Weekend Recap: Football, Basketball, and Veterans

Happy Tuesday!  I am refreshed after my three day weekend.  That extra day off really did me a favor and I was able to get caught up on everything that didn't get done over the weekend.

1. Friday's lunch from the Chicken Salad Chick.  I had never eaten there before but I WILL be back.  I had Nutty Nana with cashews and pecans, Sassy Scotty with Ranch, bacon, cheddar cheese.  They have 15 different kinds of chicken salad and they all sound heavenly!
2. Dip #1 from this weekend: Pizza Dip...this recipe will be coming to you this week, I promise.
3. This pretty much sums up Monday morning at our house.
4. Dip #2 from this weekend was Tequila Jalapeno Crab Dip.  It was a lit spicier than I was expecting but it was really good.  If you are a fan of seafood dips, it's worth a try. I added artichokes to mine, because we love artichokes and it was delicious!
5. I decided I needed not one but 2 red holiday cups on Friday evening.  The short one was my Skinny Peppermint Mocha, and the tall one was my peppermint hot chocolate for the football game that went in the thermos immediately after this picture.
6. I made my Butterfinger Cookies this weekend and was disappointed.  I hadn't made them since Eric was in the desert 4 years ago and we both remembered them being a lot softer than they were.  I am thinking I must have wrote the recipe down wrong?  Don't get me wrong, they were delicious, but they were missing something.
7. Small town pride or bored grocery store employees?  You tell me.

To say it was a busy weekend was an understatement.  We started off the weekend with a football playoff game.  We played about and hour and a half from where we live, which was only about an hour from where I work, so I decided to stay in town and get a little shopping in on the way to the game.  =)  Unfortunately the game did not turn out the way we had hoped.  Our offense had a rough day and we ended up losing 21-10.  I hate to see the season end, but it will be nice having Eric around again. I may not get to see him much during the week with my game/practice schedule, but it will be nice to have him home on Sunday afternoons (if he's not in the woods hunting).

Saturday was spent gearing up for the Alabama-LSU game.  I made several goodies and we had a crowd on the porch for the game.  Bama pulled off another impressive win.  It left our Auburn-fan friends chomping at the bit for the Iron Bowl in a few weeks.  Saturday night took so much out of us that we didn't wake up until 10:30 on Sunday morning.  I honestly cannot remember the last time I slept that late.  I guess we really needed our beauty sleep.

In case you are wondering, yes I am the oldest alumni in the picture.  Every class since 2007 (my class) is represented here, too!

It was probably a good thing that I got a good night's sleep because Sunday was the 5th Annual (not 4th like I said on Friday) Lady Hawks Alumni Game.  It was quite a game.  We had 9 alumni this year, and we gave those youngins a run for their money in the first half.  We were only down 35-40 at halftime.  In the second half, a combination of fatigue and refs who decided to call the game in the favor of the current team lead to a final score of 86-64 (or something along those lines).  The real victory was the fact that the alumni made it through the game and no one got hurt.  =)  I am sure we're all feeling it a lot worse than the current team this week, but then again they are college athletes and they SHOULD be in shape.  After the game the Alumni decided we needed Mexican and Margaritas, because that's what you do when you're old and you don't have to worry about practice the next day.

Left: Some of my girls.  Love them,
Right: Our sweet t-shirts.

Monday was my recovery day.  I think I was up by 8, maybe, and managed to lay around the house for a good 2 hours before I decided I needed to be at least a little bit productive.  I ended up doing laundry, grocery shopping, made tonight's dinner, walked the dogs, and even started putting my Thanksgiving menu together before I headed to basketball practice and dance.  We finished off our 3 day weekend with a delicious Boston Butt at Eric's head coach's house, which meant I didn't have to cook or mess with dishes when I got home. =)

I feel like I failed as a veteran's wife by not posting a thank you to all of the servicemen and women yesterday, so I am going to make up for it today. Thank you to all of the servicemen and women and their families for all they do for our country, especially to both of my grandfathers, my uncle, my great-aunt, and of course my wonderful hubby.  They truly are some of the most amazing and bravest people I know.  I have never really talked much about when Eric was overseas because to be honest I try to forget it.  It was such a hard time for me, and I don't like to dwell on the hard times.  Thank goodness he was only gone for 5 months.  I can't imagine how loved ones back home handle having their soldiers overseas for a year or more at a time.

I have never shared this picture before because it brings back so many memories. This was the morning he flew out to the desert.  His aunt wanted to take a picture of us.  I was trying to hold it together, but failing miserably.  It was one of the hardest good-byes I have ever had to say.  Lucky for us it was just a temporary see-you-later and he came home a few months later.  So thank you again to all of the wonderful people who have served in the armed forces, and to those who risk their lives to protect our freedom on a daily basis, and thank you to their families back home who make daily sacrifices while their loved ones are away.