Fa La La La La...

Christmas is just 25 days away... can you believe it?  I certainly cannot.  This is my favorite time of the year, Lifetime is now playing Christmas movies, ABC Family has started their 25 days til' Christmas, The Hallmark Channel is playing Christmas movies... every channel you turn to it's filled with Chrismas cheer!! 

I am a total sap when it comes to these movies.  It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside and out when you watch them...

Now I am ready to get the tree up and all the decorations out.  The hubby is off work on vacation next week so guess what we will be doing??

FA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

It's Thanksgiving Time

Tomorrow is the big day, the day when all the endless hours slaving over a hot stove comes to an end! This year we are having Thanksgiving at my Mom and Pop's house with my Meme and Pa (my great grandparents).  We will be having the goods... turkey, dumplings, stuffing, mashed taters, gravy, cranberry sauce, mac n cheese, deviled eggs; you name it we're gonna have it. I'm fixing one of the desserts, peanut butter bars! They are yummy!!

So on that note, let me tell you what I'm thankful for this year...

Dependable, honest, trustworthy, reliable, people!  Today I was shown how UNreliable, UNdependable some people are.. me and UPS - not on the of best terms right now!!  Today I was suppose to receive 3 lets count them 1...2...3... Packages, how many did I get today? NONE!! That's right... zero, zip, zilch, a big fat GOOSE EGG!!  Normally I wouldn't be so uptight, let this get to me, but these packages are not for me.  I have been waiting on this shipment for almost 2 weeks. 

So of course I have called UPS several times today and one of the evening updates at 7:00 this evening was... "we had the truck driver drop your packages here and the other truck driver will be dropping them off to your house later this evening." Tick-Tock Tick-Tock and guess what 9:30pm comes along.. no packages.. I call back and the same girl says, " the driver has picked up the 2 packages..." me: whoa whoa.. there are 3 packages. UPS: "oh well the driver only has two... I only saw two tracking numbers, what was the third tracking number?" of course I give it to her and she comes back...."we've located 2 of the 3 packages like I said two of them are on the truck and they will be delivered tonight --they haven't a clue where the third package is... "oh wait!" she says, "it could be here...oh let me call you back. I need to talk to so and so who has been here a lot longer than I have. Let me call you back."  <-- that reassured me; let me tell ya!! :-/

UPDATE: I just received the last call from UPS of the  night (10:00pm)... "yes your third package is here, but it will not be shipped to you until Monday."  Me: I understand you are closed tomorrow, can I come by and pick it up Friday? "Well, it's on the truck, locked and uh, well let me try to put a stop to the sortment and I will call you Friday morning and let you know if I can get it or not."  Me: sure.  I mean what else was I going to say?  NO GIVE ME MY PACKAGE, OR ELSE?!  <-- that wasn't going to get me anywhere.  So my simple answer sure was as good as it was going to get.

So the point of the story again?  I am THANKFUL for dependable, honest, trustworthy, reliable, people!

Okay I feel sooo much better now that I've told you all about that.

But seriously, I am of course thankful for so much more.  I am thankful for my family, friends, my wonderful husband who shows more compassion and sincerity than I have ever met. I'm also thankful for my sweet, precious Isabella. She gives me a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to be a better person and she has opened my heart in a way I never thought possible. I love my life and those that are in it and want to be in it. I wouldn't change any of the above for anything.  Life will always give you UPS (no pun tended ha!) and downs. You gotta take the good with the bad, breathe, and move on and eventually things will get better. Never stop thanking the Good Lord for what he has given us! There is a reason for everything. I truly believe that.  We may not know what that reason is at the time, but He does! He has the master plan and I'm so glad He is in charge!

I would like to end this blog that pretty much sums up being thankful....

Being forever thankful
Is what God wants from us
Never forgetting from where we came
Or His boundless saving love

All of heavens blessings
Poured down from heavens gates
Everything we have in life
He's given with extra grace

We need to always thank Him
For this and so much more
Not only for tangible things
But because He is our Lord

Thanksgiving is the key
For His blessings to increase
If we've not got thankful hearts
His blessings soon will cease

Don't ever start complaining
At what you may not have
Look around at what you see
Then be thankful and glad.... By M.S.Lowndes

I hope each and every one of you have a fabulous Turkey Day... Gobble Gobble!!

- Tiffany <3

Over the Weekend...

Over the weekend I was involved in an Open House with a few other vendors; Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, and Mary Kay.  We had a great time and a wonderful turn out.  Again, thank you to everyone who came out and showed their support! It really means a lot!! If anyone needs a Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, Scentsy, or Mary Kay consultant let me know - I know just the right ladies to help you book a party or make a purchase!

Another happening this weekend and a few to go is the rennovation of our house. So far we have our new sliding back door up, backerboard is down on 1/2 the kitchen floor and the brick encasing is almost finished on the outside. It's going to look great when it's all done.

Yes, it will look great once it's all done!!

So today is Sunday.  Jeff is cleaning out the garage, Isabella is sleeping and I found some time to blog.  Today, after Izzie wakes up and eats her lunch I believe we will be going shopping to find her some Christmas Dresses - since we have soo many places to go this year, she will need a different dress for every get together! :) haha Maybe not that many dresses, but I'm sure I will find her a few.

Guess that's all for now - I'm signing off!

Thanksgiving and Holiday Open House

Thanksgiving is vastly approaching and every where you turn people are always saying what they are thankful for and what he/she needs to do differently, etc.,

Here are the things I'm thankful for....

...the mess to clean up after a party

because it means I have been surrounded by friends.

...my shadow who watches me work

because it means my daughter is there. 

...the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot

because it means I am capable of walking.

...all the complaining I hear about our government

because it means we have freedom of speech.

...lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and shutters that need fixing

because it means I have a home.

...my huge heating bill

because it means that I am warm.

...weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day

because it means that I have been productive.

...the early morning laughings and jibberish talk in the morning from Isabella

because it means that we are alive.

So this year what are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Usually, we go to my moms mom's house, but this year my mom will be having Thanksgiving at her house with my dad's mom and dad joining us.  Then we will of course have an after Thanksgiving Thanksgiving with Jeff's mom and step-dad.

Shoo, I better quit talking about Thanksgiving thinking about all this food is making me so very hungry!

So this weekend November 18th and 19th I am involved in a Holiday Open House.  Consultants from Avon, Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, and myself from Scentsy will all join together under one roof for YOU!  Christmas is only 38 days away, have you started your holiday shopping yet?  If not, come on by our Open House and start crossing off people on your list. While you are there enjoy the refreshments, holiday smells, decor, and smiling faces there to greet you!  Oh and don't forget to enter your name in the drawings!

Happy Holidays!!

I'm STILL here...

Yes, it has been a while since my LAST post! I have been in BB13 mourning. Ha, not really! Just been extremely busy lately.  I guess I shall catch you up on a few things.

We, Jeff, Isabella, MiL, MiL's husband, and myself went to Myrtle Beach, SC towards the middle of September.  We had a pretty good time.  The weather on most days was nice. It wasn't too hot and the water was perfect. This, as many of you know, was Isabella's first time at the Beach and definitely won't be her last. 

She was our little 'World Traveler' on the plane.....

And LOVED the beach...

(L-R: Jeff, Me, Isabella, Nana, & Kenny)

And before we left to go to the Beach I became a Scentsy Consultant and I am having great success with that!! I couldn't be more Thankful & Blessed with all the family and friend support I have gotten with my new business venture. For those of you that do not know what Scentsy is, it's a unique candle warming system that uses a 25 watt bulb to warm the wax slowly into a pool of melted wax that maximizes the strength and life of the scent. Scentsy Candle bars last up to 80 hours and will never release the harmful chemicals that you can find in regular jarred candles. Another thing that is great about Scentsy is that over a 12 month period using Scentsy Warmers as apposed to jarred candles you can easily save over $140.00. Not only will you save money using Scentsy Candles, but when your done you will be left with a beautiful house decoration instead of a charred black, empty jar. So Scentsy in a nutshell:

Scentsy Candles are Lead free, Wick free and Flameless Candles 

More than 80 Delicious Scents to choose from

Unique Scentsy Warmers for every Decor

60 - 80 hour Burn time 

Makes a Great Nightlight

To order simply visit my website thescent4you.scentsy.us

or call me...

We also went to Hubers at the begining of October

with Gammie and Pa Pa.....

And another great thing is that my tutu business has been picking up a lot here lately....

Only One More Left...

Of Big Brother :( This saddens me greatly!!  The end of Big Brother means the end of Summer, the end of seeing Big Jeff!

So here is my recap from Wednesday & Thursday's show - and there will be a spoiler, so if you don't want to know... don't read ...

Wednesday was a pre-recorded episode of Big Brother and an eviction night at that. Rachel nominated Kalia and Porsche; her reasoning, 'because you're coming after me.' In the diary room she tells us that Kalia has tried to get her out more times than she can count, which is probably true seeing as Kalia has only gone after Rachel once or twice. Porsche says that she and Kalia are the “biggest competitors in the house”. Also true, but only because all either of them ever do is eat or sleep.

This entire episode was about Kalia and Porsche speculating if Adam, assuming he won the veto, would use it on them to ensure that they both stay in the house. Meanwhile Jordan is also concerned, so she goes to talk to Adam about it, who is sitting by himself in the purple room. She walks in and greets him with, “What are you doing?”, to which Adam replies, “Just laying here”. I couldn't help but laugh to myself because that same exact interaction could’ve theoretically gone on verbatim during any competition throughout this entire season.

So far Wednesday's episode has been a busy one, thus far and the veto competition takes flight. Another competition that we have seen before (BB12 w/clams and cd's). But clearly the Big Brother gods have something against Kalia, because we can’t really be expected to believe that with the entire back yard littered with desserts, she will have the ability to remain focused on the task at hand. Unlikely, Big Brother…and I’m on to you.

Round one, Jordan is 'almost embarrassed' when she is kicked out the first round! Really Jordan, come on.

Round two, Rachel doesn't make it in time.

Round three, Kalia is out and starts to cry.  You know it’s outlandish when Rachel is calling someone out for their overdramatics.

Round four, Porsche mishears “lost all seventeen competitions they played in“ for “left after seventeen minutes they were in the house” and grabs Keith’s pie. Adam correctly grabs Shelly’s pie and wins the competition.

After the competition, we finally get to see Big Jeff inside the Jury House. As you remember, Shelly was evicted from the BB House last Thursday and is now gracing everyone with her presence in the Jury House. Here is the recap of what went down...

JEFF: I wanna hear the story of the person that got me out. What’s up with us, Shelly?

SHELLY: Well, Jeff – I was playing this game called “Big Brother” where I was trying to win a half-million dollars by whatever means necessary.

JEFF: But I was trying to have a three-month vacation with my girlfriend! Where do you get off breaking up my summer of passionless platonic romance?!

SHELLY: If I didn’t evict you or Jordan when I had the chance, I wouldn’t have stood any shot against you two in the finals.

JEFF: But I’m Big Jeff! CBS’s golden boy! You had no right to get rid of me! Didn’t you read the “It’s Jeff’s Way Or The Highway” clause in your contract?

- - That's my Big Jeff! :)

Quickly we go back to the eviction speeches, where Porsche goes first. She says that she’s “already been funny” in her speeches (intentionally?…cuz I must have missed that one) and then goes on to say a bunch of nice things about everyone, which means that she knows just as well as we do that she’s not going anywhere. Kalia, on the other hand, shows that she knows she’s on her way out the door by saying plenty of legitimately insightful things (“Adam – start playing like an all-star and stop playing like a fan”, “Rachel – you can’t keep complaining about putting out people that play this game if you’re going to keep doing it”, etc) yet she still somehow comes off like a scorned lunatic.

Time for the voting... Jordan votes out Porsche, but seems a little confused as to why... Adam votes to evict Kalia so with the tie, Rachel has the last say... Kalia is evicted from the BB house. Then a ChenBot does a quick one question interview with her and then plays the good-bye messages...

REFRIGERATOR: [crying] I’m going to miss you so much! What am I supposed to do now with all this ice cream and frozen pizza in me?

MATTRESS: I’m really proud that you made it as far as you did! I know that we probably spent more time together than anyone else in the house, so it’s going to be really sad around here without you. At least I still have your indentation to remind me of all the good times we had!

After another commercial break, we get to see Big Brother finally make use of the fortune teller machine.  The remaining houseguests are kept up all night by the fortune teller spewing out predictions that will be used in the next HoH:

• “Shelly will be diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome after spending months continually writing sentences to her daughter as punishment for all the lies that she told”
• “Adam will lose the game of Big Brother when he walks into the back yard and literally floats away over the walls of the house”
• “Daniele will begin selling her own line of fashionable self-defense pocket tasers called ‘The Shockkkerrrrr’”
• “Lawon will receive a special power from CBS on his 50th birthday that will allow him to return to the house during Big Brother Season 24”
• “Keith, Cassie, and Dominic will open up a bar called ‘Regulators’ which will be shut down three weeks after its grand opening due to their employees revolting and taking over”

Finally the HoH comp starts, the remaining houseguests are read a fortune and they need to answer “TRUE” if it was something they heard the night before or “FALSE” if it was not exactly as they had heard it.  Adam FINALLY WINS one and upon winning HoH, Adam proclaims “I’m an All-Star, baby!”, which causes all of America to bond in a collective fit of laughter.


Thursday Recap:

ChenBot pops on to greet us and send a reminder that Adam won HoH last week by saying, “He can no longer follow the power…he is the power”.
\

We of course have a flashback of Kalia leaving the BB refrigerator and bed behind and Adam tells us in the DR that by voting to evict Kalia he is “firmly with the veterans” and that he has chosen his side. Oh yes – you heard that correctly…with 6 days left in a 77-day game, Adam has just now chosen his side. {---- We shall see how long that lasts...

The next thing we flash back to is Adam’s HoH victory. Which segues into Adam sounding pervy when he talks about him kissing girls’ butts and girls kissing his butt. Which segues into the most obnoxious “WHO WANTS TO SEE MY HoH ROOOOOOOMMMM! ARRRRGHHHHH!!!!” in the history of Big Brother. Adam’s HoH basket is filled with bacon, bacon and more bacon.. I'm talkin' gummy bacon, bacon band-aids, oh and Tori Spelling’s pinky finger (wrapped in bacon). Rachel said that “if Adam could, he would probably marry bacon”. 

One by one Adam’s Angels come up to big bacon daddy's den to plead their case as to why they should remain off the block. Porsche plays the “newbie” angle, Rachel says “obviously” no less than twelve times, obviously... and Jordan wastes her time and ends up “FUSS-trated!” (Gosh, I love Jordan! MUAH!)

Adam couldn’t play the “creepy old man” card any more convincingly when he pops into the bedroom to announce, “Hey girls – it’s time for the nomination ceremony”. {--- Tell me you got that too, that I'm not the only one! bahahaha!  Rachel ends up being the only one safe from nominations this week (“obviously”), and Adam gives us this so Adam ironic gem of a quote:

ADAM: “If you want to be in the final three, you have to earn it!”He follows that up with, “Porsche and Jordan – I want to see what you are made of!”.

I’m guessing silicone and air, respectively, but what do I know? And Poor Jordan... Honey, why didn't you step it up?

Between last week’s OTEV clues and this week’s veto competition being titled (overly-appropriately) “Jukebox Veto”, I am certain that the creative team in charge of veto challenges has thrown in the towel on this season as much as I wish I would have. The premise is similar to competitions we’ve seen in the past (shockkkkerrrr!) where you have to match up a set of names that fit a set of clues. For example:

Okay, you get the idea... Porsche ends up winning. Immediately upon Porsche’s victory, Adam (not wasting a millisecond contemplating floating towards the latest person in power) says, “Even though I’ve been working with Jordan and Rachel, it would be kind of good for another newbie to be in the final three, so this might work out for me!”. ADAM FOR ALL-STARS 2!

I have to give it Rachel for the first time in a long time we get to see her do her magical “tear-less crying”. I kind of miss it, actually. This goes on and on right up until the LIVE pre-taped veto ceremony. This ceremony is catered perfectly towards Adam’s season-long “Reign of Mediocrity Terror” because when Porsche uses the veto Rachel is the only one left to go up as a replacement, so Adam is able to continue not having to make a decision on his own. SHOOOCKKKERR!

Right after the veto is used, the eviction ceremony begins. Rachel’s speech is first, and she asks Porsche to use the veto on her, then if she can use the veto on Porsche, then if Porsche will be her best friend, and every question other than “will you please vote to keep me?” Jordan announces that she’s going home, compliments Rachel and Adam, and then says that all she knows about Porsche is that she wears bikinis and hosts competitions. 

Jordan gets the boot, and she takes the walk of shame down to ChenBot for the first time in two seasons of gameplay. :(  ChenBot plays the good-bye messages:

PORSCHE: [off to the side] Who? I don’t know who that is. What did you want me to say again? Oh – okay. [into the camera] Gordon – I’m really sad to see you leave. [off to the side] What? Oh. [into the camera] JORDAN – I’m really sad to see you leave.

ADAM: I am SO thankful to you for showing me how to play this game and be another mega-floater with a shot at winning a half-million dollars.

RACHEL: I’m sorry that I couldn’t save us in the final veto. We’ve worked together all summer and become really good friends, and I mean that through the bottom of my heart. You are an amazing person, and I feel like I’ve made a lifelong friend in you….Oh, and also – NOBODY gets between me and MY man, and I don’t want your STUPID vote ANYWAY! (okay that was from last season, but hey... it sounded good!)

The houseguests walk out into the backyard to begin the first part of the final three-part HoH competition. This one is called “Big Brother Mixer” and (why bother with originality this late in the game) it’s pretty much the same thing as the paint can endurance competition from last season. Basically, the three contestants spin around on the beater of a giant mixer while it churns butter. Big Brother also has some leftover paint cannons from last year’s similar competition, and the fact that firing paint blasts has nothing to do with baking does not stop it from being part of this HoH comp’s distractions.

ChenBot reads the rules, and after a quick commercial break we come back to find Adam floating face-down and presumably dead in the pool of butter. Who will win the final HoH competition and be crowned the winner of Big Brother 13? Will Adam be resuscitated in time to win his inevitable $50,000? Will Kalia go into a jealous rage when she finds out that she just missed a competition involving hundreds of gallons of butter? Tune in Wednesday at 9:30/8:30 to find out.

Okay *SPOILER ALERT!* Rachel wins this comp so Rachel will have the say as to who she wants sitting next to her on Wednesday. By the looks of it.. Adam may be next to go to the Jury House. While Adam is dreaming about Bacon and Tori Spelling, Rachel seems to be helping Porsche

study the memory wall pictures incase the HoH Part 2 is a morph comp...

Who do you think will win???

I'm TEAM RACHEL!!

 

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend was a fun filled weekend with a bunch of FIRSTS for the Williams clan.

Saturday Jeff and I took Izzie to get her FIRST pair of tennis shoes; New Balance to be exact!  Most of you know that Isabella is practically RUNNING through the house now and she has never had a 'real' pair of tennis shoes. She has had the soft shoes for walkers, but not the big girl shoes. So this was a big day for me - yes I'm a softie, and yes I'm one of those moms that wrote this day down in the baby book... "The day we got Isabella Big Girl Shoes..."

Modelin' her new shoes

 

I think she likes them :)

Sunday I went out with some of my girlfriends to see The Help. FIRST time I had been to see a movie since I was pregnant, over a year ago. Can't express how much I absolutely adored this movie. One of THE best movies I had seen in a long time. I reccomend this movie to any one who loves a good heart-felt movie, but please remember to bring along your hanky - you will need it! After I got home, we didn't do much of anything which I enjoyed. Seems like all we do on the weekend is go go go and after we get back from vacation house remodeling starts - so I'm going to enjoy this not so much to do as much as I can while it lasts!

Today we [Jeff and I] took Isabella to The Louisville Zoo, for the FIRST time. Along with us, everybody else decided to go today as well. Shoo - wee was it packed! I hadn't been to the zoo in about 10 years so I was very excited to see all the new exhibits and to experience the zoo with my family! Isabella had a blast! The weather was perfect. It was a little chilly at first, but it got better as the day went on. Here are some pictures of our trip to the zoo. We hope you enjoy them as we much as we had making them! :)
Talk to you soon!!

Ready to go to the ZOO!

Photo Opp with Mommy while Daddy got ready...

Had to do a Re-do - last pic Izz had her eyes closed!

Wanted to bring her "BAAIRRR" as she calls it

One of my fave pics!