Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Still alive...and well-ish

I have been lax about this blogging thing lately.  I'd like to chalk it up to being terribly busy trying new Pinterest things, busily crafting away, or being sooooo busy at work, but none of the above are true.

I have been sick, if that counts for anything.  I think it should.  I had my birthday on Friday, and it was a great day!  I, of course, am a huge fan of the Birthday Month.  It has been a good one!

At the beginning of the month, Mom and Dad got me my very first "i" product!  They got me an iPad!!  Love it!!!!  It was between that and a laptop, but I think the iPad is a much better fit for our family.  Then the Monday before my birthday, Fish and Husband were overly excited about me opening my birthday present. I told them I had to wait because it wasn't my birthday yet.  They begged me to open it early...so I did.  It was nicely wrapped with camo paper...of course.  It was also wrapped like one of those Russian nesting dolls.  As I got to the smaller packages, I got a little more excited.  Nice things often come in small packages.  I didn't get too excited though until I saw the little white box.  Here's what was inside:


Instant love!!!  I jumped up and down in the kitchen for at least 17 minutes, hugging both of them an absurd number of times.  I had originally wanted the diamond band for our anniversary, but things just sort of got away from us in August, as they always seem to do.  I had put this on my wish list on Overstock.com and had completely forgotten about it.  Luckily, my little Fishie had not.  :)

So, then it was birthday dinner Wednesday night at Tokyo Steakhouse, which is my favorite teppan yaki restaurant.  Birthday month, shaping up nicely!  Friday was the actual day and I had to work.  The kids made my day pretty special with gifts and cards.  Kids just LOVE to make cards.  My staff party was that night, and we went to that.  It was a fun time and my friend arranged a Red Velvet cake for me.  How could my month get any better?  Well...

Saturday was supposed to be a day filled with the Jingle Bell 5K Run and another holiday party with friends. It didn't strat out so well.  I woke up Saturday morning feeling like I was 129 years old!  I had obviously pulled something in my back and was completely unable to get out of bed.  REALLY??????  What gives??  Husband and his little brother were out duck hunting, with little success.  I managed to crawl (literally) out of bed, take one of Husband's pain pills and sit quietly on the couch.  I let my friend know I wasn't going to be able to run...boo.  When the hunters got home, I ate some food, took another pain pill, and took a nap.  After waking up a few hours later, my back pain was much better, but the stomach cramps were setting in.  WTH???!!!  After a few hours of those, Husband and brother-in-law left to go to the other party and I had a close relationship with the toilet.  It was awful...my back muscles hurting from who knows what and my stomach muscles hurting from all the throwing up.  Finally, I gave up on Saturday, and went to bed.  I slept what felt like a million hours and felt a little better Sunday.  In-laws wanted to take me out to breakfast, and I, being the fat kid that I am, said, sure, why not??!!  Breakfast went down nicely, stayed put, and the rest of the day was spent lounging and recuperating.

Determined to have a better day Monday, I went to bed early again, only to wake up early Monday morning with a sore throat!  Good grief Charlie Brown!!!!   Is this a test of some sort?  If so, not liking it at all.  Also, if this is getting old, I'm out!  This sucks!  Yesterday, I powered through the school day with sore throat, chills, fever, and congestion.  Husband and I went to the store last night to get dinner makings, and I purchased a bottle of that vile Nyquil cherry stuff.  I should write a strongly worded letter to that company regarding their interpretation of "cherry flavored".  Never in my life, have I encountered a cherry that tastes as nasty as that stuff.  However, taste buds aside, I consumed the recommended dose and slept like cray last night.  Woke up today feeling much better, with hopes that all the sickness will be leaving my body shortly.  After all, vacation starts at 4 pm-ish tomorrow!!  No time to be sick!  That being said, time to get to work at work and get things in order for the new year.  Don't want to come in Monday, January 7th, and wonder what the heck I'll be doing that week.  :)  


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Project-ville

So, Husband went duck hunting all weekend, which meant that I had project time!!!!!!  I made a ridiculously long list to accomplish, but didn't get even halfway through.  No worries though.  I got enough done to make me happy!

My first and foremost concern was to get the spare room all prettied up and decorated.  I had plans to paint the walls and to hang decorations, etc.  Ha ha ha!!  That didn't even come close to fruition!  Instead, I got distracted by a room I am in more than not.  The living room walls were screaming for some love and a makeover!  The decor in there looked like my first apartment.  Hurriedly thrown together and not well organized.

First, was the fireplace wall.  I hate that wall.  The main offender of that wall is the brick fireplace.  Why, oh why, did someone think it was a good idea to paint it the same color as the walls???  I hate that.  It wasn't even done well.  Oh well, that's not a project I want to tackle, so I did what I could.  Those candle sconces have followed me throughout my bleak decorating life and it is time they find their way to Goodwill.  I wasn't sure where I was going to go with the decorating, but I did have a can of "oil rubbed bronze" spray paint.  My solution for all things boring.  Spray paint!!  I had purchased an ugly faux gold leaf oval mirror at a yard sale for $2.00.  Spray paint, engage!  So here is the before photo of that wall:


Before...

...and after.

Since painting really wasn't an option, I decided to move some things around.  The mirror got a coat of bronze, the "H" I made got redesigned and placed above the fireplace, and the photos on the right got merged with the smaller frames that were lost on another wall.

Next wall was the sliver of wall separating the kitchen entry and the dining (no one has EVER dined in there) room.  

Our labbie wall.

I also redid the wall to the right of the couch.  I don't have a before picture, since most of that wall is window.  Oh, now as I check, I didn't even take a picture of the finished wall either.  Suffice it to say, it looks way better than it did before.  The entry area/ dining area was a bit of a mish mash of decorating thought.  After finding a super cute piece of Americana with matching frames for a whopping $1.50 at a yard sale, I decided to make this area an America area.  Pictures below:

Yeah, I really had only those two tiny candle sconces on that big wall.

The wall still looks big, but these are much cuter!
I decided that we need to have some photos of family up on the walls as well, and less of them on tables.  They are dust catchers there and I don't dust much.  Mostly because I hate to move the picture frames!  I took all the empty frames I could find (I have a lot!) and started getting pictures to fill them.  I managed to find a ton of good photos that aren't doing too much good in drawers and closets.  My plan was to hang them, but I didn't get around to it yet.  Maybe this weekend, but I think I might have house guests.  

Not sure what the upcoming weekend will bring, but if we have guests, I might resort to another round of testing Pins from Pinterest!  










Tuesday, December 4, 2012

iPadius Glorious!

Happy early birthmas to me!!! My parents got me an iPad for aforementioned event.  I love it!!!!  Did I mention I love it?  I do.  I just love it!!  It's my first "i" product and I love it.

This weekend was busy, but fun in some ways.  I did another Holiday Boutique Saturday.  This one benefited the Clovis East Band and Color Guard.  I made a metric f-ton of headbands and sold quite a few.  Not as many as the last boutique I did.  I think the location had something to do with it.  After the boutique, I did a little household shopping.  I saw something onPinterest (shocking, I know!) and want to try it.  It's a floor cleaning recipe that uses Arm & Hammer Washing Soda.  Honestly, I had never heard of the stuff, but I found it at Walmart!  I'm going to give it a try this week.  According to Pinterest, it's the "BEST"!! We'll see...

Hung out Saturday night with Husband and good friends after Husband's rugby game.  It was the annual Over/Under game.  This year Husband chose to play for the overs and they won!  Yay!  Bigger yay?  Husband came home injury free!  :)

Sunday was a day of Christmas shopping.  More like attempted Christmas shopping.  I remember why I prefer to shop online.  Other than the fact that we couldn't get everything we set out to find, the day was fun. I got to spend time with my Fishie.

Looking forward to next weekend.  Husband is going to go duck hunting for the weekend, which equals PROJECT TIME for me!!!  On deck?  Spare bedroom, headboard for our room, and  a couple of Pinterest cleaning projects!

Did I mention I love my new iPad????