What a week!!  I'm so glad it's Friday.  Lots has happened this week, and I'd like to type it all up, but y'all, I'm so exhausted.  Plus, The Husband and I picked out a movie at the Red Box down the street, and we swung by DQ and got some yummy ice cream treats to go.  Date night! :) So, here's the brief recap of this week. Last Saturday, our friend Hank treated us to lunch at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant.  I had never had Japanese cuisine before, so it was a neat experience.  I had the Philadelphia roll and the shrimp friend rice.  Yum!! Monday I started back to work officially.  All week we've had in-service (lots of meetings, a little time working in our classrooms).  It's exhausting.  My classroom preparation was a bit different this year since I don't technically have a classroom.  I have a library.   A library that houses over 20,000 books and several thousand textbooks.  There's been an issue with the s...

Thursday, The Husband got a call from the funeral home saying that the grave stone had FINALLY arrived as well as the vase that my mother-in-law purchased.  The Husband didn't tell me where we were going until we got to Hobby Lobby that afternoon, and he asked me to pick out some flowers for the vase. I NEVER thought I'd be happy to hear the words, "the funeral home called..." We chose the sweet bouquet of green and white flowers (and they are similar in color to both her birth month stone--May/emerald--and the stone for the month in which she was due--August/peridot.)  I saw the butterfly in a separate part of the store and thought it would fit just perfectly. An innocent, charming reminder of our girl . A few minutes after we arrived, we found that we had that part of the cemetery to ourselves.  We stood quietly, lost in our own thoughts for quite a while. And, then we went home with her still on our minds. For the most part, we are doing well.  There ...

I just ate slices of plum and dark chocolate chip morsels for a snack.   It's 6:30pm, you know, the "typical" dinner time, but The Husband isn't home yet, and I was hungry .  So, I fixed something that was both tasty and healthy!  I'm sure he'll walk in the door any minute and will want to eat dinner...maybe he'll settle for slices of plum and dark chocolate chip morsels, too? This past Monday night, The Husband and I began a Bible study with a group of sweet friends.  Here's what I posted on FB when we arrived home. " We just returned home from a wonderful, thought-provoking, encouraging Bible study with a small group of dear friends. I'm already looking forward to next week's meeting and to each day's lessons this week. I can't wait to see how God is going to work in and through us all these next five weeks and how we will grow closer as brothers and sisters in Christ. Going to sleep extra thankful tonight." It...

Would you like to see the changes we made to our bedroom? Well then, come on in!

A sweet gal at church (I also sing with her in choir!  Hi Charlotte!) asked how the renovations were going this morning.  I've been quiet (not literally...The Husband can attest to this!) for a few days because a) we threw our friend Bethany a surprise birthday shindig on Friday evening, and 2) most of Saturday, we worked more on this source of frustration project that we started over a week ago. We are officially (I say that with a touch of hesitation) finished (*cough* except for minor paint touch ups) in our bedroom and the sink area.   We are officially (more hesitation) finished (*clears throat* except for hanging ALL of the wall art) in the living room.  The office (formerly known as the nursery, the office, and the guest bedroom) has become the resting place for all wall decor pieces and a few other miscellaneous items (random computer parts strewn about the room in disarray...I suppose it's technically not in disarray if "someone" here knows ...

No, we're not finished yet. This seems to have become the project that goes on and on and on. But , The Husband tells me we're close.   So close .  I have no illusions of finishing tonight, but I'm crossing my toes that we'll be finished by tomorrow afternoon. We did actually get to sleep in our very own bed last night. Heaven. No more yowling cats for us.  Or squeaky springs. Below are a few "before and after" shots from yesterday and today. Yesterday The Husband started peeling away the wall paper that the former owner painted over.   The blue flowery wallpaper.   It had started coming up in places, and therefore, we decided to redo the sink area, as well.  So, here he is hard at work slicing into the wallpaper.     While pulling the wallpaper away from the wall, it also pulled off the white stuff below and left the cardboard-looking stuff.   Y'all, it doesn't matter how many times he tells me the names of ...

Do you know what your husband is doing right now? Here's mine scraping away the shoddy workmanship of the builder.   He's already scraped away the wall next to my sink and the windowsill that was falling apart.  When we get finished with this place, it's going to be like new. He needed a mask for all of the dust/debris he was kicking up with that tool that-I-don't-know-the-name -of.  We didn't have a mask lying around.  Or a bandanna.  So that's what he chose.  He's pretty good at improvising, right? I know you're jealous. A continued list of things I'm learning: 4.  Electricity and The Husband do not mix.  Well, actually, they've mixed quite a lot these past few days.  Too much.  He's been shocked (and has the electrical cuts/burns to prove it) so many times that I've lost count.  But our brand-spankin'-shiny outlets, switches, and wall plates look great! :) 5.  Small painting projects that one might assume ( ...

Things I've learned so far in our house - modification journey : 1. When replacing pieces of sheet rock, don't expect the sheet rock dust to stay in a nice two by two area under the place being worked on.  Oh no.  Expect those particles to reach crevices that you often forget exist.  Across the room. 2. Scrubbing base boards, painting borders, and rolling paintbrush rollers is all painful/awkward with a sprained finger.   3.  Wear comfortable shoes.  Then, when you notice those "comfortable" shoes aren't really all they're cracked up to be, don't insist on wearing them longer out of sheer laziness.  Toe cramps set in.  Not pretty. Back to work.

Can you guess what major modifications we'll be making to our home over the next few days? Don't tell if you are already in the know ;)

I'm working backwards as I type up this post of new things.  Just a heads up.  You know, just in case you are not one of those people that thumbs through a magazine and begins reading the last pages first. Again, I'm seriously contemplating getting rid of my FB account.  If I do, it may or may not be a forever thing.  We'll see. This isn't exactly new news, but my finger is still sprained, which means today it still hurts to bend it.  It also means things like typing, writing, slicing, and stirring are difficult. My current penmanship looks like a toddler's.  Though not an impressive sight normally, the act of signing my name on something now has simply become embarrassing. The Husband and I went to visit my parents last week, and when we came home from that trip on Thursday it was with a few extra items: two pieces of gently used living room furniture from The Best Friend, to be exact.  They wanted more floor space in their living room, and ...