Fred, our freezer friend

Name: Fred (from the Private Selection family)

Age: 5 months

Weight: 20 pounds

Eye/Feather color: we'll never know

The day before Thanksgiving I was at Smith's Food & Drug and saw a deal where you could buy a turkey of any size and stature for $6.00. How could you pass up a deal like that? So I searched through all the turkeys to find the biggest one (why not, when they're all the same price?), and that is where I found Fred. I tossed him in the cart and continued on to checkout. About 4 different women in the store stopped me as I meandered through Smith's to let me know that it wouldn't be thawed in time for Thanksgiving. Seriously. I didn't feel like explaining to them that I was a cheap-o and had visions of how many meals we could be fed off of a 20 lb. turkey for $6 and that I was going to save it for later.

Anyway, Fred has been our freezer friend for the last 5 months and has basically become a part of our family... hence why he got a name. The freezer seems so empty without him (finally room for ice cream!!!). I kid you not that we have had turkey for lunch and dinner--and an occasional breakfast and snack-- EVERY day this week (turkey and mashed potatoes, turkey roll-ups, veggie and turkey casserole, turkey sandwiches... you name it). And we still have about 10 lbs. left. Who wants turkey??

Here's just a part of Fred:

And for kicks, here's the yummy strawberry banana trifle that we had too (awesome lighting, I know. Our camera is going downhill fast):

Deck the Halls (and ceilings)!

Remember how I mentioned that two-week holiday called March Madness that Ryan loves to celebrate? Yeah, well, we certainly decked the halls this year, ornaments and all!!

From here:

You have a perfect view of this:

and this:

On March Madness Eve, we received a text from Ryan's brother, Craig, proclaiming that he had made the biggest tournament bracket ever, and included the measurements. At first we thought it was cool how big it was, but then we interpreted it as a challenge. Sooo.....

The next day we hung our ginormous bracket with care,

In hopes that Kentucky (for me) and Kansas (for Ryan) soon would be there (in the center).

Then we nestled all snug in our bed,

While visions of upsets danced in our heads.

While Ry's in his element, sporting a BYU hat,

I could now settle down for my two-week nap.

When out of Ry's mouth, there arose such a clatter,

And I sprang up from the couch to see what was the matter.

In front of the T.V. I flew like a flash,

Threw around some pillows, causing a few things to bash.

Now the games were really turning into a good show,

Because teams were coming up from way down below!

When what to our wondering eyes should appear,

But some small little schools causing some fear.

With five little starters, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment, I had the wrong pick!

More rapid than jayhawks, the panthers they came,

And we whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Go N. Iowa! Go Ohio! Go St. Mary! Go Murray!

Go Cornell! Go Butler! Now win in a hurry!

Drive inside! Pass outside! Shoot up the ball!

My bracket's shot anyway, so play with your all!"

With the stadiums filled full of fans that attend,

It's unfortunate that (stupid)Duke put Butler's streak to an end.

But there's aways next year to make things right,

So for now, Happy APRIL, and to all a good-night!

And just so you know the true size of this sucker, here you go:

Aprons!

Okay, so I think many of you already know this, but for those that don't, my sister-in-law, Michelle, and I have an apron company called Epicurean Style. We're doing a mother/daughter apron giveaway (or just two aprons for the non-mommy's out there-- like me)!! The aprons are super cute (even if I'm biased, it's still very true). Go here to enter the giveaway and here to check out our website. Feel free to tell all your friends, too. ;) Oh, and these also make great mother's day gifts!

Word to the wise:

Don't try jumping an unsteady fence (or probably any fence) in a skirt on a busy street in a lady-like fashion (or probably any fashion) because you might just flash everyone on said busy street. Just sayin'.

Cereal Party!

Back in my condo rows days, we would have cereal parties about once a week where everyone would gather in some apartment, bring their own bowl (b.y.o.b.) and eat cereal (usually just sugary kinds) to their heart's desire. Those were the good old days.... {before my metabolism came to a complete and utter halt.}

Since then, I have tried to ween myself off of sugary cereals, which must have worked because I don't really like sugar cereal anymore. In fact, I actually crave healthy cereal. Too bad I haven't been able to master that with cupcakes (how great life would be if only I craved brussels sprouts).

But speaking of sugar cereal and cupcakes, Ryan and I discovered a new treasure while scanning Wal-Mart's cereal isle late last night: Pebbles Cupcake cereal.

Ryan insisted on trying it as soon as we got home last night. I didn't want to quite yet, knowing I am very vulnerable to bad foods late at night, but we did it... and I can report that the whole box was gone just 12 hours (and 1200 calories, not including milk) after buying it. Don't judge... it was a very small box! Anyway, Ryan didn't love it, but I did (which maybe I shouldn't admit since you can now probably guess that it wasn't Ryan who polished this box off). Well, I'm off to the gym to go burn 1200 calories (yeah right). Maybe I should fold laundry after that since we've been pulling socks and underwear from a basket for the last week. Whoops.

Gut, Research, Favorite, Sleeper...

Anyone who even slightly knows Ryan will agree he is a huge sports fan. As a regular ESPN and Cougarboard reader, he knows his stuff! Anyway, March Madness is probably one of his favorite times of the year. It's kind of like a holiday around here... that lasts two weeks.

Anyway, I just wanted to wish everyone in the family brackets good luck... because they'll need it! Just a reminder... I won the family bracket two years ago (when I wasn't even a member of the family), and then Ryan won last year. So we apparently know how to pick 'em, and I don't think that will be changing anytime soon!

Side story: I never filled out a bracket until my sophomore year of college. Not knowing a single thing about any team on there (including the fact that the little numbers on the side were their seed), I chose merely by which team colors I liked best. If there needed to be a tie-breaker, I chose according to mascots. Needless to say, my bracket kicked trash and I totally won by a long shot. Of course I didn't reveal my picking strategy until way later, so I could impress everyone with my awesome basketball knowledge. That strategy has worked well for me for many years running now. :)

In case any of you need some "picking strategy" ideas, I leave you with this lovely piece of inspiration:

**Update from Ryan (you know he's passionate about this subject when he makes an addition to the blog. Actually, I think this is his blogging debut):

Britt told her version of the NCAA Tournament brackets growing up, now here is my version…

Growing up I used to sit in front of the TV on selection Sunday and feverishly write down every team that came up on the screen. Why? Because there was not an internet at the time and I wanted to get a jump start on my picks (couldn’t wait for the morning paper). I would have my ruler out to get the brackets straight and I would even give each region a different color—I preferred the turquoise, light blue, blue, a darker pink, and purple color pencils the most because they were the colors on the ACC Tournament floor. Some years I would even do the shade from one color to another other within the same region—that was popular to do back in the day on basketball courts (i.e. Charlotte Hornets floor inside the arc). I even remember some years printing out a list of the team names and cutting and gluing them into their respective spots on the bracket, that way my bracket looked official. During the tournament wins were marked with circled teams and losses were crossed out. Man life was rough back then, full of so many time consuming tasks and responsibilities—as a kid the term “important” was obviously a very relative term. And what did all this bracket frenzy get for me? Not much. I don’t think I ever won a family bracket pool—until last year (2009). Now the tide has changed. Once you taste victory you never want to taste defeat again. So, I don’t want to discourage any family members but I DON’T PLAN ON LOSING EVER AGAIN! Sorry.

Color Me Mine

Guess what?! Ryan has a break from class for a whole entire month! Thirty whole days! The best part about this fact is that we can have normal weekends for four weeks! Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday night. No school. (Don't get me wrong, it's not that it's that bad when he does have school because I am certainly more productive than normal, but it's nice to have a normal Friday/Saturday). That's probably why I had so much fun this weekend.

Anyway, there is a Color Me Mine right around the corner from us (I love Draper... what isn't right around the corner from us?) and they were having a "date night special"... a.k.a. a typically expensive activity that is now way cheap{er}. Count us in! So we taped/stenciled/painted our little hearts out. Now we just have to wait until Thursday to reap the rewards! I'm only posting the final pictures if they turn out good. :)

Other reasons why this was a great weekend include, but are not limited to:

• Cafe Rio pork burritos (it's always a nice surprise to combine all of your punch cards and realize you have a FREEEE MEAL!)
• Sleeping in past 6:42 a.m.!!!
• Good, long runs on Saturday morning
• Having to go to Gateway to get my computer fixed (for free)...
• ...and then having to shop and find some great deals! Even better was having Ryan encourage me to buy said deals!
• Sunday morning meetings being pushed back an hour and a half