Weekly iPhone Roundup {2.25 - 3.3}

 Another week has come and gone. My grandma used to tell me that the older you go, the faster time passed. That is the truest statement I've ever heard anyone make in my entire life. Don't get me wrong, time went by fast at times when I was a kid, but nothing compared to today.

I think the logic behind this is that the older you get, the more precious time becomes to you. When you're little you don't think about things like that. For me, I was mainly worried about having to go to school or summer break being too short. Once you grow up and the reality of life hits you, that's when time runs short.

Anyways, that was a little over the top, lol.

This week as semi-uneventful I suppose. Ended up going home through Farmington just so we could hit up the Desloge Walmart because they're the ONLY place that has Dr. Pepper Zero Strawberries & Cream. Let me just say... worth it!! I'm a huge fan of Dr. Pepper to begin with. I only drink the diet or zero, but both are amazing. I'm not huge on flavored soda, but this one is the best thing ever.

Aside from that, I also made the mistake of going into Buchheits over the weekend and acquiring more baby chicks. I called them Saturday and was told that they had both Silver Laced and Golden Laced Wyandottes. Literally one of my favorite chicken breeds ever! By the time I got to the store, all the Silver Laced were sold, which was massively depressing because that's the one I wanted more. Instead of getting one of each color, I got two Golden Laced and two adorable White Brahma chicks. 

I have to stop. This is becoming an expensive addiction.

I guess that's all for now. 

McDonald's Americanos are addicting.

Damp and foggy night in Perryville last weekend.

The streets in Perryville always look so creepy at night.

It helps that two cops live next door.

Here are the new baby chicks. Two Light Brahmas and two Silver Laced Wyandotte's.

Here's the highly sought after Dr Pepper Strawberries & Cream Zero.

Finally starting my herb seed collection. I found two different types of Basil, Thyme, Dill and Chives. Still have a few more to go.

Here's all the baby chicks snuggled up in a box while we clean their bedding.

All the older chicks (Easter Eggers, Dominiques, Barred Rock) fast asleep.

Their long little chicken necks make me want to squeeze them.

Here's all the younger chicks - I legit love them so much.

But I honestly don't know who couldn't love baby chicks.

Reasons Why You Should Never Christmas Shop Last Minute

1) Because it's a stupid idea and literally every other person on the planet has the same idea.

2) Everything you're looking for will be out of stock.

3) Traffic and road rage is crazier than usual.

4) People are assholes.

5) You just shouldn't do it... period.

As I'm sure you can tell some last minute shopping took place yesterday. Man... it was insane. From cars nearly crashing on the highway, losing mustard not once, but twice to frantically searching for cream cheese. As one of my least favorite Instagram influencers says: It's been a doozy of a day, ya'll!

So I'll start by saying that the original plan was to go to Poplar Bluff yesterday afternoon to finish up our Christmas shopping. It was mainly because we couldn't find many gifts this year for my uncle, but we also literally had to get everything we needed for Christmas dinner as well. There was one other thing that we were specifically looking for, which I called Tuesday and asked and was told that there were some in stock. Guess what... when I called yesterday they were all magically gone!

Didn't find this out until we were 15 miles in the wrong direction, but we did see a Bald Eagle, which was a bonus. 

This is when the plan changed. We decided to go to Farmington instead and hit up Fredericktown Walmart along the way because said item was in stock there. So we had to drive all the way out 34 and hit 67. This added like 45 minutes to our travel time, which sucked. This is also when the car in the opposing lane lost control and slid all the way out in the median. It did a full 360 at about 70 mph and eventually made it back up on the highway. Surprisingly, there was a cop parked not 1/4 mile down the road who proceeded to turn his lights on and approach the car. We lost sight after that, so I'll never know the full story.

Made it to Fredericktown after that excitement and picked up the item with no issues and then headed to Farmington. Farmington was PACKED! Like every store was packed, which came as no surprise considering Christmas was only 4 days away. I think we got to Farmington around 5:30is. maybe a little later. I'm not going to go into detail as to what happened inside Walmart, but we didn't leave that store until after 9, which was insane.

One of the main items we needed for Christmas dinner was cream cheese. Needed that for the cheesecake, two different pies, pumpkin bar icing and dip. Naturally, they were all sold out - even sold out of the name brand! That's when moods changed and I started to panic. I called around to the nearest Walmart because all the local markets were closed. It said in the app that cream cheese was in stock in Desloge, but it said the same thing about Farmington, so I decided to call. Of course, no one could help, so we just had to pray that the app wasn't lying.

I would like to add that my foot was SO jacked last night and literally felt like glass grinding into my bones. I had to limp around for most of the night because I was in such pain.

After we left there I asked LaVaughn if she would run in Dollar Tree for me, which she did, then we made our was to Desloge Walmart where the shopping commenced. They had 9 out of 10 things that we needed, including cream cheese, thank God! It was a bitch to find, though. I ended up peeking through the cooler and asked some poor kid if they had any cream cheese back there, which he kindly agreed to look for. All they had was Philadelphia, but I wasn't complaining. This was after running around for 10 minutes trying to find it, mind you. When I turned around to find LaVaughn with the cart, another worker had showed her to the Great Value brand cream cheese, which we wanted because it's 10 times cheaper. We needed 8 blocks, which is around $12 for off brand. Paying for name brand would've cost almost $20.

We also planned on just getting bread and lunchmeat to eat on the way home. So at the first Walmart we got some coarse ground mustard. Well when we were trying to put all the food in the backseat of the car, it was nowhere to be found. Then we ended up having to buy more at the second Walmart, but it was just plain yellow mustard. We get out to the car and try to put it in the backseat as well... couldn't find it. Luckily when LaVaughn was making the sandwiches as I was going in the gas station she found both.

It was a little after midnight when we got home, which sucked. We were so tired and exhausted, but thank God we were able to finish shopping. I think I've rambled on enough, until next time!

I leave you with a picture of my delicious birthday cake that my aunt made me.

Winter Musings

 I feel like my blogging is taking the back burner again. I mean, the main reason is because of the holidays and the stress that accompanies it. This year has been chaos for shopping. It seems like everyone is so difficult to buy for and then when you do find something you think they'll like, you constantly second guess yourself. My sister and I buy for 5 different people and all but one are coupled up, so we have to try and get an even amount of gifts. 

It seems like the boys are getting more expensive gifts this year and IDK why!

We came home through Cape Monday and didn't get home until like 11 Monday night, which sucked cause we were exhausted. Then we went to Farmington yesterday because we needed to pick up my aunt and uncles main gift. Let me just say that was freaking horrible. I don't want to say way it is on the off chance my aunt sees this post, but it wouldn't fit in the truck. It was also raining, so I had to go back in Walmart to buy a tarp and bungee cords. Surprisingly those two things were super cheap, which I loved.

So yeah, it's been utter chaos trying to get gifts this year. Normally we have a plan or at least a shred of an idea as to what to get people, but not this year. I mean, there's underlying things that are contributing to the extra stress, but not horribly.

Next week we're coming straight home and the plan is to do our Christmas dinner shopping next Wednesday and finish up our Christmas gifts as well. That's the plan, we'll see.

I guess that's all for now. Here are some pics I took a little while ago while walking Max.

 These pics uploaded backwards, IDK why...

Leaf in a tree stump.

It was super windy, so this is the best leaf pic I got.

Love these little fuzzballs.

They didn't turn out how I wanted, but they're okay.

This was the first pic. *eye roll*

Birthday aftermath...

Last year my birthday was so weird. Not that I'm the type of person that needs to be the center of attention on my birthday -- I'm the last person at wants to be the main focus. My aunt and uncle got baptized on my birthday last year, so I got up super early and went to church that morning to experience it. Then LaVaughn and I drove to PB in a haze, went to the creepiest places possible, ate dinner far too early, rushed home so that LaVaughn could go with my aunt and uncle to communion that night, and then I spent the the next few hours alone.

It was creepy and weird and too much was going on.

This year was completely different. LaVaughn and I met up with my mom (Ty) in Farmington, went shopping together at a couple different places and just spent the evening talking and spending time together. After she left LaVaughn and I did some Chritstmas shopping, ate dinner and then came home and watched Suicide Squad. It's a complete 180 from last year.

Anyways, now that I'm done with my sap story, here are some photos from the today...

Christmas shopping is coming to a close...

LaVaughn and I were planing on going to Cape yesterday to finish up our holiday shopping, but we decided to go to Farmington instead. Besides, who really wants to go to Cape if they don't have to? That's one of the most godawful drives in the world.

Plus, we were able to get our flu shots at the health department yesterday as well! I didn't know it was all the way in Park Hills. I just trusted the GPS and followed it. Worst drive ever! Not to mention the health department was creepy and horribly busy -- I don't like people, especially people that are in the flu clinic.

Anyways, ever since I went in Shoe Carnival the other week and saw this amazing Nine West handbag, I've wanted it. I should have got it then, but I wanted to wait until after Black Friday before I made a purchase for myself. Now nothing satisfies me. I went in 3 different stores yesterday looking for a handbag that would satisfy me, but none did. I'm glad that I wanted to go in JC Penney, because we found an amazing gift for my aunt white we were in there. It was definitely worth it.

Of course, we went to Walmart for bath sets, but that's really the best place to get them and we haven't got any this year. After we finished Xmas shopping in there, we paid and went back in to grocery shop. I hated it, but our cart was far too full to put potentially wet groceries on.

It was a very long, semi-successful day, but man was I exhausted! We left the house just after one and didn't get home until nearly 9. It may have been a little after, actually.

I don't have too many pictures to share, just a couple that I took on my phone and posted on Instagram. Hope you enjoy!

Here are the pics from yesterday:

Shopping!

'

Coffee and flu shot aftermath.

All of the glorious wrapping paper. We had to wrap a bunch last night!

Beck's Tree Farm - 2016 Edition

We made it to our favorite tree farm on opening day this year. Surprisingly, the farm wasn't as busy as one would imagine it to be. Much busier than last year, but it was like 30 degrees last year and we were the only other people there aside from one couple that was leaving. It could be that they didn't have as many trees to choose from this year. But like I said, it's opening day and Black Friday, so I'm sure a lot of people were out shopping.

we browsed through a couple trees before LaVaughn and I my uncle found a really nice looking "fluffy" tree. My uncle kept commenting on how different it looked and how soft it was. He even picked it up to see how it looked. It really was pretty and tall, man that tree was tall. And full! It was so full that you couldn't see just how crooked the base of it was.

One of the employees finally made his was over to another couple next to us and my uncle was finally able to ask him what kind of tree it was. "A white pine!" he shouted. My uncle then began to ask him all about it. My aunt and I were reluctant to jump on the first nice looking tree, especially one that had such flimsy branches.

Since both my uncle and LaVaughn loved it so, we decided on it without further hesitation.

The inside of the small building where you paid for the tree had been completely gutted. This was one of the highlights last year as they had dozens of decorations and ornaments inside to choose from. They also had free coffee and hot cocoa, along with popcorn and a wood stove. They had none of that this year, which was a big disappointment.

We made it to Walmart shortly after to brave the Black Friday crowds, or what was left of them. LaVaughn and I went last night when Black "Friday" was in full swing. Aside from being more crowded than usual, it wasn't too bad. We left there with a gift for Shawna, the girl I work with, and something that my uncle wanted me to pick up for my aunt.

I made the mistake of riding in the backseat of my aunt and uncle's truck today. I paid for it too, I'm actually still paying for it. I get so, so sick when I'm in the backseat of vehicles. It's only gotten worse since I got older. Oh well, it's over and done now, no need to complain.

We were all too tired to decorate the tree tonight, so that will come tomorrow... AFTER I get home from work. Fun, fun.

Here are a fraction (24) of the nearly 70 pictures that I took today. Hope you enjoy!

The drive there:

The welcome sign:

(kinda crappy, but I was in the backseat)

They had this last year as well, I believe.

Pretty nice selection.

Others, not so much.

Have to have a portrait, of course.

I made him laugh right before this. :)

These are the White Pine trees.

See that tall one? That's the one they were after.

Personally, I like these.

Also a fair bit of people there today.

The employee -- slightly odd man.

Look how wide this thing it!

And tall! My uncle stands at 6'!

This guy could not get a good grip.

And he wouldn't even let my uncle help.

So off he went.

Surprisingly enough, they had pumpkins! They even had their own pumpkin field.

Packaging our tree:

This is one of my favorite things.

Love pictures like this.

I think I got one like this last year too.

That's all, folks! Hope you enjoyed our tree farm adventures this year. :)