May the 4th

 

May the 4th is the big day: Wyatt is going to be born on May 4th by c-section unless he decides to try to come earlier. My doctor said those chances are slim to none  and the she was highly doubtful that even if he tries to come naturally that I will be able to have a natural/non c-section birth.

I have come to terms with this. I just want a happy, healthy baby boy. He’s my main focus right now!

The realization that this is my last full weekend pre-babies is pretty crazy!!! Justin and I are going to spend some QT hopefully just relaxing.

Birthday and Easter Fun

Because I am pretty lame, I had to steal all but one of these pics from my sister Sami’s blog. She is the photography guru, so why invent the wheel?

Jake, Ben, and Rivers were dressed to the nines for Easter on Sunday, but I only managed to snap a quick pic of Ben before they ran and changed into more play-friendly clothes.

How cute is that bowtie?!?!

In addition to Easter festivities, my family celebrated my birthday a few weeks early due to Wyatt’s impending arrival (chronicled here on the baby blog). We had an awesome coconut cake (which is my favorite!) topped with neon coconut.

 

And since I’m roughly the size of a house, my sisters and my mama and I got a few maternity pics squeezed in for good measure.

 

 

What a weekend! I’m so thankful for great family!

Happy Easter!

Hope you celebrate what a great day today is with those you love.

And while Jesus is the real reason for Easter, hope you get lots of fun goodies too!

So Good!

While shopping for Justin’s Easter goodies, I came across this curiosity.

The new Coconut M & M’s didn’t disappoint (especially straight out of the freezer) and I couldn’t think of one single reason it would be bad. It has caramel, chocolate, cookies and COCONUT!

My verdict: It’s a Girl Scout Samoa Cookie with finer (and less) coconut in a limited size pack…the best of both worlds because I never stop at just one Samoa.

I found mine in my local Dollar Tree, but from searching for pics to share, I gather they are rolling out in convenience stores everywhere in time for Easter so you should be able to get your hands on some pretty easily. Oh, and drop some by my house if you do!

Cool Coolers

I wasn’t in a sorority in college, but I came across the newest rage in formal date night gifts the girls make for their dates and I am truly captivated.

Justin might kill me if I decorate all of his hunting coolers, but I might have to try this out on a small cooler since I’m not the best artist of all.

Ones like these are way out of my league, but the dedication and talent amaze me!

These would be great for tailgating and cheering for your favorite team, or just to have at the beach.

I got all of these pictures from The Cooler Connection on Facebook. Just a warning-most of the designs are for guys, but I managed to find plenty that are great for girls, too!

I think I would like to do a simpler one like this with “COOK” in the background and “Justin and Sarah” in the smaller, cursive letters.

 

I’ll post an update if I ever get around to making one of these.

Faux Stained Glass

I snapped this picture on my phone at the restaurant where my baby shower was hosted last Friday. I think this faux stained glass paper is pretty awesome. It appears to be made of a vellum material to let the sun through.

(Note to self: match patterns up a little better!)

I found colored versions online here. It seems like an inexpensive way to add a pop of non-permanent color to my dull little bathroom.

An economic dilemma

Here’s a non-typical blog post from me today. Sorry to bore y’all. This is the economics major coming out in me. Please feel free to skip this article and return to the care-free blog posts that I am sure will resume shortly.

Currently, Georgia legislature has been debating Sunday alcohol sales. The House recently passed a bill to allow individual counties to vote on whether Sunday sales shall be deemed legal or not. I am from a dry, dry county that doesn’t allow liquor sales at all, so I don’t see this happening for us any time soon, but there are other counties that can reap great economic benefits in my opinion. Lots of people in Georgia tend to make this a moral or religious issue, but I tend to look at the “dollars and cents” impacts.

(Not necessarily going to happen.)

I know very well that living in a dry county doesn’t mean that I am surrounded by teetotalers—folks just drive to the next county over to get their liquor. They also just stock up on beer on Saturday to have their Sunday beer needs fulfilled. Morally or religiously, it doesn’t impact me. So there you go.

(Typical Saturday grocery store cart)

I’m about to blow someone’s mind here. This was from my senior economics project that I entered into a national economics competition and won third place with. I have drilled down my entire semester’s worth of work into one paragraph.

Based on empirical research, there is a significant increase in the number of restaurants that sell alcoholic beverages based on availability of Sunday sales. On average, 90.91% of the states that allow Sunday sales have more than half of restaurants that also serve alcoholic beverages. This is a substantial increase from the 60% in states that do not permit Sunday alcohol sales. On average, a one percentage point increase in the percent of restaurants that sell alcohol as well as food increases alcohol sales by $1,341,802.68, nation-wide, all else equal. This by far has the greatest effect on alcohol sales of any of the variables tested.

Basically? If Georgia’s Sunday alcohol sales contribute to a 1% increase in just restaurants  selling alcohol (not accounting for liquor stores and grocery stores because I argued that regular imbibers just make their purchases the day before), alcohol sales will increase by roughly $1.3 million. That’s a lot of taxes pouring back into the State of Georgia. Pretty impressive to me.

It’s the little things…

…that make me realize how awesome my husband is.

Even though it’s only been a month since he shot his hand, my husband was able to take this old water pump we bought at a flea market in Tallahassee last summer and turn it into a faucet for our porch. This makes watering flowers so much easier than walking around to the side of the house and filling up my watering can every day!

 

(I think I need a new watering can…someone stepped on mine!)

After all that hard work, he sat down and studied for his hazmat class—which he later found out was cancelled.

I love him!

Rock my world

Brad Paisley pretty much rocks my world and I can’t wait until each and every new album is released. He mixes great country music with some great humor and never disappoints. My new favorite tune is from his new album, This Is Country Music and is called “Old Alabama.”  The album is coming out May 24, but you can preorder it now.

How could you possibly go wrong with Brad Paisley and Alabama?

They guys rocked it out last night on the ACM Awards. To have one of the most awesome bands in country music singing backup for Brad must have put him on Cloud 9!

Update on Justin

Justin and I went back to the hand surgeon on Friday for a follow-up appointment and we were able to see his hand out of the cast for the first time since his surgery two weeks ago.

Dr. Floyd did an awesome job and once the scar is healed, you will hardly be able to tell there ever was a finger there. I am so proud of the results. Justin said he was just glad to be able to move his wrist for the first time after three weeks (it has been splinted since the accident).

I am sorry for the poor quality pics here. They’re from my phone. The one picture makes Justin’s fingers look huge, but it was just the way he was holding his hand and the angle I took the picture from.

 

I am so glad he is healing well. It seems like the terrible black cloud that has been hanging over our heads is starting to roll out-FINALLY!

My favorite furry one

This weekend, I lost my favorite furbaby to a dog attack. He was mine from the day we rescued him from the in-ground pool from a certain drowning. He would have been five in a few months. I’m gonna miss that little furball.