Happy New Year 2011!

WHAT A DAY!!!! I'm so ready for bed, I don't even know why I'm on here right now! There was not one moment to stop to even take a breather, but it was very fun filled.

This was my day: Up, shower, grocery shopping and dentist by 8:30am. I survived the dentist and by 10am, I stopped by to see some very dear friends of mine who also happen to be my former bosses at a CPA firm and we all had lunch. By the time I got home, Kristen was finally able to come over and we hung out the rest of the day until about 10pm or so tonight. Just when I thought I could get in bed, the girls just wouldn't have me not buying fireworks to bring in the new year. I caved. So, we did just that. It turned into a neighborhood firework show at the end of our driveway, so yep, even more people to visit with for the next couple hours. My feet are killing me and I smell like a campfire, so off to take another shower and hit the pillow. My only regrets today, not one picture was taken. (let's exclude the fact that Paula, (former boss) threatened to take video of me while trying to drink my tea with a numb mouth)
Eat loads of cabbage and peas tomorrow (today) Many blessings to you and strength to keep your resolutions if you have any. I resolve not to resolve. I know I can stick to that!

Bring on the Organizing!

Well, Emily's not feeling well and running a low fever, so she wasn't able to do the video I wanted to post. She will as soon as she's back to normal.

I've decided what day works best for me to begin organizing things that have gotten out of hand here at home. For the most part, things do get moved, just not put in the proper locations. I seriously think I'm the only person in this house who can't stand things out of order. Morgan runs a close race behind me, but that kid has too much stuff to manage herself. So beginning on Monday, I'm going to start with the CDs and other discs that have seemed to find a way in every room of my house.

I just went through the main parts of the house to take pictures, for my own encouragement, of the discs carelessly lying around. I can't believe I'm going to post them here, but, like I said, self encouragement. Camera's still bad, but maybe that's a good thing.

Here are some just thrown on top of Emily's dresser (along with toys, games, etc., but we'll focus on the items at hand.):

On the bookcase in my bedroom:

Behind the computer monitor in the dining room:

On a shelf in my laundry room:

Are you starting to see a pattern? Nonsense is what this is! Clayton is a major movie buff, so we have our drawers in our entertainment center filled with movies. I filled a large binder full years ago and no one ever looks in it for movies. I have a nook between my tv wall and my front door, so I plan to put up some floating shelves to add storage, but in the meantime, I'm going to find a home for these little boogers where they can live happily together. I didn't take pictures of all the locations. I'm sure to find more. I'm waiting for Monday to start really organizing them.

Tomorrow Emily gets to go to the dr. for him to hopefully let her come home without her walking cast. Poor kid, I know she's sick of it.

Copy Cat

Ever see Julie and Julia? I couldn't wait to see that movie, and when I finally did, I was disappointed, somewhat. Even though Meryl Streep did a wonderful job, it was just a little lame to me. I had to research Julie's blog after watching the movie and can see the possible reason Julia Child didn't like her blog. That woman has a mouth! Anyway, that's not my point here. The reasoning behind Julie doing her blog was to be able to stick with something for a set amount of time because apparently, she's a lot like me and can't finish what she starts unless held accountable in some way. So, I had a thought, since I am now keeping up with this blog fairly well.

As I was cleaning house the other day, I found CDs and DVDs in all sorts of places. There are seriously discs in every room in my house (well not the bathrooms, but I wouldn't be surprised) They are getting damaged and those things just cost too much to be destroyed from carelessness. I am an organizing freak and there are way too many things in my house that aren't organized and it drives me crazy! So, instead of putting things off because of the procrastinator I am, I have decided to copy the reason Julie started a blog to begin with. I'm going to pick one day of the week and starting with all the discs in every nook and cranny of my home, I'm going to organize something and post it here. Actually, I just thought of something. I'll be killing two birds with one stone by doing this. 1. Getting some much needed organizing done and 2. Blogging.

Later on today, I'm going to post a video of something extremely cool that Emily will be doing, so stay tuned...

Wasting Precious Time

My best friend, Kristen, is coming to see me tomorrow (today, since it's 3:30am)! She moved to Arlington in the summer to go to school and I miss her dearly! I whipped her up a tiny gift last night. It's another post-it note holder. I really don't have any fun making them, so this one will probably be my last one. Just not my cup of tea, but here it is. Terrible camera, still, and wish I had a shorter pen for it, but oh well.

After doing that, I organized and personalized my computer in my craft room a little bit. One of my biggest pet peeves is grown women who still act like a child or like childish things. BUT, I can't help myself when it comes to Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. I just LOVE him! He's such a pessimist, sort of like my hubby, but he pulls it off in a very funny way, unlike my hubby. ;) So, I downloaded one of his famous sayings about his tail, and I added it to one of my computer sounds. It's so adorable! I also put him as my desktop background. Morgan supports my Eeyore obsession, so she gave me a couple stickers she had stashed away. I had to use them, right? Here are some pictures of my little guy.
My desktop:

Corner of my computer:

and even on my headphones:

As if I have nothing else better to do! ;)

Quick Craft

Since I'm in the middle of painting what is now my craft room, I have all my crafts boxed and tucked into a corner. With that being said, I only used what was readily available to make what I talked about the other night with the post it notes and cheap picture frame. I had seen the idea online somewhere and wanted to try it out. I'm going to make more once my craft room is completed and organized. Either way, this one turned out somewhat cute.


I moved the post it notes up higher after I saw how low they were in the pics.

I'll post pics of the other things the girls and I made for Christmas gifts in the next day or so.

My Christmas Eve

We spent a few hours in the ER today, of all days. We don't have a family doctor here yet, and Allison's been complaining of leg pain all week. Morgan woke up with a sore throat a couple days ago and didn't feel well all day, so I figured I'd just take them in to the ER and see what was up. Morgan tested negative for strep on the first culture. We have to wait 3 days for the next test to come in. So, for now, no meds. Allison had x-rays and the doctor said it looked to be Osgood Schlatters. I was told that about my own knee many times from the time I was her age until a couple years ago. They were all wrong. Mine was a torn ACL. So, today was basically a wasted trip. No meds and no relief for my girls.

I've been in a crabby mood today, maybe because I know they don't feel well. When we came home from the doctor, Morgan and I were adding the finishing touches to a gift and we wound up ruining it. Not a good day for that to happen. So, I took a time out and even though I'm really in need of my bed right now, I've decided to make something out of nothing, just to get those creative juices flowing the way they should. I'm about to make something out of these:
A $1 frame and a post-it note pad I had in my office supply stash. I HEART office supplies! Weird, I know. I'm unique.
So, I'm off to create something. I'll post a picture of it when I'm done, unless it turns out like the rest of my day did. By the time you have read this, I'm sure Christmas is over, so I hope you all had a wonderful and healthy Christmas 2010!

Christmas with MawMaw

Tonight we all had a wonderful evening with MawMaw. It was an evening full of reminiscing and laughter, just the way it should be. The girls helped me cook a meal fit for a MawMaw, which with her is tough because she's a great cook. Some things didn't turn out the way I would have liked them to, but no worries. She didn't complain and said it was delicious. I have to agree, the chicken was pretty fascinating!
I told her previously I needed her to teach me how to cut up a chicken. That's just one thing I haven't mastered yet. Instead, I just let her do it.
After the meal, we watched Morgan and MawMaw exchange gifts. Morgan wasn't willing to take a picture with hers, but loved it anyway. It was a very nice makeup kit from Estee' Lauder for her travels while on tour. As expected, Sandra teared up when she opened Morgan's gift to her.


We then played a board game Emily had gotten for Christmas called Headbandz. Fun game, especially for me, since I WON!

What a great night!
Here's possibly a better picture of the gift for MawMaw...

More home construction

I've been bothered, somewhat, about how open our interior is. I don't like a completely closed up home where you have to go through a door or doorway to get to each room, but to have it completely opened up takes away a bit of mystery to me. I like getting lost in a house and when it's completely open where you can see every room but the bedrooms, just bothers me. It doesn't seem as "homey", I guess. Our house is quite different than any other home I've ever seen. I don't know what the original plans were, but the way the flooring is, the living room is where the dining room should be and the dining is where the living room should be. Meaning, the dining room is the room where you walk through the front door, and the living room is off the kitchen. You'd have to go through the living room to get to the dining room from the kitchen. Even though the flooring is carpet in what the previous owners must have called the living room and linoleum where they must have called the dining, I didn't do it like that. Right now, my living room is on the linoleum and the dining table on the carpet. That's the reason I'm anxious to get new flooring. Well, one of the reasons. Also, the way I have it, the fireplace is in the dining room, not the living room. I don't care about that at all. I think a fireplace in the dining room is quite cozy.

I've been trying my hardest to figure out how to divide the kitchen and dining room where it won't be shut completely off, but yet, allow it to have a little privacy from each other, and I think I've figured it out. As long as the opening is big, it won't be shut off. Also, the walls that will be put up will allow me to have more cabinets in my kitchen, even though I have quite a few now. Who couldn't use more cabinets, right? We shop in bulk, so I know I could use the extra storage!

So, the problem I'm facing is knowing Clayton isn't even going to want to take on the task, even though he would do an excellent job. (He's too happy with his boat right now to even think of work while he's off) He's always done our handyman work so hiring someone scares me. I have no idea whatsoever how much these kinds of things cost and I'd so much love to save the money and spend it on the many other things that are needed here. In fact, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even know who to call to build that wall. I've seen a wall build before...I wonder if I could manage to do it. We have the tools and we are only talking 2x4's, right? At least I think so.

I'll have to post pictures of everything I'm talking about and will put them on this post, so check back. Keep in mind though, everything is brown brown brown! UGH!

Excitement has been contained :(

Well, it's back to the drawing board with the flooring. I kept feeling like I wouldn't like the tile so much if it were more than just the 4 tiles completing one design. I googled images of patterned tile and found something similar and it's old and dirty, but still, the entire pattern and colors are pretty close...enough to be able to see how busy that design would be on our floor.

This is the tile I originally thought was beautiful:




















This is the floor that made me realize NO WAY!!!

So, what now? I really don't want wood look laminate flooring in my kitchen. That's too much wood going on for me. The cabinets I have now are the original cabinets I'm in the process of painting until I can get an entire kitchen remodel. (probably years from now) I guess I could always stick with white cabinets even after the remodel. I'm so lost now.

If I do go with laminate like we planned originally, I'm going to have to wait longer since it will include the living and hallway as well. *Sigh*

A few positive thoughts - at least now the painted paneling won't look cheap next to laminate flooring (the sheetrock can wait a little longer), I can still have my painted cabinets without them looking cheesy next to that flooring, and my dining table and chairs won't look bad next to laminate like I feel it would with the tile (it's contemporary and I don't feel like the tile would really fit in well with that style).

Such is life.

Getting ready for new floors! :)

I thought I'd be on here more often, but we have been so busy with loads of different things around here.

We shopped for flooring for the house today. Actually, we went to look at laminate and I wasn't sure what I wanted, but as I was comparing a couple pieces, I came across a piece of tile that intrigued me. Gorgeous stuff!!! So, after putting it next to a mirror to get an idea of the design it would be, I fell in love!! I looked at a couple more pieces of tile and nothing compared to it. So, we decided to use this tile in the kitchen and dining room. Here's a picture of it by the mirror:
Trust me, the picture does not do it justice whatsoever!! I'm so excited, I can't contain it! Before the end of this week, they are going to come out and measure and in a couple weeks, this will be my new flooring for my dining and kitchen! Oh, so pretty!

Just getting started

So, let's see if I really keep up with this. I've started a few blogs over the past few years and as soon as I would sign out of my account, I'd never come back to it. Hopefully, that will change.

Although I'd rather not get into much detail about it, Monday my family was struck with devastating news. No one is sick and no one passed away, but I feel like it's just as terrible sometimes. I've been feeling anger, resentment, sorrow, guilt, relief, you name it...all at one time. Every time I think I'm coming to grips with it, another emotion is added to that list, sometimes overpowering the others. I'll be praying for strength and wisdom, and ask that you do the same.

Since we moved back to Texas after 7 years, I've been looking forward to going back to the annual festivities we have here in spring. Rodeos and a parade were this weekend, but I didn't make it. Boo me. We still have next weekend though for the major one..I won't miss it. We heard due to the hurricanes that have struck since we've been gone (never did one hit the entire lifetime I lived here before), the state fair has been moved to spring time. So, tomorrow we all plan to go. Can't you just smell the food I'll be enhaling! Mmmmmm :)

Speaking of food, I have GOT to find time to visit the Pickett House. Good home cooking, right there! It amazes me that I am excited to be back in the small town I couldn't wait to get out of. Home is home, what can I say?

We are buying a home that is not quite what we've been living in over the past 7 years. This house is far from updated. It still has that good ole 1970's look to it, but it's solid and will be nice one of these days. If only it would stop giving me fits. So far, we have come across the light above the sink going out, which in all honesty, I thought had caught the house on fire. Yep, all of this county's sherriff's office and fire department was in my yard that day! What a scare that was! Also, somewhere in the walls in one of the bathrooms, there's a leak. A big one. Since that happened while Clayton was gone, it's not been taken care of yet. I just won't let anyone use that bathroom until he can find out the problem. Until then, I'm smelling mildew, which I know, isn't good. Also, the ancient tub faucet handle in one of the other bathrooms stopped doing it's job. We have been red necking it all the way, for about a week now, using pliers to turn on the hot water. Clayton's home now and has a "to do" list on the fridge as of last night. Gotta keep the man busy! I have paint jobs to do on just about everything. I will never understand why anyone ever thought brown paneling walls were pretty. I will tell you this..they are durable. This stuff is 40 years old and flawless...other than its color, that is. I love brown, just not orangy brown with black grooves. It's gotta go!!

I guess I'll post pictures of the house..befores and afters. I will do that as I go along, I think. Maybe that will inspire me to work faster. So far, one cabinet in the kitchen is painted. (this is also on HIS "to do" list)

Guess that's enough for now. I have a million more things to say, but I really never run out of things to talk about.

Until next time....