We've Discovered the Secret of Marriage!

Husband: "Mumble mumble mumble"

Me: "What did you say"

Husband: "Nothing"

Me:  "You said something.  What did you say?"

Husband: "Nothing"

Me:  "Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't say anything."  (Now would be the time to tell you that this conversation took place over the phone)

Husband:  "Okay I'm looking you in the eye and I didn't say anything."

He then told me what he said to which I responded that his response didn't make sense to the question I had asked just prior to the "mumblemumblemumble".


Husband:  "Well I didn't hear your question"

Me:  "That's the third lie you've told me in the last 45 seconds."

Husband:  "Well I won't lie in the next 15 seconds, so I only told 3 lies in a minute.  Where are you?"

Me:  "Still driving home."

Husband:  "I know that.  But where are you now?"

Me:  "On my way home."

Husband:  "Oh you and your secrets."

Me:  "Well you lie and I'm secretive.  I think we've just discovered the secret to marriage."

Please note that this was all said in jest.  Neither Husband nor I think lies and secrets are the key to marriage, but we do think having fun and being silly have something to do with a happy marriage!

My Bed is Calling My Name

I have a confession to make.  Sometimes I like to go to bed super dooper early.  And tonight is looking like one of those nights.

Sure I could cook up the ground turkey in the fridge that we took out of the freezer yesterday.  Or I could put the laundry away that's sitting in dryer.  Or I could pick up the throw pillows up off the floor that Montana has knocked off of every sofa.  Or I could make the bed in the guest bedroom.  Or I could hang the new curtains we bought at Target yesterday.  Or I could put away the Christmas decoration stragglers still lingering around the house (I think that qualifies as a freebee confession). Or, or, or...

But none of those sound better than crawling under the covers, turning the TV on and falling asleep.  And I just squeezed in another confession: when Husband is out of town I have to fall asleep with the TV on.

Goodnight pals.  Sweet Dreams!

Clean Sweep

Once the weather cooled down enough that we were able to do some work outside, we got out butts in gear to clean out the garage.  It had been a little over a year since we had given the garage any TLC and it was in desperate need.  See...

Our first step was to take EVERYTHING out of the garage and put it on the driveway.  We had about seven different people stop to ask us if we were having a garage sale.  Too bad we didn't have a better idea of what we were getting rid of beforehand, or we might have been able to make a buck or two.  But instead we had to break the news that we were just cleaning.

We swept and swept and swept some more.  That's one of the awesome things about living the desert is the massive quantities of dirt that infiltrates our house (please note sarcasm).  We were both pleased with the fact we only two or three scorpions, all of which were dead!  News good enough to make us wanna do a happy dance.  We spent about two hours going through everything in our garage.  What we didn't want was sorted in to two piles: trash and Goodwill.  What we wanted to keep was organized better.  And then it was time to load everything back in the garage.  This was the fun part, because I got to dictate where everything was going to go.  I like playing general!  In the end our garage looked like this...

We were soooooo pleased with the results.  I would like to be able to tell you a month later it still looks this good.  But then I'd be lying.  But in all honesty, it still looks loads better than it did initially.  We're trying to keep it nice, especially since temperatures are rising and it'll be another ten months before we'll be able to bear working in the garage that long again.

December Photo Challenge

Meredith, over at La Buena Vida shared her December Photo Challenge last month and I really wanted to participate.  I figured it would be a good way for me to practice with my new camera.  And it just sounds kinda fun.  But I kinda didn't get it done in December.  Luckily for me, her link party wasn't too strict on deadlines, and you may notice I didn't get all the shots!  Oh well...

The List: 

1.  Water

2. Angel

3. Architectural Detail

4. Shoes

5. Something yellow

6. Your favorite beverage

7. Something taller than you

8. Bokeh with Christmas lights

 9. Bubble

10. Pickle

11. Heirloom

12. Your refrigerator

13. Chocolate

14. Candid

15. Music

16. Produce

17. Key

18. Board Game

19. Candle

20. Fuzzy

P.S.  Meredith's blog is pretty cool and you should totally check it out!!!

The One with the Apothecary Table

Husband and I have (slowly) been working our way through all ten seasons of Friends.  When I told some of my sorority sisters this, one said "Wow!  He must really love you."  Yes he does my friends!  I am a lucky gal!

Anyways, now we're one Season 6.  And we were watching the episode when Rachel buys a piece of a furniture from Pottery Barn.  Monica tells her that Phoebe hates Pottery Barn.  It's a really funny episode that you should definitely watch, but I had to decide that I can no longer be friends with Phoebe Buffay cause she hates Pottery Barn.  And I love Pottery Barn.  Like L-O-V-E Pottery Barn.  Their website provides hours of entertainment and inspiration  for me.  Silly Phoebe...she doesn't know what she's missing.  And now I will go look at their website some more...

Super After Christmas Sale

One of the best times to buy Christmas stuff is after Christmas...duh.  The other day I headed to Hobby Lobby to find some knobs for another project (coming soon).  I decided to take a whirl through the Christmas aisles since everything was 80% off.  And I found the cutest stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And the best part was it was 80% off! 

 

 

 

They were originally $6.99 a piece.  With the 80% off I only paid $1.40 per piece.  How most excellent is that?!  Anyways, they had four different designs: a snowman, a Santa, a Christmas tree, and a reindeer.  I would have happily taken two of each design.  But, they only had one bowl in the reindeer design and no matching plate.  So I decided on two of each design for a set of 6 bowls and 6 plates.  

When I got home I learned that I suck at counting.  I came home with 5 bowls and 5 plates.  So the next day after work I drove to Hobby Lobby to buy one more set.  There were none left!  I can't really blame anyone--they were only $1.40 a piece.  I was totally bummed though.  I drove to another Hobby Lobby to see if they had any left...or luck of all luck, the reindeer plate and bowl specifically.  Thankfully they still had the plates and bowls, but only the reindeer bowl--not the plate.  I was ok with that, but now I had another problem.  I had forgotten which design I was missing back at home.  Did I need another Santa, tree, or snowman?  Solution?  Buy one set of each design and return the others when I figured it out.  Done.

On my way home I was talking to my mom and telling her about these dishes.  Okay, it's fair to say I was completely obsessed and talked about them all week.  It's a good thing my mom and Husband love me as much as they do!!!  And let's not tell Husband that I spent two hours driving from work to Hobby Lobby to another Hobby Lobby and back home.  Mom offered to go to her local Hobby Lobby the next morning to see if she could get me the reindeer set.  When I got home I emailed her pictures, so she knew exactly what I was looking for.  The next afternoon she called me to tell me she had success!!  Excellent!

A couple days later I returned the three extras I bought.  The same dishes that I spent two hours getting in the first place.  But we won't worry about that.  I have six sets of bowls and plates and only spent $16.80 for them--gas, mileage, and tax not included.

Our January Challenge

I found this challenge to get rid of 111 things in 1/11.  Husband and I are pretty good about not keeping things around the house that we don't need/use.  We probably drop a load of stuff at Goodwill every 4-6 weeks.  But we both loved the idea of this challenge, especially as a way to start fresh for the New Year.  Here is our progress so far (sorry I didn't take many pictures):

1. Staples beanie
2. Black & Red hat
3. Black Staples hat
4. Navy Staples hat
5. Old Navy t-shirt
6. Yellow shirt
7. Green shirt
8. Gray stripe shirt
9. Baylor sweatshirt
10. AE t-shirt
11. Yellow polo
12. Red flower shirt
13. Black t-shirt
14. Charlie sheen shirt
15. Localmotion shirt
16. Pirate shirt
17. Blue long sleeve
18. San Diego shirt
19. Irish t-shirt
20. Black long sleeve
21. Red t-shirt
22. Pink & red sweater
23. Pink flower shirt
24. Black linen pants
25. Black t-shirt
26. Jeans
27. Jeans
28. Advent calendar
29. Christmas salt & pepper shakers
30. Digital photo ornament
31. Santa hat
32. Santa hat
33. Santa sign
34. 9 x 13 pan
35. blue sports jacket
36. SF 49ers jacket
37. Black gloves
38. Trivial Pursuit 20th edition
39. Trivial Pursuit Jr. edition
40. Valet
41. Shot glass
42. Pillow
43. Pillow
44. Stuffed bear
45. Stuffed bear
46. Gap jeans
47. Bunny
48. Neck pillow
49. Stuffed dog
50. Egg
51. Nutcracker bear
52. Green dino
53. Stuffed platypus
54. Elephant
55. Pound Puppy
56. Stuffed animal
57. Stuffed bunny
58. Stuffed leopard
59. Stuffed bunny
60. Stuffed animal
61. Pound puppy
62. Stuffed mouse
63. Pillow
64. Brown tank top
65. Whisk
66. Spiral whisk
67. Potato masher
68. Whisk
69. Photo Bookends
70. Ear buds
71. Camera case
72. Cybershot camera
73. Laser pointer
74. AC adapter
75. Pink pillow case
76. Pink pillow case

  And funny story about the photo bookends.  Husband and I received those as a wedding gift from some of his parent's friends.  When we opened them there were pictures of the couple and their children.  I've always wondered if they gave them to us knowing that their pictures were in there.  Or if they received them as a gift from someone who put the pictures in there and we were the re-gift recipients.  Either way, I think it's super weird that we got them with their pictures--especially since neither of us know them that well.  Re-gifting can be so dangerous...

Linking to:

Words on Wendhurst

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's About Stinkin Time

Do you remember our Summer project?  It was doing a budget makeover on our bathroom.  We started on Memorial Day Weekend with replacing the vanity lights and painting.  We continued through the summer with other projects (found here and here).  In September we tackled the cabinets.  This was easily the most drastic change in our bathroom.

And now, after months and months of waiting, it's finally time to show the whole bathroom.  How excited are you?

 

 

It's been about four months since we finished and I still love it.  But, I think we'll switch out the window treatments someday...maybe Roman blinds?

Linking to Centsational Girl

Playing Catch Up

Last year Husband and I did a few projects that never got posted, due to my lack of posting.  Oops.  So I'll have a few posts from 2010 scattered with projects from this year.

Husband has a chest that once belonged to his late uncle.  He used it as a TV stand.  I had no qualms with the chest itself, but it didn't work as a TV stand.  It was too low and had no where near the storage we need.  So a few months ago, we purchased a new TV stand with lots of storage, and moved the chest into our bedroom.  And we gave the old chest some much needed love.

 

Here it is.  In desperate need of some TLC.

 

This is  what it looked like after we took out the drawers, sanded it down, and wiped it down.  We had to fill the holes from the old handles with wood putty.  I'm lacking photos on the process, sorry.

This was the next step: staining.  I didn't follow the directions.  I put the stain on and then we waited till it was dry enough to put another coat on.  It came out super dark, but I think it's beautiful.  Next, using spare wood, foam purchased with a 40% off coupon from Hobby Lobby, and other left over supplies from our headboard (including the fabric) we made a cushion to fit on the top of the chest to turn it into a bench.  We made the cushion the exact same way as our headboard last year.

 

And here is the final product.  Kinda.  I have drawer handles sitting on a shelf in the garage.  We have yet to put them on. 

The chest now sits in our bedroom in front of our window.  But it may not stay there--I'm trying to convince Husband that we should rearrange our room.  Stay tuned...and maybe soon I'll get those handles on.  (And yes, I know you aren't technically supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but this is my blog...and Mom, you're not supposed to be grading this!)





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The Twenty-Eleven To-Do List

With the start of the New Year, I am thinking about all the things that I want to get done on the house.  And it...um...ambitious.  It definitely won't all get done this year.  But here it is:

Living Room

• new flooring
• stain tower shelves to match TV stand
• paint walls
• replace one love seat with two arm chairs
• replace horizontal blinds with curtains

Dining Room

• new flooring
• replace chairs
• new light fixture
• buy a buffet table
• buy large mirror to go above buffet table
• paint walls

Master Bathroom

• new window treatments
• buy extra towels (tan)

Master Bedroom

• new flooring
• hang the bedside lights we bought ages ago
• find art to hang about our bed
• buy a few new throw pillows
• paint walls

Guest Bedroom

•  replace desk with dresser
• new flooring
• buy a mirror

Guest Bathroom

• make a frame for the mirror
• paint the cabinets
• add drawer handles
• buy extra towels (gray)

 Craft Room

• buy/build a new desk 
• new flooring
• more storage
• organize (this is a major one, since this room tends to look more like a junk room than a craft room)

Garage

• epoxy floor

Backyard

• xeroscape the backyard
• fix up patio for Spring and Fall living

Oh geez!  This makes me tired just looking at it!  Stay tuned to see our progress on all these projects.

My 2011 Goals

The goals I set for last year, well, let's just say...I sucked at them.  I made a list of 20 books that I was going to read.  Well I didn't finish all of them.  I also planned on running the Disney Half Marathon.  Yup, that didn't happen either.  So, here are my two goals for 2011.  Hopefully I'll have more luck this year!

1)  Finish my 2010 list.  I'm about half way through, so it shouldn't be too hard.

2)  Read the Bible--cover to cover.  I have a Bible in 365 days book that I'll be using.  Please pray for me on this one.  It's challenging, but totally worth it!

What about you?  Do you have any goals set for 2011?  Were you more successful in your 2010 goals or resolutions than I was?  I hope so ;-)

Happy New Year's

I hope you are all enjoying a safe and happy New Year.  May God bless you and your families in 2011