Patience my friends...

So I posted about it earlier this week on twitter... but can I just say....

Can we please at least wait until November to put out Christmas stuff?

I went to Target on Tuesday morning (the 27th) and they were taking down all of the Halloween stuff and putting up Christmas stuff. I thought... surely not. They are just trying to get things organized to put it up once Halloween is over. But no, today we went back and there was all of the Christmas stuff... the trees were up and the decorations were everywhere.

Now let me tell you... I LOVE Christmas. I love Christmas time and all of the fun that surrounds it. I love decorating my apartment and listening to Christmas music.

But why, Target, can you not wait until after Halloween to put out the Christmas stuff? Really, we are in such a rush to blow past everything!

And it probably would not bother me as much if it weren't for the fact that Hobby Lobby had Christmas decorations out before the 4th of July! All of this early Christmas is making me rebel inside to where I don't want to buy anything related to Christmas at all right now.

It's just a little sad to me that it gets earlier and earlier every year and we can't even fully enjoy one holiday before rushing into another...

Nicki's "Laura Tote Bag"

So my week in Virginia has been absolutely AMAZING so far. Yesterday Nicki had work and school all day so I had a day of down time which was so wonderful. I went on a long walk and then spent the afternoon shopping!!! (or I guess it was browsing because I didn't buy a thing... but sometimes that is my favorite day at the stores!)

Today, as Nicki called it, was take Laura to school day. I got to go and sit in on her classes... which most of her classmates and even her professors couldn't believe that I wanted to come. But it was so interesting and really is so applicable to what I do now. We talked about behavior prevention and assessments of children
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It was just so great to get to spend a day in the life of Nicki. I loved getting to see campus and meet everyone and see what she in learning! As Mathis said, Nicki wanted a Laura tote bag to carry around everywhere... and I am loving getting to see everything!

I'm excited for the rest of the week too! It has been so wonderful just to spend the week here and get to have some down time!

Fall in Virginia!

So I am currently in VA visiting my best friend Nicki. I flew in yesterday and am so blessed to get to stay for a whole week! I am looking forward to having this week off work and to rest here and spend great time with her.

So far we have had a wonderful time! Last night we went to downtown Blacksburg and I got to see Virginia Tech and we went and had some yummy pizza at one of the restaurants downtown.

This morning I went to their church and then we had brunch. Then we spent the afternoon at the Pumpkin Patch! It was such a beautiful afternoon and perfect weather for looking at pumpkins and eating some kettle corn!

Now we are relaxing at their home... Nicki is studying and we are about to watch some TV. I am so excited to be here and looking forward to a great week!!

Community Hunger Day

This coming Thursday, October 22 is Community Hunger Day in Dallas. It is sponsored by Central Dallas Ministries and TI. They provide food, medical care, legal assistance, housing and educational opportunities and this week they are holding a fund raising opportunity.

The youth that I work with at my church have decided to participate in this outreach and have done a GREAT job of getting the word out through videos they have posted to Facebook (which I will be sharing later this week!). The idea of this day is that they are asking people who are willing to "go hungry" on Thursday and donate the money they would save on food to this organization.

Through this organization, they can feed a family for $28 a week (which is what a lot of families spend in a day). I just wanted to pass along this information because the amazing youth at my church have inspired me to take part!

Here is the link if you want more information: http://www.communityhungerday.org/index.php

Fall Traditions

There is something about Fall that makes me want to watch Football! Needless to say, I was very excited that the Baylor vs OU game was on ABC today (it's the first game that was actually televised in the DFW area). Sadly the Bears lost... I read in the paper this morning that the predicted point spread was 25.5... and we lost by 26 points... way to hold true to those predictions! But I still love my Baylor Bears!!

But my love for football goes back from before my Baylor days to my good old Garland Owls! By the time I started High School, I had been going to their football games for 6 years. My oldest brother played on the team while he was in High School, so my parents had season tickets. And I can remember several trips to go to games in Odessa or Abilene or Tyler and the treasured memories of games at Texas Stadium! Garland football games were one of my dad's favorite things and I think that's part of the reason I love it so much too! It's hard for me to go to a football game without remembering him next to me singing the National Anthem and standing through the whole game cheering on the team! And this year they are 3-0 for their district so far... very exciting! I love getting to still hear about them through my youth who go to the games :)

Even though the Bears (bless their hearts) struggle their way through the regular Big XII season, I still cheer them on every week and follow the games online when they aren't televised!

Nothing says Fall in Texas like High School and College Football :)

All my windows are open... I've got my Scentsy going with one of my new fall scents... Allie and I are curled up on the couch watching a movie... and I thought it was time for my blog to get a Fall makeover :)

It's been a busy week... looking forward to relaxing this weekend!

Pumpkin Muffins!

Nothing says fall like Pumpkin... so without any delay... here are the pumpkin muffins I made last night!

Ingredients:

2 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup canned pumpkin
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup fat-free egg substitute
2/3 cup fat-free skim milk

Preheat Oven to 400. Coat 12-hole muffin tin with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt , baking soda, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl.

Combine applesauce, pumpkin, sugar, egg substitute and milk in a medium bowl; mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Add applesauce mixture to flour mixture and mix until completely incorporated.

Pour batter into muffin tins so each hole is about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Yields 1 muffin per serving.

There were normal sized muffins:

And Mini Muffins:

I got this recipe from the Weight Watchers website and I absolutely love it. They are so yummy and not too bad for you either, which is amazing! And they are perfect for sharing with friends and co-workers!