Color

This summer The Nester had a mistreatment party. I joined in with this post and I didn't stop there....

When we moved into our apartment a couple years ago, these lovely (or not so lovely) blinds were already hung.

They did their job of giving us some privacy. The parking lot is directly outside our patio door so we have lots of foot traffic going past our window as people enter the building. Functional but not pretty. They also started to look really bad as they got caught in the door a few times. I fixed them with some clear tape. A little ghetto I know.
Since I learned from The Nester how easy it is to make mistreatments, I decided that it was time to change the scenery. I bought some fabric and sheer panels. I used hem tape on the fabric so the edges were a little more finished. Here's the semi finished product:

The sheer panel allows us to open the curtains, yet have some privacy from the outside world.

Before and After





Much better. The curtains added some much needed color to the wall. Now I just need to find some trim to finish them off.

Cute Idea

As of yesterday, David and I have been married for 6 months. My mom had a cute idea to mark the date.

She also gave us this cute photo frame Christmas ornament to put our wedding picture in. We'll use it as "Our First Christmas" ornament.

Thanks mom! :o)

Weekend Recap

I had a fun weekend, but I'm glad that I can just sit down now and relax for awhile.

My mom and I attended a women's expo on Saturday. It was fun. There were lots of vendors there and I picked up a Christmas gift for one of my sister-in-laws. We also spent a lot of time in Hobby Lobby. LOVE that store!!

I had my Uppercase Living Open House today. It reminded me why I don't host in-home parties. I only had 4 guests attend. While I was very grateful that they were here, I was disappointed and embarrassed that no one else came. Sometimes I feel like I'm the friend that people think it's ok to ignore. Maybe I'm just being silly but I feel that way a lot.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

My Husband Rocks

My mom and I have been planning on attending a women's day expo on the 25th for awhile now. I will be holding an Upper Case Living open house at our apartment the afternoon of the 26th. My husband, being the wonderful man he is, told me to not worry about cleaning our place for the open house and just have fun with my mom. So while my mom and I are out having fun tomorrow, he will be here cleaning away for my open house.

Oh....and he made me homemade chicken noodle soup this week. With homemade noodles too :o)

Goodbye Fall, Hello Winter

We started getting rain in our area yesterday and this afternoon it turned into snow. I'm not ready for snow! This won't stick around long, but it's a reminder of what's to come.

Here's a pretty good view of how much was coming down.

At least our pumpkins have a little shelter so they won't completely turn into snowballs.

Puts me in the Christmas mood though! Only 63 days away :o)

They Came!!

My books arrived yesterday!! I started reading New Moon last night. I stayed up much too late reading, but I kept thinking "Just one more chapter, then I'll go to sleep." I finally put it down when I could hardly keep my eyes open anymore.

I've never cried while reading a book before...never. Well...I guess I didn't cry last night either, but I was dangerously close while reading the first few chapters.

I'm off to eat an early supper and then dive back into my book. :o)

Pretty Porches

Dave and I took a drive on Saturday so I could participate in the Fall Drive By hosted by The Inspired Room. We drove around for about a half hour but didn't find much. A lot of people had a few pumpkins here and there but nothing very grand. I was kind of disappointed and I felt like a huge stalker or something while taking pictures of people's houses from our car. But it was still fun because I love driving around and looking at houses.

Tagged

I've been tagged Bug from Day by Day .

The rules for this one are-

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

*********

1. I wore braces for a little over 2 years. I had them taken off for our wedding, and I refuse to put them back on. I have a small gap in my front teeth which drives me nuts, but not enough to wear braces again.

2. I am a homebody.

3. I hate writing. Ok, I take that back. I like writing reports, but anything other than that makes me feel anxious. It takes me about 10-20 minutes to write a post for my blog, including adding pictures. If I take longer than that, I worry too much about what I've written, how it sounds, or if it's even worth posting.

4. I have a feeling I will have a hard time when my 30th birthday rolls around.

5. I am more of a thinker than a talker.

6. I am really good at worrying. Sometimes I get so deep in thought when worrying that feel like I am about to have a panic attack, and that feeling brings me back to the present and then I feel foolish for worrying so much.

.

.

I'm breaking rule #3, and in a way #4 too. We spent four hours on the road today and I'm beat. It was time well spent as we went to visit my mom-in-law to celebrate her birthday. And it's now past my bedtime.

Let me know if you'd like to play and I'll link you up at the end of this post.

Hope everyone has a happy Monday :o)

El Cheapo

I did a quick craft with one of my Goodwill picture frames I bought last week. Here's the frame as it looked when I purchased it - for 50 cents I might add.

Fun color, but it doesn't go with anything I own. So I painted it black. I then went into PowerPoint to make a little monogram thingy and printed it out on some scrapbook paper. Here's the finished product:

I covered up our last name, but you get the general idea. Cute, quick project for only 50 cents.

We took a drive around town this afternoon so I could try to get some pictures to post for the Parade of Porches. People don't do much decorating around here, but I we did find a few cute places. Check back on Monday to see what we found.

Gotta go....going to watch SNL in a few minutes. I'm anxious to see what they have in store for Sarah Palin tonight.

My Husband Rocks Fridays

Dave has been working a lot of weekends lately. In fact, of the last 7 weekends he's only had 1 off. And that means working Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. He requested this Saturday and Sunday off. Now if it was me, I would want to take the weekend to do things I've been wanting to do, but not him. He wants to do things for me tomorrow, including making a special supper. I've told him that he should take the day for himself and do some things that he wants to do. But, he tells me that he wants to do things for me tomorrow and that's what would make him happy. I'm a lucky, lucky woman.

For more information on My Husband Rocks!, check out Katy Lin at the great adventure.

Fourth Grade Sermon

I was sitting in a fourth grade classroom today helping one of my students when I overheard a student behind me say to another student, "I don't care, you're going to hell." Well, obviously that caught my attention so I eavesdropped on their conversation. The boy was telling his classmate (a girl who is originally from India) that "there is only one God and He lives up there." He went on for a few more minutes and finally I turned around and said "Name of student, that's what you believe. There are lots of religions and they all have their own beliefs." The girl threw a grateful look my way and said to the boy, "Yeah, you wouldn't understand. We have lots of gods." Then the boy started being goofy and threw out silly names for gods. They both laughed then started working on their math again. I was glad that the conversation was over, but I wondered if I should have stayed out of it.

What would you have done?

Happy Birthday

I'm still in a blogging slump. Hopefully it'll end soon. I wanted to post today though so I could wish my mother-in-law a happy birthday.

Happy Birthday Glenda!

More Twilight and Some Ramblings

I am anxiously waiting for the rest of the Twilight series to arrive. I ordered them on overstock.com yesterday. Check them out for books! They had great prices, and they already had my order shipped out today.

So while I am waiting for my books to arrive I thought I'd take the quiz I found on out on a limb.


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Click here to take the quiz yourself.

I also checked out the rest of the site while I was there. I have to admit that I am excited to see the movie, but couldn't they have found a hot guy to play Edward? He's described as such a beautiful person in the book, and well....the guy playing him just isn't.

I haven't been doing much in the crafting area lately. We're trying to save money for Christmas, and will be making a $500 repair on our car this week. Yuck!! I did pick up some picture frames and a small shelf at Goodwill last week for a grand total of $1.59. I'll show those once I'm finished with them. I started on the South Beach diet last week and am struggling with that. Actually I was doing very well until today. Otherwise I haven't been doing anything exciting and am having a real struggle coming up with blogging ideas.

Hope you all have a great week!!

Weekend Recap

Dave worked all weekend so I read this:

Now I know what all the hype was about! As soon as I finished, I went to your2cents and cashed out my earnings so I could order the rest of the series. So needless to say, I LOVED this book! I can't wait to read the next one.

Getting to Know Me

I ran across this on Bug's blog last night. Thought I'd join in too.....

The phrases that are in bold are true….

Appearance:
- I am 5′4 or shorter.
- I think I'm ugly.
- I have many scars.
- I tan easily. unfortunately no
- I wish my hair was a different color.
- I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color
- I have a tattoo.
- I am self-conscious about my appearance.
- I have/ I've had braces.
- I wear glasses.
- I'd get/have gotten plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free, scar-free.
- I've been told I'm attractive by a complete stranger.
- I have had more than 2 piercings. Just my ears
- I have had piercings in places besides my ears.
- I have freckles.

Family/Home Life:
- I've sworn at my parents.
- I've run away from home.
- I've been kicked out of the house.
- My biological parents are together.
- I have a sibling less than one year old.
- I want to have kids someday.
- I have children.
- I've lost a child.

Embarrassment:
- I've slipped out a "LOL" in a spoken conversation.
- Disney movies still make me cry.
- I've snorted while laughing.
- I've laughed so hard I've cried.
- I've glued my hand to something.
- I've laughed till some kind of beverage came out of my nose. once....orange juice.....ow
- I've had my trousers rip in public. yup, one day while I was working at the daycare

Health:
- I was born with a disease/impairment.
- I've had stitches. once, after my appendectomy
- I've broken a bone.
- I've had my tonsils removed.
- I've sat in a doctor's office with a friend.
- I've had my wisdom teeth removed. (2 of the 4)
- I've had serious surgery.
- I've had chicken pox.

Traveling:
- I've driven over 200 miles in one day.
- I've been on a plane.
- I've been to Canada.
- I've been to Niagara Falls.
- I've been to Japan.
- I've been to Europe.
- I've been to Africa.

Experiences:
- I've been lost in my city.
- I've seen a shooting star.
- I've gone out in public in my pajamas. uh, yeah....hasn't everyone?? ;o)
- I've pushed all the buttons in a lift.
- I've been to a casino.
- I've been skydiving.
- I've gone skinny dipping.
- I've played spin the bottle.
- I've crashed a car. Well, we rear-ended a car after the Suburban behind us rear-ended us because the car behind her rear-ended her
- I've been skiing. Yes, but not successfully, it ended about 10 minutes after I started...I got stuck on a wooden pole---- one ski on one side of the pole, the other ski on the other side and it was at the bottom of a small hill, I couldn't get away from that damn pole until a friend rescued me
- I've been in a play. just Sunday School things
- I've met someone in person from the Internet.
- I've caught a snowflake on my tongue.
- I've seen the Northern Lights.
- I've sat on a roof top at night.
- I've played chicken.
- I've seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- I've eaten Sushi.
- I've been snowboarding.

Relationships:
- I'm single.
- I'm in a relationship.
- I'm available.
- I'm engaged.
- I'm married.
- I've gone on a blind date.
- I've been the dumpee more than the dumper.
- I have a fear of abandonment.
- I've been divorced.
- I've had feelings for someone who didn't have them back.
- I've told someone I loved them when I didn't.
- I've told someone I didn't love them when I did.
- I've kept something from a past relationship.

Honesty/Crime:
- I've done something I promised someone else I wouldn't.
- I've done something I promised myself I wouldn't.
- I have lied to my parents about where I am.
- I am keeping a secret from the world.
- I've cheated while playing a game.
- I've cheated on a test.
- I've driven through a red light. not on purpose either, just had a totally blonde moment one day while driving with my husband
- I've witnessed a crime.
- I've been in a fist fight.
- I've been arrested.
- I've shoplifted.

Drugs/Alcohol:
- I've consumed alcohol.
- I smoke cigarettes. well I don't smoke but I tried it once and it was HORRIBLE!!!
- I smoke pot.
- I regularly drink.
- I've taken painkillers when I didn't need them.
- I've taken cough medicine when i wasn't sick.
- I've done hard drugs.
- I've been addicted to an illegal substance.
- I can't swallow pills.
- I can swallow about 5 pills at a time no problem.

Death:
- I'm afraid of dying.
- I hate funerals. odd thing to see on here, who really LIKES funerals??
- I've seen someone dying.
- I have attempted suicide.
- Someone close to me has attempted suicide.
- Someone close to me has committed suicide.

Random:
- I can sing well. ---ummmmm, no
- I've stolen a tray from a fast food restaurant.
- I open up to others too easily.
- I watch the news.
- I don't kill bugs. uh, duh, that's why I got married - so I would have someone to kill bugs for me J/K but no, I don't kill bugs, just last week I sat a glass on top of a big beetle so Dave could kill it when he got home, I'm a huge wuss when it comes to creepy crawlies
- I hate hearing songs that sacrifice meaning for sake of being able to rhyme.
- I swear regularly. bad, bad habit
- I am a morning person.
- I paid for my mobile phone ring tone.
- I'm a snob about grammar.
- I am a sports fanatic.
- I play with my hair.
- I have/had "x"s in my screen name. HUH??
- I love being neat. --just wish I was more often
- I love Spam.
- I've copied more than 30 CD's in a day.
- I don't know how to shoot a gun.
- I am in love with love.
- I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS.
- I laugh at my own jokes. Sometimes so much so that I can't finish telling the joke because I'm laughing so hard
- I eat fast food weekly.
- I believe in ghosts. Spend a weekend at my mom's house and you will too
- I am online 24/7, even as an away message.
- I can't sleep if there is a spider in the room. One night David and I were lying in bed watching TV/reading when I noticed a spider on the wall. I pointed it out to him, but it was up too high to kill it. I kept watching it hoping it would crawl down so he could kill it. Well, when it flew off the wall I about jumped out of bed. I had been watching a fly, not a spider. Then I laughed....hard. I even made Dave jump because I had jerked my body so hard.
- I am really ticklish. just my neck
- I love white chocolate.
- I bite my nails. once in awhile
- I play video games.
- I'm good at remembering faces.
- I'm good at remembering names.
- I'm good at remembering dates.
- I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life. Sometimes I think I have it figured out, other times not so much.

My Husband Rocks!

Earlier this week I posted a picture of the cake I made for my husband's birthday last weekend. I thought I would share the 28 reasons we all love David. So here are...

27 Reasons We Love David

(and one to grow on)

1. Eats donuts. -Sarah & Conor
2. His absolute loyalty to the people he loves. -Annie
3. He is a kind and good man. -Mom
4. The way that David always supports me. -Dad
5. Football. -Sarah & Conor
6. He is the kind of uncle I want for my kids. -Tony
7. He has far surpassed any expectations I had for a husband. -Me
8. He's a great brother-in-law and we love having him live in Brookings. -Jackie
9. The way he always fixed my hair when he was a little guy. -Shawna
10. His musical talent. -Brian
11. He appreciates people for their quirks and not in spite of them. -Tony
12. He can "name that tune" with one note when I can't think of a song that's stuck in my head. -Jackie
13. He's constantly working to improve himself. -Me
14. Wears flip flops. -Sarah & Conor
15. He keeps our daughter happy. -Cheryl & Don
16. His casino jacket. - Annie
17. I can listen to and appreciate music, but he can make it. -Tony
18. Shaved head. -Sarah & Conor
19. He's not afraid to act silly to make me laugh. -Me
20. He's the little brother I never had. -Brian
21. He can tease anyone in his family is such a way to make them both laugh. -Tony
22. I love David's choice of a spouse. - Dad
23. Works at Papa John's. -Sarah & Conor
24. Because his heart is as big as his head. -Shawna
25. He tells great stories that crack me up. -Jackie
26. He's my little brother, and even more he is a good guy. -Tony
27. He wears his heart on his sleeve. -Me
28. The way he won't stay down...no matter what, David will ALWAYS get up and keep going. He is an inspiration to me over and over again. -Mom

So as you can see, my husband rocks for many reasons.


Check out Katy Lin at the great adventure to find out more about My Husband Rocks!

Awards

I received this cute friendship award from Frizzy the other day. Thanks Frizzy!

These are the words she had written with her award (on her blog):

We need friends for many reasons,

all throughout the season.

We need friends to comfort us when we are sad,

and to have fun with us when we are glad.

We need friends to give us good advice,

We need someone we can count on, and treat us nice.

We need friends to remember us once we have passed,

sharing memories that will always last.

I don't know if she came up with that cute little poem, or if it goes with the award. If she wrote it, I just totally stole it without permission! Let me know Frizzy, and I'll give you credit for writing it if it's yours :o) Thanks so much for the award!!

Last night I was reading Bug's blog and saw that she had given me this award! Thank you!!

So to follow the rules I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and then pass on the award to 7 other blogger I love.

1. Where is your cell phone? chair
2. Where is your significant other? work
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? fun
5. Your father? Don
6. Your favorite thing? crafts
7. Your dream last night? strange
8. Your dream/goal? thin
9. The room you're in? living
10. Your hobby? crafting
11. Your fear? failure
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? mommy
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? rich
15. One of your wish-list items? house!!!
16. Where you grew up? Woonsocket
17. The last thing you did? showered
18. What are you wearing? sweats
19. Your TV? Scrubs
20. Your pet? none
21. Your computer? laptop
22. Your mood? happy
23. Missing someone? yup
24. Your car? Pontiac
25. Something you're not wearing? socks
26. Favorite store? Hobby Lobby!!
27. Your summer? relaxing
28. Love someone? yes
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? dunno

And my seven blogs to tag are:

Warm Pie, Happy Home

1938 Elm Street

Beautifully Imperfect

Escape Into My Thoughts

Our Happy Home

This is the Life

Lulaville

Twilight

Ok, I've been seeing Twilight all over blogs, and now the movie advertisements on TV. I've been trying to check it out from our public library, but it's always out. So, tonight I finally gave in and bought it on eBay. I've been making a little money here and there on YouData, so I decided to use those earnings to buy the book. I hope it lives up to all the hype!

Let me know if you've read it and what you thought.

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was Hobo Days! In case you're wondering, Hobo Days is South Dakota State University's homecoming. My parents (almost) always spend Hobo Day weekend in town. I met up with them for the parade Saturday morning. I also had supper with them that night.

Sunday was David's birthday. We had a family lunch at my brother-in-law's house. With the help of his family, I surprised him with this cake.

We spent the afternoon just hanging out with family. While there, my niece showed me a dresser she had painted for her bedroom. I wish I had taken a picture to show you all. She did a great job painting it and found some really cute knobs to put on the drawers.

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

It's a Halloween Party!

Kimba at A Soft Place to Land is having a Halloween Party!

I don't have a lot of Halloween Decor, but I'll share what I do have.

I made this Halloween ragamuffin over the weekend. I got the idea at Sanctuary Arts at Home.

You can kind of see one of my little spiders hanging down in this picture.

I picked up some Halloween garland at Family Dollar a few weeks ago. I love the little purple bats on it. I also twisted some Halloween lights in before hanging it up.

Here's the view from the outside. This is the best picture I got and it's still pretty blurry & is at a really bad angle. That's a purple spider hanging on the window.

I tried my hand at Joy's Halloween project. I used some cute Halloween paper with little sayings like - trick or treat, boo, eek, fright, candy, ghosts, etc. Only problem is that the words are orange on orange paper so from a distance it just looks like I used plain orange paper. I think it needs some to jazz it up a bit but this is how it looks for now.

I have one more Halloween project planned, but I need to find a small branch before I can complete it. I'll be sure to show ya all when it's done. Don't forget to check out Kimba's party!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. He turned 27, so I thought I'd share a list of 27 randoms about David. (I made this list before I did the husband quiz so a few of these are repeats from the list, sorry!).

1. He has blue-green eyes. The color really depends on what color shirt he's wearing.
2. He loves Notre Dame.
3. When he was little, he wanted to be a fireman.
4. His favorite restaurant is HuHot.
5. He enjoys reading.
6. He likes doing silly things to make me laugh.
7. His favorite color is clear.
8. He's very into hypnotherapy and will soon start courses to become a hypnotherapist.
9. His favorite ice cream is Ben & Jerry's Peach Cobbler.
10. If you ask him what his favorite food is, he'll tell you "meat".
11. He plays guitar.
12. He cleans well.
13. He wears size 13 shoes.
14. His favorite writer is Jack Kerouac.
15. He once met Jimmie Vaughn and got his autograph. He was very excited!
16. He has a hard time receiving gifts.
17. He doesn't judge or criticize people.
18. He's a hard worker.
19. He's going to be a wonderful father someday.
20. He's a great writer.
21. He's very romantic.
22. He's very proud of his Irish heritage.
23. He likes watching movies.
24. He once had shoulder length hair (before I knew him).
25. He looks a lot like his dad.
26. He is very close with his family.
27. He's a wonderful husband and my best friend.

Happy Birthday David! I love you!!

My Husband Rocks!

I missed my Friday post for My Husband Rocks! So here it is, a day late.

David and I had been dating for a year and a half, and on February 26, 2007 he asked me to marry him. At the time I was teaching in the preschool classroom at a daycare. Here's our proposal story.

David had one of my friends at work help him carry out his proposal plan. While some of my co-workers distracted me during nap time, Dave snuck in to the center. While I was out of my classroom, one of my co-workers pulled my preschool children into another room and they were each given a sign to carry. As I walked back towards my room, my kids began walking towards me with signs reading "Will" "you" "marry" and "me?" (luckily there were only 4 kids there at that time). I started crying as soon as I read the second sign. Dave then stepped out of the room, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. He even remembered to bring the camera so we would have pictures!!

This is a picture of my preschoolers holding the signs that Dave had made. Please ignore the fact that they are not standing in order. :o)
My husband rocks because he made a very special day even more special by involving my preschoolers and friends at work.

To find out more about My Husband Rocks! check out Katy Lin at the great adventure.

My Husband

I ran across this on Katy Lin's blog today. I thought it'd be fun to give it a try. Hopefully I do ok!

How well do you know your husband?

1. Sitting in front of the TV, what's on the screen? Corner Gas (don't ask, I don't get it either)

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? He's not really a salad kind of guy.

3. What's one food he doesn't like? raspberries

4. You go out to a bar. What does he order? He doesn't drink alcohol, so I suppose if he were in a bar he'd get a water.

5. Where did he go to high school? Yankton

6. What size shoe does he wear? 13

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? guitars

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? One with lots of meat.

9. What would this person eat everyday if he could? Meat.

10. What is his favorite cereal? Not sure that he has a favorite.

11. What would he never wear? I don't think there's anything that he'd never wear since he once dressed as a woman.

12. What is his favorite sports team? Notre Dame

13. Who will he vote for? Obama

14. Who is his best friend? James

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Be critical of others (hey, I'm workin' on it).

16. How many states has he lived in? 2

17.What is his heritage? Irish and a little Native American (American Indian? not sure which one is the right term these days). Those are the two he talks about the most.

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday, what kind of cake? We just talked about this last night since his birthday is this Sunday. He wants a marble cake with caramel frosting.

19. Did he play sports in high school? Yes. He played football & baseball and he wrestled.

He's gonna love me for this one ;o)

20. What could he spend hours doing? Playing his guitar or reading.

21. Does he belong to any men's organizations? No


I'll let ya know if I bomb out on this one! Pretty sure I did well though :o)

It's October!!

Picture found at Country Living

I love the month of October. April and October are my favorite months of the year. Probably because spring and fall are my favorite seasons.

Only twelve more weeks (84 days) till Christmas!!!

Picture found at crazy-frankenstein.com