New Project

We have begun our "big" project of the year. I say we but really it is just my hubby that has begun the project right now. I will be helping once the wood is purchased this week or whenever Ryan is ready for me to help. I tend to stay out of his way when he does a project, a lesson learned many years ago :). I think our deck will look amazing when we are done. It should be done by the end of April. We have had to special order some of the wood and the new posts.

When we moved into our house the only deck we had was this part. This part will soon be changed. We are removing most of the front of it and opening it completely up and adding stairs into that lead into the backyard.

Ryan added the part of the deck on the right within the first month that we lived in the house.

Here is the work he did late Sunday afternoon. Basically, he broke ground. He is ordering the wood today. It has to be specially ordered because the places we have checked don't carry 20 foot boards.

Also, we are removing all the wooden pickets and replacing them with these:

photo taken from here.

You will have to excuse the current deck. It looks so much prettier when I have my flowers out and it has been used. Right now it is still in it's bare winter phase. If warm spring weather would ever come and STAY I could plant some stuff but as you can see the grass hasn't even started to green yet.

Weekend recap and weigh in day

First...today is weigh in day and my tightening of the reins paid off and I lost 3 pounds!!! 4 pounds away from 10% (earlier I posted I was close but I had the wrong weight in my head of what I needed to be at for 10%). So, a loss of 3 has put a nice smile on my face today. :)

I did enjoy my time off work. It was such a needed break but I picked the crappiest of spring days to take off. It rained both Thursday and Friday then it snowed...that's right SNOWED...Saturday. YUCK!!! I want and need warm weather now!!! I did get out a little on Friday during the break in the rain and took some pictures at a tiny park in Cave Springs.

As I wrote on my last entry my bro-in-law and 5 of his friends were supposed to come up to stay the night Friday and skydive Saturday. 5 actually turned into 12! They were a great group of people though. All of them were very nice. Well, since it snowed Saturday, skydiving was canceled and they decided to stay another night and try skydiving on Sunday. Sunday turned out perfect (cold but sunny) for them and they were able to jump Sunday. This is a pic of some of the group:

Here is my bro in law, Cole, suited up:

Here is a shot of him floating back to safety:

Here are him and his trainer after the jump:

And here are him and his friend that jumped with him post jump (Cole is on the right):

They said it was totally amazing. Everyone had a blast. Although when Cole landed he was ghost white and looked like he could either pass out or throw up.

a break and a great website discovery

I am taking a much needed break from work. I took off work today and tomorrow. I was all looking forward to just relaxing and hanging out this weekend but within an hour it has turned out that I will have a crazy weekend. Today, I plan to SCRUB the house from top to bottom; sometimes I just get in the mood to do this and I am going to do it right after I type this. Tomorrow if it is nice (which it appears to be a slim chance of that) I am going to go to a local public garden to take pictures and browse our downtown square at some new shops down there. Here is where it turns crazy; my husband informed me yesterday that my father in law is staying with us Friday night. Then within an hour of that my little bro in law calls and ask if him and some of his buddy's can stay with us Friday night and Saturday night. They are driving up here to go skydiving...SKYDIVING!!! Sounds fun but waaaay to scary for me! So Saturday we are going to watch them jump (oh, and my sis in law is jumping with them too). It will be nice seeing all of them and hanging out. I am sure I will be posting pictures of the brave skydivers Sunday. I just pray all goes well for them!

I bought a cake and cupcake recipe book at the store the other day and they had these cute cupcake cups and I was like where did they get these and then on one of the pages in the tips section it gave the website. There are a TON of things on this website for baking and decorating. Here are just a few pictures I copied from their website to show some of the stuff they have. Too cute!

These are cupcake holders that look like Easter baskets:

This is another example of a cupcake holder:These are an example of cookie stencils:There is so much more that you just need to check out for yourself. Check out their website by clicking here.

Weekend recap

I had a great, great, great weekend this past weekend. My mom and dad came up on Saturday and stayed the night. :) :) :) I think I needed a mom and dad fix!! My mom and I went to SSD and I treated her to a card making class. The cards were designed by Bettie and she also taught the class. Here are a lot of pictures of the different cards we made:

This first card is made to look like a purse. How cute:

This second card was called the diamond card:The third card was the masculine card of the group:

I loved all the embellishments on this card:

I added a little personal touch on this birthday card with extra pink pearls I had in my set:

This library card was very cute too:

We also went shopping and my mom got me a few scrapbook supplies and some candles. While we went out my dad and Ryan hung out and played pool.

a little late...

First, today is weigh in day. No good news here. I stayed the same this week. It wasn't totally unexpected but that doesn't change the fact it is still disappointing. I know what I need to do to change the lack of weight loss from this week and I WILL be reporting a loss next Monday ;)!!

I am a little late posting my new closet transformation but I guess it is better late than never. Now, the pictures do not give my closet justice. It is actually a large closet and wraps completely around our shower to the other side (which belongs to my hubby). Ryan is great to me. I told him I wanted shelves built and he said okay. Well a couple weeks went by and then I was looking at closets on better homes and gardens and drew out how I wanted mine. I told Ryan that I had drawn some plans for my closet and he said "well get me your blueprints and I will build it." He had it done for me in two days. So, here it is:

Before pics (the thought crossed my mind not to show my embarassing mess of a closet as it was before):

After (I even have room to spare now) :) THANKS HUBBY, YOUR GREAT!!!

I am ready for the grass to be green. Not just because I am looking forward to some color other than brown, but because of HER:

This is after she rolled around in the grass (one of her favorite things to do) and after she shook off already. I have to sweep DAILY. But who could get too upset with this:

(I am bribing her with a treat to sit still)!

Hunger Games

I finally read another book since Breaking Dawn. I just haven't been able to get into any other book since then. I told my sister that reading the Twilight series may have ruined me from ever reading another book again. But I finally did it. The book I read was called Hunger Games. For an excerpt click here. It was a really good book the only part that sucks is I have to wait until September for book 2. It was good enough that I finished it in two days. However, my longing to read more about Edward is still there. Oh how I hope Stephenie Meyer decides to finish Midnight Sun. I found out about the Hunger Games from Stephenie's website as a recommend read by her.

We have been having amazing weather here and I have been able to workout outside again so that has been fun and Ginger (my pup) loves it too because she gets to go with me. So far so good staying on plan this week. Oh and my awesome hubby got my project done and I will post about it tomorrow. So excited.

A much needed break and weigh in...

There are times when I need a break even from things I love to do. This past week was one of those times. I took a break from my computer (I hadn't touched it until now since Tuesday) and I took a break from working out (I got back to working out on Saturday but hadn't in about a week and a half) those are both two things I enjoy but just needed a break. If I could have taken a break from work last week I would have done that too!!! I will be taking some mini breaks from work soon though.

This weekend was a sad one for us. My mother-in-law had to put her dog to sleep on Saturday morning. What a hard decision to have to make but she did what she felt best for Mena. So today I include a poem in memory of a beloved friend:

Goodbye With heavy hearts; and a tear in our eyes

after all these years; we must say goodbye

Please understand; we've done all we could

if there was anything we could do; you know we would

I'm sitting right here; gently rub your ears

while I talk to you softly; trying to hold back the tears

The memories you gave us; we'll never forget

especially the ones; of the day we all met

One last hug; and one last kiss

you have no idea; how much you'll be missed

To look into your eyes; this one last time

you tell me it's ok; you know it's your time

Close your eyes now; and go to sleep

we'll pray to the Lord; your soul he'll keep

Go in peace now; our good friend

we'll stay right here with you; until the end

Dream of that special day and time

when we'll meet at the Bridge; and all will be fine

We'll run and play; side by side

with a soft warm feeling; deep down inside

Your memory will live on; in each one of us

you'll always be number 1; to all of us

Have a safe journey; through the night

I promise when you awake; you'll be in God's light

So with heavy hearts; and tears in our eyes

just for now my friend; we say goodbye

~John Quealy

On a lighter note; I bought and hung up this sign in our laundry room. I was originally going to paint the room the green color of the lettering but I didn't buy the sign the first time I saw it hoping it would go on sale. When I went back it was gone and I couldn't find it for months. Then this week I went back to Hobby Lobby and there it was and it still matched!

Also, today is weigh in day. I lost one pound but not enough to hit my 10% goal, BOO! But hey a loss is a loss and I am happy with that.

My fantastic hubby is working on a project for me that I hope to post later in the week. :)

Blooms and Easter decor

I love that everything is starting to bloom here and I love to take pictures of flowers. Saturday when we got home from our ride I noticed that our globe willow tree in the front yard had buds on it. It happened like overnight! Here is a picture of the globe willow I took yesterday.

Also, I took a picture of the buds on our Bradford pear tree yesterday.

And can you believe that today there are flowers on it.

I love Bradford pear trees. They are perfect to me. They have beautiful white flowers in the spring, pretty dark green leaves in the summer, and are the perfect shape. If we had a long driveway I would love to alternate a Bradford pear and a cherry blossom tree all the way up the drive and on both sides. There is a house here that has Bradford pears along the drive on both sides and it is so pretty.

I also put out some Easter decor. Just enough to let you know Easter is coming. I got this bunny and tree at Hobby Lobby this past week.

Now, I don't normally decorate with stuffed animals but this one is very special to me and it will be out every Easter no matter what. This bunny was given to me by my husband our first Easter when we were dating 11 years ago. On my sister's high school graduation day (we were actually getting ready for the graduation) our house caught on fire. We lost just about everything, my mom and I grabbed my sister's cap and gown, the dog, and backed the car away from the house and that was all we had gotten out at the time of the fire. We pulled ourselves together and knew there was nothing to do at the time and went to my sister's graduation. Well, there were a few things that we were able to save the next day going back to the house and my mom got my bunny out and had it cleaned by a company that cleans items that have been in a fire and gave it to me. So that is why this bunny will always be special to me.

I also made this image to put in this frame for Easter. It normally has a picture in it but I made this and changed it out for the holiday.

This is an up close picture of the spring table runner I put out on the sofa table. This was a gift from my mom when she went to Germany last summer to visit my family. It is so pretty and just says "Spring is here" to me.

This is the last of my Easter decorations.

What a wonderful weekend...

I had an absolutely fabulous weekend!!! We took off Friday and went riding on our motorcycle. It was the most perfect day to ride. Warm enough to wear short sleeves but cool enough not to be sweating. We rode out to War Eagle Mill. It is an operating mill that has been there since the 1800's. It is also the location of the bi-annual craft show. There is one in May and then the huge one in October. This is a picture of the mill:

This is inside and is a pic of the actual working grinder:

Here is just a tiny sampling of what they grind and sell there. We bought some fish fry breading and some cherry butter.

Upstairs they have a gift shop. Look at these cute salt and pepper shakers that were in the gift shop:

Also, on the third story they have a restaurant.

Outside is very pretty. Here is the water wheel:

This bridge is 101 years old:

And here is a picture of the small waterfall there:

Saturday was nice also. We met up with a couple of other friends that have motorcycles and went on an 8 hour ride. We had a lot of fun and thankfully didn't get rained on.

Sunday I did a LOT of spring cleaning (well I guess it is actually pre-spring training). I washed all the curtains in the house and scrubbed the bathroom. We actually took the shower doors apart and I scrubbed them and scrubbed the shower where they were. We are going to caulk them. They never were caulked by the builder and water gets underneath and gets yucky all the time. I also put out Easter decor after church and I will share pics of that tomorrow.

Today is weigh in day. Drum roll please...I lost another two pounds for a total of 15 pounds. I got another star on my Weight Watchers Chart and if I lose two pounds this week I should be at my 10% goal!!