I missed blogging on Thursday. I very rarely go a weekday without blogging. But I just didn’t have it in me yesterday. I was tired, overwhelmed with schedule stuff, not feeling well and busy taking care of the precious members of my family.

I did want to use Friday’s post to talk about what I’m loving this week!

New TV Shows

So I completely missed premiere week. I was distracted and busy, but I had a lot of down time during the day this week because both boys took epic naps because they weren’t feeling well. And because I wasn’t feeling well, I used nap time to catch up on the DVR. And I did a lot of catching up!

I’m officially addicted to Homeland, Pan Am and Revenge.

Homeland is this incredible drama/thriller on Showtime about a CIA agent who is investigating a POW who was found alive and returned home. She suspects that he has “turned” to the other side and is now on a mission to threaten the United States. I’m hooked! It’s awesome!

via

Pan Am is based on flight attendants and pilots in the 1960s and it explores different political and historical topics each week. It’s really fun, entertaining and the 1960s fashion is pretty great.

via

Revenge is my newest guilty pleasure. The people are beautiful. The scenery is beautiful. And the story is scandalous. But I love it!

via

Getting Acquainted With My Camera

I have had my DSLR camera for almost three years now and I have only ever taken it off of automatic mode a handful of times. I know this is shameful. But this week I’ve changed all of that! My friend, Crist, and I are taking a photography class (called Hop, Skip, Snap)  for the next few weeks with the wonderful Brooke Turner of Brooke Turner Photography. She’s a photographer and a mom and she wants to help us learn to use our cameras so we can get the most out of it. I’m so excited! I had a great night learning things about my camera that I never knew and now I have a wish list of new lenses that I want. Hello, Christmas list!

Candy Corn and Peanuts

Need I say more? Really. I mean, this is just the greatest snack. I’m so thankful for a sweet friend who delivered a little bag of this snack and a Starbucks latte to my door this morning. What a great pick-me-up on a dreary Thursday morning!

Halloween Party Planning

I have been having such a great time making plans for our Halloween party. I have a ton of props and things saved from past parties that I can use. And I already blogged about a successful trip to Hobby Lobby. I got all of my printables from Sweet Birdie’s Nest and I’m just so excited! Have you ordered yours?

A Slow Week

Yes. That’s right. I’m not happy we were sick. But it really did end up being a great week. We had lots of time to just hang out and be together at home. It wasn’t easy to feel refreshed because we just didn’t feel well, but I think we did come out feeling a little refreshed.

Hudson memorizes a scripture verse every month at school and this month they learned John 15:14 “Jesus says, ‘You are my friends.'”

He will say the whole thing and it’s just the sweetest little sound. I’m so thankful for my family.

During a week where every member of this family is extremely under the weather, I have to think back. When was the last time I was sick? When was the last time TC was sick? I go into a big, “I want my mommy” phase every single morning when I think about how difficult it is to get out of bed when your sinuses are swollen so badly that you just slept 10 hours with your mouth wide open and how badly you need the tiniest sip of water to try to remedy the resulting dry mouth situation.

I begged TC to stay home from work so we could take turns taking naps throughout the day while the other played with the kids. But he just went off to work like a responsible adult. How could he leave me like that? (I’m sure my hideous physical state didn’t make him want to stay home with me!)

When I was in the hospital having Hudson, I had a pretty serious recovery. I had fainted after Hudson was born and then I fainted once more when trying to get up to go to the restroom. I could barely walk and every time I stood up, the blood rushed away from my head and the fainting happened. I needed some serious help.

So there we were, on our first night in the hospital. We had sent Hudson to the nursery so we could get some sleep and they were bringing him in every three hours so I could feed him. The nurses would come in and turn on the lights, hand me my precious baby, and TC would just continue to snooze. A couple of hours later, I had to get up to use the restroom. So I started saying TC’s name.

“Hey, Todd?”

Nothing.

A little louder. “Todd? Can you wake up?”

Nothing.

Much louder. “Todd! Help me!”

Nothing.

I reached behind me and grabbed one of my pillows and aimed at his legs. I’d throw the pillow at him to wake him up.

Nothing.

So I paged the nurses’ station. “Hi. Can someone help me get up so I can go to the restroom?” I’m surprised I hadn’t just wet the bed at this point!

The nurse comes in, turns on the light and starts talking to me. TC pops up and says, “Erin, I would have helped you!” Ha!

TC got the best sleep of his life in that hospital room. And I probably would have, too, if I hadn’t been in extreme pain and I hadn’t been interrupted every 1.5 hours by someone coming to check on me or bring me our precious baby.

When Hayes was born, I decided to have TC come on home and spend the night at home with Hudson to make sure Hudson had a normal bed time routine and to make sure that TC continued to get his sleep. My mom came to the hospital and spent the night with me, which was very helpful because she’d had a c-section before and kind of knew what was going on.

But, you know? Nothing phases TC. In the whole time I’ve known him, he’s only gotten a stomach bug once. And we’re pretty convinced that was the result of a bad night of McAllister’s potato salad, which used to be one of TC’s favorite foods and has no been banished to the “do not serve” list.

In the winter of 2009 he was helping make our bed, and raised up quickly, hitting his head on our sloped ceiling. He kept talking about how hard he’d hit his head, but nothing really came of it.

Weeks went by and he was complaining more and more about headaches and having this dizzy feeling and a sense of being disoriented. So he walked over to the emergency room from his office and had some tests done.

He had a concussion. From when he slammed his head into the ceiling. And he’d been walking around and going to work every day with this concussion for three weeks!

Oh, and by the way. He also had Swine Flu! But, it was too late because the Swine Flu had pretty much run its course and it was too late to do anything to treat it.

Sometimes I think it’s because he just loves his job so much that nothing can keep him away. Sometimes I think he’s like one of those people who can’t experience any pain and he can tolerate anything. (kidding)

But man! His ability to tough it out puts me and my whiney self to shame!

In fact, we all need a sick day. Every one in our house is under the weather, but I thought I’d do a really quick update with iPhone photos.

1. Hudson got tubes in his ears back in April and he got sick for the first time since then. At first we thought it was just congestion and then I noticed that his ears were draining. The tubes are doing their job, but we still needed to see a doctor. In the mean time, TC got sick, Hayes had a little cold (thank goodness it’s not worse for little Hayes) and now I have it. And if Hudson feels anything like I feel, he has extreme sinus pain and pressure and breathing during the night is pretty difficult. Hudson’s doctor gave him an inhaler with a mask to help clear up his lungs and we also got some antibiotic drops for his ears. Here’s a picture of him using the nebulizer in the doctor’s office. He kept trying to suck his thumb while wearing the mask. So sad!

2. I bit the bullet and dyed my hair back to my natural color. I haven’t ever really seen this color since I’ve been highlighting my hair since the 8th grade. Right now I’m really loving it! But I also don’t feel well enough to really care! But I think I’ll definitely keep it like this for a long time.

3. We got Hudson’s school picture proofs back and I just died laughing when I saw them. Apparently he wanted to go first in his class, so he marched up there and then froze. I’m not at all surprised that he didn’t smile, but I can’t stop laughing at the way he is posed and at his little hands in his lap.

4. I ran to Hobby Lobby on Saturday because all the Christmas and Halloween stuff was on sale. I needed things for Holiday Market decorations and I was going to try to find a couple things for our Halloween party. I found the most adorable plates and lots of Christmas stuff!

5. Erin Condren is on One Kings Lane today starting at 11:00 a.m. If you need an invite, just click here! I don’t know what’s going to be on the One Kings Lane sale, but I’m thinking there will be gift labels, gift cards, lucite trays. Oh my! And I know that Erin Condren is coming out with an iPhone cover. Merry Christmas to me!

Also, visit Jenna, AP, Jennifer, and NCF for Erin Condren giveaways this week!

6. So, yeah. We’re just hanging out at home. Watching Aladdin and Shrek on repeat. Hudson and Hayes are just lying around and doing a little bit of playing. Hopefully we’ll all start feeling a lot better really soon!

Yes, y’all! It’s a giveaway! An air purifier giveaway. From Oreck!

One of you will receive this amazing, brand new air purifier!

*{photo and air purifier provided by Oreck. review and giveaway sponsored by Blue-Eyed Bride. air purifier value is $399.99. the winner’s air purifier is provided by Oreck.}

I am just a huge Oreck fan. I have used an Oreck vacuum cleaner for years and I absolutely love it. It has never ever let me down and when I buy a new vacuum someday, I plan to buy an Oreck.

So when the very nice people at Oreck contacted me about doing a review and giveaway for their new Oreck DualMax Air Purifier, I knew that I would love it because it’s an Oreck.

I was one of those people who never knew I needed or wanted an air purifier. And then my gorgeous, sleek, compact air purifier arrived on my doorstep, I tore open the box, read the directions and plugged the thing in. And I’ve never looked back. I am totally an air purifier person. We needed this! I love this!

We are a family of four and we have two dogs. There is constant traffic in our house coming from inside and outside. Dirty little toddler hands and dusty dog hair are moving from room to room constantly. And now, those things aren’t as much of an issue. This air purifier arrived just in time. Colder weather is coming and we’ll be spending more time indoors. The air inside our house is more polluted than the air outside. So we need to keep that air clean and we need to keep it moving!

After the first day, I could tell a difference. I noticed that there was far less dust in the room. We have the air purifier in our living room right now because I thought it would be the best location to put it for the review. We spend the most amount of time in that room and everyone is always in there. The air purifier sits perfectly disguised between our sofa and an end table.

The air purifier is so easy to turn on via a little button on top and it’s easy enough for even this gadget-challenged girl to clean and take apart when needed. The parts and filters are very conspicuously labeled. There’s a very handy little brush to clean the grills on either end. You don’t have to replace the filters or buy new parts. You just rinse them out under running water and then let them air dry. See? Easy enough for even me, then it’s easy enough for you!

The air purifier has a pre-filter to filter all the larger particles and pieces of dust, mold, etc. Then the air goes to the “Truman Cell filter” to get the smaller pieces before filtering the air back out into the room. I’m telling you. With all that goes on in our house, I feel so much better knowing that this thing is running constantly during the day.

It’s just so easy. It plugs into the wall, you turn it on and it starts doing its magic to make the air in your home cleaner. In addition to just having cleaner air, there is an odor eliminator that helps get rid of the smells that come with dogs and babies. You know those smells.

I filmed a little vlog and video demonstration for you all to see!

Want to win your own Oreck DualMax Air Purifier worth $399.99? Are you ready for the giveaway? Wanna know how to enter? Here’s how:

Mandatory Entry:

Visit Oreck.com and tell us one thing you learned about the DualMax Air Purifier.

For additional entries:

(Make sure you leave me separate comments for each of your additional entries. There should be one separate comment for each of your additional entry options.)

• Follow @oreck on Twitter

• Like Oreck on Facebook

• Sign up for Oreck’s email list by clicking on “Sign up for Email” in the top navigation bar and entering your email address.

• Tweet about this giveaway and mention @oreck and @blueeyedbride.

Important Details and Rules: This giveaway is open to US RESIDENTS ONLY. You must be 18 years and older to enter.
No duplicate comments. There will be one winner of the Oreck DualMax Air Purifier. This giveaway will run from October 10, 2011 until October 16, 2011. Winner will have 72 hours to get back to me other wise a new winner will be selected. Please leave a way for me to notify you. Winner will be determined via drawing on random.org.  Odds of winning will be dependent upon total number of entries.

Disclosure – I was given the Oreck DualMax Air Purifier to review and keep. All opinions stated in this post are entirely my own opinion. Oreck is providing the air purifier for the winning entrant.