Christmas Gift

Stephen got me this great console table to put in our entryway. I have been looking for just the perfect one for like 2 years. I totally love it, as now my entryway feels complete.

Of course, every table needs some decor on it. I already had the vases which now have a home while they aren't on the mantle during Christmas. The green and white basket is from Longaberger (a Christmas gift). The wooden box is from my grandparents and this is the perfect place to showcase it. The frame I already had in a another room with a picture from our African Safari.

What's in my closet.

Hoodie: New York and Company

Shirt: Target

Skirt: Target

Leggings: Target

Shoes: None

Clean Slate

I've mentioned it before, but I'm obsessed with blogging. Not really writing my own, but following others. I don't think I have the creative writing skills, nor that exciting of a life to post something about every day. I mostly like to follow DIY blogs, home decorating or crafty blogs. It gives me such great ideas that I can store in my brain as something I'd like to do for my house someday. A lot of the crafty ones I look at from time to time are a little to0 "country" or just make me think "okay, seriously,why would I take all that time to get those supplies and

then make that." But such was not the case when I decided I wanted to make a desk out of a door.

Surprisingly, I don't think my idea even came from a blog, but it could have. I just finally decided that I had had enough of our corner desk. I wanted a custom look, something that was not too big and had plenty of work surface space.

To get some ideas of what others had done and what mine could look like I started looking at blogs and google images. I first found this one on the younghouselove facebook page.

I was like “yes, perfect”. Although, the legs weren’t doing it for me. I wanted mine to be a bit more streamlined like the one younghouselove had actually done for their house (seen here).

After some more looking around I decided that I wanted a door, probably stained, some straight legs and possibly a shelf or two to accommodate the shelves I was losing by not having the corner desk anymore (which had shelves, or levels really).

First step, I knew I could find a cheap door at the Habitat Renovation Station downtown. Just like I thought, I had more than enough to choose from . We ended up picking a 36” by 80” hollow unfinished door. Since at that point I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to stain it or paint it. The large door also gave us the ability to make our own custom size.

We decided to make our a desk 27” by 72”. That also enabled the 9” excess to be our shelves.

In the beginning, I thought making this desk was going to be really easy and take no time at all. I was wrong. It was pretty easy, but it took forever.

First, after we cut the door to size, we had to cut away the cardboard filler, insert some 1x2‘s so we could have something to screw the legs into, fill in the sides with 1x1's, let everything dry, then give everything a good light sanding. We also had to fill in the edges of the shelves. Then we had to stain everything and apply three layers of polyurethane.

In the end, after taking an afternoon to put it together. I am totally in love with my new desk.

I really like Shout and my washer

Yesterday I spilled one drop of polyurethane on my "good" jeans. Or should I say the only pair of jeans I'm wearing these days. I've tried to find them again and buy some more, but I don't remember where I bought them exactly. Could be JCP or Macy's.

Anyway. I was devastated. I thought I had ruined them. But because I'm cheap and crazy, I was down to keep wearing them despite the really obvious spot if it didn't come out.

I quickly applied some Shout and put them in the wash on the "stain wash" cycle. 2 hours and 45 minutes later I think the spot was gone. But I couldn't really tell because now my jeans were wet and dark, same as the spot. I let them dry overnight because I was really afraid of heating them to dry and therefore setting in the stain.

To my amazement, my jeans turned out just fine. YEA!!!!!

Gobble Gobble

Last week I went turkey hunting with my Dad, Brian, Grandpa, Uncle Jack, Paul, Stephen (not mine) and Rich.

The weather was perfect. The veterans noted that this was probably the nicest weather they had ever had in all of the years they had been hunting.

That would be 21 years. My Grandpa has been to every spring and fall hunt. Dedication. He just loves being there. And I find that really heart warming.

I'm only the 2nd girl to be allowed in camp to actually hunt. I feel like a part of the cool kids club. It was fun to go because now I can actually visualize the place when the men talk about it.

I was "voted" allowed to return to camp if I wanted to. We'll see. I like the idea of it being a guys weekend. I have to say though, it was so nice to be out in the middle of the rolling hills looking for turkeys because I never once thought about my list of things to do and worry about back home.

So here's the turkey I shot. Dad heard it clucking in the trees, and of course, I didn't hear anything. I turned around and Dad was like "okay Megan, it's right there, aim and shoot!" After a bit of fumbling with the safety and aiming just right, I shot it. And then I shot it again. Dad went and got it out of the bush and said that it might be full of lead because I was only 20 yards away.

Hahaha, and notice that I'm not actually touching the turkey.

Dad laughed at me for that.

But I was like "that's gross Dad."

Anyway, we took it back to camp and Dad cleaned it up for me because again...that's gross.

We found no bb's (how do you spell that?) in the breasts so I must have shot it in the head!

Go me! Yeah for aiming high!

Anyway it was good trip and I'm glad I got to visit my family.

Gobble Gobble

Today I'm going to go do something I've never ever done before in my whole life.

Go Turkey Hunting.

It should be awesome to spend some time out with the guys and out in the wide open plains of Nebraska.

Bad Picture Day

Just to be funny. Here's a picture of Stephen that I took a few weeks ago. It's intentionally bad.

And here is one of me just to be fair.

Please do share your crazy pictures with me!

Impatient

Spring time came...And the summer warmth let them grow...They love the shade...More than you'll ever know!! Little did I know that my impatiens would love this shady spot of my house this much!!! They are so huge you can't even see the two hostas and three coral bells that are hiding below the beautiful mounds. Man, if only these flowers could last forever and bring cheer and color to the coming winter drear. And in case you were wondering, each mound is only ONE plant.

Here's a look at my garden so far. It is still in the early stages of growth, but I'm excited to do some more experimenting as it all comes together!!

Garden Path

Here is the before picture...at least of the massive crepe myrtle. Half way through our path project, we decided it would be a good idea to take it out. It had grown way too big and had at least twenty trunks.

Here is where we laid out the rocks, taken from our backyard garden. It's like a big puzzle to find out which ones are going to fit just right. Luckily, we did have one triangle shaped rock to finish out the curve.

In the end, we now have the perfect little path to access the hose without getting all muddy. And the brand new Siren Red crepe myrtle will finish off the look. We still like the look of a crepe myrtle but we bought one that will only get about 7-8 feet tall.

If we prune it correctly, it should turn out looking like this...

Not this...

Finally

12x12 inch shadow box frames from Walmart - $30

200 used wine corks from California (ebay) - $22

82 wine corks from my Mom - Free

Finallly finishing the art project for my kitchen- Priceless

I vow to...

...sweep and vacuum my house at least once a week.

Why you might ask....

If do that much...maybe I won't find 5 tiny spiders, 2 dead roly-polies and a beetle like I did yesterday while sweeping.

Gross.

In better news...Stephen completely dusted the living room and rearranged the pictures and stuff on our built in shelves. They look awesome.

Not Feeling It

Please don't hate me. I just haven't felt like blogging lately. I blog in spurts...that's just how I roll.

A Different Kind of Paradise

The Simbavati River Lodge. We arrived at our lodge and were greeted by a young man giving us fruit cocktails and warm hand towels. This was our room.

Each morning, Desmond knocks on your door at 5:30am. By 6, you're having coffee or tea in the open dining area and by 6:15 you load yourself into the jeep for a morning game drive. When you get back around 10am, breakfast is being served. Homemade omelets, potatoes, bacon, cerel, fruit. Oh yeah, and when you return to your room for a nap...your bed has been made, the curtains opened, and your room tidied. The afternoonis on your own to sit at the viewing deck, your porch, play cards or sleep.

2:45pm...a light lunch is served and at 3:15 you head out for your evening game drive. But don't forget your drink order for the sunset break. Wine was my choice...because I'm on a safari...why not. When you return at 7:30, the best surprise awaits you. Your bed has been turned and the heated blanket has been turned on. It was AW

ESOME!!!!!

They fed us like kings and queens with all fresh foods and authentic South African cuisine.

The second we pulled up to the lodge, we noticed how quiet it was. So peaceful and utterly amazing. Every view was gorgeous. We were constantly amazed by the fact that we were actually in Africa and actually on a safari.

Stay tuned for some interesting Safari stories!

I'll keep your car safe.

I can't tell you how many times we heard this phrase while in South Africa. Almost every time we parked our car a man in a yellow traffic vest (no doubt stolen or found somewhere) would run over to us and tell us over and over that he'd "keep our car safe", "no scratches", "I'll keep an eye on it for you."

At first we didn't know how to react or respond, but after a few times we just went along with it and then gave the man like 40 cents.

Also...here are some of the awesome and crazy things we encountered.

- The guy who helps you parallel park.

- The guy who then helps you get out of said parallel spot and not run into traffic.

- The men who try to wash your window shield at an intersection with soapy water in a 2 liter bottle.

- The men who walk in between the lanes selling SA car flags...on the interstate!

- The homeless who will walk along side you and tell you to root for Bafana Bafana and have fun at the World Cup.

- KFC is really popular.

- When you order a coke...you get a 300ml coke can. Which is heavier than in the US.

Scavenger Hunt to the USA vs AUS game

We arrived at our hotel in Johannesburg at 8:30 am on June 5th. Our soccer game was at 2:30pm that same day.

We were still pretty jetlagged and all I wanted to do

was take a shower and take a long nap. Instead we got settled in, cleaned up and at 11:30 decided to get some lunch and make the "30" minute trek to Roodeport to see the game. I put 30 minutes it quotes because that's how long google maps said it would take but that's definitely NOT how long it took.

We took our trusty city map and our trusty Garm

in and got some general directions from the hotel front desk. All we really had to go off of was that we needed to get to the Ruimsig Stadium which we figured was in the town of Roodeport.

So...off we go for a few miles on the N1.

-We decide to ask for directions because we're not sure where to go from here.

- Some guy at a gas station tells us to go this w

ay, then look for the car dealership on your left, then go over a hill then ask for directions again.

- So we follow his directions...or we think we do.

- We ask for directions again, this time from a soccer fan at KFC where we finally got some lunch!!!

- He tells us we 'aren't very far' and to follow this road, then you'll come to a T and then go left and then ask for directions again.

- This basically happens about about 4 more ti

mes, until we are finally are out in the middle of nowhere crossing over some hills and we can see the stadium lights.

- We finally pull up to the stadium and it is called the "Roodeport Athletic Stadium"

That....my friends...is in the Garmin.

So anyway...it was quite the adventure and we made it to the stadium just minutes before kickoff. Oh and our tickets just happened to be reserved for the midfield.

Where are they all going?

We arrived at the Joburg airport at 6:50am. Ouch. Went through passport control and immediately got sucked into the locals helping us out by taking our bags and showing us where the clearly marked Avis Rental Car place was. We then had to tip them...in american dollars.

They looked mad. We vowed to just take care of our own bags from then on.

So we got our car...a tiny Honda Getz and sat in the parking garage psyching ourselves up for the adventurous drive ahead of us through morning city traffic. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Thank you Garmin for showing us the way. Although you did take about 20 minutes to find a satellite. Tall buildings and being on the other side of the world really threw you for a loop.

Driving in on the highway there are people walking along the road...in a very well worn path. I was fascinated by it. I mean, how far have they walked and where are they walking to? Like take for example the distant from Edmond to Guthrie, in that same amount of time we'd probably see about 100 people just walking from/to somewhere. I just didn't get it.

Once we made it to the city there were people EVERYWHERE! People crossing the street at crosswalks, crossing the streets right in front of you, people walking in between the lanes, people trying to sell you car flags at the intersections, people just congregating at bus stops or something, people setting up shop on the sidewalk, people hopping into taxis that are just randomly pulled over.

Obviously I don't have very many pictures of the city life while driving around because the guys didn't like me just flashing my camera out when there were so many people standing around staring at us...Americans. No just kidding...but they did seem to just look at you a lot. It was a little unsettling.

The Longest Plane Ride EVER!!!!

I'm sorry that it has been forever since I have posted about anything. And I'm sorry I've beenhome a week and haven't shared any South African stories. We were supposed to "practice pack" over memorial day weekend just to make sure everything would fit in our bags and we didn't go over our weight limit. 44lb s was the limit, 40lbs was our goal. Well, all we got done was laundry and the cleaning of our house. That left a 3 hour packing excursion the night before we left, and then just the odds and ends on the morning we were set to leave. We packed for about 8-9 days with plans to do laundry and wear it all again.

Our plane was leaving OKC at 4:20pm June 3rd. Ryan and his mom came to pick up at 2:00pm. We were all very excited to be in Africa...but none of us were excited about the two days it was going to take to get there.

Once we made it to Houston we boarded our huge plane and headed east to Frankfurt, Germany. It only took 10 or so hours to get there, but crossing over 8 times zones can really mess with your body. Thankfully I was able to sleep for a few hours here and there thanks to the Fennessy gene of being able to sleep almost anywhere.

We arrived at the Frankfurt airport at 11am June 4th.

That airport is ridiculously Huge!!!!! Just look at this revolving arrival board.

At least we had 9 hours to familiarize ourselves with it. Yeah right. It's impossible to find your way around that airport, and not because it's in German. The nearest bathroom is like a 5 minute walk. And it must have taken 10 minutes

to figure out how to get downstairs to the mall area.

Once we made it downstairs. We treated ourselves to bratwurst and beer. Probably Germany's idea of fastfood type brats, but it was still good.

The rest of the day was spent not getting lost, playing card games and trying desperately to not fall asleep. We figured since it was during the day, and our flight was at night it would be better to just stay awake and sleep on the plane so as not to mess up our sleep schedule anymore. It was VERY hard to do.

At 8:30pm it was finally time to board South African Airways. Really great airlines by the way. Good food and leg room.

On our next 10.5 hour flight we were able to see the sunset over the Swiss Alps.

And the sunrise over Zambia.

Next up....Our Johannesburg adventures.

Oh...just go away.

So I finally decided to do a little google search and figure out what kind of bee has been lurking around my garden for a good week and half.

Two of them in fact.

Just hovering and buzzing and generally being very annoying, interrupting the solitary joy of working in the garden and constantly putting me on edge.

I forgot to mention that the little buggers are HUGE.

Turns out they are carpenter bees. Which would explain why they hover around the corner eave of my house ALL day...EVERY day.

They make a little hole in the wood of the eave with their mandible. Lay eggs and keep watch.

Great....

The other day, I thought about swatting them with a fly swatter, or better yet a shovel. But then I thought that probably wouldn't do anything since they run into the gutters about 100 times a day and they aren't even phased.

I need to get rid of them...any ideas?

Job

I had an interview yesterday and I feel it went really well. It is a temp to hire position through a staffing agency. Please pray that all goes well and that they think I am the perfect candidate for the job!!!!!

Dallas

This past weekend we went to Dallas to celebrate my Aunt Linda's Retirement. She had NO idea about the surprise party we planned for her.

It was also a perfect opportunity to go to here:

The store was fairly modern for my tastes but I still could have dropped a hundred bucks there if I had the money. Oh wait...I still dropped $100 on this:

I have been wanting a bench for our front porch for quite some time. We had a hard time finding just the perfect one until we spotted this beauty. It is just the right size and perfectly our taste. And the best part is that it took 20 minutes to assemble. Way better than the piece of crap Lowe's bench that took about 3hrs.

My Grandparents came down for the event, too.

My Grandma got me inspired to actually put some flowers in my garden...

...and Grandpa helped Stephen learn more about Sheephead.

Fancy Spring

Sometime I think I know what I'm doing in my garden and other times I just look over the obvious. As in, I planted my tulips in complete shade last year. Therefore, only about 5 bloomed.

I had forgotten that I had planted the spiky ones!!!!

In other news, my mom took my to get a manicure and pedicure and this time I decided to do a french manicure. It gives the illusion that my nails are longer and I feel extra fancy which is good for my self esteem.