Blog Friend Package Swap #1

Happy Friday, friends!

A few months ago, 

I decided to start a package swap!

Swaps are so neat.

They are a great way to meet fellow bloggers,

and I mean,

 who doesn't LOVE getting packages in the mail???

The swaps are going to take place every 3 months,

and each time,

the swap item will change.

The first swap took place this month,

 the item was Jewelry,

and today we are linking up and showing off our goods!

This month,

I got to swap with 2 lovely ladies 

Rhiannon  and Jennifer

(we had an odd # of swappers).

 Rhiannon sent me this adorable necklace!

 

and Jennifer sent me some awesome bracelets and a zebra print scarf!

Thank you so much, ladies!

I've already worn every single item.

Now it's your turn!

If you took part in this swap, 

don't forget to link up at the bottom of the post!

Want to do Blog Friend Package Swap #2?

email me: afraley226@gmail.com

and I will send you all of the information!

Have a fabulous weekend!

I'm messy and I know it.

Autumn Grace.

That's my name.

(don't wear it out!)

((shout out to all of the 90s kids))

 I tell you a lot about my life.

But I never really tell you much about myself.

Just about things I find humorous.

So I've decided that periodically,

I will tell you something about me.

Who I am.

What makes me, me.

Because I want to be raw.

Raw, I don't think that's quite the word I'm looking for..

 all that makes me think about is uncooked meat.

Maybe I wanted to say real.

That sounds better.

I want to be real.

So here is fact #1.

iammessy.

As much as I hate to admit that,

it's true.

I try to fight it,

but that characteristic definitely shows itself a lot.

my clothes rarely see my closet.

 I forget to rinse milk out of my cereal bowl.

I leave half filled coffee cups in my car until  it morphs into a fermented jello-like substance.

and sometimes my car smells like festered crack for a few weeks,
until my husband investigates,
and finds little gems like this...

 

I have no clue what that is used to be...

but I know I haven't had any pureed pees,

in a sandwich bag,

in my car... recently.

or ever.

Check out his facial expression.

That is the face of a

 not-so-happy-extremely-disgusted-on-the-verge-of-dry-heaving hubs.

He tolerates it,

because he loves me.

but deep down,

it drives him crazy.

I'm sure the phrase 

what have I gotten myself into?

has crossed his mind more than once.

Bless his heart.

I mean, really, what is in that bag?

So there ya have it.

I'm messy and I know it.

wiggle, wiggle....yeah, no.

marriage tester

The hubs and I made a decision last Friday.

One that would test our marriage.

We bought.....

a ping pong table.

Why would that test our marriage?

Because we are both extremely competitive.

We both would fight til the death.

 It's not even healthy.

Our bedtime has gone from 9pm (pre-ping pong)

to 1am (post-ping pong).

We will be watching tv, 

brushing our teeth, 

eating dinner, 

and one of us will say 

"ping pong?"

It's getting a little ridiculous.

I'll win one,

he'll win one,

we'll play a tie breaker,

then play another one

(and tie it up again),

then play another tie breaker.

Neither of us can stand losing...

so it's a never ending circle.

And we don't really like each other anymore.

Here's just one of many stories of how heated the competition has gotten:

My brother was keeping score during one of our games on Saturday.

He said the score was me-17 and Tyler-15.

And for the record,

that score was CORRECT.

Tyler- Um, no.  It is 17 to 17. We are tied.

Me- We are not! I just got another point! I am winning. Cry baby!

Tyler- Whatever!

Me- Fine. Jacob, change it to 17:17. And Tyler, just know that if you win, it's not legitimate.

Tyler proceeded to throw his paddle on the table and leave.

Yep.

It's serious.

It's so much fun.

We are addicted.

BayLee is terrified.

And I'm surprised we're still married.

:) 

That's right!

Look at that right bicep!

He doesn't come in...he just looks at us like this.

surprise!

I believe there are 2 things that are okay to keep secret until marriage.

1.

Your name + the word bed+ the word hog do not need to be used in the same sentence.

Guys like their sleep.

So the possibility of not having a glorious night's sleep,

could be detrimental.

Just don't bring it up.

If he happens to see you while you're sleeping,

and comments on how you "take up the whole bed..."

Your reply should be

"Oh, hehehe...."

I put hehehe instead of hahaha on purpose.

hehehe is all innocent and cute.

Do the hehe, not the haha.

Bate that hook.

2.  

 Even though it's going to be tough,

keep your legs shaved through the entire dating/engagement phase.

I know, I know.

It sucks.

But listen to me.

Are you listening?

Keep them as smooth as a newborn baby's bottom.

There is no need for him to see what your legs really look like 99.9% of the time...yet.

Reel him in.

Here's my theory:

Think of it as a surprise.

Why don't you tell someone about their surprise?

because it would ruin the fun.

So bait the hook, reel him in...

and yell "Surprise!"
and then introduce him to the hairy legged bed hogger he vowed to stay with forever.

It worked for me;)

one down

Holy moly.

I have been mentally drained since last Thursday.

I took my first HUGE RN exam on Thursday morning,

came home,

took a nap,

got up,

vegged out in the recliner with BayLee,

took another nap,

got up,

then went to bed...

and the weekend was very similar to my Thursday schedule.

Lots of naps.

But guess what?

I got an A on the exam!!!
One down.

I am so relieved.

I love that feeling,

and all of the glorious naps that come with it.

What I'm trying to say is that my weekend was not very exciting.

but it was very restful.

I did, however,

have to get up from my vegetative state on Friday

to make lunch for the hubs.

Since I don't have a job,

he comes home to a hot lunch almost every day.

When I did have a job,

he either

(A.) didn't eat lunch

(B.) ate chips

(C.) microwaved spaghetti o's.
(Bless his little heart.)
So he has been extremely thankful for my lunch making skills.

I got this text request on Friday....
(the last 2 messages)

I'm pretty sure I've spoiled him.

Hope your weekend was fabulous!

almost-fall!

Good morning!

Today I am letting Kelly from Kelly Elizabeth the blog take over!

You should be her friend. Well, read this post first, then go be her friend :)

Hello Mrs. in the Making friends!! I’m so pleased that Autumn let me be a temporary owner of her blog today and to let me introduce myself to you lovely people. I’m Kelly and I blog over at my self-named blog, Kelly Elizabeth. Original, I know. I suck at coming up with clever names for things, so I went with the name my mama gave me. Blogging, has quickly become a big part of my life and I have already met so many great people because of it. And after today, I hope you become one of them!

Anywho, since we have been recently blessed with some amazing fall weather, I thought it would be fun to relive one of my favorite fall past times with you folks. Fall, in my opinion, is the bomb.com. It out numbers all of the other seasons and most of the time I wish it was fall 6 months out of the year instead of winter (for people who live in Wisconsin, you know what I mean).

Last year, the man and I went to an apple orchard to pick, well apples. I wanted to be the perfect girlfriend for him and bake him some of my awesome apple pies. Instead of making it easy and just buying the apples from a supermarket, I wanted to drive the extra 20 miles to the orchard and pick them ourselves.

We picked about a whole paper bag full, pretty much way more than we actually needed. I got a little overly excited when I found out how to use those la-cross sticks they give you. We drove back home and started right in on the baking. I had two perfect pies sitting right in front of me. They were like story book perfection, seriously. That was until we put them in the oven.

Doomsday. One thing I hate most is when I ruin my cooking/baking. Chris failed to mention to me that his newly bought apartment had the crappiest oven ever. So when I put the pies in the oven, set at 350 degrees, the oven actually didn’t stop heating and was probably way past 500 degrees. So after 10 minutes of having the pies in, I was a little confused on why I smelt burning from the other room. My pies were literally turned to black mush. Chris was hysterical and I could’ve strangled a puppy. In my rage, I threw them out.

We like to look dumb every now and then.

Even though I was beyond pissed that Chris’ oven killed my pies, every time we look back on that day, we can’t help but to laugh. It was a fabulous day and I can’t wait to pick more apples this year and try it all over again. Thanks for having me Autumn and please don’t be shy about stopping on over. I would love to meet you all! 

Thanks for hanging out with us, Kelly!

I hope your pies are story book perfection after they bake this year!

Ahhh I am so giddy about fall.

Come on September 22!

 

deep breaths. deep breaths.

Hey friends!

I have my first BIG test (in my RN program) tomorrow.

I am so nervous.

and I have intestinal/do-do cramps...

because that's what happens when I get nervous.

I've kept up with my reading,

I've studied.

I've done all I can do.

So from now until tomorrow morning at 9:30

I will be reviewing.

Any prayers, thoughts, or Imodium would be greatly appreciated!

I'll let you know how it goes!

I can do this.

deep breaths.

 

Happy Hump day!

it really was...

You know when you get something sticky on your finger...

and you jokingly say ew it's probably a booger
(or maybe I'm the only one who says that).

Well tonight, it was a booger.

A legit booger.

And it wasn't my booger.

I wish it had been my booger.

If it had been my booger,

it would have been a little easier to handle.

I would have even taken Tyler's booger.

But it was a stranger's booger.

Hanging out on my finger like it owned it.

Want to know how it got there?

Tonight I had an insane craving for cotton candy.

So I went in search for some.

I didn't think it would be hard to find

because I usually see it everywhere.

My dad also asked me to look for a single hole punch

(that sounds random but I promise it is extremely significant).

First I checked Family Dollar, and had no luck.

Then Foodlion, no luck.

A gas station, no luck.

And finally Rite Aid......

they didn't' have cotton candy either,

but they did have my dad's hole punch.

So I took it up to the counter,

the cashier rang it up,

I paid for it,

she handed me the bag and receipt,

I started walking out to my car,

I moved the receipt from my right hand to my left hand,

and...

right in the middle of my right pointer finger pad,

was the biggest not-my-booger I have ever seen in my life.

I was a million percent positive it wasn't mine.

And the only other person who had touched the receipt was the cashier.

and if you do the math...

a+b= IT WAS HER BOOGER

on my finger.

I wanted to vomit.

I wanted to walk back into Rite Aid and tell her I had something that was hers.
I wanted to tell her that I didn't pay for HER booger.

But instead,
since I am a blogger...

and I wanted proof to go with my story

I got in the car,

snapped some pictures,

 wiped the booger back onto the receipt,

got out of the car,

ran across the parkinglot,

into Foodlion's vestibule,

and wiped my hands down with 10 of their sanitizing cart wipes.

The employees stared at me like I was a weirdo.

Probably because my face was frozen in this expression:

 If they only knew the level of horror I had just encountered.

If they only knew...

Are you hoping I forgot about the pictures I took?

Well I didn't.
(you're welcome)

I can't even tell you how many times I gagged while taking these pictures.
I also can't tell you how many times I have washed my hands since I got home.

I'm still gagging.
Stupid hole punch.
And I still don't have cotton candy.

I hope you have a fabulous day!

and by fabulous,

I mean I hope you don't get any not-your-boogers on your finger.

it used to be mine.

One of the biggest things I have learned 

(in my 1 year, 1 month and 4 days of marriage)

is that sharing is vital.

I've never minded sharing.

Shoot. I got an A+ in kindergarten for my impeccable sharing abilities!

So 16 years later,

when my hubs decided he was going to share my

toothbrush, bath towel, deodorant, and my meals at restaurants,

It was no big deal.

His tooth junk, wet body wipe-age, pit hairs in my deodorant, and large appetite didn't bother me.

What's yours is mine, and what's mine is yours.

We have said that a few times to each other over the past year,

because it is definitely a truth of marriage.

I, however, had an extra sentence on the end of that phrase that I kept secret.

My version went 

"What's yours is mine and what's mine is yours. Except for my chocolate, that's just mine."

Luckily, that last part has never been a big deal.

One of the first things I learned about Tyler was that he didn't like sweets.

They made his stomach hurt.

On one hand, I felt bad for him.

But on the other hand, I was ecstatic.

Because I like my sweets.

I need them.

I crave them.

And I don't like sharing them.

So our situation was picture perfect.

I buy sweets. I eat them. Tyler doesn't touch them.

About a month ago,

I was introduced to Magnum Ice Cream Bars.......

changed my life.

 I purposely avoided them in the grocery store because I knew I could easily eat the whole box in one day.

Eventually, I caved and bought some.

I was sitting on the couch enjoying the creamy chocolatey goodness, 

when my hubs sat down beside me and the following conversation took place:

Ty- What's that?

Me- ...an ice cream bar.

Ty- Oh, it looks good, can I have one?

Me- What?! No!

Tyler's facial expression was a mix between surprised and "you just ran over my puppy."

Me- Oh, I mean, sure babe. Of course you can....have....one.

I got him one and as he took the first bite, I prayed he wouldn't like it.

Me- Do you like it? 

Please say no, please say no.

Ty- Yeah, it's awesome.

Me- Oh.....so it's not hurting your stomach?

Ty- Not at all!

I smiled back at him,

but in my head, I was screaming

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm going to be honest.

I may or may not have been secretly hoping that it would hurt his stomach.
Not a puke hurt...
just an "ew I can't eat these disgusting things" hurt.

But no.

He loves them.

Which means I have to share.

After all, 

What's yours is mine and what's mine is yours...

except the chocolate....that's just mine  USED to be just mine.

fear with a side of chest pain.

my biggest fear on the planet.

the top of my list fear.

happened yesterday.

and I have been having chest pains ever since.

really. I have.

I know it's not bad chest pains though.

it's not "hey I'm dying" chest pains.

it's the

 "dear Jesus, please save me before I am eaten by the man standing on his porch wearing only his jeans, with an unbuckled belt, beard down to his belly button, massively hairy upper body, trucker hat and misplaced dentures"

 chest pains. 

fyi, those pains tend to stick around.

want to know what my biggest fear is?

getting lost.

not just getting lost,

but getting lost with no cell phone service and no gps.

all of that happened yesterday.

in the mountains.

with partially paved one lane roads with names like Incubation Holler. 

yes, Incubation Holler.

I remembered the name of that road on purpose

because I was positive that my 48 Hour Investigation episode on the ID channel would be called Murder on Incubation Holler.

I'll start at the beginning.

yesterday morning,

I had orientation at an Alzheimer's facility.

I had never been to the facility before,

but I knew my handy dandy gps would get me there.

I am directionally and geographically challenged.

my gps is not a convenience.

it's a necessity.

I missed all of the map questions in my grade school, middle school, and high school geography classes.

I also used to think that England was attached to the United States.

...

back to the handy dandy gps.

I knew it would get me there.

I checked mapquest Tuesday night to see how long the trip would take me,

set my alarm,

and went to bed with no worries.

when I got inside my car the next morning,

I immediately realized that my gps was not in there.

I panicked for 2.5 seconds

until I remembered that I also had a gps on my phone!

PERFECT!

I typed in the address of my destination,

hit the interstate,

and away I went.

the gps told me to take exit 7.

so I did.

total mistake.

exit 7 took me deep into the mountains.

scary deep.

after 25 minutes of back mountain roads,

I was curious as to why my gps lady hadn't said anything for awhile.

I looked down at my phone...

and to my HORROR,

I had no service...

which in turn,

meant that I had no gps signal.

oh,

and did I mention it was also raining?

because it was.

I frantically pulled off onto the side of the road,

looked to the right,

saw the half naked hairy man looking at me from his dilapidated porch,

looked to the left,

and saw the Incubation Holler road sign,

and immediately started to cry and hyperventilate.

I decided that I would turn around and try to find my way back to the interstate.

but as I started driving the other way,

I didn't recognize anything.

after about 10 minutes of trying to find my way out,

I saw a car coming the other way.

as they passed me,

I saw BLUE SCRUB TOPS!

they were classmates!

hallelujah!

they were going pretty fast,

so I whipped my car around and tried to catch up with them.

I caught up and started following them.

every turn they made,

I made.

which isn't creepy at all.

we came to a fork in the road.

they turned on their left blinker.

so I turned on my left blinker.

then they floored it, skidded their tires and went right instead.

I tried my hardest to catch back up to them,

but they were going too fast.

I don't know my classmates yet,
and they don't know me.
or my car.

so I know they thought I was a weirdo following them out of creepiness instead of desperation.

I lost them and I was lost again.

I have no idea how, but I finally made it.

and I have been traumatized ever since.

 you might be thinking,

"Autumn, why on earth would you freak out so much?"

well.

I'll tell you why.

go to google.

and type in the words "wrong turn west virginia."

read the summary of the movie(s)...and while you're at it,

move your mouse to the left and click on images.

OR just go rent the movie and watch it.

that's why, friend.

that's why.

 

it's the most wonderful time of the year....almost!

It's almost FALL!

also known as AUTUMN

and/or my favorite season of ALL TIME.

cool crisp air.

earth tones.

boots.

pumpkins.

sweaters.

cardigans

pumpkin flavored coffee.

pumpkin flavored/scented EVERYTHING.

my birthday.

turkey.

family.

multicolored leaves.

piles of leaves.

scarves.

my birthday.

hay rides.

corn mazes.

red noses.

red cheeks.

caramel apples.

boots.

a million other things.

and I saved the best for last..

 yes.

HOORAY for FALL!!!!

That's all I have for you tonight.

School is kicking my booty.

I got lost today.

I'll tell you about it later.

I am in desperate need of sleep.

Good night lovelies!

 

left overs: the vlog

We have a problem with leftovers.

Problem, as in, they sit and rot in the refrigerator for weeks....

because no one eats them.
They get pushed all the way to the back,
and we forget about them.

Tyler says he will eat them,

but he doesn't.

So this time, 

I told him he had to empty out the Tupperware.

I hope your holiday weekend was fabulous!