Hey Good Lookin' Whatcha Got Cookin'?!? {A Week's Worth of Meals in the Crockpot}

Hey y'all!  I'm still busily working on organizing and unpacking a few boxes we have left.  The problem is that I'm at a stand-still organizing--and even decorating-- my kitchen.  Two of the three  plugs in the kitchen don't work...which makes it hard to cook and organize the kitchen the way I'd like.  Every morning I have to move my cute, teal coffee pot to the other side of the kitchen to plug it in.  Then I have to move it back to the other side to plug in the microwave or crockpot or whatever else I need to plug in...so it's pretty much a constant rearranging everyday! I hope the landlord comes to fix it this week, so I can cross the kitchen off of my long to-do list!

I have the office, guest room, and other part of the living room to organize.  It's coming together, just slower than I'd like!  Like I promised, when it's all finished I'll take you on a virtual tour of our house!  In order to accomplish everything on my long to-do list, I gave myself a deadline of when everything had to be complete...so... next Friday, February 7th is my deadline.  That means the landlord has to come and fix those plugs!  {Cross your fingers!}

With all of the unpacking, cleaning, and organizing it's hard to find time to cook. 

Jon's always hungry so I have to cook him a nice supper!  That's why I like love my crockpot!  I especially love crockpot recipes that don't have a lot of ingredients and you can just throw together.  Next week, all of our meals are going to be easy, peasy crockpot suppers since I have that deadline.

I plan out the meals we are going to eat during the week, and we only buy the ingredients on our list.  Since we live out in the country, we can't just run to the store and buy a couple of things we need.  That's why I make out a list of everything we need for the week.  Here's the crockpot meals what we are having next week that I have pinned on my "Crockpotapalozza" Board on Pinterest:

Monday:

Honey Sesame Chicken with Brown Rice

 

Tuesday: 

Cheese Ravioli, Salad, Garlic Bread

 

Wednesday:

Sticky Chicken, Green Beans; Bread

Thursday:

Italian Chicken, Salad, Garlic Bread

Friday:

Buffalo Chicken Sliders with Potato Wedges

Saturday: 

Dr. Pepper BBQ Chicken, Butterbeans, Rolls

Sunday: 

Lasagna Soup with Garlic Bread

 



So that's what we are eating next week!  Let me know if you decide to try any of these recipes I've linked up for you!

Let all that you do, be done in love.  1st Corinthians 16:14

 

XoXo,

Ashlee

Out in the Country...

Hey y'all!  I'm back with a quick post about our adventure so far in a new town and house.

We still have boxes to unpack and some things to organize, but when it's done I'll take you on a virtual home tour.

Here's what I've learned so far...

1.  There's only *one* light in our town.

2.  Only *two* cable companies come out our way...and both of them have come to our house.  However, we still don't have cable because of all the trees in our front and back yard.  One company is coming again on Monday to possibly give us cable.  We can't drill a hole into the yard, which is the main problem.  We did get Netflix and have been watching "Saved by the Bell" and movies though.

3.  Everybody knows everybody.

4.  Everybody is really friendly.  So far we have met two people at this cutsey little antique market {which I will be at A LOT!}  We were invited to an auction that happens every other Saturday; and to church!

We bought that welcome to our home sign for our house!

5.  Everything closes early for the weekend.

6.  You can't take a shower while running the dishwasher or washing machine-- or else you'll end up freezing cold in the shower.

7.  Louella Mae has hiding spots that I still haven't found yet.

8.  People live a quiet, 'slower' way of life 'round here...which is different from fast-paced Birmingham!

9.  If you're "going to town" plan to stay for awhile because when you have to go "to town" you have to drive at least 30 minutes to do pretty much anything.

10.  People like to use the backdoor instead of the front door.  I'm not sure why, but the mail lady and a neighbor that came to introduce himself both used the back door. 

And that is what I've learned so far living out here...out in the country...and I think I might like it that way.

XoXo,

Ashlee

Moving Day...Dun, Dun, Dun!!!

Hey y'all!  Jon and I moved in to our new house in Mississippi on Saturday.  Let's just say that the 'dun, dun, dun' on the title speaks for itself....

We had two *minor* accidents with the U-Haul (don't worry nobody was hurt!), spent about two hours in Meridian, MS repairing a damaged U-Haul, and then a scare that Louella Mae had gotten out of the house...and here's how it all went down...



I think we could have made some more stuff fit!

Friday Morning:

We picked up the U-Haul and headed towards the storage place were we had two storage units packed with stuff.  My storage unit had my apartment stuff and everything in my classroom in it.  Jon's storage unit had everything from his apartment and everything we had gotten from our bridal showers.  Mason {my brother-in-law} and my Momma came to help me and Jon load our storage units.  Miraculously everything {including my school stuff} fit into the U-Haul!  Our house has a storage area in the backyard, and that's where I put my school stuff.  Two hours later we leave the storage unit...and Jon...bless his heart....hit a pole at the storage unit....luckily the U-Haul was ok...and I thought the worst was over....WRONG!!!

Saturday Morning:

We got up early for moving day.  We were busy loading last minute boxes.  My parents and my sister Amanda came to help us move.  We left around 7:45, and began our journey towards Mississippi.  We crossed into Mississippi and stopped to get more gas in the U-Haul in Meridian....and that my friends, is where it all went wrong...

My Daddio...bless his heart...hit a pole at the gas station.  He went to reverse out...and well...the pole got stuck in the back tire.  Y'all I about had a heart attack because the noise that the pole and the U-Haul made together was one noise that would make your skin crawl!  Worst of all, I thought the U-Haul was going to flip with my Daddio in it...

After pulling the pole out from the back tire of the U-Haul we were left with 4 *long* pieces of metal skirting (the metal part at the bottom of the U-Haul) disconnected from the U-Haul and was just kind of flopping around...

There was a U-Haul place close to the gas station, but we were afraid we'd have to reload *everything* into a new U-Haul.  Jon and my Daddio went to a hardware store to buy a  metal grinder to remove the metal pieces that were flopping everywhere...and that was when Amanda, my Momma, Louella Mae, and I sat in the gas station parking lot for about an hour waiting on them to return.  Louella Mae was really good, she didn't cry or anything!  We all talked about the most random things, our new house, and discovered what kolaches were {the gas station restaurant was selling them}.  It's a breakfast thing that either has jam or has sausage in it...

Anyway...they finally come back and for another hour or so my Daddio and Jon saw off the metal skirting pieces with the metal grinder. That was scary too...they didn't have goggle...I had some somewhere in that U-Haul from my classroom...where are goggles when ya need them?!?

I'm sure we are still the talk of the Meridian gas station!

Finally we continue our journey to our new house, and I prayed that everything would be alright after that.  Our friends Meagan, Clay, Buck, and Nikki came to help us move in, and they beat us to our new house; and I hear that they played in our back yard, climbed a tree, and met some of our neighbors!  HA! 

Louella Mae got put into a closed room while we had doors open to move in.  Jon and Buck had put a mattress in that room...on this mattress she had created her own little hiding spot in!  Then a little later, Clay and Buck came with my big ol' armoire and had to open the door of the room she was in to bring the armoire into our room.  I was watching for Louella Mae to come out, and she never did.  I went to check on her...and ohmiword y'all... I couldn't find her.  That *literally* scared me to death!  Nikki  helped me find Louella Mae...inside of the hiding spot in the mattress!  Whew!  I was so worried about her getting out, not knowing where she was, and not having any claws!  Thank goodness she was hiding!

Sunday Morning:

We were so thankful for our awesome family and friends that came and helped us move!  We returned the U-Haul to "Affordable Storage and Tanning"!  We thought that was funny...but hey we're out in the country!

And that is the story of our move to Mississippi.  Hopefully our string of bad luck is over....they say bad luck comes in threes {right?!?} so hopefully it is!  I told everybody that I hoped it wasn't a sign of a bad omen!  HA!

Come back later to see what I did with the house!

XoXo,

Ashlee

Big House Plans {Part One}

Yesterday I told y'all the story of our house hunt.  Today I want to tell y'all my plans for fixing the outside up.   I really want to paint the shutters and door red or a pretty blue; and add new, modern locks, and a modern light...but since it's a rental... that we can't do....sigh...but I've got some other plans that will spruce our first home right up!  The numbers are some of my plans for the outside!  I'm a visual kinda girl.

1:  We need to obviously rake all the pine straw in the yard, and get it off of the roof.  The realtor lady said that should be taken care of before move-in day.  Cross your fingers!

2:  I bought a cute old chair without the seat at The World's Longest Yard Sale that I conquered with one of my best friends, Heather, for our wedding.  At the wedding it had a plant in the part where the seat was missing.  I plan on finding a pretty, colorful potted plant to put into that chair.  It'll look so cute!

3:  I'm not a fan of the green door.   I like green...just not that green! A cute, rustic wreath with left over burlap ribbon and lace from the wedding will add rustic charm to our front yard.

4:  I think some stepping stones leading from the driveway to the front door will add a whimsical element.

5:  When the winter is over I'm going to plant some bright flowers to have a little pop of color to the front yard.  We have tons of seeds left over from our wedding that I will probably use.  However, I do not have a green thumb...so maybe I'll be able to keep them alive! 

6:  I think some cute stepping stones or even bricks around the flower bed will look very cute. 

Then we have this adorable wagon that we had at our wedding that I think will be cute somewhere in the front yard with some colorful potted plants inside of it.  At the front door I'm going to put out the pallet sign we had at our wedding I made.  It said "We're So Glad You're Here!"  that will make our guests feel welcome.  That's all of my ideas for now...but I'm sure there will be more!  We are moving on Saturday!  I'll post before and after pictures when I have them!

xoxo,

Ashlee

Operation: Find a House Quick

Hey y'all!  Jon got a job last week in Mississippi!  We went looking for apartments/ rental houses around the area Jon's job will be.  We called our trip Operation:  Find a House Quick.  We had two different realtors, looked at apartments, and rental houses.  Let's just say that there is not a lot of choices where we are moving to.  The first rental house we looked at was a cute, older house that had vintage charm.  Y'all know I'm a vintage girl, so that one was cute to me!  It had a swing on the porch, and built-in china cabinets.  The downside was that it was in an area that we didn't think was safe, and it didn't have central heat or air---y'all know how Southern Summers are...so that was out!  The next house we looked at was the one we ended up getting {only we didn't think that would be the one we picked!}  Then we looked at a trailer that had an add-on in the back {weird} and had a cow skull in the front yard!  For real, a cow skull just for decoration...you know you're in the country when that's considered 'decor'. 
From there we drove into another town to look for apartments we had seen online.  The first apartments looked really nice...we found out we couldn't live there because it was section 8 government housing.  The next apartments were nice, but they were price-y.  They even wanted another $20 a month for Louella Mae on top of a pet deposit.  Paying a pet deposit is fine, but an extra $20 for a cat that doesn't even weigh more than 10 pounds is just ridiculous!  We went to look at the last apartments and didn't even go in to look because they looked very run down.  {We found out later that the area we were in is very dangerous, and that we shouldn't have been there!}  From there we called *many* realtors and none of them had any rental houses to show.  The  last realtor we called had three rental houses to show us later.  We got some Chinese food, and then  large Cherry Cokes from Sonic to waste time until it was time to meet our next realtor.

From there she showed us another cute, vintage charm house without central heating and air and in a run down area.  Then she showed us a vintage charm house that needed some work in the front yard but had been restored inside.  It had a sun room that I knew Louella Mae would love!  It was close to his work, and it was the house we were seriously considering.  After talking to our friend that is from the area she said that street wasn't the best street to live on.  Boo.  We looked at another house in the country on a windy, one-way street.  We decided that wasn't for us because of the road, and it was way out of the way.  The last place we looked were some apartments in the country.  It had been a house built in 1862 {and it was so cute from the outside!}, that had been turned into apartments.  The problem was that it had been an assisted living home before becoming apartments.  The set up was very awkward, and it smelled like it had been an assisted living home.  The bathrooms were kind of scary, smelled, and made me sad when I thought about the people who had lived there.
We decided on the second house we had looked at, and had called the realtor back to rent it.  She knew we'd be back because she knew what was out there...slim pickens! 


Our first house!

 It was a good thing we had called her when we did because she was going to show the house to other people later in the day!  Check back tomorrow because I've got big plans for the outside of the house already {notice the numbers...those are my plans}!  I'll let you know how I want to fix it up tomorrow!  I'm off to make supper!

XOXO,

Ashlee

New Year, New Job, New State, New Adventure for the Newlyweds

I guess the secret is out!  Jon accepted a job yesterday to be a Logistics Manger!  Jon and I are moving to...wait for it... small town USA in Mississippi.  Yes, I said I would NEVER back to Mississippi, and so did Jon!  HA!  I bet that made God laugh when we said we wouldn't be back!  He knew all along we'd be back!  :)  Here we are...moving back to the state where we met!  We don't know exactly when he will start his new job, or when we will move-- but it will be in the next couple of weeks.  We will keep y'all updated!
So many people have been praying for Jon to find a new job after he transitioned from the Army.  This is an answer to our prayers!  Thank y'all so much for praying for Jon's job hunt.  We are so touched by all y'all's kind words of encouragement and prayers.  We are so excited for the door that God has opened for us, and we can't wait to see what plans He has in store for us!

Source

New Year's {Southern Style}

Happy New Year!  I can't believe it's already 2014!  Jon and I had a great time ringing in the New Year with our good friends Clay, Meagan, and Christina. 

We played games at Clay and Meagan's apartment and then turned it into "Club Coppage" at 11:45 and partied like it was 2013. 

Meagan, me, Christina

They had glow sticks left over from their beautiful wedding in September, so we used those and put some music on to ring in 2014.  HA! I also had some Moon Pies to celebrate Mobile, AL style.  Like New York has the ball drop, Mobile drops Moon-Pies!  I forgot to bring them, but Jon and I ate our Moon-Pies!



The glow sticks were super fun!

I was excited for Jon to eat a traditional Southern New Year's Day meal.  I always thought everyone ate their black-eyed peas, greens, pork, and cornbread on New Year's.  When I was telling him about why we ate each thing he just looked like I was a crazy lady!  HA!  When you eat your greens, black-eyed peas, pork, and cornbread then you'll have good luck, health, and money for the upcoming year.  No Southern folks would let a New Year's Day go without eating those things!



Jon's First New Year's Day meal

Here's what each food represents for a Southern New Year's Day meal:

Pork:  it represents good health, wealth, and prosperity.  It's said that a whole pig could feed a family for almost a year and that is why pork is used.

Greens:  represents paper money and wealth.  Most people either eat cabbage, collards, or turnip greens.

Black-Eyed Peas:  represents good luck for the year.  During the Civil War General Sherman's soldiers raided Southern homes stealing their food and burning their crops.  They left the crops of black-eyed peas thinking that nobody could live off black-eyed peas.  They did, and they felt lucky to have survived off of the black-eyed peas!  They say you're actually suppose to eat 365 black-eyed peas to make sure you have good luck for the whole year!  I ate a whole mess of 'em, but didn't manage to eat 365 peas!

Cornbread:  represents gold. 

For our New Year's Day meal we had pork chops, fried okra {my green!}, turnip greens, black-eyed peas, cornbread, mac & cheese, and rice.  I think Jon enjoyed his first New Year's Day meal.

This time last year I never dreamed that I would be married at the end of 2013!  2013 was a good year for Jon and I.  We met and got married in less than a year!

I can't wait to see what God has in store for us for 2014.  I know God has an awesome job already in store for Jon, and there's no telling where we will end up!  2014 is going to be a year of waiting and having faith that God will lead us to where he wants to be in His perfect timing.  It's a good thing Jon ate his traditional Southern New Year's Day meal! Happy New Year!

xoxo,

Ashlee