King Me

Our lives haven't been completely football consumed for the past few weeks, 75% consumed yes, but we've carved out a little bit of time for other things.

We had a little bit of excitement in the form of a new bed a few weeks ago, but it's taken us both a little time to adjust to it and we're both finally coming around.  I used to be able to go from sleeping in a hotel to the floor of a bus and then to my dorm bed in a couple of days and sleep like a baby all three places.  Now it takes me several nights to adjust to a new bed.  I think this means I'm getting old.  I never thought I'd miss our old sunk in mattress, but I guess it molded to us just right.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE our new mattress, it's just taking me some time to get used to it.

We upgraded to a King sized bed last month, which is actually something we have been talking about for a while. I had been fighting it, but I caved in the middle of the awful late heat wave we had in Alabama last month.  Our bedroom has always been warmer than the rest of the house, even with 3 fans blowing on us.  It was an exceptionally warm evening and I was very tired but could not get cool enough to go to sleep.  To make matters worse, my sweet hubby who has recently taken to sleeping on his back with a pillow under each arm (I'm guessing so it feels like he is sleeping in his recliner) had one of his arm pillows right up against my back.  I'm not saying I would have been cool enough to fall asleep without the pillow in my back, but that night the pillow is what sent me over the edge.  In my sleepy state I remember trying to pull the pillow away from me several times and then getting quite upset when I realized that one of our extra fans (the one that usually points at me) was not in the doorway, which only made my internal temperature rise even more.  I finally found the fan in the bathroom (where I had moved it the day before), turned it on and drifted off to sleep, but not before deciding that we were indeed upgrading our bed.

We took the plunge a few weeks ago and come hell or high water we were going to sleep in it night we got it.  Long story short, after a comical trip to Montgomery to purchase the mattress and box springs (which only solidified the fact that Eric and I have no business whatsoever shopping together) we arrived home to set the bed up at 9:00pm.  Luckily I have a handy husband who has handy friends and they had the old bed broken down and removed from the house and the new bed set up in 45 minutes. I was impressed but really too sleepy to care.

Please excuse the state of the pillow, this is why Eric is not in charge of decorating the house.

The boys gave it their approval and nearly a month into it Eric and I are finally getting adjusted to it. 

Despite the larger bed, they still crowd my side. Thankfully they do not stay there all night.

My only problem with it now?  The fact that it takes twice as long to put the pillow cases on all 9 of the pillows than it does to put the sheets on the bed after I wash everything. Eric having a bad case of poison ivy this week has only made my disdain for washing and changing sheets even greater. I told him he's putting the sheets on tomorrow.

#pillowprobs

Weekend Recap: A Word of Advice and Sweet Puppies

I am quickly remembering how much I love the fall.  I've been giddy with excitement looking at the 10 day forecast lately.  Upper 70s - lower 80s for highs and upper 50s - lower 60s for lows.  It makes me do a happy dance every time.  And the possibility of a high of 78 and a low of 51 this coming Saturday for Homecoming?!  I won't know what to do with myself!  Let's just hope the forecast doesn't change between now and then (which is entirely possible).

It's cotton pickin' season around here, too.  This might be the most snow we get all year!

Any who, I wish the result of the football game on Friday night could have been as wonderful as the weather.  Unfortunately it wasn't and we ended up losing 14-11 to a team that our school hates to lose to.  I didn't even go to school in our town and I HATE losing to them.  Apparently some people took it worse than others, for example the random guy who I had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting next to.  Word to the wise,  I know people get excited about football (especially in our part of the world), however if you would like to be extremely opinionated on the matter, you should remove yourself from the general population of fans.  Why?  Because you might be sitting by, I don't know....the coaches' wives.  And when we see you and hear you acting like a fool and making us and most everyone around us uncomfortable, you need to check yourself because adults should not act like that, especially at a high school football game.  I came really close to saying something to him (and might have fantasized about pushing him off the bleachers once or twice), but I kept my mouth shut and finally another father sitting near us who knew who we were and who he was finally told him he needed to calm down. It turns out the guy doesn't even have kid playing on the team, which to be honest makes his behavior even more bizarre.  Now don't think it bothers me anytime someone is critical of whats going on down on the field. There are may times myself and the other wives question things right along with other fans. At least once a game we would like to have a headset so we could communicate with our husbands about what they are calling (and offer our 2 cents of course).  I don't mind people getting upset and wondering why they ran this play or that play aloud, but 10 minutes after the game is over and you're still going on about how stupid this was or that was and carrying on like we just lost the biggest game of the season, yeah that's a bit much. Have a little tact about it please. This was a rivalry game, yes, but it was not an area game, and it will not affect our playoff chances.  We had a bad game, so what.  Heck we beat the #5 ranked team in the state last week, perhaps we were out of adrenaline this week. It's hard to get teenage kids hyped up like that 2 weeks in a row. Last week's game WAS an area game so it was WAS a lot more important. So to all of the overzealous fans out there, please cull yourselves so you don't embarrass yourself because you never know who you're sitting by.  That person might tell her husband about you to let him know who the crazies are and you might not like the consequences.  Yep I do. =)
*steps off soap box*

Sorry for the rant but I had to get that off my chest.

The rest of our glorious weekend was spent enjoying it.  Saturday morning we brunched at 1220 Cafe like we have for the past several weekends.  Their breakfast is amazing.  I had a bacon and cheese omelet that was delicious! I really hope that this is just the beginning of a beautiful weekend tradition around here.  I even got up at 6:45am voluntarily so we could go!

Eric spent the majority of his weekend at the hunting land getting it ready for the coming hunting season.  It's only a few weekends away and I can tell he is already excited about it.  I relaxed, went to a baby shower, and played with puppies.....so many puppies.  We have had 3 new puppies come into our lives in the past month.  And the best part?  None of them live with us! I get to play with them and love on them and then they go home so I don't have to be the one getting up in the middle of the night to let them out!

The boys seem to be enjoying having new friends around for the most part.  Peanut likes them until they try to jump on him and then he's had enough.  It has taken a lot of self control from Eric and myself not to want to get one ourselves, but I keep reminding him of how wonderful it is to have mature, trained dogs that we don't have to worry about and that usually gets him.

Warning:  If puppy picture bore you to tears, you can end here.  If you would like a major cuteness overload then keep going.  However, I can't guarantee it won't make you want to go out and get a puppy. And yes I am about to pose pictures of our dogs with their friends like they're children.

This is their new buddy Ringo. He's the youngest (8 weeks) and the craziest of their new friends.  He belongs to one of Eric's buddies. I brought him over to play on Sunday while the boys were at the hunting land and we semi-managed to get all of his energy out.  I have forgotten how much energy puppies have!

This little monster is Bandit and he belongs to our neighbors.  He's been around for a month or so and by far Peanut's favorite of our new friends.  Mainly because he is Peanut's size.

No you're not seeing a side-by-side picture of Hawk today (with green glowing eyes-yikes!) and as a puppy, although it sure looks like it.  This sweet face is our neighbors' newest addition.  One of the techs at the vet I took Hawk to last week called Eric to tell him about this sweet girl, who was an owner surrender and in need a of a good home.  Our neighbors have talked about getting a lab for a while, their daughter adores Hawk, so we went to take a look.  And by we I mean us girls, which meant the boys knew she was coming home with us.  She and Hawk could be carbon copies...and hopefully will make beautiful lab puppies someday!  Clearly Hawk adores her!

And just because this picture makes me laugh so hard.....this is why Peanut feels the way he does about Ringo.....

Pistachio Bark

If you know me, you know that approximately 75% of the recipes I've cooked over the past 3 years have been courtesy of a little site we all know and love called Pinterest.com. If you aren't using it, then what the heck are you waiting for?!  It's not that I didn't cook good things in the years BP (before Pinterest), let's just say that the product quality of what I cook has increased significantly since then.  Yes I still come across duds every now and then. I tried out a new pasta salad this past weekend that was just ok, and the leftovers are still in the fridge awaiting fridge clean-out day aka the night before the garbage comes aka tonight. But then there are some recipes that I come across that are 5-Star-I've-Already-Made-A-Second-Batch-2-Days-Later-Winners aka recipes that get promoted from my Recipes I Want to Try and Sweet! Sweets boards to my Recipe Favorites board.  I'd like you to meet the most recently promoted recipe on the Recipe Favorites board:

Pistachio Bark meet the Cagle Chronicles, Cagle Chronicles meet Pistachio Bark.

When I saw the recipe I thought chocolate-check, nuts-check, Oreos-check, caramel and salt-check check.  It had all the players, so it had to be decent.  I changed a couple of things from the original recipe.  For example: I was not spending $12 or more on 16oz of chocolate bars like the original recipe called for so I substituted 2 bags of semisweet chocolate chips for $5. I was able to make a larger pan with 24oz of chocolate to work with, plus I got $.10 Fuel Perks....Score! Because I was using chips and not a chocolate bar I added some Canola oil to thin the chocolate out just a bit.  Enough with the chit chat, let's get to the good stuff, le recipe.

adapted from this recipe

What you Need:

2-12oz bags semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Canola oil

1/2 cup Kraft Premium Caramel Bits or chopped caramel squares

10 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped

3/4 cup shelled pistachios, chopped

generous pinch of sea salt

How to Make It: 

Line a large baking sheet (approximately 12" x 16") with parchment paper. Set aside. Have your caramel pieces, chopped Oreos, chopped nuts, and salt readily available so you can use them as soon as your chocolate is ready.

In a large bowl, melt chocolate chips in 30 second increments, stirring after each 30 second cooking period. Once chocolate is melted, add 1 Tbsp canola oil and mix thoroughly.

Spoon 2-3 Tbsp melted chocolate into a small bowl and set aside. Pour remaining chocolate onto parchment paper and gently spread with a spatula until it's roughly 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle caramel pieces, Oreo pieces, and chopped nuts on top of chocolate.  Lightly press toppings into chocolate.  Reheat chocolate you set aside earlier if necessary, and mix in 1 tsp canola oil to thin it out.  Drizzle thinned chocolate over toppings.  Sprinkle salt over the entire pan.

Chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Break in to pieces and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Ready to be chilled!

NOM NOM NOM NOM! 

This stuff is amazing, there's no other way to put it.  It has something for everyone in it and it's soooooo good!

....and this is why I run. =)

When the Fun Never Stops

What a week!  The past 10 days have been nothing short of jam-packed around these parts.  I feel like today might be the first potentially "normal" day we've had lately.

But first, how 'bout that fall weather?!?!  The past 4 days have been absolutely beautiful here!  To say that I was jealous of the nice weather most of my family was experiencing a couple of weeks ago is an understatement.  I was literally pissed off a couple of weeks ago because it was 95 with 100% humidity here and at least 30 degrees cooler at my parents' house which is only 5 hours away.  I guess our weather was just waiting until the official start of fall to cool off.  I've always claimed to be a fair weather runner -I can't deal with hot and sunny- I need coolish without direct sunlight, so this time of the year is my favorite time to run...obviously....

The numbers don't lie!

Last week we started off with a JV game Monday night (and a win for us!); lucky for us it was at home so it was not a super late evening, which was nice because I was up and on the road early for a conference in Orange Beach.  Tough life right? I've decided I would like to schedule all of my future conferences at the beach.  This trip was doubly great for me because I was able to spend the week with my BIL and SIL...probably the last time I'll see them BBC (Before Baby Cagle) arrives next month!  It was a fun and relaxing trip and I have a new favorite tv show now as a result.  My SIL was binge watching The Blacklist on Netflix so of course we managed to watch 7 episodes in 2 days.  The season premiere was Monday night and I could not wait for it!  The only thing missing was Eric.  Darn football got in the way!

I even got to help celebrate my SIL's birthday with them!

I got home Thursday night to a carport full of folks there to watch the Auburn-Kansas State game.  It was exciting until AU started to pull away so I excused myself to go to bed because I was exhausted. Friday morning I got up and got ready for work, but realized there was something going on with Hawk.  He had a huge ball of swelling on his throat.  We decided to take him to get it checked out, mainly because of the location of the swelling.  He wasn't acting like anything was wrong but better safe than sorry, right?  The vet ruled out a cyst on his salivary gland and a poisonous snake bite.  The said they weren't exactly sure what it was but gave us some meds and instructions to come back if it's still swollen after he's done with his antibiotics.  We're 6 days into it and the swelling is almost completely gone.  I think something bit or stung him, but I guess we'll never know. We did find out that our boy now weighs 90lbs!  He's finally gaining weight again!  He was less than 80lbs last time he went to the vet.

It looks like I'm just holding skin in this pic, but it was a giant ball of fluid!

I ended up staying home Friday to keep an eye on him which I really didn't mind.  I got a lot done around the house and got things ready for our weekend visitors....

Aren't they cute!?

My parents came to town this weekend and I was so excited about it!  For Father's Day I got my Dad tickets for the LPGA Classic in Prattville which was this weekend.  We spent Saturday afternoon walking one of the most gorgeous golf courses I've ever seen and watching some of the best female golfers in the world tear up the course!  It was so much fun and the weather was absolutely beautiful!
 

This pic does not do the course justice.  The entire thing has these gorgeous rolling hills and zero trees.  It's part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama.

Sunday my dad had to catch a plane to go to a work conference, so Mom and I drove him over to ATL and then headed South to the Tanger Outlet Mall in Locust Grove, GA to shop til we dropped.  We scored some great deals which included matching bright green sweaters that we unknowingly picked up on different sides of the same store. I've always believed great minds think alike.  =) I even got a start on some Christmas shopping!  I know, I know, but according to my calendar there are only 92 days until Christmas, and if I can check a few things of my list now, I have a chance of not having to run around like a chicken with my head cut off in December,

Basically it was a wonderful week/weekend and I was NOT ready for the work week to get started again, but the weather has totally made up for it. Plus it's already Wednesday and I am just now getting around to posting about this past weekend so apparently I must be having fun since time's flying!