fancy nancy

day three at home. i feel very blessed. and addison feels extremely free to wear whatever. she. wants.

and she does until it is time to go out in public, real public.

but as soon as she comes back home, she races upstairs for yet another special outfit. a fancy nancy outfit.

why do i care? i don't, because i am doing the same thing.

i love day three.

5 business days

in just 5 business days i will have my dream job. in just five very long working days, i will finally be able to wake up and play with my little miss for hours on end, every single day. yes, in just 5 business days.

there is a tad bit - no - huge chunk of fear that is weighing on my mind as i approach friday. will we make it financially? will these four walls close in on me? will i be a productive or will i waste my days away just being? and the answers ring loud in my ears - yes we will make it, but it will be hard sometimes. yes these walls will seem heavy at times, but we will get out and explore and do things other toddlers do. and finally, yes and no to productivity. yes somedays will be full of cleaning and cooking and creating...while i am sure there will be many that just wither to the sound of giggles and the taste cupcakes.

so five business days. although i am sure at some point i will return to the friendly walls of davis architects, for now just being a mom is the thing to do. but rest assure those walls, those davis people, man, they will be greatly missed. no not the deadlines or the insane expectations, but the people, the clients, the jobs, the lessons learned - all of that will be missing in my life. and it will be hard. in just 5 short years i have been the head interior designer on the first gold LEED building in the state of alabama, two new high schools, a new president's home for samford, and a remodel for coach saban's office among many, many others.

my last project has been the georgia theatre - and what a sweet ride it has been. to be able to put my heart and soul in a place that is key to a town that i love. that project brought back so many memories while at the same time allowing me to be thankful for where i am today. a few of you knew my struggle with uga my last year and how it led me to birmingham. i couldn't help but want to march into the halls of the art department (where i am told a self portrait i did of myself still hangs around those walls - funny that they display artwork of someone they wouldn't admit in to the art school - hmmm - so interesting) and introduce myself and tell them something smart and witty. but even now, years later, nothing comes to mind except a simple 'thanks'.

thanks for making me hate speech pathology. thanks for scores that weren't quite high enough to get into the art school. thanks for pushing me to really question whether or not interior design was a true longing and desire. thanks for giving my dad patience with me as i made those decisions. thanks for a sister who opened the possibilty of samford to me. and thanks for "the rest is history". what a sweet ride it has been.

here's to 5 more business days...

technology is mind boggling

amazing.

i have talked about twitter before and have yet to actually tweet myself but this phenomenon of twittering a little tweet tweet to other twits amazed me today.

we all love apple. we loved the ipod. we loved the shuffle and nano. we are obsessed with our iphones and macbooks, pros and airs - oh my! and now we have the ipad to drool over. yeah. i am drooling.

yes, the ipad is amazing but what is even more mind boggling to me is that as i was anxiously waiting for the big debut from steve jobs of apple, i made my way over to twitter.com and searched ipad.

of course it is being twitted all over the place but y'all, there were over 2,000 tweets per second from twits about the ipad. that is nuts! and i am sure it is still being twittered at the same rate or even more.

and we wonder why we are in a recession - people, we are too busy twittering, or facebooking, or just playing with our iphones...or blogging like me, when we should be working.

oh man, i love technology.

ipad. gotta have it.

week in rewind

it has been a good week. we have had a lot going on - terry has not been home much, everyone in the house has felt sick at one time or another, and there have been many, many tshirt orders for which i am very thankful. but even in the midst of those minor setbacks, it might have been one of the best weeks i have ever had. and it was just a simple, everyday real, nothing special week. here are the highlights of said week:

• i cooked. every night. and it was GOOD. even terry liked it. i think the biggest hit was thursday nights "so good chicken enchiladas"...they definitely earned their name :)

• then i reached the pinnacle of frugalness. as i was making the so good enchiladas i noticed the chicken mixture was very similar to the chicken casserole i make. after i had filled up the tortillas to the point of busting i noticed i have some leftover. normally i would have thrown it away but not this time. nope, this time i actually made a small portion of the chicken casserole and took it to work the next day. oh so frugal! disclaimer: this was a once in a lifetime thing. trust me, it will probably not happen again :)

• there were also some mad games of candy land going on in the tingle house while waiting for dinner to cook this week. i think there is some embedded chip that guarantees a toddler to win. i am serious, little miss always wins.

• and to honor her big "candy wand" wins, little miss got to wear pigtails (aka prwetty tails) to school. as you can imagine, she did not come home with hair quite as nice.

• ahhh, and i know i reached southern womanhood when i salivate at the coming of each southern living. the february issue graced the doors of my house this week. isn't it so cute! it's the little things that make me happy. oh, and the return of grey's, private practice, the bachelor...those made me smile, too. and has anyone watched cougar town? now that show makes me laugh. out loud. ha.

• after a successful week of meals, i spent my morning planning for the upcoming week - printed the e-mealz.com plan, clipped my coupons, pre-organized my shopping trip...and we were off!

but of course not with out the rain gear...

and i am happy to say that this week was just $4 shy of being the same price as last week!

i bought all of that food for $70 and saved $25 - minus a few cents. dang that makes me happy.

so there you go. nothing too exciting - just enjoying this life. as cheesy as it sounds it is so true. and i have to say it just gets better tomorrow with the golden globes. i love award show season and the red carpet specials. yep, like i said, it's the simple things, people.

until next time...

beeping

as i sit hear, at this very moment, the dang fire alarm is going off. you know, that beep every 30 seconds going off kind of thing. i took out the battery. still beeping. i unscrewed it from the ceiling. still beeping. then i pressed some button and the siren went off. then back to more beeping. and somehow addison managed to go to sleep which for that i am quite grateful. as for me, until terry gets home i will be involved in some major chinese water torture, just with beeping. ugh, there it went again.

blog whitney, blog to keep the mind sane.

so, the picture. i love it. it was taken at christmas at my moms house on a swing she will probably call very familiar for years to come. kind of like the way i remember my grandmother and papa's swing. and making my mud pies. and picking blackberries. and going to the big dirt hill. which was not at all that big but somehow my grandfather made it seem magical. and come to think of it, had i known rattlesnakes like to live near blackberries, that might not have seemed so magical either. but it did. and i love those memories. just like addison will love these memories.

i also love her outfit. yes, i picked it out of the boys section at the polo outlet. and yes, it is a yellow shirt with a green bow and green shoes. and yes, it probably doesn't match all that well but that is what i like about it. my favorite shirt in the good ole georgia days was my yellow polo just like this. i loved it...still love it. you know, like good pair of jeans, instead for me it was a good polo.

ok, so a random night on the blog. but i have a beeping in my ear that will. not. stop. goodnight. hope your fire alarm doesn't slowly drive you crazy.

awigators and jungles

we have always had a good sleeper in addison. from 8 weeks on she has generally been a piece of cake. lately, however, it has taken a few more lines out of the book, a few more lyrics to her favorite song "angels watching over me", a few more hugs, a few more prayers and a few more soothing words from mommy to get little miss to sleep. tonight was no exception.

also as of late, addison has developed this fear of alligators and jungles. i am not sure where she got it from but to her it is real. and real scary.

so tonight we read her veggie tales book and the we said our prayer and we sang our song...over...and over...and over again. during the third round i noticed addison stopped singing and i could tell she was thinking about something. then in her sweet little voice she said...

"where are the awigators and jungles?"

"there are no alligators or jungles here, baby, i promise. only sweet angels to protect you."

"no awigators or jungles?"

"nope, only angels."

"talk to me about the angels, mom."

melt my heart. so i begin to tell her about angels. me being an emotional mom starts to tear up as i tell her God sends them to protect us. then she says...

"i want to pwray again, mom"

more melting and more tears. we begin to pray together that God would take away those scary alligators and jungles and provide sweet, precious angels to watch over us as we sleep. it was such a tender moment. for the first time i saw my daughter ask God for help. again melt my heart.

i was reminded tonight of having the faith of a child. that little 2 year old of mine taught me that even in the mist of scary alligators and jungles, there is big God to protect me day in and day out. i needed that today. heck, i need every day. but today it was just what i needed.

i heart publix and saving money and...

it has been awhile since i have spent any time typing on my dear blog and i do apologize if you have come looking for christmas pics or witty humor or even a little roll tide for the bama fans. no, today you will only find a very excited breakdown of how i, with the help of a fabulous neighbor, a certain teacher to help me learn about an amazing website, and well, many many frugal mommies out there who spend time sharing coupons and tips on their blogs (why i don't know but i am glad they do), may have finally conquered the dread of grocery shopping and dare i even say COOKING!

i do like to cook. i actually really like to cook. i guess it started when my dad bought me those nice pots and pans that i didn't want for christmas that one year. he seems to know what he is doing sometimes. crazy thing about dads. i digress. so cooking, yes, i like it but am haunted by it. i think the main reason has to do with the eating habits of a picky husband that makes me nut up. but no more my friends, no more...

please let me present to you my grocery trip to Publix, on my!

and all of this food (plus staples and items i just happened to have already in my pantry which was not a ton, i promise) will provide the tingles with breakfast, lunches for me, and 6 meals...yes SIX. let me tell you about them...

sunday: crockpot roast, cheesy mashed potatoes, green beans, garlic bread

monday: burgers, baked beans, corn on the cob

tuesday: breakfast dinner pizza

wednesday: honey pecan chicken, fettucini alfredo, green beans

thursday: so-good chicken enchiladas, corn, tortilla chips

friday/saturday: frozen pizza one night and we will eat out the other

can we say YUM!

are you ready for my total? drumroll........$66.35.

i mean y'all, i got produce...

and i got meat (and lots of it)...

how in the heck? let me tell you...

first i used e-mealz to help me plan my meals on a budget (click below to find out more)...

E-MEALZ Easy Meals for Busy and Frugal Families

then i used blogs like www.fiddledeedeemom.com and iheartpublix.com to figure out the bogo's, coupon matchups, sale items, ect...

and then i finished up with any coupons i could use that i have clipped over the past few weeks.

after doing all of this i saved $29.03. amazing!

i guess you could say i am a firm believer in sharing anything that might make this life as a working mom a little bit easier to handle. happy saturday everyone :)