I ordered a 6 pack of samples from FLOR for $6 last week and they finally arrived yesterday! I did a pretty good job judging color, but not texture. When they say medium traffic they will send you something similar to astro turf!
Still gotta find a replacement for this orange shed-sational rug in our living room. West Elm said they would take it back but I need something to go in its place.
Once I make a real FLOR order I will be sure to tell you guys if its as awesome as it seems or not!

Vote for the Auburn University Marching BAnd!
It is real easy just click THIS LINK and the vote is right there on the main page!

This morning Cory Wooten & I hit up the Flea Market and BOY.DID.WE.HAVE.FUN!! Pictured above are all of my purchases , which include:

• Huge Ziplock Bags
• Baby booties shaped like Turkeys
• Matching leash and collars for both doggles!
  
• a camo paci for will!
• 4 pairs of earrings and 1 bracelet
• 2 candles
• extension outlet
  
• 2 boxes of Titans Bandaids
• Ralphie a Pred's Jersey
• 1 old timey jar
• Tupperware Chip and Dip tray (AWESOME FOR TAILGATES!)
• 2 bottles of organic lotions
• and some home made outdoor cushions for that Glider Bench.. with a monogram pillow! Hooray! ($35)

Now below is what I wish I had gotten! A bossie backpack! I will get it next time! Today I mostly bought things that cost a dollar.. this wasnt one of those things ha...
Here is Woot.. I mean Tammy. Laura is to Keisha as Woot is to Tammy... So TAMMY picked out this fur shawl!

Then We saw Bossie's role model here.
and they have (of all things) OUTLAWED the puppy sellers from teh Flea Market so we had to go to the parking lot and visit them in exile. This is one I picked out and named Scruffles. Erik said NOOOOOOOO then cursed a bit and then said NO again.
and here are the cushions and pillow for the Brentwood House. YOu like?

Ralphie thought this was for him. He and Floss have been sitting on them since we got home.

Sometimes I blog for fun, and sometimes I blog so you guys will learn from our mistakes. Today is a learn from our mistakes kind of day.
Turns out it wasn't really a big coincidence that our vents needed cleaning and our AC stopped working all in one week. Besides the sheet rock dust messing up all the coils in the vent, turns out my not.so.cheapRUG from West Elm, that sheds more than 21 sheepdogs all living inside.. has caused its own share of cloggage. In fact you can see in the filter that it is mostly orange..from orange rug fuzz.
So when your air stops working, top 3 things to check are A. have you changed yoru filter lately. Turns out it actually serves a purpose! B. Is your AC unit frozen over? If so cutting it off for a few hours long enoiugh to thaw out could do the trick .. C. Antifreeze

Anyway, we are all up and working now and it was fairly painless...

Oh also, as sidenote.. today I woke up for the 1st time in a LONG tome without all those clouds in my head...so no congestion! Pretty rad! Hopefully that will be the case from here on out..

I was off today and so I felt like doing lots of things! First on the list is to get the garage in order! I went to K-Mart to buy some shelves, and just so you know, they arent cheap! And the ones you want to get are the metal frame ones.. not the plastic of the aluminum or whatever the cheap ones are. Cheap ones are hard to put together and the shelves are too skinny! I learned that lesson the hard way.
Anyway while I was in K-mart some old dude came in there and stole a pair of shoes... so it was a pretty entertaining shopping trip. Also I managed to get some Titan's Tailgate chairs FINALLY after searching everywhere! AND they were on sale for $20! Hooray.. then add to that the tailgate tables that fold in half so that you can actually fit them into the car for $20.. Pretty productive!
Then I went and got real sweaty putting together shelves and cleaning out the garage. Below is my "Tailgating Shelf Section" and Marty/Lewis, I am sure you guys will be relieved to know I will be making labels for the shelves later!
Then... after all of that sweating and hard work, I came inside to see my family working hard as well... on some Z's
Stay tuned on the garage. It will be beautiful when I am done!

"If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property, until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers occupied. The issuing of money should be taken from the banks and restored to Congress and the people to who it belongs"

Here is what the machine looks like! and below is what dog children think about this machine!! They could not get far enough into my lap.. shaking and snuggling all morning. They did however, love the workers as long as the machine wasnt on!

and this is what all came out of our vents. Mostly construction debris and sheetrock dust. Super glad to have that gone!
and here is the worker man posing for his pic. In about 2 hours you will see another worker man b/c the AC is broken downstairs.. i noticed a few days ago that I was always hot but didnt know it was broken till Erik told me! ha So this week we will be feasting on Ramen noodles but we will be cool and breathing clean air!

A little late on the post, but Julie and Steven both just had birthdays ( Julie 21st Steven(bro) 23rd). We celebrated Julie's birthday at Rosepepper Sunday night with her friends ( see pics) and Steven celebrated at Rhumba Tuesday night but I was working and couldnt make it!

Then Floss celebrates by getting all of her toys out and giving them to Julie & Steven while looking very cute and small.

Lately, I have been getting EVERY catalog under the sun. I get lot sof ones for the older crowd that are quite interesting, and I cant help but look through all of them.So if anyone knows that website to unsubscribe from these catalogs, please leave it in the comments... otherwise I may go broke! ha just kiddin... but I do sort of miss my UPS man!
Now what about this thing? You just sweep up all your scromples and towards this machine here which will suck it up! Personally I use the dust buster Hays & Meredith gave us for a wedding present!

I have no idea why I am such a Halloween dud, but I am. I cant remember the last time I have worn a costume or done anything fun for Halloween. Every year it is my New Years Resolution to get better and every year I still stink! So this year we have a killer Halloween Party in Birmingham and Erik and I both need costumes. We have a full month to plan so please comment with ideas for our costumes !

besides the Preds game?!
I have been doing some research because Erik and I have had some terrible allergy problems. No doubt the mold in the walls (from the leaky shower) is responsible for some of that... but lots of people have raved about having their air ducts cleaned out. That makes a lot of sense b.c our are filled with construction debris. I attempted to vacuum that out with a shop vac and the whole room was so cloudy with sheetrock dust I couldnt breathe.
So if your house is really dusty all the time or you have allergy problems.. maybe you wanna try this? I will let you know how it goes Thursday evening. You can read testimonials here
and that pic above shows you the dust covered walls of your vent system. YUCK!

Here are my featured picks from the Turnip Truck this week! Above is a skin care line I recently started using and LOVE. In about 3 days my pores are smaller and clean! I didnt know this was possible without a facial ! You can buy sample kits or just order some samples online from the site. It is some German scientist chick who developed these on the premise that the more you mess with your skin the worse it will look, so its all natural and focuses on letting your skin breathe. So rather than sitting on your skin, these products are absorbed by the skin..
Anyway I highly recommend it!
I love this Chocolate bar. We sell them and I am always amazed by how many people rave over it. So today I finally bought one, fully expecting to hate it and feel sad for the loss of $2. Instead I love it and feel sad for the expensive habit I will probably acquire. You can read about them HERE. I assure you it is delish.
Here is a Quick Quote:
"There is synergy in the chilies and chocolate that make this bar almost mind altering, perhaps it causes the simultaneous srelease of endorphins and serotonin. Whatever the reason, it is the most stimulating bar we have made," says Timothy Moley, Chocolove's chocolatier.

This weekend we saw the Bray's for a brief moment at BWW in Birmingham and they gave us this awesome scrapbook that Julie made online with Blurb. It is the neatest thing and I am so glad to have it. She put all the pics in order and made lots of great captions. I especially love the page above with all of erik's wierd facial shots and of me blogging! ha

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Is anyone else watching this show? I LUUURRVVE it!

You better hope so! Cause today I was so busy scrubbing carpets that I was a little late checking off things on my "Before we leave for Auburn" checklist. Gas was on there and it never occurred to me that there would be NONE available.
Last week we discussed with CT about the gas scare and she assured us that the refineries were shut down due to all the storms (thanks Gustav, Ike.. ) and she said not to panic, b.c panic and running to the pump is what makes the situation worse. So i decided not to be one of those.. and forgot all about it. Then in need of gas for our trip I went to like 10 gas stations that were all out! Then I finally find one, with a line to boot, and they limited you to 7 gallons.
So... what's a girl to do? I parked in a spot out of the direct line of view and got my 7 gallons, Then hung up the thingy, and swapped cards and got 7 more... and I played this game till I got a full tank.
I thought some old dude in Brentwood was about to take me out..( he already yelled another lady who wasn't even being greedy, just confused... ) Anyway he clearly doesn't understand the importance of Auburn Football. Don't worry Erikface, I didn't enlighten him.

Don't you agree? Cause I cant think of anything cuter than pushing around a 50lb carpet sucker/washer. Julie and I filled our day with this. I would love to say that the carpet was full of spilled drinks, tracked dirt, etc, but mostly everything on it was dog related.. chewed up, thrown up, peed on... dirty little rascals.
Below is a BEFORE shot:
and this is the AFTER shot:

For those of you interested in taking on such a task... you can rent them from Kroger for $25 per 24 hours and you have to buy the cleaner. Pretty cheap and easy for such a HUGE difference!

If you like Nike+ Ipod thing, or knowing your workout stats, or knowing your sleeping patterns etc then this "FitBit" will rock your world. Its not available for purchase yet till like January but for $99 you clip this on your body all day every day and you will know how much you are actually walking, how many calories you are burning and how many times you wake up throughout the night. Click HERE for the website. Santa... this sure would go great in my stocking (and Eriks)

Lately things at The Turnip Truck have been good. I really enjoy the small town atmosphere and watching things get back to the oldies there. Like, people who work there, know the customers names and general info. They special order things for you, they sell things from people in our community... and they sell things that in bulk like back in the day. I think the whole concept is so neat.
Anyway, I say all that to say that we have this dude that comes in about Daily, and his name is Toney and he makes Salsa. We sell it, Whole Foods sells it & various other places. I always serve his "Green with Envy" Salsa at all my parties/gatherings and its a huge hit. Today he came out with a new Chili Lime Salsa and it's his best one yet!
It's all natural and totally yummy! But I think its super cool to see the face behind the brand, and not just that but the face that MAKES the salsa.
So if you guys have a whole foods around, go check out his salsas!
P.S. They are in the cooler, not on the shelf!

This is a Public Service Announcement from Linzy:

Hey everyone --

In case you didn't hear, this was in the news today. There are plenty of companies selling BPA free bottles, sippy cups, etc. From my experience, they cost the same as the regular plastic baby bottles. Also, it says to stay away from microwaving in plastic containers and washing plastic containers in the dishwasher or with a stong dishwashing soap (heard this on NPR just now) as more of the BPA will leach into your food, drink, etc. Also, stay away from No. 7 plastics. This chemical in small amounts has been shown to cause serious problems in fetuses of rats as well as more than double an adult's risk of heart disease and diabetes.

As of today, I am switching back to glass... :)

Love,
Linzy

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-09-16-bpa-heart_N.htm

and Keisha came out of no where and MADE.ME.BUY.THIS. It's a $15 neon green watch with fake diamonds and pearl face HA. Its Ghetto FABULOUS. If only you could see it in all its sparkly glory.

SO if you are getting this blog in an RSS feed or in your email, navigate out to the site and check out the new blog makeover (from the always fabulous shauna. See Link in Margin) and vote in the poll!
Thanks!

As more of my friends are acquiring iphones, i feel like i need to do a small post or 2 on the Iphone. before getting into that though, I want to remind all ITUNES users to update to version 8. Its really great!
Anyway, Here are some of my "Must Have" Applications
#1 - Is Movies. Its a free app I heard about from PB and its really cool because say you want to see Batman... you click on this app and it uses the GPS to see where you are and then you choose Batman from the list of movies. It will show you a list of every theatre that is showing it (their address & Phone #'s) and all the times it is showing. It also offers reviews and trailers to watch. That is super convenient. Especially when traveling!

#2 - is Shazam. I still LOVE this app. Say you are driving in your car, hear a song on the radio that you like, you tap on shazam and hit "tag" and it will tell you who sings the song and what the name is. Then you have a whole list of songs to download if you want to do that later. YOu can download straight from that app as well.

#3 is aSleep. It is basically a sound machine with a timer on it so you can use it to fall asleep at night. Also soothing for babies. It has a billion sounds to choose from and is by FAR the cheapest sound machine i have ever owned! ha

Our Nashville Girls Group. We had some folks in town this weekend and all the ladies went out on the town to go dancing which was kind of a bust b/c the DJ was NOT into playing any good music or taking requests.. when Nicole made a request I believe what he told her was " I suggest to start drinking and start moving " or something to that affect.
Cory and Wooten! Cory cooked us a fabulous feast as she likes to do and we ate and let the boys watch football without interuption for hours.

Perfect for Fall!

Auburn sent this to Erik in the mail. They didn't send ME one! It's am 8x10 photo of the AU band spelling out his name! dang!
Today I made these. Its almost like cooking! ha and I GREW this. Well except for the Mozarella. I didnt grow that but the Basil and Tomato is all me! Caprese Salad for 2!
Then today I strolled over to The Grout Household where Jenn has been painting their powder room! It looks really great, although the pics are crappy. She did a neat dark grey that is the same shade on both bottom and top but the bottom is Gloss and the top is Matte. It looks really dang cool. She saw the idea on Ralph Lauren website.
and this.. I just saw it and thought it was really cute on Freepeople.com You might even see me wearing it this Winter! ha
In Family news we have all had a good week. Bro is having a new Romance but since he is so private that is all I know! ha and Julie is in the mountains with 7 of her girlfriends celebrating girl things like Nail Polish and Designer Jeans! Erik & I will be entertaining all weekend as Nicole is coming into town from N. Carolina & Steph Pulfrey & her fiance Jason Seals from Monroeville via Bham. The boys will watch football and the girls will go dancing.

Today Steve Jobs had anew keynote! It was pretty fun! You can watch it HERE. The short version is for me to tell you these things:

• There is a NEW nano on the market. It comes in lots of fun colors, is shaped like the old skool models and you can shake it to shuffle your songs.
• Apple is making some new headphones with built in mics that are pretty nice. Once set for $29 and one set for $79. Available in October.
• The Ipod Touch is now thinner and has the built in technology for the Nike+ program so you wont need any special adapters. HOORAY. Now where is this for iphone?@%^*&(
• There is a new feature in iTunes called Genius which is an intuitive playlist maker.
• HD Tv shows are being added to Itunes and NBC shows are back like Heroes.
• Big update for the Iphone available on Friday!

Another really cool thing is that Jack Johnson performed after the Key Note b.c he is the #1 selling Male Artist in Itunes History. That's neat and he is such a cool nice guy Im glad that it's him!

WHEW. Today has been MAJAH. We did a lot of work on the Brentwood house today.I came over with the doggles and we started working on the back porch. We have been wading through one years worth of mold and pollen and boy it has been alot of work. We have mopped and sweapt and dusted and washed all the linens and thrown away some moldy pillows and cushions. Speaking of which we need to buy some new ones and dont know where. We have gone to no lie, 10 stores tonight looking for them but its too late in the season. So please suggest!
Tomorrow morning we will spray paint some chairs and shelves and introduce a new theme for out there. We are also picking out some paint colors for the bathroom. Pictures to come with all of that soon.
I have to work tomorrow at noon, DANG. This job is really getting in the way of all my free as a bird schedule planning!
We went to TJ Maxx tonight and someone on there had a brand new yorkie pup! It was soooo cute so I am begging Juliel every.day. to get a Yorkie pup! We need a new addition to our doggle family cause the 4 of us are always sharing Ralphie and Flossie.
Anyway that is it for today. Steve Jobs made some new annoucements today for Apple and I must go watch the key note. Blog about that later!

Ya'll know Kristi Cash from College? Well she & Preston are in NYC this week for work and for fun and she was at the Today Show today. You can see her in this video in the background wearing a black t-shirt.

Sarah Louise Heath was born February 11, 1964 in Sandpoint, Idaho, the third of four children born to Sarah (Sheeran) Heath, a school secretary, and Charles R. Heath, a science teacher and track coach. The family moved to Alaska while Sarah was an infant.

Sarah attended Wasilla High School in Wasilla, Alaska, where she was head of the Fellowship of Christian Atheletes at school. She played basketball and was captain of the basketball team. She earned the nickname " Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play.

In 1982 she attended Hawaii Pacific for a semester, majoring in Business Administration. In 1983 she transferred to North Idahom College. In 1987 she received a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho, minoring in political science.

On August 29,1988, when 24 years old, she eloped with Todd Palin.Todd works for BP as an oil-field production operator and owns a commercial fishing business. They have five children: sons Track (born 1989), Trig (born 2008, and daughters Bristol (born1990), Willow (born 1995), and Piper (born 2001) Track enlisted in the U.S. Army September 11, 2007, and is to be deployed to Iraq in September 2008. The family live in Wasilla, Alaska.

Sarah began her polotical career in 1992 when she ran for a three-year term on the city council of Wasilla, a city of 6,715 people. She won and was re-elected to a second three year term in 1995.

In 1996 she challenged and defeated incumbent John Stein for the office of mayor. In the campaign she critiicized Stein for what she termed wasteful spending and high taxes, she also highlighted issues such as abortion and gun control. As mayor she was in charge of the city Police Department (25 officers), and Public Works. She was praised for cutting property taxes by 40% while improving roads and sewere and strengthening the Police Depasrtment. She also reduced the mayoral salary, reduced spending on the town museum and opposed a bigger library.

Sarah ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won. During her second term as mayor, she hired the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for earmarks for Wasilla. The effort was led by Steven Silver, a former chief of staff for Senator Ted Stevens, and it secured nearly $27 million in earmarked funds. Some of the earmarks were criticized by Senator McCain.

In 2002, term limits prevented her from running for a third term as mayor. In 2002, Sarah Palin was unsuccessful in a race for lieutenant governor in the republican primary. U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski resigned the Senate seat to become governor of Alaska and chose Alaska state representative Lisa Murkowski to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

Governor Murkowski appointed Palin to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission which she chaired from 2003 to 2004, also serving as Ethics Supervisor. In January 2004 she resigned in protest over what she termed "lack of ethics" of fellow Republican members. After resigning, she filed formal complaaints against the state Republican Party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes. Both men resigned and Ruedrich was fined $12,000.

From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc., a 527 group that was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in Alaska.

In 2006, she defeated governor Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary. She declared that education, public safety, and transportation would be the tree cornerstones of her administration. She won the election in November to become Alaska's first female governor and at age 42, the youngest Alaskan governor.

Palin has strongly promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. She also helped pass a tax increase on oil company profits.

Shortly after becoming governor she rescinded 35 appointments made by prior governor Murkowski in the last hours of his administration.

In March 2007, Palin presented the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) as the new legal vehicle for building a natural gaspipeline from the state's North Slope. On January 5, 2008, Palin announced that a Canadian company, TransCanada Corporation, was the sole compliant applicant. In August 2008, Palin signed a bill into law giving the state of Alaska authority to award TransCanada Pipelines $500 million in seed money and a license to build and operate the $26 billion pipeline to transport natural gas to the Lower 48 through Canada.

In may 2008, Palin objected to te decision of Republican United States Secretary of the Interior to list polar bears federally as an endangered species, saying the move was premature and was not the appropriate management tool for their welfare; the state of Alaska filed a lawsuit to stop the listing amid fears that it would hurt oil and gas development in the bears habitat off Alaska's northern and northwestern coasts.

After becoming governor she followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet purchased, against the wishes of the Legislature, by the Murkowski administration in 2005 for $2.7 million. In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay and latyer sold for $2.1 million.

In 2007, the Alaska Creamery Board recommended closing Matanuska Maid Dairy, an unprofitable state-owned business. Palin objected, citing concern for dairy farmers and a recent infusion of $600,000 in state money. Palin subsequently replaced the entire membership of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation. The new board reversed the decision to close the dairy and later in 2007 the unprofitable business was put up for sale. No offers met the minimum bid of $3.35 million and the dairy was closed.

In the 2006 gubernatorial campaign the Ketchikan's Gravina Island Bridge (better known as the "Bridge to Nowhere") became an issue. Palin initially supported the bridge and in her campaign ran on a "build-the-bridge" platform, arguing it was essential for local prosperity. The U. S. Congress replaced (Alaska's Senator Steven's earmark) the earmark for the bridge with an infrastructure grant to Alaska to use at its discretion. Palin's subsequent policy was to stop construction on the bridge and continue construcrtion on the road originally intended to link to the bridge. In 2008, when introduced as McCain's running mate, Palin said "I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere".

The above material is derived from Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin)
I hope you decide to read this and other references regarding Sarah Palin. There are interesting bits of information scattered within the material that will help you become more familiar with the Republican nominee for Vice President. I tried not to inject any personal opinion as I feel you have enough information to reach your own conclusion.

Granpa Graham

WE got up at 7am yesterday to go tailgate for the Titans Game! YIKES that was early. The Warrens were in town from Bham and brought their dogchild Lola who is a Maltese. We had a Big fun time! After the game yesterday all the stinky boys watched football in the Living room and all the girls layed in our bed with all the puppies watching the VMA's.
Ralphie has been begging meto buy him a Jersey every year and so I finally just broke down and bought him one this year. He loves it and is still wearing it today.
And here is how I entertained myself during the game... however it was SO hot that I left in the 2nd quarter.