The Un-boring Pickwick Blog

My mom informed me that my blog has been pretty boring the past couple of posts. To remedy this, I think we should take a moment to delve into my mom's extreme couponing habits.


My mom is an extreme coupon-er in the fact that she does not search hundreds of ads and clip coupons, but rather argues with store employees over the rules of coupons. She was recently escorted through the Publix line by the manager and engaged in an argument over $0.30. She was upset that she had to pay 2 for $7 for biscuits (or something?) when her coupon for 3 for $10 did not register. I both cringe and look forward to going shopping with my mom when she has coupons. You can bet one of the coupons will ring up incorrectly and a schooling will occur. I'll try to bring my camera next time.

Anyone else care to comment on my boring posts? I have dirt on all of you.

Pickwick
This weekend, Chris and I went to Pickwick Lake to spend some time with the whole O'Brien clan. Let's do a plog for this. Yes, I made up plog. It's a picture blog. Anwyay...

My chauffeur.

Mrs. O'B sunbathing.

Mrs. O'B tubing. My mother-in-law is awesome.

The cute guys in my life.

What's this? My husband knows how to wakeboard?

Yes he does!  I'M MARRIED TO HIM!!!!!!

Sarah made brownies. O'BRIEN RULES!

This is the greatest picture ever. O'Brien family tradition to wave at the parting company until we are completely out of sight. I love this family.

Puppy Shenanigans

I'm not sure why Itchy has been hiding under the bed and end table today. Could be three reasons:

1. He's annoyed with me taking pictures of him and is trying to hide.
2. He has pooped and/or peed somewhere and is dreading the moment I find it.
3. He's still ashamed of the poop he got in trouble for last night.

Whatever the reason, he is innocent until proven guilty. Stay tuned for the results.

Banana Cake with Caramel Icing

This is actually a surprise for Chris. If he sees this before he gets home, it means he is checking my blog during class and deserves to ruin the surprise!

This is his Mama Katy's banana cake. He subtly mentioned he wanted me to make it by opening our family recipe book to the banana cake page and leaving it on the kitchen table for days. I got the hint.

This was quite an adventure of using my electric mixer (first time unsupervised!), breaking open the round pans, and as my mother-in-law exclaimed in a surprised voice: "You made a layered cake?!" I know--I didn't think I could do it either.

We had a slight caramel icing malfunction. The recipe gave instructions for how to make it thinner, but not what to do if it turned out runny like water. Trusty ole Google helped, though, and I mostly got the icing on the cake. Now we'll see if it measures up to Chris' mama's banana cake.

I don't know why I keep trying to compete with decades-old family recipes. This never ends well for me.


God is awesome.
"I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead."
Philippians 3:13

I like this reminder from God. As I said before, dwelling on past failures, experiences, and regrets is a big struggle of mine. This needs to be my motto. There is so much to look forward to and I think God is pretty okay with being excited about it! I have a new job, we still have 3 years of Nashville living to do, Chris will soon be a doctor of physical therapy, and we'll hopefully have little O'Bs running around in the next couple of years! So there! Take that past-poop-flinging Satan!