take a picture and show you, but it looked like throw up.  Alllll of the food I make seems to look that way.  Oh well, it still tastes good. :) 
Ok that's all I have today.  I'm kinda boring today.  And I want to watch Downton Abbey online.  :)  Cheers!

What's In Your Purse Episode 5

Today's guest poster is the beautiful Joy!  Joyous was another high school friend, who later became my college roommate.  As of right now, she holds the record for having lived with me the longest (as a non-family member).  Husband will break that record in another year and a half, but I will always give her props for living with all of my crap for that long.  We've been through a lot together, and I am convinced that my college experience would not have been near as fun without her.  My favorite memory is probably our 1am trip to Taco Bell in our pajamas.  We went through the drive thru, but they got our order wrong and Joy made me go inside in my huge fluffy robe to get it fixed.  Not my proudest moment, but something I will always remember and be able to laugh at.  Shall we take a gander inside her bag (which is adorable, by the way)?

 

1.  Chapstick, chapstick, chapstick! - I'm addicted.  People keep telling me chapstick keeps your lips from regulating their own moisture, or something like that, so the more you use it the more you need it.  Well folks, it's too late for me.  I'll always be a chapstick wearin fool.

 

2. Kavu wallet - I got this at TJ Max for 10 bucks.  It's perfect for me because there's enough room for cash, check book, all my cards, and even a little elastic band to keep a pen.  But it's not overly huge or bulky and, let's face it, it's pretty darn cute.

 

3. Phone - Duh.  It's time for a new one! 

 

4. Medicine case - My mom made sure my sisters and I all had one of these handy dandy drug dealin machines.  It's got Ibuprofen and anything else you might need while out and about.  My mom's motto is, "Why be in pain when you can take 2 little pills and feel better?" 

 

5. Goody's powder - This kind of goes hand in hand with the meds, but it works way faster than any pill.  You better have a bottle of Coke nearby to chug down after powering this suspicious powder down your throat while in the gas station parking lot, otherwise you'll draw even more attention to yourself.

6. Hand Sanitizer - This hand sani from Target came in a cool case that can clip to...something.  I'm not typically a germaphobe, but there are a couple things that gross me out: gas stations & the middle school kids I work with who don't shower. 

7. Lotion - In the winter my hands get very dry so it's always good to have on hand! (No pun intended...just kidding, that was intended.)

8. Tic tacs - Just bought some yesterday.  Chewing gum a lot hurts my jaw, so tic tacs are the next best (and cheapest) thing awaiting me at the check out counter.

9. Contact & hair supplies - I wear contacts.  I love them.  But sometimes they get a little dried out, so it's nice to have solution with me.  And I always have hair ties and bobby pins on hand for when my hair gets unruly or I just get tired of having it down.

10. Papers - That pile is full of old receipts & grocery lists that have accumulated over the past few weeks.  I like to consider myself scatter-brained rather than messy...haha.  Thanks Julie for giving me a reason to clean out my purse!

11. Bride Beautiful business card - I'm getting married April 28th!  I found my dress at Bride Beautiful in Atlanta.  It was my first time trying on dresses and I made my decision in 1.5 hours!  I am Miss Indecisive, so I was very proud of myself. :)

12. My Keys - I'd like to think some of the items on my key ring are pretty unique.  First of all, there's the homemade case my car clicker is in.  My mom made that out of old fabric from a shower curtain my grandma made me many years ago.  The clicker kept falling off the metal loop that hooked it to the key ring.  When no amount of super glue would hold, my mom fashioned this cute little case around it - works like a charm!  The other item is my South African ostrich.  Although I went to South Africa a few years ago and actually rode an ostrich, that is not when I acquired this beady little guy.  Last year I lived with a crazy roommate who became one of my closest friends, Megan from South Africa.  Before she left to go back to her home across the world, she gave this to me and I think of her every time I see it! :)

Well, that's all folks!

Thanks for being a guest poster Joy!  She has a new blog, The Joyous Cookbook so stop over and give her some love. 
The more I see inside other people's purses, the more I begin to think that I have waaaay too much in my purse.  Anybody else feel that way?
Hope everyone had a good Monday.  Only 4 more days 'till the weekend!

Family

As I mentioned earlier this week, my family came down to visit this weekend.  We had a great time, even if the weather wasn't very agreeable.  They didn't get here until late on Friday, so we just stayed up and talked a little that night.  Saturday, Timothy and my brother-in-law Robert played a little golf and then we all went down to Tallahassee to go to the Pig Fest.  They had some bbq vendors and some craft vendors as well, but it was kind of a let down.  I don't know if they were supposed to have more vendors there that didn't show up because rain was in the forecast, or not.
I pathetically only got one picture the entire weekend, taken on an iPhone, of me and my dad.

   
No doubt I am his daughter, huh?  We look just alike!
We did a little shopping after the festival to waste some time.  I got a cute bathing suit for a pretty good deal, so that was a success.  My parents then treated us all to Carrabba's for a late Valentine's Dinner.  It was very good!  My really cute niece was cracking us up during the dinner by eating lemons.  She'd lick the lemon and then make a hilarious face and say "hot hot"!  (meaning sour)  I felt bad because we kept giving her lemons so that we could see the face she was making.  I started laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes.  Yes, we got a video of it.  And yes, I am going to exploit my niece for the sake of a little humor on my blog post. (Don't worry, I got her mother's approval first)  Check out the face at second 14.

Once we got home that night we played a little Scattergories.  My mom won the first round and either my husband or my dad won the second round, I can't quite remember.  This morning we got up and ate a breakfast casserole I cooked in the crockpot overnight (recipe here) and my dad's famous (and delicious) waffles.  I was sad to see them go, but glad for the memories that we made.  Looking forward to our girls trip to Hilton Head in two weeks!  Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend!

Randoms!

A few things that happened this week:
-You remember that girl that I talked about in this post that was on Jeopardy's college competition who sniffs paint to calm herself?  Yep, she totally won the entire competition and $100,000.  I am so proud of her!  You go you little polish sniffer!

-I made banana bread this past weekend.  It was pretty delish!  I've been eating it for breakfast all this week.  It's a pretty good dessert too once you smother it with Nutella.  The recipe is super easy.  See how yummy?

Check out the steam coming off of the bread in this picture:

-My cat has decided to start sleeping on top of the garage door while it's up.  Like between the door and the ceiling.  The past two mornings he has scared the crap out of me running around on top of the door.  He peeks over the edge, like "Hey mom!  Catch me!"  And after I tell him no and demand that he jump down onto my truck instead, he gets this really disappointed look that cats are so good at...you know the one I'm talking about.  I'm afraid one day I'm not going to realize he's up there and go to put the door down and squeeze him to death.

-The new Punch Brothers cd came out.  If you don't know who they are, you need to know.  Now!  So go here to listen to the album for freeeee!  The lead singer of the band used to be in the band Nickel Creek, and could totally be Jude Law's twin.  I get to go see them in concert for my birthday!  Yay!

-My mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and niece are coming to see me this weekend!  I'm so excited!!!

Oh and happy (day late) birthday to Robert!  You're a pretty great brother-in-law :)

My brother-in-law and cute niece. 

Valemtime's Day

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day everybody!!!  I hope everyone has had a good day today. :)
Here's the card I got my husband, before I wrote all of the mushy stuff inside, of course: (I think it's pretty darn cute)

Wanna see the card he got me?
Well....scroll up.  I kid you not...of alllll of the stores in Cairo, and alllll of the thousands of Valentine's cards to choose from, my husband and I got each other the same.exact.card.  What are the odds?!  I was so confused when I opened it, I was like wait, this is your card...and then we both looked up and busted out laughing.  I guess that means we're perfect for each other?  Or great minds think alike?  Or we both think chickens are hysterical?  I'm not sure which, but it's pretty funny.
Husband was supposed to have a tennis match tonight and I prayed my little heart out that it would rain.  Well wouldn't ya know...it's raining, and his tennis match was cancelled.  :) Yaaaay!!!
He cooked me a nice steak dinner, which was delish.  While we were cleaning up though, he stabbed me with a steak knife.  It was an accident of course, but I was like dude!  You just stabbed me in the elbow!!!  He felt kind of bad I think.
Right now he's smacking soft practice golf balls across our living room with the new golf clubs he got...and he's using my plant as the target.  Lovely.
I think we're going to go get Dairy Queen later...all that talk of ice cream last week made me want a little myself.  :)
Sorry that was all so random.  I hope you and your love have had fun "chicken" each other out today. :) 

What's In Your Purse Episode 4

 Sharing the contents of her purse today is my beautiful friend, Robin!  Robin and I have been friends for pretty much our entire lives.  We were practically raised together: we went to church together, went on homeschool field trips together, went camping together, flipped off of trampolines together (ok that was totally just me who did that, but Robin was always there to dust me off afterwards), and grew to love the Lord together. 
I give Robin a lot of credit in my salvation story.  I distinctly remember standing in her kitchen as an 8 year old little girl, looking at her calendar, when completely out of nowhere Robin asked me if I had asked Jesus into my heart. Not long after, I made the best decision of my life and followed my friend Robin's advice to ask the Lord to be my Savior.  This gal has had a lot of impact on my life and even though times and circumstances have seen us drift apart, I still look up to her and consider her one of those true friends that don't come along often.  Goodness, ok enough of the mushy stuff! 

Here's Robin's adorable purse!

Take it away girl!

I am a sucker for Vera Bradley, so I switch out purses often! So this happens to be the purse of choice for now because it's cute and fun and with Valentine's Day around the corner I though of it to be appropriate! Inside I have the pretty typical purse objects! 

1. Wallet, coin purse and check book all hold access my bank account which isn't all that important because there's not much in there right now! Hehe' 

2. I have my Advil because I am at the ripe old age of almost 25 and my joints are starting to hurt' Lol 3. Keys are important, and I have a rather large monogram keychain because I have the tendency to loose my keys often so it's easier for them to be seen!  

4. I have band-aids in case I have an accident or wear an uncomfortable pair of shoes that are too cute to pass up and leave blisters! 

5. I have hair bands, and Bobby pins in case of windy days... Or days when I oversleep and need a pony tail! 

6. I have hand sanitizer, which is a good thing to have for my job because working at a pharmacy I encounter a lot of sick people on a daily basis! 

7. Coupons!!! Everyone loves coupons, I am not an extreme coupon collector but I do find to time to clip things I know I will use. 

8. I somehow end up with random pens that I don't know where they come from or who's they are but somehow end up in my purse. Oh well, everyone needs pens once in a while. 

9. One of the most important things in my purse is my planner. It helps me keep track of work for not only myself but for my boyfriend as well. He is a full time teacher, part time music and youth minister, and I balance a full time job as a pharmacy tech so it's nice to know when and where we need to be outside of work. I have a tendency to rely on it way too much and I missplaced it a few weeks ago and felt like the girl from "27 dresses" when she lost her planner! Dysfunctional !! 

10 Something else that is a must for my purse is chap stick. Not just any kind but I have my carmex chap stick, Mary Kay clear lip gloss and a cover girl slightly tinted gloss. Could never do without my chapstick! 

11. I also have random things in my purse such as air heads and mini cow tails just in case I need a snack or sit near kids in church and need to bribe them to be quiet! 

12. Another important thing that stays in my purse is my cell phone.... But I am typing this with it as we speak and even though it's an iPhone, It still can't take a picture and type an email all at once... But it does supply me with things I need such as Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and most important my daily bread which is the word of God that I can take anywhere I go! It is the biggest priority in my daily life, and is more important to me than anything in my purse. Even though I have an electronic version of the Bible it's still with me daily, and I am so thankful for that!
Thanks for reading! Enjoying following this wonderful blog by one of my greatest childhood friends! No matter how old we get, how far apart we live, I wouldn't trade your friendship over the years for the world! 

Thanks Robin for guest posting for me today!  It's been great to catch up with you, even if it is through your purse :)
Oh and everybody, Robin is thinking about starting her own little bloggy blog, so leave some sweet  comments below and help me encourage her to do so! 
Hope everyone had a tolerable Monday and is planning a special little Valentine's Day tomorrow with your special little someone! 

A Winner!

And the winner of the first ever Helms Family Blog movie contest and a Dairy Queen gift card is....
Drum roll please................
Random number generator said the magic number was...7!

And answer number 7 on my correct answer spreadsheet belonged to my amazing mother-in-law, LOIS HELMS!!
Ok guys, I promise I did not rig this to get brownie points.  I promise! :)

Thank you so much to everybody who participated!  You guys did great!
Special props to Michelle over at Phenomenal Lass's Blog and Cathy from Scattered Seeds for being the only two participants to get all 10 answers correct!

Correct answers were as follows:

1.  Satan Dons Pricey Heels - Devil Wears Prada

2. First Meal at a Diamond Store - Breakfast at Tiffany's

3. Away with the Breeze - Gone with the Wind

4. The Upstanding Female and the Vagrant Male - Lady and the Tramp

5. A Frigid Lump of Earth - Cold Mountain (a lot of people guessed Ice Age, which was a great guess)

6. The Quietude of the Even-Toed Ungulates - Silence of the Lambs

7. The Lawless Groups of the Big Apple - Gangs of New York

8. Male on a Thin Thread of Metal - Man on Wire

9. The Feline Ruler - The Lion King

10. Traverse  the Queue - Walk the Line

Hope everyone had fun!  I plan on doing this again at some point.  Several of you had some awesome clues of your own, so I might just need your guys' help next time!  Hope everyone is enjoying your weekend!

Reminder

Everybody don't forget to go to send me your answers for the Movie Contest!  Go to this post to see the clues.  Contest closes at midnight tonight.  Check back in the morning for the correct answers and the winner.  Have a good Saturday everybody!

Awkward and Awesome Thursday!

One of my favorite bloggers, Sydney from The Daybook Blog has a post she does every Thursday called "Awkward and Awesome Thursday" where she lists out some humorous awkward moments, and some uplifting awesome moments from her week.  My favorite one of these posts so far is probably this one. 
I was running short on ideas today, so I figured I'd take a page from her book (no pun intended) and do a little Awkward and Awesome Thursday myself!  Here we go!

Awkward:
~ Shutting my hair in the door of my truck not once, but twice in one week.  I blame the static for making it stand straight up.
~Having several people you have never ever met or even seen say "you're Timothy Helms' wife aren't you?" Uh hi, and you are?  It doesn't help that this normally happens on days when I haven't washed my hair.  Thank you, small town USA!
~Passing the same old man each morning who is walking to work (I guess he's going to work).  He never looks too sure-footed and always stops and watches me as I'm driving past.  He's usually at the railroad tracks too, so I can't just fly by unless I want to go airborne (like my mom once did in her rodeo).  I always try to avoid eye contact, but he like stares me down!  I can pretty much time my mornings by his location on that road, well that and the radio. 
~When the night of your first exciting blog contest/giveaway and only your family members participate.  Now,  a couple of non-relatives have since joined in but: Come on people!!  You're makin' me sad!  It's free Dairy Queen!
~ Pulling up beside the truck pictured below at a red light today.  That is a gigantic tire in the back of that truck.  Also, just about pulled a muscle in my side frantically straining to grab my phone that had fallen in the passenger floorboard so that I got get a picture before the light turned green.  The name of the company is The Big Tire Company.  That's...fitting?  You can see their number in the picture, just in case you're in the need for a giant tire. 

Awesome:
~ The Chinese restaurant being able to predict our order when we call.  When we've only ordered there a couple of times.  Pretty impressive.
~ That a lady I spoke to on the phone the other day at work sounded like she was straight off of the show Downton Abbey.  I'm talking, best British accent I have ever encountered.  I kept trying to think of questions to ask her so that she'd keep talking. Should that go in the awkward column?
~ The enthusiasm of the man who stands on the street corner in Cairo, spinning a bright yellow sign that reads "We Buy Gold"! After each spin, he passionately shoots his hand straight up in the air for a quick wave.  He's evidently decided he's a crossing guard as well, by directing traffic during light changes from his spot on the sidewalk.  I'm pretty sure he has more fun at his job than anybody...ever.
~ That one tank of gas will last me about 3 weeks now that I work so close to home.
~ When husband says my crockpot meals are the best.  Easy meals for the win!
~Aaaand that tomorrow is FRIDAY!!! YAY!

Anybody else have some good awkward and awesomes from the week?  Share below! 

Sniffin' polish

So husband coaches the tennis team at the high school where he works and yesterday his team had their first meet/match/game/whatever tennis competitions are called.  Every single player won!  That's one for the win column!  Hopefully they'll keep that up.  Their first home game is tomorrow, so I'll be going to that to cheer on my little wind pants wearing coach of a hubby. :) 
Since husband was not home for dinner last night, this is what I had:

Yes, those are Honey Smacks.  Yes, I am 5 years old.  I felt like I was in college again.  As I've mentioned before, my cooperation with cooking did not begin until I got married.  I can count on my hands the number of times I cooked something with more than 3 ingredients in college.  I had cereal for meals more than anything else, I think.  It's just so easy and so good! 
Since husband was home tonight, I figured I had to make something a little more involved than cereal.  I decided to try something new and be a little healthy.  I found this recipe for Weight Watchers baked crab rangoon on Pinterest.  I've never had imitation crab before (basically fish that tastes like crab), so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it.  It actually wasn't bad, and was decently healthy.  They're small, so they would probably serve better as an appetizer or a finger food though.  I made some balsamic roasted green beans and mushrooms to go with it, which husband really liked.  I was kinda meh about the whole meal, probably because I was too busy gazing wistfully at my box of cereal.   Here's what it looked like: (again, I stink at taking food pictures...helloooooo shadow of Julie Anna's head)

In other news, it's college week on Jeopardy!  Yay!!!  Husband and I watch Jeopardy every night, and I love college week 'cause the questions are easier and I don't feel quite so stupid.  We shout out the answers and at the end decide which of us had the most correct answers.  A little bit of healthy marital competition! :) 
Now, we all know that Alex Trebek always engages in a little chatter with each player after the first commercial break.  Most contestants take this chance to humble brag about their extensive travel portfolio or how smart they are because they won a national science fair in like 3rd grade.  Well tonight, one of the players, Monica, chose during those 30 seconds of national attention to reveal that she owns over 40 bottles of nail polish.  When Alex asked her why, she said "the smell relaxes me."  Umm...that could be a problem Monica.  And wouldn't you know, ole polish sniffer Monica beat everybody by like $12,000 on the final jeopardy clue.  Maybe I should start sniffing fingernail polish so I could be on Jeopardy one day.  Hah!
Speaking of competitions, everybody go to yesterday's post and try your hand at my little movie competition!  Directions and rules are in that post! 
I think I'm going to go eat a little cereal for dessert.  Don't judge, I ate a "healthy" meal.  Happy hump day everyone!

Movie Game! Update: CONTEST CLOSED

I remember growing up, I absolutely hated long car rides.  Most of the time I was content to read or sleep, but occasionally I would get really antsy and become really annoying to my family.  This usually took the form of picking on my sister, high pitched squealing, or whining about how my legs hurt.  We would then try the usual games like the "ABC Game" or "I Spy," but those got boring as I got older, and thus a little more intelligent.  So my family one day came up with a game where we replaced the words in movie titles with synonyms.  The number of words in the new movie name doesn't always match the number of words in the original title, because sometimes that's impossible to do.  The person who guessed the right answer first got to give the next synonym clue.  For example: "A Tale Concerning Playthings" would be this awesome movie:

So for my first giveaway as a new blogger, I decided to have a little contest.  Below I have listed 10  movie title synonyms for you lovely readers.  For each correct movie title that you guys email me, you will get one entry into a drawing.  So if you guess 10 of the titles right, you will get 10 entries.  Even if you can't guess them all, at least try for one because you'd still have a chance to win the prize.  The more you guess correctly though, the better your chances.  Ya'll understand probability right?  Ok good.  At the end of this week, Saturday, February 11th, I will use a random number generator to decide the winner.
So now I'm sure you guys are wondering, what's the prize?  Well my lovely people, since I'm a working girl with a brand new house and an insatiable appetite for ice cream, I've decided that the winner will receive a $5 gift card to Dairy Queen!  Yay!  I know it's not much, but it will more than pay for one of these delicious treats: (photo courtesy of Dairy Queen, obviously)

So you guys ready?!  The clues are below.  The movies I have chosen are pretty well known movies, some are animated, some are live people movies.   

Once you think you've got some guesses, do the following:

A. email your guesses to me at julieannahelms[at]yahoo.com (replace that at with an @, I don't want spam).
B. Once you email me your responses, post a comment below telling me that you emailed me your guesses.  (You'll see a "Comments" link at the very bottom of each post, in the dark maroon section.)
C.  Please do not post your guesses/answers in the comment section below!  I don't want any cheaters stealing your answer! 

So recap: email me your answers, and then leave a comment saying you emailed me, below.  That'll help me keep better track of who all has entered the contest.

Alright kids, put your thinking caps on: (oh and remember that the new title and original title don't always have the same number of words) Here are the clues:

1.  Satan Dons Pricey Heels

2. First Meal at a Diamond Store

3. Away with the Breeze

4. The Upstanding Female and the Vagrant Male

5. A Frigid Lump of Earth

6. The Quietude of the Even-Toed Ungulates

7. The Lawless Groups of the Big Apple

8. Male on a Thin Thread of Metal

9. The Feline Ruler

10. Traverse  the Queue

Good luck everybody!  Please remember, don't post your answers below, just a comment telling me that you have emailed them to me.

What's In Your Purse Episode 3

 Today's guest is none other than the fabulous Miss Casie Jones!  Casie and I go way back to the yonder years of high school, and I feel privileged to call her a friend. 

Here's us as mere babes at our senior prom.  Oh to have that metabolism still...

She is one of the most genuine people I know, and is effortlessly funny to boot.  She's so easy to talk to, and makes some awesome mixed trip cds.  Ever the brave one, she has had some awesome adventures, like being a part of the crew for the Kiss European Tour.  Yes, this Kiss.  Casie now works at CNN, which is pretty awesome. 
Shall we take a look into her purse? 

Here's the inside:

What all she's got:
1. id card- can't get into work without it.
2. planner- makes me feel productive
3. note pad
4. "how to talk money" book- CNN original folks...the first 2 pages are great!
5. lip balm- times about 3 or 4...turns out I'm a compulsive lip balm buyer
6. wallet
7. little memo tags- they were free at work and I thought they'd make
cool gift tags
8. check books
9. bobby pins/ hair cream- I often get ready at work, and firmly believe frizz ease and pins fix everything.
...theres normally a make-up bag and a brown paper bag lunch in there too! :)

Thanks Casie for letting us take a look inside your bag!  I might need to borrow that book when you're done. :)
Hope everyone had a nice Monday!  It's over!  Woo!

Date Night!

Yesterday Timothy and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day early since next weekend his family will be visiting, and the weekend after that my family will be visiting.  Yay!  So we left at about 3:00, and headed down to Tallahassee, Florida.  It was beautiful outside, about 75 degrees and sunny! 
We went to a couple of golf shops so that Timothy could look around.  One store had an area with a net where he could hit some balls.  It was pretty neat!  We went by Target so that I could return a dress that I had ordered that was too short.  We looked around a little and found Timothy a handsome green golf shirt in the clearance section there at Target. 
We were going to go to a little mom and pop Italian restaurant for an early dinner, but it was closed.  So we went to Bonefish Grill instead!  Oh bummer! :)  We got Bang Bang Shrimp, of course and both got fish tacos as well.  Their fish tacos are delicious, with a really tasty mango salsa.  I was excited about the tacos, so I didn't get a picture of that, but I got a picture of the shrimp.  (Sorry the pictures are crappy, the little camera I usually carry with me has a dead battery and I can't find the charger)

Next we headed towards the mall and Timothy went to another sports store while I went into Ross.  I have missed having a Ross close by!  I got a cute skirt, a cool little glass bottle to put our dish soap in, and some sheets for our spare bed.
Next, we went to see a movie, The Descendants.  We figured after all the buzz it is getting at awards this year, we should check it out.  It was pretty good.  Kind of depressing, but a story line that I haven't seen done before.  George Clooney is starting to get some age on him, but I still think he's pretty handsome.  :)
After we saw the movie, we headed towards home.  And then we saw this:

For you healthy/non-cultured people, this beautiful glowing red sign says "hot doughnuts now" meaning that heaven is just one drive-thru away.  Every time my mom sees this sign while in the car with my dad, she knows to hold on for dear life.  He once swerved across 6 lanes of traffic in a reeeeally sketchy part of south Atlanta to get to a Krispy Kreme with this glowing red beacon of hope.  So in honor of my dad, and just because it would be plain crazy not to, we stopped and got a dozen hot, delicious, sugary, melty rings of doughnut deliciousness. 

In a bizarre and totally unfair twist of fate, I am actually allergic to the icing on these doughnuts.  Makes my lips swell right up!  But they're just so good that most of the time I tough it out anyways.  Another unfair allergy that my body just decided to develop this past summer: watermelon.  Even watermelon flavored things!  I break out in hives. :(  I liked to have itched my skin off this summer until we realized what was happening.
So that was our Saturday!  Now we're about to grill up some dinner and watch a little bit of the Super Bowl I guess. :)
Another guest post tomorrow, from my awesome friend Casie Jones! 

What I want for Valentine's Day

So normally I wait until Timothy is half asleep to have important conversations where I want to buy something/go somewhere/ win an argument.  In past experiences, he usually just cedes to what I want in his half asleep stupor, because if not I just beg incessantly and get really annoying.  So for the sake of getting me to shut up so he can fall back asleep, he exasperatedly says fine, ok, sure, or some other variation of an affirmative response, and I drift off into dreamland thinking of the wonderful thing I'm going to get to buy/do/gloat about being right over.  Upon waking, I automatically start detailing my plan to buy/do the thing he unwittingly agreed to a mere 8 hours earlier, and if he starts to argue, I just say but honey, remember last night you said I could?  Occasionally, I win.  Ever wonder how I got a gecko?  Well, there's your answer.

After viewing that video I linked to on my post last night (credit for the discovery of that video goes to another blogger, The Blogess) of the hedgehog taking a bath, I naturally decided that my next pet has to be a hedgehog.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Until I knew Timothy was right on the precipice of sleep.  And I pounced!  Here's roughly how that conversation went:

Me: Hey!  Hey!  (poking his shoulder 'till he wakes) Will you get me a hedgehog for Valemtimes Day?  (and yes I did replace the n's with m's thinking I would sound cuter, and thus procure a hedgehog)

Timothy:  (with a confused face and a laugh)  No.

Me:  But whyyyy not?

Timothy:  Because

Me:  But then I could play with it in a tub of water, and it would be cute!

Timothy:  No

Me:  Why?!  (I thought about saying "you never let me have anything I want!!!  But that only works on moms)

Timothy:  Because they have pinchers (proof that he was half asleep)

Me:  (with a reeeeeally confused look)  What?

Timothy:  I mean those spikey things

Me:  They're not procupines.  They don't have hard spikey things

Timothy:  Quills, that's what they're called.  The babies might have soft ones, but the adults will hurt you

Me:  (seeing a chance to extol some of the perks of owning a hedgehog)  Oh the babies are so cute!!!  They're like this big  (uses palm of hand to pantomime holding a teeny tiny hedgehoglet, and then petting it on the head with one finger)

Timothy:  (laughs)  No they're not!

Me:  Yes they are!  Give me your phone, I'll show you a picture.

Timothy:  No, it's charging

Me:  Well they really are that small

Timothy:  Whatever, they'll quill you to death (now fully awake)

Me:  No they won't!

Timothy:  Yes huh, look it up 

Me:  Give me your phone and I will!

Timothy:  No, go to bed.

Me:  Pleeeease get me a hedgehog!  He would be so squishy!  And he'd be like the hedgehog in that video, so happy and flipping around and stuff!

Timothy:  I'm not getting you a hedgehog.  You have a gecko and a cat already.

Me:  Well then can I have a ferret instead?  I've always wanted a ferret.

Timothy:  No, I might as well get you a sewer rat.  Ferrets are gross.

Me:  Ok, what about a slow loris?  (ok, side note...if you don't know what a slow loris is, go and watch this video of a slow loris with an umbrella.  Right now!  Please pay particular attention to this thing's face between the 0:20 and 0:30 second mark.  I laugh so hard at this that I cannot breath.)

Timothy:  No

And this goes on for about 5 more minutes with me listing off about 10 more equally ridiculous pet options.  

Needless to say, I totally lost that fight, so me and my pouty lip just went to bed.  Well today I said "I'm gonna get on wikipedia and prove him wrong, that these cute little hedgehogs wouldn't hurt me!"

And fail.

According to wikipedia:

"Hedgehogs are easily recognized by their spines, which are hollow hairs made stiff with keratin.  Their spines are not poisonous or barbed and, unlike the quills of a porcupine, cannot easily be removed from the hedgehog.  However, spines normally come out when a hedgehog sheds baby spines and replaced them with adult spines.  This is called "quilling"....A defense that all species of hedgehogs possess is the ability to roll into a tight ball, causing all of the spines to point outwards."

At least I was right about the little babies being so small.  This is a baby hedgehog (photo credit to here)

But apparently my cute little baby hedgehog would grow up to be a mean and spikey hedgehog.  And it would quill me to death.  Maybe.

Predictability

Warning: This is going to be a little bit of a complaint laden post, my apologies ahead of time :)  If you'd rather see something funner, just skip this post and watch this video of a hedgehog taking a bath. 

So here goes: normally I listen to the radio on my commute to work each day, because I'm too lazy to plug in/turn on my iPod for the 5 minute trip (yeah it's awesome to only work 5 minutes from home), and the radio station that I listen to has taken predictability to a whole new level.  I could pretty much time my morning by using this radio station instead of a clock.  Every morning I know that one of the three-ish songs that I will hear on the commute will be that gosh awful Orianthi song "According to You."  On a side note: I have never heard this singers name until just now when I looked the song up on Youtube.  I always thought that Avril Lavigne or Kelly Clarkson or some other man hater, but still man dependent lyricist had written it.  I don't know if it's because I hear it literally every morning or because it just is, but it is one of the most annoying songs I can think of right now.  Not only is the instrumental side of the music annoying, but the lyrics are just stupid.  It sounds like she's saying "but according to ham" in the chorus.  Now I can appreciate a compliment giving piece of sandwich meat, but I'm pretty sure she's trying to refer to a significant other, not an ingredient.   

But at least the morning commute includes some songs, however annoying they may be.  My lunch commute from work to the post office, and from the post office home for lunch is full of commercials.  They are the same commercials.  Every.single.day.  It starts out with Captain Sorenson from Firehouse Subs, who spends literally 3 minutes fake joking with other firemen about their new Coke machine.  I have two problems with this commercial: A. There is not a Firehouse Subs here, so it's cruel to advertise something I can not have B. I'm trying not to drink Cokes as much and spending 3 minutes listening to someone talk about it does not help C.  Everybody knows that firemen don't rib each other about what Cokes they are or are not going to drink...so unrealistic.  After this commercial comes the lady who's pretend calling her best friend to tell her about a new hormonal supplement she's been taking.  Problems with this: A. I don't want to know about your hormonal imbalance B. Couldn't your excitement just be your raging hormones talking, and therefore not a true representation of the product?  Then we have the lovely Kia car commercial.  Of the three, I can tolerate this one the best.  The girl in the commercial has a pleasant voice, she's quick and to the point, and at the end she chirps "And remember, we wanna see ya in a Kia!"  Tolerable.  At this point I usually turn the radio off, because after the pleasant Kia lady, there's not much hope.

By the time I head home, I've forgotten about what a failure the days radio experience has been, and stupidly turn the volume back up.  At this point, one of the personalities has his daily "Planet of the Apps" run through where he pretends he's hip and on top of trends by talking about iPhone apps.  Problems: A. I don't have an iPhone or iPad so I don't really care.  B.  Most people have been using Instagram for over a year, so sorry, but you're waaaay behind the trend buddy.  After he's done they play the song "Good Life" by OneRepublic  I actually like this song, so it is the highlight of my daily interaction with the radio.  And I do appreciate that they play this at the END of the day, when you're so excited to be off of work, that it truly feels like a good life. 

Alright, I'm done ranting. :) Bing has been really wanting attention lately.  Last night he followed me around the house meowing, wanting to be pet.  Today when I got home from work, I apparently didn't get out of my car fast enough for him, so he jumped up on the hood and stared at me through the windshield.  He then tried to climb around to my window and fell off the car.  Here's him on the hood.

Sorry it's so dark, I had to use my phone camera.  It's nice to feel needed, even by a little kitty.  

Hey everybody, tomorrow is Friday!!!  :) Can I get an amen!?! 

Where is the flaxseed?!?!?

So today I went on my dreaded once a month shopping trip.  Everything was going smoothly, found the coconut, the Rotel tomatoes, the worchestire sauce (have no clue how to say that word), and then I got to the ground flaxseed.....looked on the baking aisle, the spice aisle, the "healthy food" aisle....no flaxseed.  So I do what any smart female would do.  I called my mom.  Now it needs to be mentioned that the only reason I ever call someone on the phone is A. Someone has died; B. I think I am dying/have cancer or some other serious illness/broken bone C. I'm at the end of my rope on trying to find something.  This instance just so happened to be C.  So ring, ring, ring...she doesn't answer.  Blast!  So, obviously, I call my sister next.  She tells me to look on the produce aisle.  Look there, no flaxseed.  I had already spent 1.25 hours at this crowded Wal-Mart, but I was determined to find this stupid fibrous seed. 
So finally I decide, well...I'll just find a Wal-Mart employee and ask them where it is.  In my mind, I round the next aisle, find that blue shirted enthusiastic and helpful employee who says "flaxseed you ask?  I'm not positive where that is, but I can certainly help you search!"  We then peruse an aisle, one of us finds this evasive little bugger, we meet with a high-five and a "good job!" and I go on my way.  Well if you're thinking I must be dreaming...you're absolutely right.  Apparently my idea of things and reality had a one person difference.  I looked down five aisles and did not see a single employee in sight.  At this point, my banana and Nutella snack that I ate before shopping (to keep me from being hungry and thus purchasing one of everything in the entire store) had worn off, I had a buggy full of items, and everyone else had apparently decided it was time to play bumper buggies.  I considered just abandoning my buggy and running up and down every aisle screaming "WHERE IS THE FLAXSEED?!?" but decided against it since I now live in a small town where everybody knows everybody and didn't feel like getting ushered out sans groceries.
I resigned myself to a flaxseedless shopping trip, and with slumped shoulders went to checkout.  This was my buggy.

There's just one thing missing...*sigh*

In more positive news, husband and I made some delicious french toast and omelets for dinner.  Recipe from Alton Brown of course.