So. Let's say it's been a minute since I've last "blogged"
Oh, how life has progressed. In a multitude of ways!
I believe my last blog post was some time in early 2012 maybe. I was pregnant for my first child. 

Annabelle was born at home on April 20, 2012 at 8:3(something) in the morning after about 8 hours of labor, in and out of the tub, and not too much pushing. It was a beautiful experience. We named her after she was born. Annabelle Lynn.

Life was a little crazy after that. At some point after Annabelle was born, we found out we were expecting another baby. Annabelle was around 7-8 months at that time. I miscarried that baby in December of 2012. Some time around June or July of 2013, we found out we were expecting another baby. Of course, I was emotionally apprehensive at this point. All went well with the pregnancy, and Elizabeth Joan was born at home on February 8, 2014 at around 2am after about a 4 hour labor in and out of a warm tub and she literally almost slid out, still in the birth sac as it broke open as she came out. That was a beautiful experience as well.

Fast forward a few years of crazy, crazy times....

We definitely thought we were done having kids.... the story of a lifetime.. after doing nothing to prevent that from happening.. so the story goes.. we were visiting Oklahoma family for Christmas and New Years in 2017. Long story shortened, we found out during that visit, that we would be having another baby. We told Grandad and Gramma Jody, and they were thrilled and of course, prayed for a boy, as Gramma had for several years. We did discover at the ultrasound that we would in fact be having a little Filkins boy, who we named Howard Thomas, after his Grandad Howard (Howdy) and my father, Thomas. His birth is a story for another time.. let's just say, at home, double-footling breech. Not desired. Not common. Not fun. But in the end, beautiful.

Fast forward 3 years and here we are in Southern Oklahoma at the Texas state line, living on 45 acres with family in a totally different world than we ever started in for all purposes.

Our (my husband's) oldest daughter still resides in Nashville-ish area attending a university. 

My how life has changed.

Today, I would say that online blogs are a thing of the past.. 
Today the trends are video snippets on TikTok. "Vlogs"

So. Here's me, behind the times, typing out an "old-fashioned" blog..
I still handwrite letters, envelopes, write checks, etc. I'm old. It's ok.

I have to Potty - Pregnancy @ 23 weeks

How Far along:
Depending on which official 'due date' I use, I'm officially, unofficially 23 weeks today. Since the actual expected date is not official, my emails send me updates on Sundays..
Today was quite productive... after I rolled out of bed at 11:30am.. however in my defense, I was at work last night until 1am, and probably didn't get to sleep until around 2am.. so, considering that, I think 11:30 was ok. I also had to get up at 5 or 6 am to potty.. of course, that's become a ritual, as well as 8am, when my pup Turk tells me it's time for him to go outside.

So basically, not much has changed in the last week as far as the pregnancy goes.

Food Cravings/Aversions:
 I still LOVE food, and there's not much of it that I don't like right now. I'm not really having any aversions, outside of my normal picky eating habits. And I'm not having any particular cravings, outside of my abnormal eating habits I've always had. Cereal at night has always been a semi-regular occurrence for me, and that hasn't changed much.

Vitamins/Supplements, etc:
This past week I've been making a point to add greens and sources of iron to my diet, along with some sort of Vitamin C to help my body absorb the iron, as I've read that helps. Hopefully.
I've also been taking Vitamin B regularly, along with the liquid Cal-Mag (which tastes like yummy good strawberry yogurt!) So far the leg cramps have seemed to subside. Thank the Lord.

Back to today..
It had been on my mind lately to move my bedroom around, but I wasn't sure if I'd actually do it. Well.. today I couldn't resist the overwhelming urge to actually get it done. So I did. Thankfully the bed frame is on wheels, which makes moving the bed very easy to do. Its all moved around and I love it.. and hopefully will for a while. I've always been a bedroom-mover-arounder. Ever since I was little, I can remember cleaning my room and moving the bed, dresser, etc around. My husband knows I'm a nutso. Oddly enough, today he actually encouraged me to move it around. lol. I guess he knows I'm going to do it anyways.

It's the week before Christmas. Can't believe how quickly it's going by. I have some major crochet work to get finished the next couple days. I worked a bit on some tonight. I'll share when it's done. The pattern is very pretty, however, it's a bit intricate and a lot more time consuming. In the future, I probably will rarely use the same pattern, unless I sell it online for a lot of money to make it worth it.

Ope.. there's a baby in the belly and it's kicking me for attention..
time to lay here and watch :) I love this part!

21 Weeks Picture :)

Sharing the picture I took the other day of me 21 1/2 weeks along.

How Far along:
21 weeks 3 days




Activity/Movement:

Very active baby, several times a day. Especially at night when I lie down. I can't get anything done because all I want to do is watch my belly. I can see very defined kicks, poking at my belly. It is very very cool.  The other night when I was lying down, I swear the baby was doing gymnastics! My husband came in and got to feel a kick and got to see several of them too. It is so much fun :)

Birth Plan, etc:

I had an appointment with my midwives on Saturday morning. Everything looks good so far. Baby's heartbeat was around 145bpm.. after they poked around and woke it up.. lol

Diet/Nutrition:

Biggest concern right now is getting my iron up. My hemoglobin is low and my blood pressure is in the "Low-Normal" range.. This time it was like 105/70. Not extremely bad, but I definitely need to get my iron up. I don't want to have issues down the road.

Other Experiences:

The other day I was having really bad leg cramps. It was terrible. It started in my ankle, below my chin, and when I went to stretch my foot and stretch the muscle, my calf balled up in a horrible charlie horse. The only thing I could do to get that to go away was to point my foot back up, which in turn aggravated the front muscles again. ARGH!! It was awful. I just about screamed. Finally got that to go away. Only to get it again that night. I came running out of the bedroom to the living room and just stuck my leg up on my husband's lap and had him start rubbing my calf. I never want those again! lol. My midwife suggested I take Cal-Mag supplement. Supposed to help balance out your levels of calcium and magnesium and help not to get leg cramps. So far so good for the last 2 days. My goal is to get these things under control now, so that I reduce any potential issues down the road or during labor. Last thing I want is to deal with leg cramps during labor!

Well.. off to crochet. I have people wanting to buy up for Christmas gifts so I need to get my little crochet hands on the move!

Too early for a real topic

I think that the weather has officially changed over to cold. We had about a week of cold, then it basically turned warm again for the last couple weeks and we've been spoiled with warmth. But I think that's finally over and it's going to be cold from here out. I'm ok with this I guess. I do love wearing my boots, sweaters, and scarves and not sweating to death in the afternoon. 

We do however need to get our heat up and running. With this new(er) air conditioning unit we put in this summer, we haven't been able to get it to fire the heat up, so we have to call out the guy and pay up :( We've been able to get by with the little bit warmer weather just fine, because it's basically been only chilly at night and in the mornings. Now it's getting quite a bit colder overnight. The fireplace does wonders for warming up the house fairly well, but it's a little too cold until it kicks in. So unfortunately I guess it's time to bite the bullet and fork out the money. Kind of cuts into Christmas fund and Fun Money fund....

 Really this means I may not put up my big tree this year. Maybe I'll do a smaller one, maybe I won't do one at all :( I know, sad times. It's not that awful. I have a small tree I can put up on the table in the living room and make it look cute, along with the decor I've already put out, and we'll be festive. We'll see. It's not the end of the world if we don't get one this year. My husband's daughter will be going out of town with her mom for Christmas at some point, and I know we're not having any other guests over for anything special. Next year will be totally different. We'll have his daughter, and we'll have a brand new baby. So if we skip out this year, I can look forward to making up for it next year. Which is going to be totally overly crazy exciting!! My first baby, and baby's first Christmas!!! :)

I had yesterday off work (yay!!), today and tomorrow too!! What ever am I going to do with myself?! I had a great day yesterday. I actually woke up and got out of bed by 8:30am! I know, I couldn't believe it either! I was motivated! I'm up early this morning, getting my step-daughter up for school.. not sure yet if I'll end up back in bed for a bit. If I stay up, I could go to the Yoga class this morning. I need to go. I'm just not overly motivated to go outside in the cold just yet, but maybe some food, warm clothes and a good hot cup of coffee could fix that, or at least help a little. It's a little difficult to stay up and out here in the living room when I know there's a warm heated bedroom with a nice warm cozy bed just a few steps away.

Well I'm typed out for the moment, but I definitely have more posts to come shortly.. probably even later this morning when I rant about the school system/government and people's lack of personal responsibility. Not sure if I should even go there.. might get me too fired up!

Life and Pregnancy update

Oh my gosh.. I need to update more. I get so distracted then I forget that I really want to update on a regular basis and have a cool fun blog with fun pictures and stories and updates and crafts and recipes and stuff people actually want to read. Instead, I currently have a random blog in internet cyber space that no one knows about, that I basically use as a convenient journal on random occasions.
I read other people's blogs and I so want to do cool things with mine but I haven't gotten there yet. Not to mention, I'm horrible at taking pictures. For one, my phone doesn't take very wonderful pictures AT ALL! and secondly, I never remember to take my camera with me anywhere, or to take pictures when I'm actually working on projects or doing anything for that matter. I thought the convenience of having a camera on your phone was so you could take pictures anywhere, but I just haven't seemed to master the ability to take anything decent with my phone. Oh well. 


 So lately..


1. I started working at Target for the holiday season. I really like it, although I'm wearing myself out at the moment, because I feel like I'm either in pajamas and sleeping, or I'm wearing the tried and true Red shirt and Khaki pants and I'm working. Fun. lol. I feel like I haven't any other wardrobe at the moment. I need a few more days off so I can wear my new cute maternity shirts (that I hardly need yet.. a whole other topic~!)


2. According to the calendar, I'm 5 months and 1 week pregnant. 21 weeks. Just made it past the halfway mark. Hardly anyone believes I'm at 5 months because I still have just a small little baby bump. Although I can definitely no longer wear my regular pants for sure.. and shirts/sweaters are getting to be a tad tight and uncomfortable.
I have gained, hmm.. probably about 7-8 lbs.. about 5 lbs of that was what I had lost from not being able to eat the first several weeks.. I'm definitely on track to make up for the loss of food.. since I basically in constant hunger mode lately. I'm trying to make sure I get decent food and nutrition, but it's been a little more difficult lately with working all evening and sleeping in till almost noon every day. I basically get up, have some cereal, maybe a sandwich at some point, then go to work. I hate to constantly spend money, but sometimes my best option is to pick up a chicken sandwich somewhere and take it in for my lunch break, aka dinner. Then I try to eat something when I get home, which has been midnight pretty regularly.


3. A few weeks ago (about wk 16) I started to feel the baby move. Lately I've felt kicks like crazy! The baby is supposedly about 10 inches long and about 12 oz. I tell you what.. if this baby kicks like this now, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when it's bigger in the coming months! I keep referring to it as Chuck Norris because it seems to have some mad skills kicking and punching! I can see it on the outside of my belly when it kicks. It is a very very cool thing. Every night when I lie down for bed, he or she starts moving and I always sit and watch. It is very cool to me.


4. I have another appointment with my midwife team this coming weekend. I'm always excited about seeing them. We get to hear the heartbeat each time they come, which I find very cool. I'm planning on trying to have the ultrasound done sometime after the holidays are past. We may end up going in to the Dr/hospital for that. I'm totally geeked about it. We're still not planning to find out the gender. I just can't wait to see it!


I'm still rollerskating for now. Insanity. I know. Actually, for me it'd be insanity if I had to quit right now. It's been such a regular thing for us for the last 3 years or so, that I just have a hard time giving it up. Of course I'm not skating like I was before being pregnant, but I'm still skating. I plan to skate as long as my body and mind will let me. When I get a little nervous, or if the floor is too busy, I just sit down and relax for a bit.
Here's me in there starting at the :30 second mark, still truckin with the gang at 5 months pregnant.



Welp. I guess that be it for now. Especially since it's almost 2am. I'm definitely tired. Off to read my book.. if I make it past a page!

Headed into 5th Month!

Well on my way into the 5th month of pregnancy. Not that anyone would know it by looking at me! I've hardly any belly at all! lol. Oh well. Count my blessings I suppose. I've noticed a little belly pop out, but very little. I do know that it's very low and I can no longer button any of my jeans and using hair ties to loop around the button isn't much working anymore either.


So the other day I made a pair of maternity jeans out of a cheap really cute pair of jeans that I bought for $9 solely for the purpose of making into maternity-wears. I must say they turned out great. I used an old spandex-type camisole that I was no longer wearing, cut it, and sewed it onto the top of the jeans. Works great. Especially since maternity pants are over $50/each, and hard to get really cute ones. The ones I bought on Craigslist are short on me, so I'm planning on running a seam up the pant legs and making them into straight-leg, skinny type jeans instead so I can wear them under boots for the winter and still make use of them.


Biggest thing this past week..
I'm quite certain I've started to feel the baby move inside there. I'm feeling constant bubble-like, tapping feelings throughout my lower belly.. especially after sugar or eh-ehm.. coffee.. not that I'm having it in abundance, but I am drinking some. lol. Baby gets active after that! lol. But it's a pretty consistent feeling, so I'm quite certain that's what it is. It is a very cool feeling. I can't feel anything on the outside yet, so no one else can feel the little kicks, etc but me.
I have my next appointment with my Midwives next weekend. I'm excited for that. I'll get to hear the heartbeat again. I've actually been stalking craigslist for used/cheap Fetal Dopplers for sale, but haven't found any yet.. if I found one for a really good deal I'd probably buy it. I actually may see if I can find a cheap stethoscope for now and see about finding the heartbeat with that. Though it's harder to find than with the doppler.


Now we have to decide when we want to get the ultrasound done. We're not going to find out the baby's gender until birth, so the ultrasound is strictly to make sure the baby looks good and for my own enjoyment, since my midwives don't require it.


Everything else is going very well. I've been eating regularly and have totally gotten my appetite back, which is a totally wonderful thing, considering how much I love food. It was sooo difficult going those couple of weeks being sick and not being able to eat much. NOTHING sounded good, hardly anything stayed down, and I felt nauseous constantly. Very happy to be in the 2nd Trimester now.


This past week I went and applied at Target for a seasonal job, and they hired me on. Should be fun. Some times the thought of being tied to a random schedule and work is not appealing, but then on the bright side, I think it will be fun, and I'll get to be out and about, and meet people. So all in all it will be a good thing, plus it'll bring in a few extra dollars for the Holidays and to help with paying for the midwife. The hardest part will be that it's retail and I will have to work Black Friday, which limits our travel ability for the Holiday :( I think my husband really wants to go to Oklahoma to see family for Thanksgiving, and this will put a damper in  those plans.. whereas now, not working, we can pretty much do whatever. But we can really use the extra income. Unless I can find something else I can do between now and then that I can make an income doing that doesn't tie me down for the Holiday.
So today I'm going to hit the Goodwill for 50% off clothes and be on the lookout for my khaki pants and red shirts. I'll probably have to "Maternity-size" my pants after I get them, so I'll try to take pictures.


Welp.. That's all I can think of for now. I will be back soon enough.

Fall fun :)

Hanging out with my Pups on the Hammock.. 

My porch needs some TLC.. the leaves are all over the place already.

New haircut today. Finally!! It's been over a year since I got my hair trimmed. I finally stopped in to a place up the road that I've passed a gazillion times. I will definitely be going back to Salon Niki. I have some hair style now!! Yay! Lovin' it!

Upcoming Projects:
Master bathroom - As it is now:

I totally want to paint it. Right now it's a light mint-y green.. may be hard to tell in pictures. It's ok. I'm definitely not in love with it. Just feels to me there's no depth. With the tub, and the style, I want it to be a little bit deeper color. Not totally dark or anything, just a deeper green for the main walls, and maybe a darker compatible green on the middle wall for contrast. Which all equals= take down all the stuff on the walls. Fun. Mirror. Deco. Cabinet behind toilet. Shower rod.  Yeah. I'm thrilled. lol. I could do it all fairly quickly I think. And with the cooler weather finally, I could open the window and ventilate the bathroom quite well and it would probably dry fairly quick as well. But I've been wanting to do this for 2 years now, so I just need to get to it.
I love the paint samples at the store. I picked up two that I thought I liked, and tried them on the wall. Now I know that I want to try a different shade. Glad I didn't trust my opinion of the color the first time. Though I don't hate the color, and would leave it if I had painted it all, but thankfully I can shop around for another shade.

I'm also doing a redo of my living room wall deco, which I'll do my next post about. My wonderful husband went out and bought me a picture frame set for the wall for our wedding photos, so now my living room deco will be a tad overhauled :) Excited about that!!!

That's it for now. Off to check my sweet potatoes in the oven and conjure up a main dish for dinner.. and browse Pinterest.. my new addiction!
 I'm starving. Like constantly. Guess that's better than the alternative.

ciao.

9 weeks :)

I've hit the 9 week mark. I think some of the morning sickness (or as I now refer to it as Miserable Sh*t) is slowly going away.. At least I've had more good days this past several days than bad.. and again have been able to eat some as well. It still varies throughout the day, and I still expect I may still get sick again in coming days. The biggest problem I'm having now is Indigestion. I'm glad to be eating, but these stomach pains are awful! lol. I guess it's all just part of the fun.
Along with my raging lunatic outbursts. Oh joy. My poor husband. I might have had a little overrun of hormones yesterday, to say the least. I'm not trying to make excuses for myself, but yesterday I just didn't have control of myself! I just had to blow up, so I did. Unfortunately at him. Unfortunately for him he had nothing to do with the reasons why. I just plain woke up frustrated, and apparently wanted to be that way and let every little thing throw me over the edge. It's frustrating to me as well. I don't know what was wrong with me, other than to blame it on hormones, and I hate to use that as a cop-out.

Today I had peaches and cottage cheese. I haven't had that in forever, and it was SO good. I think I'm finally feeling up to making a trip to the grocery store. Last few times I've gone, I hardly bought any groceries because everything I saw, just the thought of eating it was making me gag.. so I didn't buy anything. We have food in the house, but nothing appealing.. and not much to make a meal out of.
So now off to catch up on laundry, housework, grocery and work stuff.

I'm working on a new baby blanket for someone too. It's got all the different baby colors in it, so it could end up being mine to keep ;-) lol.. if I like it.. but we'll see.
I have to post pictures of the another one I made for a gift.

Food, My friend!!

Thought I'd take my laptop outside and type a note while enjoying the breeze and shade. It's hot in TN today, as it's been all summer. I'm thankful for my shady backyard so I can enjoy the outside without getting too hot. We actually have a breeze today too! Very odd for here. lol.
Our 1st anniversary is next weekend too :) I can't believe it's been a year already. My husband likes to joke and say it feels like it's been much longer. haha. funny. I've enjoyed it. I'm thankful to have found such a wonderful man.
I only just today actually ordered some of our wedding pictures. Slacker that I am. Hopefully they'll be here really quick.. I can't wait to see them. Then maybe I can figure out which ones I want larger. I hate not ordering everything. I want them all... but can't really afford to get them all right now.. well I shouldn't anyways.


Food was my friend yesterday and it was SUCH a relief! Oh my goodness this week has been difficult. Constantly hungry, yet constantly feeling nausea. Yesterday I decided to have a root beer and Famous Amos cookies..  and I think that since the root beer made me burp so much, that it helped me. Maybe it's in my head, and that's fine with me.. maybe it was Famous Amos!.. All I know is that I was driving by the Mongolian Stir-fry place, and my mouth watered. I had to stop right then to get food! I ate most all of it right there in the car.
I came home and was about to lie down to take a nap and had a sudden craving for a sandwich that my mother-in-law had at her restaurant. All I could think about was Sierra Turkey on Ciabatta! I high-tailed it to Publix to pick up the bread I needed and a few other things (ice cream, etc) and went home and made my sandwich and it was yum! I actually ate dinner last night too. Wow. I love food and can't stand not feeling like I can eat. I hope it stays this way!
Today's been ok. I had cereal and maybe that's not  a good idea right now.
On a quick side-note (haha, quick!).. My husband and I are waiting to tell his daughter until after my first Dr appt on Monday.. which is the day before her birthday. We're all going to take her out to dinner and let her know...
So, last night the 3 of us are out to dinner, and he and I were somewhat quietly discussing my eating/not eating. I said something about having had cereal, and he starts to say something about hearing that milk doesn't always go over well when you're pregnant.. -- Ah!-- I bumped his arm and gave him the EYE!.. hello.. I hope she didn't just hear what you said! lol.. He didn't realize he had said it at first.. then he looks over to her and she's in la la land over there.. we just laughed. Thankfully she wasn't listening or couldn't hear. Almost spoiled it!


So Monday is the first appt and I'm a little nervous. I do have faith that all will go well.. can't deny the symptoms, that's for sure! But there's always a slim possibility of something not being right..  but I think it'll all be good. Keeping faith. God is good and I know he will take care of me :)


Well.. I guess this was longer than a little note. I just get carried away typing.


Off to do laundry or something.


Ciao!

New Years Progress.. Stick-To-It!

Ok, so I'm doing mostly good with sticking to my Bedroom project. I've made the bed pretty much everyday.. maybe not first thing in the morning every time, but at least at some point before noon. I think that's progress :)
I've managed to keep my closet floor free and clear of clothes thrown all over, as well as putting clothes away that I tried on and decided not to wear. I am, however, sitting next to a laundry basket of folded clothes that need to be put away from last night.. so I sloughed on that one.. no excuses. Well, of course there are excuses.. I was doing work stuff last night.. however, I still could have found a minute to do it and I didn't. I've also managed to keep up on work papers and keeping organized with that. I have been keeping "work" stuff at my desk. Papers are organized and everything isn't scattered amongst the couch! HUGE progress there! It does mean that I don't get a lot of work related items done throughout the day time as much with my nephew here, but I still get some done. I don't mind to take the computer out there to finish up a few things if needed, but my plan was to not have all my work scattered in the living room and unorganized, and I'm doing well with that. Yay. Makes me feel good.
Speaking of work, I really need to be getting some done while I have a chance, but I thought I'd do this first :)


On the craft side of life, I've been slowly working on scarves to sell, and actually sold another one yesterday at my mother-in-law's restaurant.


 I'm loving this! I haven't even put any up on my Etsy page yet.. lol.. I could put pictures of the ones I've made and if someone wants one similar I could make it real quick,  but I'm afraid to do it that way for obvious reasons..(I tend to procrastinate.... me? procrastinate?..hmm...)  So I think I'll stick to what I'm doing for now. I'll just have to get faster and make them more often to have a stock of items to sell. You should see how much yarn I have.. gah! and on top of that, my car keeps driving to these stores where they sell it and, well if I'm there, I have to buy more! Can't waste a trip to Hobby Lobby! lol... AND.. I found a local yarn store.. probably NOT a good thing! LOL. I can see the money flying out of my wallet now! I just gotta keep it coming in to make up for it!
It's so much fun though. I love it. I'm weird. I need to be finishing the Alpaca yarn scarf I just started.. and I have hats I need to make, and I want to make a shawl, and I have two friends I promised scarves to.. man this is crazy! I can't keep up! I guess I know what I'll be spending my summer working on..! Stocking up for Winter!


Welp. I'm not being house or work productive sitting here. I'm going to go eat more croissants from Publix, -my Favorite grocery store that's going to get my in trouble with my budget- and get to it!


Come back for more soon :)

Spooktacular October!

Oh boy.. the big 3-0 Birthday coming up this week. Yay for me. lol. I'm not totally distraught or anything about turning 30.. I don't feel old, or think I'm going to have a panic-attack because I'm 30. Really I'm quite thankful for the journey I've been on to this point. I'm thankful to be healthy and able to enjoy my hobbies and live a wonderful life... ok so I feel old sometimes.. lol... especially since I want one of these for my birthday:

hehe.. I'm not OLD.. I'm just CRAFTY :)
I've been wanting a sewing machine for a while now. I actually had one many years ago.. I think I was 11-12?.. maybe.. sorry, I don't remember waaay back then. (kidding).. That machine has seen better days. It got used to death. Literally. So, I've been checking Craigslist.. my latest online addiction. Hadn't really found anything decent priced enough for me. So, my mom says she thinks for my birthday she'll get me one :) Yay! I can't argue with that! I'm sooooo thrilled! I want to go to take it home today! (yes, I'm kind of a dork, this I know). Walmart even has this one in the picture! So. Next will be the trip to the grandiose October Flea Market to pick up some awesome cool fabrics and whatever other wonderful-finds I can nab up. (hint hint.. I'll need a sewing box, pins, spools of thread..) Just thought I'd throw that in there. ;)
So that's my big thing for the week as of now.

My husband and I may be able to do something Saturday evening together.. maybe throw a few friends in the mix. We'll see. I'm not all about throwing myself some huge party. We just had the wedding. That was a big enough party for us. We could have a few friends over, a little bonfire, food & beer and sittin around. That sounds good to me. I do wish some of my Michigan family and friends could be here.

So I've also been a Craigslist-scavenger-hunter on the lookout for one of these or something similar:

I soo want this on my front porch-area. We don't have the wonderful-huge-wraparound porch that I really would LOOVE to have, but I could manage to fit one of these puppies on there, and plop a few pumpkins on it :) We even have some scrap wood from when we re-did the deck that might even work to make one!.. Maybe I'll have to post this picture on the fridge for my husband to see, and give him a GREAT idea for a birthday gift for me :) hehe. A subtle hint.

I've been working a little on Fall decorations around the house. I bought 2 mums and have those out front with a little scarecrow-on-a-stick and a few pumpkins. It's not totally done, but maybe I can pick up a few other things. And I have a few indoor things I've put together. I would love to share pictures, but they come out really crappy looking, so I'll hold off on sharing those for now. But when I do, I'll share my DollarStore Deco! :) Decorating on a budget!.. another topic of conversation. Budgeting!
Dave Ramsey says that October is the most critical month of the year to stay on budget and have a well thought out and well executed financial plan (in his words! read his article here.. it could change your life..).. So that's what we're doing! We're on a path to get caught up and demolish our debt! Christmas comes at the same time every year people, it doesn't come as a surprise and you should be able to PLAN for it!!

So needless to say, Fall decor has to fall within the alloted spending amounts.. therefore, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar are my BEST FRIENDS this month. As well as the local nursery next door that has great prices on their pumpkin variety! Better than Walmart's even! They even have bales of hay for $4! I think I see a bale of hay in my front porch area holding up my $1 pumpkins in the near future! :)

I'm also working on crochet and (soon-to-be) sewing projects for Christmas gifts. Anything I can craft by hand will lighten the Christmas budget fund tremendously..., and who doesn't love handmade gifts?! I can't think of a female that doesn't need a nice warm scarf for the winter! :) If I can get enough made for gifts, I should be able to have a stock of items to sell as well. When I do, I'll list them on my Etsy page here..which is empty for now :(  But bookmark it now so you don't forget!

 These aren't my makings or designs... but ideas of what I have in mind and currently have in progress :)

Ok. I think I'm going to end for now. I needed to post since I haven't in a while. Hopefully I can get some decent looking pictures of the Fall decorations and share those.

Now off to figure out costume ideas for Halloween!.. as well as a costume for a skating routine my husband and I will be involved in for the local church Christmas play.. how exciting!! I'll share more on that later!

ciao!

After Wedding Thoughts ~

Whew.. that went by waaay too fast. Seems like just the other day I was on the 30 day countdown to the Big day, and now it's all over with. Just that quick... in fact, so quickly, that it's already been 10 days since the wedding day! Crazy how time flies!

What a totally wonderful wedding. I can't even begin to put into words how wonderful that day was. I am truly soo thankful and blessed to have such UNBELIEVABLE people in my life.
First and Foremost, My parents and my grandma just plain went all out for me. What these 3 people did for me.. was just outright AMAZING. Sitting here thinking about all they have done for me to make my wedding the wedding of my dreams and the most spectacular day, just brings tears to my eyes. I cannot begin to express enough how wonderful they are. Along with my now-new-in-laws, all my brothers & family, and Family friends, I had the Wedding of my Dreams. They brought together everything I could have imagined to life. Everything I had pictured and more. They transformed my plain-ole Tennessee backyard to a Gorgeous TN Garden wedding.

I prayed and prayed (and worried and worried) about the weather.. and God delivered the MOST Beautiful weather day Nashville has seen in MONTHS! All leading up to the day was hot weather in the 90's (and of course the 100's the months before) and even possible RAIN the DAY before.. and then, the day of, Just GORGEOUS. I don't even know if it hit 80 degrees, and it was Sunny and beautiful. Stunning weather. See.. God is soo good and HE delivers when we pray.
It wasn't even just the setting and the weather, but the people God brought together for this day to make it happen so wonderful.
I hope to always remember all the little things that came together the months leading up to the wedding day, and even the things that happened at the last minute.

My HUGEST Thanks go out to soo many people to make this day happen for me. You all are soo awesome, and I pray God will always pour His blessings on your lives many times over for how you've blessed mine.

T-minus 9 days.. and a weather forecast!

Finally.. the 10-day forecast shows the wedding day.. and so far so good!! Totally lovin the weather in the 80s! Seems like the scorcher-days are finally over! It was just plain HOT here this summer. I know it wasn't like this the past couple years I've been in TN. It gets hot, I get that.. but heat indexes in the 115's.. were getting absurd!

I've ranted enough about the hot summer.. time to bask in the gorgeous weather we're getting now... at the end of August and just 9 days to my wedding.. I'm sooooo excited, can you tell!?!?!

The weather is the one thing that is TOTALLY out of my control and the one thing that's been on my mind the most, probably. We have some tents, and if it rains, we'll be under the tents.. but I've seen the backyard turn in to a mudpit-pool during Storms, and that wouldn't be good AT.ALL!.. But a tiny rainfall isn't going to bother me.. honestly... however.. the trusty-ole weather channel is showing 80s and a Good Day Sunshine! for that day. :)

I promise God is Good!

My wonderful Husband-to-be found us some FREE Mulch today!! Woohoo.. who doesn't LOVE FREE?!

The newly mulched flowerbed areas I created a few weeks ago, which were gorgeous (and still mostly are)...

...but have renovated themselves from the puddles and streams of major downpours of rain we've had recently, taking some of my beautiful paid for mulch away and scattered it throughout the yard. I was thrilled. Ok, Not. I was planning on doing a fresh layer of mulch anyways, but seriously, not replacing all of it at the price and labor involved.. but when it's FREE.. it makes the work just that much less painful :)

So I see a WEEKEND PROJECT!.. mulching, yet again... maybe you can't tell much of a difference from the pictures, but I CAN.. so.. we're re-mulching!

I'm sorry.. I'm a total flower freak now.. I can't stop taking pictures of my flower beds and talking about them. It's been a TON of work getting from where it was to where it is, and I'm not usually one to say this, but I'm totally proud of the progress. I'm a very proud flower-mom.

These guys are happy little campers :) Let's just say a HUUUUGE Thank you to the wonders of MIRACLE-GRO.. you ARE my Best Friend. I love you Miracle-gro!

Of course, there's the regular watering, weeding, plucking, dead-heading, and overall sweat poured into them.. and with the help of the Good Lord, for giving me a green thumb to grow them with :)

My gorgeous Knock-Out rose bush that was just a tiny-little-guy when I got him.

and I have Zinnia's coming out the wang.. whatever that is.. they're taking over!

Good thing I LOVE Zinnias.. and no, they're NOT weeds!

 (inside joke with the Mister)

Please disregard the unswept sidewalk.. and the yard-flag.. the yard was just mowed.. this usually washes itself away, but hasn't yet.

Ok.. Back to stuff other than flowers.. like weddings for example.

Last night, I got to treat myself to a trip to Victoria's Secret, thanks to some special gift cards from my bridal shower (thanks to some wonderful girls).. they know the Secret! lol.. those things are EXPENSIVE!.. but.. kind of worth it :) So now I have some new 'underthings' for my wedding dress, and some really pretty scented spray to wear.. so I won't stink.. hehe. FUN, huh?! Yay! Figured it was time for something new, and what better reason than for my wedding!

Got my hair trimmed.. got my hair appointment set for the wedding day. I'm totally a girl.. and soo geeked about these things... It's quite exciting being a Bride. Hair, Makeup, Manicures.. since I have like NO-Nails left on my fingers from chewing them all off.. a little stressed..? Yeah.. I'll say.
But I'm working on the less-stress approach.. keeping Faith and letting go, and Letting God. I'm very thankful to God for His hands on my life and throughout the whole wedding planning process.

Enjoy your evening :)

Stay tuned for more nonsense.. the final countdown!

T-Minus 10 days and counting!

With just 10 days to go till the wedding, and many many projects to finish, I have been a spray painting fool! I actually finished spray painting my metal chairs that I have been renovating from a previous post. Now to finish these other unfinished spray paint projects. I swear, my finger is killing me and I'll probably have carpel tunnel in my hand by the time I'm done with it all! I almost bought the spray paint handle, but I didn't.. I just might go back to the store, and sneak that little jobber in my cart this time.
I don't know why, but I'm always amazed at how drastically better something can look with just a can of spray paint...

Today I'm writing down anything I can possibly think of that I need to do or remember for the wedding. I'm quite geeked. My parents will be here this weekend.. and basically this is it..! We're off and running, getting everything put together and ready for the big day. I think it's starting to sink in that it's actually happening. As I'm making my list, I'm visualizing the events the day of; getting my hair & makeup done, and getting pictures, and thinking about the ride over to the house for the wedding. Oh my goodness.. it's crazy. Exciting. Nerve-racking.
Envisioning walking down the aisle, taking our vows and exchanging rings.. I definitely get teary-eyed. This is it. It's 10 days away. The day I've been waiting for, like all my life.

God has given me such a wonderful man. As I sit here going through vows, I think of the commitment we're making to each other and our future together. This man would tear down the house and rebuild it from the ground up if I asked him to. We had a long-quite-involved conversation yesterday about the to-do list for the wedding and everything that's going on. I know these aren't things he loves doing. But for me, he'll slay dragons. Because I want it. Because it makes me happy. After all this, I came back to work, and was playing on Youtube... working really hard... and thought about the first song we'll dance to as Husband and Wife. Originally, I thought I knew it would be Heaven by Bryan Adams. We both love this song, and it's been a song close to both of us in this relationship. But after yesterday's conversation, I realized it was supposed to be Everything I do, by Bryan Adams, this song says it all. My fiance LOVES Bryan Adams, which was also partly why I had picked the other one in the first place. But this song is it. I'll probably bawl my eyes out. I'll be surprised if there'll even be any make up still on my face after the ceremony.. let alone by the first dance! I simply can not wait. This day will be everything I've ever dreamed of.

I have the absolute best family in the world. I don't care how great you think your family is.. Mine is better :-p. I have two parents that are absolutely going above and beyond for me. I don't deserve it. My grandmother has dug plants out of the ground. My brother has built me a gorgeous bird house-card holder for the wedding. My mom has just plain worked her butt off to make sure I have whatever it is I want for my wedding. These people are amazing. I can not wait to see everything they do. My mother is an absolute Catering-party-Miracle Worker. God has blessed her with a gift like you wouldn't believe. I know God put the best people in my life. Each person has a talent or gift they're bringing to the table for my wedding. It's unreal.

Ok. I'm off for now. I have a hair appt :) yay!

Ah Yes, The weekend is here..

I think it's a general consensus that the weekends rock.. and generally by Friday, I'm totally ready for two days off.

Today, I'm really ready to get working on the rest of the yard / wedding projects. I have a BUTT-load of things to get accomplished in the next week!
The wedding is a mere 15 days away.. which really means there aren't 15 days to get everything done, because most of it has to be done before the actual wedding day.. .. ..   Yay.
My wonderful husband-in-15 days took his day off the other day to work on outdoor projects. Fun stuff, like pressure-washing, cleaning gutters, cutting tree limbs.. you know, every day yard work. lol. Very nice to have these things checked off the list :)

I plan on using this weekend to um.. maybe finish some unfinished projects... :) *big cheesy grin* Maybe I've started a few projects and haven't quite gotten them totally done.. yet. So I'll probably be inhaling a ton of spray paint this weekend while I finish a few of those projects.  
   Ok... here's where I whine, complain and make excuses.. skip this if you like.. It's sooo hot outside, and the Mosquitoes in the back yard are HORRENDOUS. They are flat out eating me alive. It's all I can do to go outside and water my plants.. I stand there for just one second, and there are a swarm on my leg. ICK. I highly doubt mosquitoes serve a purpose on earth. Everything is supposed to have a purpose, but I truly believe mosquitoes should die forever. and Never come back.
   Ok. I got that out. So I'll be finishing my spray painting chairs and mirrors, etc, wearing long sleeve shirts and jeans.

Today my paper lanterns for the stringed lights arrived and are sitting on my front patio at the house waiting for me as I type. I'm soo excited :) It'll be like Christmas when I get home... well kind of.

We're going for this look:

No.. this is NOT my wedding picture. I don't know who's it is, it's a random photo I found when I googled outdoor wedding. That's where you'll find it if you look for it.

So. that's that.

I recently went to the Goodwill, and browsed a really random section of totally miscellaneous junk. Literally, misc junk.
Anywho, I'm glad I did. I found this:

A Guest Book.. for a BUCK!

It's pretty.. and blank.. never used. Yay. It's the little things that matter to me.

Other than that, I'm trying to stay focused on the To-Do list, and keep myself from being a huge Worry-wart.

...

So I have to admit.. I ran home for lunch and opened my box of Paper Lanterns.. Yep.. it was like Christmas!!

I love these things. They're so pretty.

Yay! How fun!!

Well.. I think that's about it for now. I have to get my weekend list together so I can stay on track.... not that I ever get distracted! Well.. maybe sometimes. This weekend I have got to stay focused. Maybe even come up with a plan for each hour of the day and all the days of next week of things that must get completed that day! No Exceptions! Ha.. we'll see how that goes! I'm lucky to get everything on one sheet of paper.. my notes are so scattered.. kind of like my brain!

Off to the list! Hope you have a great weekend!

Any suggestions on to-do lists and schedules? lol

What's going on today!? Seriously.

Ever have one of these?..

Ok, well mine's not nearly this bad, but let's just say today has not treated me very nicely.

First of all firsts, I get up this morning to find the lovely tasty stew I made yesterday was STILL IN THE CROCKPOT, left overnight. We hadn't even eaten any because we were invited to dinner at Mr.Onny's moms. Fortunately (I guess..) it wasn't still on. So. I'm thoroughly not  thrilled about that to say the least!!!

So next, I'm on my way out the door, purse, puppies and coffee in hand. I set my coffee on the car, get the pups in safe and sound, grab my coffee and.. yep..  I spill coffee all over my outfit. All by myself. No one to blame.

So I drop my little baby loving little pups off at the snip-it clinic,.. yep, getting their little dangles cut.. I'm so sad for them.. poor babies..my little Turk & J.D.  (they're older & little bigger now, but this is the best pic I have)

and I headed back to work. As I'm headed up the highway, I totally MISS my exit! Ugh. Really?.. so I turned around at the next exit a mile up and head back towards it, only to MISS IT AGAIN!.. gah! Seriously?!! Are there even any signs for this road or what? I surely didn't see any! I guess this time through I would need to Pay attention! Where's my head?!

Ok. I make it to work unscathed the rest of the trip, thankfully. All is well for a while. The boss gives me some pizza for lunch.. woohoo.. Free food. Love it! I eat my pizza, with that awesome garlic butter sauce.. yum yum. I toss my plate in the garbage and the sauce flings out and splatters all over my chair and my floor.. yay! Thank goodness not on my clothes.. though I shouldn't curse myself at this point, it's still early enough in the day for some other crazy-freak thing for me to do!

Sorry.. just had to vent!

I'm currently working on some crochet projects as wedding gifts for my Bridesmaids and look forward to sharing it! Hopefully I'll get everything done in time.. 24 days away!!