The Murphys buy a house

On Christmas Eve we closed on our first home. After looking for 7 months, everything finally fell into place and two weeks after our offer was accepted, we were homeowners! It's been a very stressful and trying process, but also super exciting.

It's definitely a "fixer" but we're very blessed that most of what it needs is updating. No major repairs need to happen, which is wonderful.

James is over there as I type, scraping down popcorn ceilings and running some wire with his friends. We have some small projects - including painting, power washing the outside, cleaning the carpets, and tiling the master shower - and then we will move in. We are hoping to be and settled by the end of January.

Here is a picture of the outside of our new house:

Happy Halloween!!!

I love holidays and birthdays and things like that. Seriously - I make a big deal out of everything. SO of course - Halloween this year is no different. We were low key the past two years b/c Corbin was littler and didn't "get" it. But he gets it this year and is having just as much fun as his mama.

On Wednesday we went to a local church for "trunk or treat". Corbin wore a really cute (and really warm as all the lovely ladies at the church pointed out to me. It was 90* outside, but Corbin wasn't complaining, so I guess we were ok lol) anyways - COrbin wore a really CUTE monkey costume. He was the CUTEST monkey I've ever seen. He had a blast going from person to person, saying "happy halloween!!" and getting candy. It was so much fun to watch him.

Here are a couple of pics:

Tonight we went to a great fall festival at a local park here in town. There was a bounce house, a slide, a train ride, and just a good time in general. There was supposedly a costume contest, but we must have missed it lol. We all (James, me, Corbin, my sister in law - Jessica - and her BF - Travis) dressed up. My MIL came along too, but did not dress up. It was a really good time though. Here are some pics from that:






Tomorrow we're going to a thing at chick-fil-a and then trick or treating tomorrow night. I'll post pics from those sometime over the weekend.

update

Surgery went well - no tears in my rotator cuff. They shaved the bone down in a couple of different places. I saw the surgeon yesterday and everything looks great and is healing nicely.


Corbin's having a great time with his grandparents in Ky. We will be picking him up next weekend.

That's all for now.

tomorrow

tomorrow morning at 10am, we head to the surgery center for my surgery. I'm a bit nervous, but my doctor is awesome and God is in control, so I'm trying to remember this and stay calm.

On Saturday, I took my little man to Atlanta to meet my parents. They took him back to Kentucky Sunday morning. The trip to Atlanta was great. Corbin kept his pull up dry the whole trip. This of course resulted in lots of potty stops, but I was super proud of him! He was a bit fussy in the car a couple of times, but nothing a Buzz Lightyear and Woody action figure as well as listening to Alan Jackson's Good Times for an hour and a half couldn't fix. He chatted and sung and was just a joy to travel with.

According to my parents, he was just as well behaved on Sunday - including keeping that pull up dry for the whole trip! We told him that meemaw and pop-pop have puppy dogs that he could pet when he got there. Well as soon as they pulled in the driveway, he started asking for the dogs. He loves them and is having such a good time. We tried to talk to him last night at bedtime, but he just grabbed the phone, yelled "MOM I PEED!!!!!!!!!" and then handed the phone back and ran away. He's having a blast.

I will update sometime this week or next on the surgery. James will be updating my facebook tomorrow for everyone.

slow cooker beef barley soup

Smells so yummy! I just made some to freeze for when I have my surgery next week.

1. 1.5lbs boneless lean beef, cubed (Ok I totally used pork loin cuz I had 12lbs in the freezer and didn't wanna buy beef)
2. 3 tablespoons veggie oil
3. 1 tsp salt
4. 1 tsp black pepper
5. 2 tsp garlic powder
6. 3 (10.5oz) cans beef broth
7. 6 cups water
8. 4 stalks celery, chopped
9. 6 carrots, chopped
10. 6 green onions, chopped
11. 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped (James HATES parsley, so I left that out. The only thing I can use it in guacamole b/c it's all ran through the food processor, so he can't tell it's really there)
12. 1 cup barley (fyi - this is in the rice and bean section at the store and there is "quick cook" and regular. The recipe doesn't specify, but since it's in the crock pot for 6-8 hours, I used regular lol)
13. 1 tsp dried thyme

Directions:
1. In skillet over medium heat, saute the beef (or pork lol!) in the oil until browned. Stir in the salt, garlic powder, and pepper and place seasoned meat in the slow cooker. Add a little water to the skillet and stir to pick up the browned bits. Add to slow cooker (ok, I had no "bits" to pick up, but maybe that's just me lol)

2. Add broth, water, celery, carrots, green onions, parsley, and barley. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until veggies and barley are tender (took about 5 hours here). Add Thyme just before serving.


Your house will smell amazing! Perfect for chilly fall nights :)

beef and barley soup

Recipe to follow shortly...

Tonight on the way home from Target:

Corbin: I don't want to go to sleep - I wanna sit on couch and watch TV!
Me: no you watched enough tv. It will rot your brain?
Corbin: Rot my brain out of my head?



Yesterday, when he was using a binky:

Me: Corbin you're a big boy not a baby. Only babies use binkies.
COrbin: I want it!
Me: why
COrbin: Because....
Me: because why?
Corbin: Because I LIKE binkies!

Putting him into the carseat Monday morning:
(Background - Sunday I cut my finger and we only have SpongeBob band-aides so that's what I was using)
Corbin: I want bob-bob sticker
Me: It's a band-aide - mama cut her finger and it hurt
Corbin: AWWWWWWWW MAN! I kiss for you!

Randomly, the other day, while I was cleaning his room:

Corbin to me: You are a toy! I Space Ranger! I in charge now!

Corbin has started calling me "cowboy dog" lately. I'm assuming this has something to do with Toy Story 2, but I'm not 100% sure. So I warned him that it was disrespectful to call me that and he needed to call me mommy. So the other day he slipped up:

Corbin: (random bossy mumbo jumbo) Cowboy Dog!!!!!!!!
Me: Corbin, what did you call me?
Corbin: I not call you Cowboy Dog! I call you....Cowboy Mom!!!!!!

Today I was inflating (largely with my lungs!) a wading pool in the living room. Don't worry, it didn't stay in the loving room - I eventually lugged it out to the backyard and filled it with water. Anyway, Corbin looks at me all excited and said "you fixing me a boat mom?!?!?"

I love that kid.

surgery

A little over a year ago I injured my shoulder. It still hurts and stuff now, so I went back to the orthopedic surgeon in July. He ordered physical therapy and an MRI. I finish physical therapy this week. The MRI looked good - no obvious tares. I've had shots and anti inflammatory meds as well. Nothing has helped the pain.

The doctor thinks that I have shoulder impingement syndrome. Basically the bones in my arm shoulder are pushing on the tendons - the opening is too small. So on October 6th, I am having surgery. The doc is going to go in, shave the bone down, and look for any small tears that the MRI may have missed. Sounds like a great time huh?

The recovery is about 4-6 weeks with this procedure. I ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we figure everything out.

Thanks!

shrimp gumbo

• 1 tablespoon and 1-3/4 teaspoons cooking oil
• 3/8 large onion, chopped
• 3/8 bell pepper, chopped
• 3/4 stalk celery, chopped
• 3/4 clove garlic, minced
• 1-5/8 cubes beef bouillon
• 2-1/3 cups and 1 tablespoon hot water
• 3/8 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3/8 (16 ounce) package frozen sliced okra
• 1-1/2 cups and 2 tablespoons shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3/4 bay leaves

1. Warm oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic. Cook until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Dissolve bouillon cubes in hot water. Pour into skillet. Stir tomatoes, okra, and shrimp into skillet. Season with salt, cayenne pepper, thyme, bay leaves. Bring to a boil; cover, and simmer 30 minutes.
3. Place fish in skillet, return to boil; cover, and simmer 15 minutes more. Remove bay leaves, and serve.

Actually - this one is supposed to have cat fish too, but I'm fresh out lol.

insomnia

oh how I love thee....

So I'm on some meds for my shoulder issues and they completely kill my ability to sleep. It's totally lame. SO rather than lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, I'm wasting time online at 257am.

the stomach flu comes to the Murphy house

Sunday night we had a BBQ for Labor Day. It was great fun. We had a ton of people over and I put Corbin to bed at 7pm. He went to bed remarkably well for how loud our house was, but I didn't really think anything of it.

Then IT happened....
130AM. James and I had been asleep for all of an hour, when I heard Corbin screaming - something about his Woody and Buzz and his bed. I sent James into check it out as I was had worked Saturday night with very little sleep on Sunday and was EXHAUSTED. So James walks in the room and I hear "OH CRAP!!!!!" followed by "I'm sorry buddy". So of course I went running to see what was wrong.

Corbin had vomited all over his bed. It was in his hair, down his clothes - pretty much everywhere. James got the bedding changed while I showered Corbin and got him in new PJs. Then we sent daddy to bed and Corbin and I snuggled down on the couch to watch some Nick@Night. I really feel like sick kids deserve to be "spoiled" and so I had no problem with letting him lay on the sofa with me for a bit. Plus I wanted to make sure he wasn't gonna throw up the water I gave him after his shower. Finally at around 245am, I decide it's safe to go back to bed.

It wasn't.

On the way back to the room, he pukes again - all over my floor. A few minutes later, he does it again. Thank God I have tile throughout the house and he missed the area rug lol. Poor little man. So back to the couch we go for more Family Matters.

I finally got him settled in his bed for the night at around 4am. the next day he was dragging, but not pukey, so it wasn't to bad. We spent a lot of time snuggling. At 130pm he fell asleep and slept until 630pm! Woke up as I'm walking out the door to work, feeling fine.

It sounds like such a happy ending too, but it's not....

730pm - 30 minutes after I get to work - I start puking. I was home and in bed by 830 lol.

Luckily, this seems to be about a 24 hour bug and by this evening I was feeling much better. Now we're just crossing our fingers that James doesn't get it too.

Here are a couple pics of my sick little man yesterday:

Corbin

While looking for something sappy to put at the top of the blog page, I came across this quote that describes Corbin perfectly:


"Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face in an opposite direction from the way the arranger desires" ~ Marcelene Cox

I love my little strong willed kid though. He certainly makes life interesting.

new recipe time

Tonight I'm making shrimp in garlic butter sauce and serving it over pasta.

So I bought a 1lb bag of frozen, deveined, de-tailed, ready to cook shrimp.

For the sauce I'm using:

2 cloves of garlic - minced
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp of lemon juice



Throwing the shrimp in there, adding some onions, basil, and then serving it over pasta (just plain on spaghetti noodles as I have a ton of them lol) I think I'm going to do french bread and herb fried tomatoes with it.

Here's the recipe for that:

• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 5 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 Roma (plum) tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
  I use canola oil, half that amount of herbs, and black pepper instead :)
  
  
• In a small bowl, mix together basil, thyme, salt, and white pepper. Mix in 5 teaspoons olive oil to make a spreadable paste. Spread paste on cut side of each tomato half.
• Heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in small skillet over medium-low heat. Place tomatoes herb-side down in skillet, and cover. Simmer for 5 minutes; tomatoes should be hot but not stewed. Serve immediately.

I'll let you know how it goes over. I won't eat it, but hopefully Corbin will and I KNOW James will love it!

then and now

So I posted this pic earlier when I posted about Disney, but wanted to show you guys this as well.

4 years ago at Downtown Disney (ignore the poor quality - my scanner is broken, so it's a pic of a pic lol):


And this past weekend at Downtown Disney:

A very merry unbirthday to....ME!

On Saturday - 8/29 - I turned 25 years old. Now I have been somewhat dreading this day for months now. I'm a quarter of a century old. I'm 1/3 of the way to dead b/c, let's face it, I'm probably not gonna live much past 75 lol. Plus 25 just seems so....old.

So I told my hubby several months back that I wanted him to take over the planning for my birthday this year - that I needed a little extra TLC this birthday lol. And boy did that man ever come through.

Now granted, turning 25 was not as bad as I thought it would be. I was totally freaking over nothing - which anyone who knows me know I tend to do this often. There are definite benefits to getting older and I honestly have a good feeling about this year. My marriage is getting stronger, my little boy is getting bigger, my job is going well, we're shopping for a house. Just lots of good things going on and I'm enjoying my life right now. So once I put the emotion of "getting old" behind me, I was able to see lots of good in life lol.

But back to my amazing husband....

I'm sure you know that Disney is running a special where you get in free on your birthday. So James decided that we would go to Disney World's Animal Kingdom for the weekend. We've been to MGM (which is apparently NOT called MGM anymore??) once and Magic Kingdom twice. We've wanted to do Animal Kingdom since the first time we went to Disney, but have never had the opportunity (read - the people we were with didn't want to go lol). SO we got a hotel room in the park for Friday - Sunday (btw - it pays to live in Florida as we saved like 30% or something on our room) and headed for Orlando. It's a short 3 hour drive and we talked the whole way, which was great.

So Friday, we check in around 4 and then hang out around the hotel for a couple hours. We had dinner reservations at The House of Blues in Downtown Disney at 7:30 that night. Let me just tell you - they had the most awesome BBQ ribs I have EVER had! Seriously - I ate like 3/4 of a rack of ribs and usually I don't eat more than 1/4. They were freaking amazing. We walked around Downtown Disney for a little bit afterward and then decided to head back to our hotel and turn in early, with plans to get up at 7am and find a MCd's for breakfast and a Target. I had forgotten to pack a swimsuit and needed a second one for home anyway, so we figured we'd grab one at Target so we could swim that night.

Saturday - we actually got up on time, which is rare for us, and headed out. I was having horrible allergy eyes and discovered at Target that Zyrtec makes an eye drop. Let me just tell you - these things are awesome. Now they didn't work for the 12 hours they were supposed to, but I'm thinking the fact that I spent the day surrounded by animals and plants - both of which I'm allergic to - had something to do with it. But they lasted for about 7 hours and even then, my eyes weren't too itchy. Awesome stuff!

Moving past that though! We got to the park at about 930 and headed straight for the safari. At the safari, we met:

Now of course there were tons of other animals - really cool ones! - at the safari, but this fun ostrich friend came walking right up to the car and I seriously could have touched him had I not been afraid of losing my fingers.

There were tons of cool things in Animal Kingdom, but to tell you everything would take too long! But if you go - ride the roller coaster in the Asia section b/c it's amazing and take time out to see the Lion King show and Flights of Wonder.

Flights of Wonder was a free flying bird show. Totally awesome! We learned about a ton of birds, heard one sing "how much is that doggy in the window" (this parrot knows SEVEN!!!!!! songs), and just generally enjoyed ourselves.

One of the highlights of my day though was at the Lion King. At Disney, on your birthday, you get a Happy Birthday pin to wear. I totally wore mine all day and it paid off big time (apart from having everyone I met wish me happy birthday! I feel one should be the center of attention on one's birthday, so this was fine with me). While waiting in line for the show, one of the employees asked if I wanted to magically help open the doors since it was my birthday. Of course I was all over that and off James and I went to the front of the line to help out! The guy told the crowd it was my birthday and then on the count of 3, I waved my hands and - poof! - magic! - the doors opened. We also got front row seats, so that was cool. If we had had to wait in line, we would have been in the back area, so yeah.

I got a cool certificate for my "magical moment" (this pic was taken at the Finding Nemo Musical):



But the Lion King show was just AMAZING! I'm telling you - if you ever go - totally check it out. It was right up there withe the Safari in my opinion.

We finished up at the park at around 6 and then went back to the hotel to swim. We went to dinner late and then came home and crashed.

Sunday - we slept in until 9 (it's amazing what having kids will do to you as far as sleeping in goes. I remember when 9 was an early wake up!) At 1030, we headed back to Downtown Disney for the House of Blues Gospel Brunch. Oh my Lord! It was wonderful. The food was awesome! There was a made to order omelet bar and I swear there were 4+ eggs in my omelet, plus it was STUFFED with ham and cheese! The music was good and exciting and they were all over praising Jesus. I loved it! Definitely something to check out if you're ever in Orlando on a Sunday morning. Of course, cameras were not allowed, but we snapped this shot outside afterward:


After the show, we walked around Downtown Disney and just hung out. Here are a couple of pics from that:




And one more from the park on Saturday:

I seriously have the most adorable child in the world. Seriously.

Tonight as I was cleaning him up after supper, I looked over and said to James "I love you!" This is the conversation between Corbo and I that followed:

Corbin said "what you say?"
Me: "I said I love your daddy"
Corbin: "no! You can't love daddy!"
Me: "Yes I can."
Corbin: "no you can't love daddy! He's not your daddy! He's my daddy! You can't love him!"
Me: "Well can daddy love mama?"
Corbin: "Daddy not love mama! Daddy love Corbin!"

So apparently we are only allowed to love Corbin. It's a good thing he's so easy to love!

I miss...

I am full of earth
You are heaven’s worth
I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity
You are everything that is bright and clean
The antonym of me
You are divinity
But a certain sign of grace is this
From a broken earth flowers come up
Pushing through the dirt

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy like You are

You are everything that is bright and clean
And You’re covering me with Your majesty
And the truest sign of grace was this
From wounded hands redemption fell down
Liberating man

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You are

But the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me clean

Glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy, holy God

So here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly Yours

I am wholly Yours

I am full of earth and dirt and You

Happy 4th of July!

We're spending the weekend on the beach with some family and friends. We're having a blast so far.

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday. More to come tomorrow :)

For MeeMaw Buchwald

Corbin and I worked hard on this video. He wasn't sure he wanted to be a movie star, but once I told him it was for MeeMaw he was quite cooperative.

Well I can't get the video to post here, but here's a link to it on Photobucket. Enjoy:

http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t99/ruthiemay22/?action=view&current=MOV01970.flv