My "baby"

Right now, Ryan and I don't have any children. We see them in our future, just not right now. My sis is so funny 'cause she will occasionally ask me if we are ever going to have children because she wants to be an aunt and then sometimes she will say if not she guesses she is okay with that 'cause I spoil my niece so much. In the meantime, we do have our dog. She can be funny sometimes. She hates flies (who can blame her). Well, yesterday we had a fantastically beautiful day here and as soon as I got home I opened the windows and the back door for a while to get some fresh air in here. And would you believe we already have flies!!!!!! I hate them and in the summer they are terrible here. I heard Ginger in our room making all kinds of noise and knew right away that she was after a fly. I have never taken pictures of her doing this before but she is so funny and relentless when it comes to catching one of these that I snapped a few yesterday. In this first picture she is chasing it in the window and scratching my costume blinds, uh, hello I don't think so...

so I pulled the blinds up. I am sure Ryan would much rather replace a screen as opposed to ordering me another blind for that window, actually he wouldn't be happy with replacing either.

She almost has it now...

and she got it! She doesn't eat them she just kills them and then leaves their dead carcass behind for me to clean up. This picture is not for the faint at heart. It is her victim...

Look how happy she is to achieved her goal:I love beautiful days like yesterday. I got to workout outside. Ryan and Ginger ran and I rode the bike for 3 miles. You could tell how great a mood everyone was in because of the warm, sunny day; there were a ton of people out walking and riding bikes and tons of houses had their windows open and I even smelled bbq a couple of times. AAHHH...spring is just around the corner!!!!!

What to do with scrap...

While browsing online one day I saw the cutest idea for storing scrap ribbon. It was quite a while ago that I saw this idea and it has been on my mind constantly to do this. When we went to the flea markets Saturday I kept my eyes peeled for a wire dress form and didn't find one. I went browsing at Hobby Lobby yesterday on my lunch hours and I found her for half off (minus the ribbon belt)...

Well, the idea is to make her my scrap ribbon holder and it would in turn look like she is wearing a skirt. I think she looks great and how great to have my scrap ribbon out in the open so I can see it and use it. It was stored in a bin, and you know the saying out of sight out of mind...

my loot from SSD

I went to my favorite home decor/scrapbook store yesterday after work, SSD. OH MY GOSH their Easter decor was gorgeous!!!!!!! If only I could afford one of everything from that store. They also had a new birthday table set up and it looked so fun, it made me want to sit and have some cake. They also had some new items in their Razorback section that would be so great to have at our tailgate. They also had...okay, okay, I will stop myself. My sole purpose was to go in there and look for a crown stamp so that my sister and I could make the bday invitations for my niece this weekend while I am visiting. I found one and a few other things...some great rub-ons, some candles on clearance for 1.50 (the scent is walk on the beach), and some precut diecuts.

See:

I made a card last night with the diecut that says "a father's love" and a rub-on. It is for my dad for father's day. I also made my sister's bday card. They are below:

I am up to July on my card making, so over halfway done. :)

Updates...

Overall, I had a great weekend. It was my mother-in-laws birthday on Saturday and her mom and aunt and my sister-in-law all came here for her birthday for the weekend. They wanted to go to some flea markets and antique malls Saturday so Ryan (my hubby) and I took them around to several flea markets. I was so tired by the time we were finished, I am not a big shopper. I do enjoy going to flea markets but one or two a day is good for me. However, I did find some books for under my cross on one of the nightstands, and better yet, the books are PURPLE. Here is the before:

And the after:

I think it really helped (thanks for the support of the idea Lisa).

Weight loss update: I lost one pound this week. I have to be honest too. I cannot post my successes without posting my failures too. I could have done so much better this week! I went over my daily points value and weekly allowance two times this week! I told you the hormones that visit us females were here...I had a chocolate attack on Thursday (first time to go over) and then on Saturday when we were out shopping these people wanted to eat out three times!!! THREE TIMES, do you know how hard that is to do when you are trying to stick to a plan (so Saturday was the second time). I knew we were eating out for lunch so I planned for that and looked up online the meal and the points value. I also knew what was "planned" for dinner and I planned for that and all would have been good. So lunch I did good and stuck to what I had planned. Well, after shopping they were hungry and wanted a "snack" and a beer. I did good there too and didn't eat anything and had half a glass of wine and gave the rest away. Then instead of going back home and having what was planned for dinner they decided to eat out for dinner. Sigh...I did make a good choice and had six grilled chicken strips and that was it. Although, I did make good choices on the food I did eat I still went over in points. This weekend we are going to see my family so I will be planning ahead and saving my weekly allowance for this weekend.

Urns...not just for the garden!

I saw this slide show on BHG.com about unique uses for urns. I loved some of the ideas...so, I stole some of them. I put this urn in the living room next to the couch. It has come in so handy to store the remotes and magazines. When the new issues of the magazines come, I put the old issues in the recycle to make sure the urn stays clean and tidy.

These other two urns I turned into bedside tables. I got them on clearance at Hobby Lobby for 25 dollars a piece and I had the round glass at home already. They were black when I bought them and of course my awesome hubby spray painted them white for me. I know that the lamp on this first table is in desperate need of some pizazz. I am in the process of looking for some ribbon to decorate the shade but I just can't find the right color (honestly, I haven't been looking that hard, only when I think about it).

The one thing I want to change on this other table is to add something under the cross to give it some height, maybe some old looking books??

This is a picture of how they look next to the bed.

I haven't broke the news to my hubby yet that I am on the look out for new bedding for our room. After doing the guest room and the fresh clean look of it, I really want to get new bedding for our room now. I just have to find stuff to match the wall color. It is a really light purple, not too girly. Can you believe that my hubby let me paint our room PURPLE???? I told you he was awesome. Yet again this paint was "free". My dad painted this building (I can't remember what type of business it was) and he had a 5 gallon bucket of this paint left over and he saved it for me to see if I liked it, well of course I did, it is a shade of purple (one of my two favorite colors)!! So, while my sister and I went on a overnight scrapbook convention my dad snuck up and when I got home my hubby and dad had the whole room painted and put back together again!! It was FANTASTIC!

I took the afternoon off work today, every once in a while it is nice to do that. I am lucky I have a job that allows me the freedom to do it. I went to Yankee Candle today and the sales lady was super. She told me about this thing called layering (maybe I am the only one that hasn't heard about it), where you light two different candles at the same time and they layer to make a different smell. Well, she put a small lid from vanilla cupcake frosting into a large lid of black cherry and had me smell it...YUMMY!! It was so neat and I never even thought of that. I am not big on the smell of vanilla but the two combined was great. It smelled like a fresh baked cherry cupcake. I was in there trying all kinds of smells together. Another good one that I put together was Coconut Bay and Lime. I will get that this summer. I ended up getting the vanilla and cherry and three other fresher, cleaner scents (that is what I tend to get).

Weight Watcher update: Things are going well this week. I am hungrier this week than I have been the last few weeks (could have to do with hormones). I tried a new WW recipe last night, spicy bbq meatballs. It was good. Well, I actually only had a bite of one because I am not a big meat eater, but the bite was good. My hubby really liked them.

I am off to clean up and light my new candles, we have company spending the night tonight.

Reward

Just a quick post before I head out of the door to go to work. My hubby installed my handles on my cabinets in my laundry room (my first 10 pounds lost reward). I have to say that I LOVE the way they look and I LOVE the color of the laundry room. The last time we were visiting my mom and dad I went through all my dad's paint and took home the gallons that I like. I had no intention of painting anything at that moment but I liked them and hey you never know. Well, the color of the laundry room was one of the gallons I brought home. My dad came up to visit and he did some touch up painting for me where my hubby and I had painted in the house (my dad is a professional painter) well since he can cut in by the ceiling and trim without even taping it up I asked him if he would cut in the laundry room for me and next thing you know he and my hubby had it all painted for me!!!! What great guys I have in my life. My mom said I don't know why you want the laundry room painted, it is just the laundry room and then she saw it and said now I know why it looks great. Anyway, the design of the handles match the kitchen handles but the color is different. The kitchen is brushed nickle to match the faucet. I thought the black with copper would look great with the wall color. So here is the before picture:

And the after:

And a close up:

Behind closed doors...

People normally don't share what is behind their cabinet doors or pantry doors, because lets face it, it isn't pretty or interesting really. However, I am being gutsy and posting pics just because I am excited that I cleaned them out and they are all organized. Sunday, I cleaned out the spice cabinet. This pic is the before:

And here is the after:In the before pic the paper on the door lists all my spices and the expiration date. I am going to put the list back up but want to put it on pretty scrapbook paper instead.

The pictures below are of what I have on the top of my cabinets.

I had to share some detailed pictures of the glasses that are displayed. They were a wedding gift from my aunt and cousin from Germany. They are beautiful. The crystal that they have over there is so pretty.

Sunday, my hubby built me a pull out shelf for my bathroom cabinet. I hated having to dig in the back of the cabinet because it was a pain, now I can pull out the shelf and reach everything. I love it! Before:

After:

Yesterday, I was off work for the holiday. I used that time to shampoo the carpets (they look and smell great) and I also cleaned out the pantry. Here is a before pic:

After:

Valentine's Day was so much fun. My hubby surprised me with tickets to the Razorback vs Kentucky Wildcats basketball game. I know that doesn't sound romantic but I wanted to go so bad. I love when Kentucky plays the Hogs, I leave the game happy no matter who wins. I am a huge Hog fan. I have lived in Ar for most of my life. But I am also a Kentucky fan. I was born in Lexington, Ky and have a ton of family there. I had this shirt made that I wear to any Hog/Wildcat game that says Kentucky born, Arkansas raised. Saturday, my hubby didn't even get upset when I clapped for Kentucky (Kentucky won). They have an amazing player on the team, Jodi Meeks. He scored 48 points on Saturday!! Here is a pic of him shooting (and yes he made it).

That night I cooked a yummy dinner and the chocolate fondue was so good!

Weight Loss Update: Yesterday was weigh in. I lost two more pounds!!!! That is a total of 10 and put me at getting my first 10 pound reward. I went to Lowe's yesterday and got the handles for the cabinet doors for the laundry room and my hubby is going to put them on for me tonight. I will share pics soon. I think they will look great!

I have such a handy hubby...

Since we moved into this house (about 3 yrs ago)in our bedroom we had the tv on a corner mount by the ceiling(we didn't have a tv in our bedroom in our other house we just happened to have an extra tv after we moved into this house because we bought a bigger one for the living room). Yes you read it right, a corner mount (ugly, ugly, ugly). Well, one day I couldn't take it any more, I told my husband that I wanted to get an armoire for the bedroom. So I began searching...well, I searched and searched and all the ones I wanted were too expensive. What I wanted was very specific...white, with shutter doors on top and regular doors on the bottom. The cheapest one I could find was about 900 dollars. I had asked my husband if he thought he could build one to look really good. I just wasn't sure how he would make the cabinets with an inlay design like store bought ones have. We like to frequent Lowe's (we could spend hours looking in there and dreaming of what to change on the house) and one Sunday after church we went just to browse with no specific purpose. We happened to walk down the aisle with the closet doors and I saw these bi fold closet doors that were white with shutters on top and regular on bottom. I turned and said "could you cut these in half and turn them into doors for an armoire," he said "yes." Well we were off from there pricing out the cost of building the armoire. It came to $289!!!! How awesome!! Here is the result(please excuse the left side, I am still trying to decide what I want to put on that side):

Okay below is the inside. My hubby wanted to put in more shelves for me and stuff but I said I don't need a lot inside, the doors will be closed most of the time. I told him I wanted a shelf for the tv and an extra shelf "in case". He asked what in the world I was going to do with all the room on the bottom and I told him that I would probably use it to store blankets, then we moved it into the room and put it where our dog's bed was. Then I thought, we could put her bed inside on the bottom and it is off of the floor and put up during the day. We put it in there and she walked in and laid down! It was so funny. Now when we go to bed we open (and leave open) the bottom doors and she goes in there and sleeps and in the morning I close the doors.

The next picture is of the decorations on top and on the middle shelf (the candles on the middle shelf were the ones we had at our wedding. They were specially made with the biblical verse that was on our invitations and pressed flowers to match the colors of the wedding.)

In the Valentine's Day spirit...

I have to say that I am not a mushy chick. Don't get me wrong, I do love getting affection and I am a huge hugger, but I am just not a mushy person. I enjoying giving to others so Valentine's Day is another excuse to do so (even though you don't need an excuse at all) otherwise I don't do a lot to celebrate Valentine's Day. I feel that loved ones should show their affection to each other every day and for me getting flowers out of the blue means so much more than getting them just because my husband feels he has to because it is what you do on Valentine's day. Anyway, I hope I don't sound like too much of a Vday scrooge. I did do some stuff for other people. Below is a picture of the little cakes I made for my hubby's employees (there aren't many because there are only three employees at his store). I was a good girl and didn't even taste one. I hope they are good.

Below are the treats I made for the ladies I work with:

I also got our three nieces a little treat. I got the nieces on my husband's side these cute little heart shaped compacts that has a mirror and five colors of lip gloss. They love to play with make up and nail polish. I got my niece a set of 6 Vday stamps. She loves arts and crafts. She will be scrapbooking with her mommy and Aunt Lissa before you know it. Anyway, here is the card I made to send with their gifts (I made the same card for each of them):

I got a new fondue pot from my grandma and I am going to make some chocolate fondue for a treat for me and my hubby for Vday. We will dip all kinds of fruit in it. Yummy! (Well, at least it sounds yummy, I haven't actually ever made fondue before but have always wanted to.)

Also, I took some detailed pictures of the layout that is framed in my guest bedroom (I made this layout in a class at one of my favorite stores, Sign, Sealed, and Delivered. It was designed by Michelle) at the request of Megan at http://littlebellabean.blogspot.com/.

Below is a picture of the left page

The following picture is a detailed close up of the bottom left corner of the left page

Next, the a picture of the right page

The picture below is a picture of the flap on the left bottom corner

All of the blue/green shell embellishments can be pulled to reveal journaling or photos. The photo below shows that the middle flap is lifted up to show a palm tree and journaling.

Random thoughts from my head plus and update pic

I have just been having random thoughts today for some reason. I hate how weight loss is always on my mind. You would think after years and years of it constantly being there it wouldn't still annoy me but it does. I know that I will probably be obsessed about it forever though. I don't know why I am feeling so down about it today. It frustrates me that I am having to re-lose weight for the second time. I just wish that when the weight is gone that I could have these days of frustration so it would never get put back on. I pray that it doesn't and I don't plan to let it come back this time but I am just saying that a person can get comfortable and before you know it all the weight is back on. Okay, I am off my soapbox for today. Also, Biggest Loser tonight!!!! I love the motivation I get from watching that show.

Here is my update. I saw these butterflies at a local store called Perfect Choice and loved them. I got them a few years ago and put them in our bathroom but they really didn't match the color in the bathroom (pics of the bathroom to follow later when it is sparkling clean). I got to looking at them the other day and realized they matched the color of the guest bedroom perfectly. So I hung them in there beside the "DREAM" phrase and think they look pretty good. Here they are:

Weekend recap

I had a great weekend. On Friday night we went out with some friends to a pool hall and had some fun. Saturday we were kind of lazy, ok not kind of we were. The only thing we did on Saturday was go to Lowes. We had fantastic temps this weekend and wanted to take the motorcycle out but it was soooo windy on Saturday that we decided not to. :( Sunday it was another nice day (it got up to 68)! We opened all the windows in the house which gave me a touch of the spring cleaning bug. My hubby messed around in the garage while I cleaned all the doors and baseboards in the house, cleaned the fridge, polished all the kitchen cabinets with Pledge Orange Oil, and did ALL the laundry. The mix of the cleaning and fresh air was so nice.

So today is also weigh in day...i lost 2 more pounds! I am down a total of 8 pounds. If I can lose two more this week I will hit my first 10 for my first reward. While we were at Lowes I picked out the handles I wanted for the laundry room cabinets. I think they will look great. This week I have to be careful not to use my extra points. I am saving them for Valentine's Day.

Sunny Days

This week has been so much better than last week. It has been SUNNY every day!!! It has still been cold, but what a nice change to see the beautiful sun. I can really tell a change in people's attitudes when the weather is nicer, or maybe it just puts me in a good mood. Warm weather has to be just around the corner!




Things are going good this week on Weight Watchers. I have used all my weekly allowance points already but its okay, I know I can stick to the daily points. I am feeling so much better this week. I am finally getting over my two week long sinus infection or whatever it was and back to working out regularly. I have decided to make myself a rewards chart. Every 10 pounds I lose I will reward myself with something. It gives me something to work towards and it helps me to break down my ultimate goal into smaller manageable chunks. My first reward will be new handles for the cabinets in our laundry room. I have four pounds to go to get my first reward.





I have been doing some stuff around the house. I have the after pictures below, but stupid me I forgot to take a before picture of the blinds and the before picture of the blank wall just wasn't coming out right and I forgot to take before pictures of the whole guest bedroom (I have learned my lesson and I will remember to take before pictures). Anyway in the picture below, I added this pretty trim to our Roman shades (they were just plan Roman shades) on our back door. I mentioned that I wanted to add some trim to them to my mom when she was here for a visit and she bought this beautiful trim for me for Christmas (thanks for the gift Mom and Dad):
This is an up close pic
The pictures below are from our guest bedroom. We just gave it a makeover this past fall. Now I think it is my favorite room in the house. We painted it a color called Pacific Wave. It is so pretty. Reminds me so much of the ocean (my favorite place to go). Like I said I didn't take before pictures but it was just a neutral tan color. This picture is of the bed. I had a yard sale to earn enough money for the damask stripe duvet that I wanted. Well, I earned enough to buy the white duvet, the shams, and the brown sheet set. It was a successful yard sale. And my sweet hubby sat out there with me the whole time! I am planning on changing a few things in the room and I need a few more finishing touches. One thing I want to change is the art work I did. I am going to redo the one on the left and paint it brown. I don't know what I was thinking...I also want to get a small pillow to match the color of the walls to finish off the bed but I just can't find one that I like yet.


This picture below is of the sign I found to put in the middle. I found it at this local store we have here for only 2 dollars!!!!
This picture is of a shelf that is beside the bed. It was originally black and had another shelf on it. My hubby cut the top shelf off for me and then he painted it white for me. I am not lazy. I would have painted it however I am not capable of spray painting. I consider myself to be some what artistic I guess but I cannot control a spray paint can at all.
The pictures below are close ups of some items on the shelves.
This picture above is a book a made at a class at a local scrapbook store we have here. I love to take classes there. This store is called Sign Sealed and Delivered, http://shopssd.com/. I also made the layout that is hung up in that room at a class there too. It is pictured below:
I did this project below this past weekend. The wall was blank and is a large wall. I wanted a piece of art for it but it was becoming very pricey. Well I was browsing Hobby Lobby one day and these white letters were on sale for half off. So I thought what could I spell and thought it is a bedroom so DREAM seemed appropriate. I got the letters and then I went to Sign, Sealed, and Delivered and they had this perfectly matching ribbon. It is brown (an accent color in the room) and has polk-a-dots that are the same color as the wall. I already had the upholstery tacks at home. The letter are hung up and the upholstery tack and ribbon are for look only. I did the whole thing for 25 dollars! It still seems like the wall needs some thing else but this will do for now.
This room is not only the guest room but it is also my scrapbook room. Originally, my scrapbook desk was out in the open by the window for all the guest to see the disorganized mess. Well, after browsing the web for organizational ideas I measured the closet and it fit perfect in there. So I moved it all to the closest and now I have a scrapbook closest and the doors close and when guest come I don't have to worry about them seeing the mess. My hubby had a piece of this slat board left over at work and brought it home and hung it up for me. He also brought me home the shelves and the hooks to hold my stamps. He made the ribbon holder for me too. He is GREAT!!! This is on the door...
Well that is my favorite room of the house. I have also come up with some more finishing touches for the rest of the house but those will have to wait to be rewards. :)