I can think of another project we can do to further procrastinate the bathroom remodel

Let's see, January 1 will be one year that our master bathroom has been partially gutted. It's so sad.

Today we made some slight progress. Stephen took out the old vent! Woo hoo!

Anyway, in accordance with avoiding the huge undertaking of a bathroom remodel; we did two other rather large projects instead. I know right... It doesn't make sense to me either.

We built two 3'x9' raised garden beds and put in a garden path around it in the spring. All summer we tried to keep our awesome veggie garden alive to no avail. We did however reap in the bounty of our basil. Seriously it was like a bush.

Then this fall we decided to take down our shed. If I hadn't lost our camera I would have a true picture of the before. But since I did, you'll just have to imagine a seriously dilapidated, vine covered, dirty, rotten shed. It's been there for many, many years and obviously was not taken care of. It was on a 10'x12' piece of concrete slab that was 3" thick! We debated leaving it there and putting a new shed on top but we decided it too had to go. It was really messing up our water shed and creating muddy puddles on each end.

Stephen rented a jackhammer and went to town! But first, he went to YouTube and watched people using a jackhammer so he could see what he was getting into! He's going to hate me for saying that on the interweb. Oh well.

So there you have it. Two bigs ways we procrastinated on our remodel. But if you think about it, these other projects had to be done first because of the good weather and stuff. But really, the bathroom remodel is next!!!!!

Pathetic

Don't worry I'm not sick. I just wanted to share the most pathetic picture I have of me being sick. This was in July when I actually missed work for 2 days because of a fever of 103 and a really, really sore throat. I had a severe viral infection and was so miserable I actually cried.

Anyway, Stephen took the picture because he thought it was funny.

Pinterest challenge

I was looking for something cheap, easy, and a little fun to add to my nonexistent fall/Halloween decor. It's funny, Fall is my favorite season and I don't decorate for it at all. Oh well.

Anyway, I pinned this a long time ago, probably August, and thought "I am so doing that". So, I saved my milk jugs and pretty much copied it exactly because I'm not that entirely crafty to come up with my own version.

I set it up the weekend before Halloween and was giddy with excitement!!!! I couldn't wait for it to get dark enough to see my little ghosts light up!

Skinny jeans

I'm posting about my skinny jeans because I really didn't think I could pull the look off. I posted a lot of inspiration outfits on Pinterest with skinny jeans and tall boots trying to convince myself that I could make the look work for me too.

Well one day, I just decided to bite the bullet and go shopping. I didn't allow anyone to come with me to shop for the skinny jeans because i knew it would be boring and frustrating for them. As it was I went to 5 stores, grabbed a bunch of jeans at each one and tried them all on. It took me 5 hours before I found two pairs that would work, and ultimately 1 pair from New York and Company won me over.

The jeans are more like leggings because they are pretty stretchy, but from the outside they look like denim.

The first day I wore this outfit, I felt really out of my comfort zone because it's not something I would normally wear. But I'm used to it now and don't feel so out of place, just a little bit "country".

The boots are from Jcpenny and are the brand Olsenboye. The jeggings are from New York and Company. Both tops are from Jcpenny.

*Sorry for the grainy pictures...they were taken with the iphone.

Thanksgiving 2011

I'm so glad we were able to travel to Ohio for Thanksgiving this year! It was super fun. And even the 14 hour drive there in one day and the 14 hour drive back in one day was not all that bad. We all ran in a 5k on Thanksgiving morning. Even William ran 1.7 miles and crossed the finish line with his Aunt Megan.

We played Frisbee golf, soccer, football, and hosted a race around the block.

We went bowling where Stephen won by a long shot and Molly happily got passed around and clapped for the bowlers.

The boys made a Christmas chocolate beer which will be ready for ski time!
And we played a fair amount of Just Dance (which is kind of hard), Mario Kart, and Dr. Mario. This picture is great because Dominic discovered that he was about to come in first place after a close race!
Liesel made a fabulous Thanksgiving breakfast and dinner and crockpot soup. We found some awesome deals at T.J. Maxx, and we learned an awesome new card game called Scum and played it for many hours. All in all, it was a great time had by all and we're so glad we could come visit!

For all the other pictures....click on the link to the right! Videos will have to wait for another day.

Gobble gobble

A few weeks ago we went on our annual turkey hunting trip with my family. We had a great turnout with 15 people there!

Eric got an 18lb bird. The biggest bird I think anyone has caught in the whole 23 years they have been going.

Both Eric and Brian slept outside one night in the bed of a pickup truck which I thought was crazy. Apparently they slept well so that's all that matters.

I think our group picture turned out fabulous, and even though we are all holding guns and dressed in camo, it is frame worthy and deserves a spot on my living room shelves.It was pretty fun this year. I even ventured out hunting on my own and didn't get lost! I'm glad that I've gone twice to experience the adventure and hang with my Grandpa, but I know that it is truly a male bonding weekend. That said, perhaps next year I'll let the boys do their thang and I'll hang with the girls. In the end, everyone got a bird except for me, Stephen and Dad. Bummer luck!

October Date

Yay for pumpkin patches and corn mazes! Stephen and I went to the Milkes family farm in Shawnee last Saturday for our date. It was a modest little farm, and just perfect for the two of us.

It was a bit hot for October, 82! So the first thing we did when we arrived was have fresh homemade lemonade! It was delicious! While we drank our lemonade we wandered through the corn maze answering trivia questions to help us either make the right turn or the left turn. I think we got quite a few wrong!

When we finally made It out of there, we played a quick game of checkers before heading to pick our very own pumpkins off the vine. We chose two medium sized pumpkins and one small one. It was so cute and perfectly round. We did find some really, really big ones too but they were still really green.

I would go again. And who says you can only go to things like this with kids... People at my office do. But I think people of any age can go. We certainly had a blast!

I do have a few pictures, but I'm doing this on my new iPad blogger app so I can't upload the pictures right now.

Monthly Dates

I wish I had a more clever name for it. But I don't. That's exactly what they are....monthly dates. In July I decided that Stephen and I don't go on enough actual dates and do new things. I mean sure, we occasionally go to taco bell, catch a movie, but really, we just don't go on bonofide dates. So we, but more like me, decided that every other month one of us would plan the date. I had August, he had September, now I have October and so on. The rule in the beginning was that we wouldn't tell the other person what we were planning for our month because I didn't want the other person to think.."well, I don't really want to do that" or "Serioulsy, that's what you have planned?". So far it was worked. Kind of. Sure, we haven't changed our date ideas, but we have had to tell each other what we are doing for scheduling purposes and stuff. Oh well...we're only on month 3!

The other point is that there was no monetary value attached to the dates. But, the goal was to keep it fairly frugal.

August:

We went to Grand Lake with some friends. I hadn't planned on this being our date, but after the fact we did declare it our August date since we had never really been to the lake and just relaxed together. It was loads of fun and I think Stephen and I rode the jetski the most out of anyone.

September:

Stephen planned a camping trip at Lake Eucha near Pryor, OK. This one area of our state was not in a burn ban so we could actually build a small campfire. We had our little trip the weekend after our 4 year wedding anniversary. The weather was perfect; barely breezy and warm. The relaxing weekend was just what both of us needed. We did absolutely nothing and I didn't think about a single chore that had to be done at home. We cooked hotdogs by the fire, and had a delicious hobo dinner with smores. And we even made donuts for breakfast! We had a beautiful spot picked out right under a big tree with a great view of the lake. On saturday, we laid out on our big quilt and listened to Cowboy football, I took a nap and we played cards. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

October:

This month I only had two weekends to choose from. The 1st and the 22nd. I had already panned we were going to a pumpkin patch and corn maze! We have our date today so I'll have to fill you in later about this date!

@#$&(Q#%&@!@#

This is in response...or follow up... to the first point of my last post.

Just to my suspicion, caterpillars definitely ate every last bit of my four tomato plants.

Let's count them shall we....

And as you can clearly see, my tomato plants are devoured, no longer, dead, ugh. And there were actually NINE caterpillars on the plants.

Obviously, these darn tomato killers are easier to see when there are no leaves to hide them.

I am so mad.

But have no fear...they are currently having seizures and writhing in pain in my trashcan because I sprayed super awesome caterkiller on them.

TAKE THAT!!!!!!!

(Stephen thinks I'm evil now)

Nuttin Honey

There is not a whole lot going on lately. So here's just some things that are on my mind that don't really warrant a post all to themselves.

- Some bug, probably a caterpillar, is now eating the leaves of my tomatoes. This makes me mad even though they are not producing fruit. The haven't died yet because of the heat, so I was hoping that once it cooled down they would start making fruit. Now, I'm not so sure.

- I really enjoyed getting to spend time at places with bodies of water this summer and get some color on my skin. I'm really sad the pool is closing this weekend and I won't have the chance to get one last bit of color before I become pasty white for the winter.

- I really, really, really, really want a maid service to come to my house and do a deep clean. I'm going to admit that I have not cleaned my blinds or window sills EVER since I've lived here. That's coming up on 3 years.

- I'm really excited to be going to this wedding in two weeks because I'll get to wear this pretty new dress.

- I'm really impressed at the last lab nurse who took my blood. She had to take 5 viles for testing and I didn't bruise. Woo Hoo!

- We really need to get cracking on our bathroom remodel. First, we have to find our motivation that we lost awhile back. Ugh...it's just a daunting yet rewarding project to deal with.

- Lastly, I'm looking forward to some family visits coming up. Inlaws in Tulsa in September, nephews and niece here in OK in October, grandparents and other family in NE in October, maybe some aunts and uncles in OK in November, and more immediate family in January for our skiing vacation!

Obsessed with Pinterest or Pin Interest as I say it.

I have become addicted to yet another time waster. However, this one can actually bring some ideas to fruition. Like...find new recipes and actually make them! Cool DIY crafts that I could actually do! And all these awesome ideas all in one place! Genius!

I like to think that I'm crafty and have the motivation to make stuff.....but I don't. So I haven't made anything on my crafty or diy board...yet.

But, a girl and her hubby have to eat! So I have made a few meals and desserts from the vast inspiration that is the internet and I shall share my brief review of them for you.

recipe found here

These cookies were the bomb dot com! The recipe called for 1/4 of sour cream which I thought was a bit weird, but I'm convinced it was the secret ingredient. I made my cookies a bit small so the double recipe probably made like 70 cookies. Honestly, this is the best recipe ever for the best most chewy cookie!

this hardly require a recipe...but you can find it here

I really like fruit smoothies and honestly, I can't believe I didn't think this up myself a long time ago. I have 9 bags of pre-made single serve smoothies ready to go in the freezer. Mine include some strawberries, blueberries and banana and some original yogurt. I decided not to get vanilla flavor just because I didn't want it to mix weird with the fruit. I had one of the concoctions on Sunday and it was awesome! All fresh and cheap!

recipe found here

I have made these black bean enchiladas twice. They are mighty tasty and mighty easy! Mix, roll and bake for 30 minutes, and still have plenty for leftovers! We decided the first time I made them it was a definite recipe to be kept in the rotation forever!

recipe found here

Greek salads are pretty easy, and I already like them, so this was a no brainer for me. Although $5 for kalamata olives is ridiculous so I nixed that from the recipe in about 2 seconds. Also, opening a whole can off chickpeas just to have a few on a salad was also not my idea of frugal. So basically this gourmet looking salad pretty much whittled down to lettuce, tomato, feta cheese and a light balsamic and oil dressing for me. Hey, it's still pretty good.

recipe found here

And lastly, we have these cute pizza bites. The one batch didn't make a whole lot, but that's alright I wasn't hosting a party or anything. I did have to go buy a muffin pan for this, but that's why I have a BB & B coupon so I didn't feel too guilty. These were tasty, but nothing too special. Good for finger food at a party, or a light snack/dinner.

If you want to see more of my boards or get on the Pinterest bandwagon...go here

Pricked

I had to have some blood drawn on Saturday to get my Collective Blood Count. I was really sick with a severe viral infection. They needed to see what my white and red blood count was. This is actually the third time I've been pricked in about 2 months, and this is the worst bruise of them all! Either that nurse was terrible or I'm just really prone to bruises! Either way, this is super gross to look at, so now I'm going to share it all with you!

#13 - Visit the beach.

Well lookie there! I didn't even realize that our trip to Georgia last month resulted in checking something off my life list.

YAY!!

Now seriously....when can we go again?

Fun with Sparklers!

We went to a friends house Saturday night for a cookout and some fireworks fun!

We splurged on getting 12 BIG fireworks and it was so worth it!!! We also had the cops called on us because we were disturbing the neighbors. Apparently they didn't enjoy shooting fireworks after midnight as much as we did. The visit took us all by surprise, because I don't think any of us knew what time it was. Oh, well we didn't even have any more to shoot off after he left so it was just as good.

We also got some BIG sparklers and spelled things out with them. It turned us all into giddy 6 year olds.

Swimming!

We took our Whiz Kids to my parents neighborhood pool last Saturday. They didn't know how to swim, but they sure learned fast!

We ate lunch at McDonalds, then swam for 3 hours. Those kids were plum tuckered out!

From my garden

Man, I feel so proud of my amateur gardening skills when I go outside and pick veggies for dinner.

Right now, we have an abundance of lettuce. We're trying to eat a lot of salads because I don't want it to get all wilty and bad and then us not be able to eat it. Because that would totally defeat the purpose of growing it!

This is what we have had to eat so far with our lettuce...

Taco Salad with black bean corn salsa

Greek Salad. Just for me, Stephen doesn't like the feta or the dressing.

Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad

Yeah for Vacation!

Ok so we went to Savannah, Georgia a few weeks ago for a family reunion. It was delightful!

We rented a big beach house for our family just 200 yards from the beach. Glorious!

We chatted and ate breakfast out the enclosed porch!

We looked real cool taking the trolley tour!

We caught some major waves!

Will liked to scream at the waves!
We went the always fun baseball game and played Mound Ball!

We hung out and played in the sand!

We hung out with our big crazy family!

We had a super fabulous dinner and spent some time together!

Dom played in the waves and I tried to hold on to him so they wouldn't take him under!

Molly napped.
We played Sheephead!
We buried Will...but I don't think he liked it that much.

What an awesome vacation...when's the next one?