showing off gifts

Now that Christmas is over and all gifts have been exchanged, I can show off some of the gifts that CJ and I have been working on for the past few weeks.

While browsing online for fabric for myself, I ran across this sock monkey print.  I've always wanted a sock monkey, but could never figure out what to do with it.  My mother-in-law likes sock monkeys too, so when I found this fabric, I knew I'd have to buy it for her and make a pillow.

Here's a close-up of the fabric:



Here's the coordinating fabric I bought for the back.  I know it's just polka dots, but isn't it cute?



I have a little left over, so I just need to figure out what I can make to coordinate it into my house somehow...

Oh, and I bought the fabric from The Little Fabric Shop.  She has lots of cute fabrics (I bought more than just the sock monkeys), in case you're interested.  (Oh, and I wasn't paid to mention this -- just did it because I had a good experience.)

christmas #2

Well, Christmas is finally over for us!  We spent a day and half with both families and are finally settling back in -- as much as you can with a house that looks like a tornado went through.

All in all, it was a pretty good Christmas weekend for us.  In the (nearly) three years we've been together, this was the first Christmas CJ and I have ever been able to spend together.  I think I just enjoyed spending time with our families and not having to rush from one get-together to another.  Plus, we got some pretty great gifts.  And, after running (mostly) loose for four of the last five days, we have one tired Henry on our hands, which might be the best present of all.  (Kidding.  Sort of.)

I still have several more days of vacation, which are probably going to fly by.  I haven't crossed one thing off my to-do list.  I think I might make a special meal for us for New Year's Eve -- stay tuned on that one -- and at the very least, I hope to start my big sewing project.  I also got plenty of cookbooks and sewing books for Christmas, so that should keep me busy (planning out projects that I won't be able to finish for months, that is).

We hope you all had a great Christmas as well!  Now we can move on to other things -- SPRING!

christmas #1

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at my in-laws' this year.  In three years, it was the first time CJ and I had ever been able to spend Christmas together.  And, it was also the first time in about five years that CJ had been able to spend the day with his family too.

On the 23rd, my father-in-law called CJ to let him know we were going to have visitors over Christmas.  Over the past year or so, my in-laws have trained to become foster parents, and just a few days before Christmas, they were able to take in three sisters all under the age of three.  It was fun to watch them on Christmas morning -- I haven't experienced Santa since I was about seven or eight, after all!

Santa even brought CJ something he's wanted for the longest time:

joy!

It's not too late for one last holiday project, right?  I actually finished this one on the 23rd -- it took me a whole five minutes, after all -- but just didn't have time to put it on the blog before leaving for the in-laws' on the 24th.

Basically I took some leftover wrapping paper, a glue stick, and an 8x10" cheap-o frame I found in the Target $1 bin ... and ta-da, more Christmas art!

worn. out.

Someone had a little too much Christmas fun.

happy christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us, including a humiliated (and bribed) Henry, an angry Stella, and Bridget, who saw what we were doing to the other two pets and couldn't be found.  We hope you all have a safe & happy holiday!

Noel

I'm not going to lie.  We started this project last year at Christmas.  You'd think it was the most complicated project ever, creating a frame and buying the glass, but life sometimes gets in the way.

Anyway, my real point here was to point out one of my secrets for decorating on the cheap -- framing postcards or greeting cards, like what I did here with one of last year's Christmas cards.  I really loved these cards, and now it's one of my new favorite holiday decorations.

So, easy art for around five bucks.  Keep it in mind the next time you see a card you like!

Joyeux Noel.

now I'm ready for Christmas.

We're back to breathing again.  I finished up class on Thursday night, walked outside, and thought to myself, "Now it feels like Christmas."  I still have to go to work three days this week, but because I don't have class again until January 6th, it's like I'm already on vacation.  And it's awesome.

CJ has finished up classes for the semester too.  He gets more time off than I do.  (Not.  Fair.)  I'm not entirely sure what he plans to do with his time, but I know I've been waiting on a sewing machine chair for weeks now, soooo here's hoping he makes that a priority.

We sold two cornhole board sets, plus several sets of cornhole bags, these past few weeks too.  I pretty much hate making cornhole bags, so once I finish up this set (only eight more to go!), I'm done.  It's bor-ing.  On Friday night, I was making a set, grumbling to myself how much I hated making them, got them turned inside out, and realized I sewed the set on a 1" seam instead of a 1/2" seam.  Awesome.  But anyway, enough about that.  Since it's super boring making them, I can't imagine it's super fun reading about how bored I am  about it either.

So anyway, now that I have this time off, I really only intend to tackle one sewing project.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Fingers crossed that it looks all right, because I'm doing a whole lot of mixing patterns for this project, so it could just bomb.  I also intended to make two recipes that I've been dying to make for about a year now, but my break seems to have been filled up already, so who knows if I can even make two meals.  (How sad.  I only have three things on my to do list, and I have no idea if I'll have time to do them all.)

We've had a pretty good weekend too, now that school is over, and we can focus on having a bit of fun.  We went to see Wicked last night.  I really liked it.  I had tried reading the book years ago, but couldn't get into it, so I might try it again.  (Just add it to my to-do-over-Christmas list.)  My parents came down today, so it was nice to spend some time with them.  Dad and CJ watched the Colts game while Mom and I went shopping, as I needed completely random things like hand soap, chocolate chips, and hot pink thread.  And, I even made chocolate chip cookies tonight.

I'm going to close this down.  I'm rambling, and would be quite surprised if anyone read it to the end.  See what a break from school does to me?  I need that structure and stress to focus!

tv fan

Both cats love the tv.  Stella loves sitting in front of the tv sensor so that we can't change the channels or adjust the volume.  And then she just stares at us.  Bridget likes to get right in front of the tv and watch from two inches away, especially if it's the only light on in the living room.

Silly cat.

But at least something was keeping me company in the middle of the night when only QVC offered quality programming.

golden graham bars

Consider yourself warned:  These will not last long.


Golden Graham Bars
3 C. mini marshmallows
2/3 C. Karo light syrup
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
10 oz. pkg. peanut butter chips
6 C. Golden Grahams cereal

Grease 11x7" or 9x13" pan.  Heat corn syrup, butter, and chips to just boiling, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Pour over cereal in a large bowl and toss quickly.  Fold in marshmallows and press into pan.

Enjoy!

upcycled vase

For my birthday/early Christmas, my parents bought me some lighted branches.  I'll admit:  I was skeptical of what I was going to do with them.  But, when I got our Christmas decorations out a few weeks ago, I decided that I did like them, but just needed the right vase for it.  Nothing we had worked, but then I found this broken vase in our hall closet.  It came with CJ, but I never used it because it was in such bad shape.  Turns out, he didn't even remember owning it, so I covered it in twine one night while watching a movie.  And, as a bonus, since I already had the twine and hot glue on hand, I technically count this as a free craft.

'tis the season

'Tis the season...to be sick, stressed, and a tiny bit disorganized.

And when I say tiny bit, I really mean wildly disorganized.

I've posted way ahead, so it appears we've been doing projects, when that's really not really the case.

I've been sick, finishing up Day #8.   It started out as a sinus headache that lasted several days, then turned into laryngitis, and congestion pretty much everywhere.

Amidst this, I finished up Statistics this week.  I turned in my final project and had a three question in-class final.  There was also a take-home final of eighteen questions.  At one point, I had been sitting at the kitchen table for an hour, staring at the same two problems.  I finally broke down crying, praying to God that He'd help me out.  What came to me was this:  "You have a 25% chance of getting these questions right.  Cut your losses and guess.  It's not worth crying over."  I turn in the take home part tomorrow, and I'm not confident in my answers at all.  But, given the circumstances, it was actually my best work.

On a positive note, finishing up Statistics means there is one more core class left...and only EIGHT months left in grad school!

CJ has finals this week, and that's pretty much it for him.

So, Christmas has kind of been on hold for a little bit, but now that school is wrapping up for the semester or at least for a few weeks, we'll be able to get those Christmas decorations up in the house instead of in a pile on the floor.

the original coupon queen

Remember how I've complained about the cats sitting on my coupons?  Here's Bridget caught in the action:

I just don't understand what's so appealing about it.

pillow #2

I found made some time to get some sewing done, and made pillow #2 for our living room.  I'm excited to report that it didn't take me very long either!

I bought some other types of fabric to make pillows, so stay tuned to see what I can whip up (I'm going to branch out of the typical square pillow form)!

picketing elves

Several months ago, I saw a listing on etsy for some carved characters.  They were really cute, and included picketing elves, a Santa, nativity set, etc., among others.  Two problems:  it was $40 for a small little elf (most characters were well over $100) and my husband does woodworking on the side.  So, as with lots of other things, we made our own picketing elves.

Merry Christmas.

such a funny cat

Stella is such a funny cat.  I suppose most animals are, just like people are.

When we adopted Stella, I bought her this little cat donut bed.  I never bought one for Bridget, but felt that I'd need to make Stella feel more at home since she was coming into a home with a set-in-her-ways cat and an over-anxious dog.  She rarely used it, so it just kind of got shoved to the side. I eventually moved it to the guest bedroom.

One day, I got home from work to find Stella sleeping in her donut bed on our chaise lounge.  My first thought was, "Is our furniture not soft and comfortable enough for you?  Geeze."  Then my second thought was that Henry dragged it out of the guest bedroom.  Turnedo ut that Stella dragged it from the guest bedroom all the way into the living room and up on the chaise lounge.

So there it remains, for our cat who is too particular to sit on our nice furniture.  (I guess I should count my blessings, right, that it prefers its own bed to my furniture?)

cornhole factory

My jeep got booted out of the garage again, this time to set up a little cornhole board factory to fulfill two orders (exciting!).

Interested in a set?  Find more info here!

Now that I'm all set up sewing-wise, I'll be making cornhole bags too.  No prices yet for those, but that's an option too if you're interested.

the picture of disappointment

Henry was upset about the Colts game on Sunday too.

sewing table

I've decided to take up sewing in my free time.  (HA!  Free time?!)  This is one reason why we decided to make the guest bedroom multi-functional.  We searched around for tables CJ could make for me, and although this wasn't our first pick, we ended up with one that definitely meets our other criteria -- that it's functional and space-saving.  Plus, I think CJ did a really good job with it.

Here's the finished product.  The bottom, larger box will hold my sewing machine, and the other will hold my supplies and whatever else I can fit in there.

And here it is, folded up:

And here it is, folded up against the wall, completely out of the way:



I only have about ten sewing projects lined up, so now I just need to get a sewing machine and find some free time, and I'll be good to go!

thanksgiving break

Thanksgiving break couldn't get here soon enough.  And, naturally, it flew by way too fast.  But, I just keep telling myself that after I go back, I only have to work two full weeks and two partial weeks before I get a week and a half off for vacation.

So what have we done?

We've gotten in lots of Henry playing time:

After a day of cleaning yesterday (thanks again, Mom & Dad, for your help), I got out some of our Christmas decorations to surprise CJ, who was at work.  (As many of you know, I have a strict no-Christmas rule until Thanksgiving is over, and even then, I'm still never anxious to put out decorations.)  The pets all reacted differently to the new decorating.

There was the uneasy/why-are-you-messing-up-everything look I got from Bridget:

And then the downright annoyed look from Stella (in all fairness, this is usually how she looks anyway):

And then there was Henry, who normally would have been all about Christmas decorations, but was too tired from doggie daycare to notice I was doing anything:

(As a side note, have I mentioned how much I love doggie daycare?  It's totally worth the money.)

Today, we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch.  As many of you know, that was where we went for our first date/where we met the first time.  Unfortunately the booth where we spent three hours talking wasn't available today.  Bummer.  But the food was good, even if the service was poor this time around.  (CJ said it was better this time because I wasn't so nervous.)  After that, we went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  CJ loved it.  Me, not so much.  (But life isn't all about me sometimes.)

So all in all, it's been a good three days off.  Maybe my last day off will go by extra slow??

the pergola.

CJ has talked about building a pergola for ages now, but I maintain that our yard isn't that big and that a pergola will just take over what little space we do have.  One of my co-workers' husbands has always wanted a pergola too, so CJ got to working on it for him.  He started this back in August, and finally finished it a few days ago.  In the picture below, it's not entirely finished (the tops need to be cut off), but at least CJ's part is.  Can I just say how thankful I am that this project is complete?

Didn't he do a good job?

we're back

I'm back.  Everything just got a little hectic for a bit.  But now we both have a week off of school, so things look better now than they did ten days ago when I last posted.  We haven't been busy with much.  I got a good grade on my Stats midterm (not the 100% I had hoped to get, but I'm still proud of it).  I went to Mishawaka on Friday for work.  I hosted Thanksgiving for my in-laws today. 

Most notable, however, was that we saw the newest Harry Potter movie.  To celebrate, Henry donned a Gryffindor scarf for me:

Clearly, he wasn't as excited about being Henry Potter this time around as he was for Halloween 2009:

Come to think of it, I don't think he was excited about being Henry Potter then, either.

I digress.

CJ's finished several projects around the house, so I should have plenty of blog fodder to last me for several weeks, so check back tomorrow night for one of his biggest projects to date...

coming to a screeching halt

No one probably realizes this or cares, but I blog well in advance of when everything posts.  For starters, it saves me time to log in once a week and jot down three posts than it is to log in three separate times.  So, when you read about something, it usually happened weeks or months prior.  Plus, it keeps people coming to our blog.  (Not that I know how many people actually read our blog, but if I never posted, no one would ever come.)  Most importantly, we always have about ten projects going on at any given time, so I never lack any material.

Everything came to a halt this week.  Wednesday's post may be my last for awhile (several days or a week or two?).  We're just a little too swamped with work and school to devote time to projects and everything lasts longer than it should.  An example?  CJ has been working on a project for me that he anticipated would take him two days.  That was three weeks ago.

So stay tuned.  I'll post randomly if anything exciting happens to us (i.e. if I get an A on my Statistics midterm that's due tonight).  And I'll get back on a regular posting schedule soon enough, because we really do have cute projects to show off just as soon as we can finish them.  I know you'll all be waiting on the edge of your seats.

jewelry making 101

My friend, Amanda, and I bought a groupon for two beading classes at Beads Amore, so we took our first beading class a few weeks ago.  Here's what I came up with:

Now that I have a new hobby, guess what everyone's getting for Christmas?

chicken spaghetti casserole

Fact:  Velveeta makes everything better.

Fact #2:  CJ doesn't like spaghetti.

Put the two together though, and you have a winner.  Or at least where CJ is concerned.

Chicken Spaghetti Casserole
Smockity Frocks via $5 Dinners

Chicken (I used 3 chicken breasts)
1/2 stick butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1/3 pkg Velveeta
1 can Cream of Mushroom
1 can Rotel
1 can Milk (I forgot it, but it still turned out fine)
12 oz spaghetti (I eyeballed it, so I may have used more or less)
Shredded cheddar (enough to sprinkle on top)

Cook chicken.  Boil spaghetti.  Saute onion in large pan with butter.  Add Rotel and Velveeta and cook until melted.  Whisk in Cream of Mushroom Soup.  Add milk, then chicken.  Mix with spaghetti.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Heat at 350 degrees until bubbly.

I added more Velveeta than the recipe called for.  It made it a little too Velveeta-y for me, so I wouldn't recommend doing that.  Also, I thought it was better leftover than it was the first go-around.  Enjoy!

stella's new pillow

Computers apparently make the best pillows.  Who knew?

colts gnome

Back in June when we went to that janky flea market in Cincinnati, we bought a gnome.  CJ and I don't seem to agree on too much, but we typically seem to agree on the more quirky things, like a gnome.  Anyway, I finally got around to painting it a few weeks ago.  Originally I painted him in fuchsia and turquoise (mostly because I like those colors, but also to be funny), but I think CJ was disappointed he wasn't done in Colts colors, so I repainted him as a surprise.  And rest assured, like our Colts Mr. Potato Head, he will only come out for Colts season.

Go Colts!

this year's pumpkin

The year we were engaged, we carved pumpkins, but it's just really not our thing, so I paint fake pumpkins instead.  Last year, I painted a monogram on one, but I think it got put away with our Christmas decorations.  So this year, I bought a plain cheap pumpkin from Michael's, dotted it with puffy paint, and sprayed it with flat white paint.  (I stole the idea from Young House Love.)

happy howl-oween

The last Wednesday of every month, Moochie & Co., the pet store in the Greenwood Mall, holds an event for your pets.  If you bring them in, you can get a discount on your purchase.  Last Wednesday was their Howl-oween Party.  CJ had to work, so I decided I'd take Henry.  After all, he was really good the last time we took him.  I also forgot that the last time I took Henry, CJ was with me and Henry had also spent the entire day at doggie day care, so he was exhausted.

When we arrived, the store was empty.  Perfect.  The associate helped me put some costumes on Henry, none of which I bought.

Then....

In came three women -- an older woman and two teenagers.  At first, the teenagers were normal, nice, whatever you want to call it.  They were letting Henry lick them all over their faces (yuck -- do you know where his mouth has been?).  Then one of the girls said, "Oh, I'd love to take him home."  Okay, fine.  You hear people say that all the time about cute babies or puppies.  It's harmless.  But she kept going.  "Will you please let me take your dog home?  Please?"  To Henry:  "Will your mommy let me take you home?"  (Mommy -- ugh.  I'm not the dog's mother.)  "Can I have your dog?"  Really?  Who asks that?  "Why sure, I haven't spent a lot of time, effort, and money on this dog.  I'll just send him home with a stranger."  Just as I was starting to think she was about ready to unhook his leash and steal Henry, they left.

Then...

In comes two women with a doberman pincher.  The two dogs sniff each other out and seem cool with one another, then the doberman bears his teeth and starts growling at Henry.  Henry, who knows no stranger and wants to be everyone's friend, keeps wanting his attention.  The owner kept saying, "Don't worry.  He's harmless."  Yep, looks friendly to me.

Then...

Enter a couple with four -- yes, four -- australian shepherds.   They were all dressed as Wizard of Oz characters.  It was super cute.  But these people were just a bit odd.  They just stood there.  Didn't look around the store; didn't talk to anyone.  Just stood there.  Then one of the girls with the doberman asks if she could pet one of the dogs and the owner was like, "Ohhh, I don't know.  Approach him slowly."  Why in the world would you bring your dog or dogs to a dog party if you knew that one or more of your dogs wasn't friendly?  (They seemed friendly.)

Meanwhile...

Henry still wanted to play with the doberman pincher.  He got so mad at me that he did the thing where he throws his paws out (kind of like how a kid can make themselves feel like dead weight) and started balking.  He got his collar off.  Awesome.  Luckily, this has happened before, and so long as I don't panic, he will sit down for me and let me put it back on.  (If it happens when CJ is around, he runs.)  All's well that ends well, but I was still envisioning Henry running through the middle of the mall...

About this time, I decided that it was time to go, but that Henry was getting a discounted toy for all the trouble I went through to get him there for a little fun.

Then...

In walks bounces a miniature poodle.  Bridget and Stella, either one individually, could have handled this poodle with one paw, it was so puny.  The poodle was friendly, but bounced right up to Henry, wanting to play with him, wanting to play with the doberman (who was still not happy), and then starts yipping really, really loudly.

I somehow managed to get out of the store in one piece, and learned my lesson for sure:  don't take Henry back there without CJ.

Happy Howl-oween everyone.

get off, get off, get off!

I'm constantly yelling at the cats to get off our stuff.  I'll give Henry credit here.  Yes, he typically annoys me at least two times per day.  But, Henry seems to prefer a clean spot to lay down.  The cats?  They don't care what's in their way, and it's really annoying.  It's kind of like how Stella must think I buy nice purses for her to relax.

new henry toy

I think I've said this before, but we pretty much love Moochie & Co in the Greenwood mall.  Their pet products are expensive, but with one exception, the toys last.  We'd rather spend a little bit more money on a dog toy that's going to last and last, than a cheaper one that will break in a week, because we end up spending more money in the long haul that way.

Our newest favorite toy is the huck ball. It's made from recycled materials and is quite durable. And as you can see, Henry loves it. And, well, anything that keeps Henry interested and out of my hair is a very, very good thing.

Although it'd certainly be appreciated, we definitely didn't receive any compensation for our endorsement of Moochie & Co. or the Huck Ball.  Just wanted to pass along info for those of you who have a dog at home that may like this product.

button magnets

You all know how I like etsy.  Awhile ago, I saw someone selling button magnets on etsy for something like $8 a pop.  They were cute, but I knew I could make them cheaper.  One day while perusing Joann Fabrics, I saw their buttons were on sale, so I picked up a few packages for about $4 total.  I paired the new buttons with some old ones of mine and some magnets I already had at home, and ta-da -- new magnets in about five minutes.  And I must say, I think mine are cuter than the $8 button magnet for sale on etsy.

guest room overhaul

Our next house project is an overhaul of our guest bedroom.  While we have had a few guests, the room really is just a catch-all for us.  I'm not saying it looked great back then, but when I took part in a garage sale in July, I decided I wanted to get rid of several of our super cheap bookcases.  They were filled with books of course, so we boxed everything up and stacked the tubs in the guest bedroom ... along with everything else.  Need a can of pink spray paint?  Done.  How about an outdated paramedic manual?  No problem.  How about a bicycle?  The guest bedroom's obviously the most appropriate place to store it!

And this was about ready to make me scream:

Awful, I know.  Embarrassing, actually.  But, I've never made any claims to be housekeeper of the year either, so it's not like this is my dirty little secret.

The problem is we have too much stuff.  I got rid of two bags of trash in just a quick sweep around the room last weekend. We boxed up the books that we just can't store now but can't stand to get rid of (because, you know, we might read all of those books sometime in the future).  We took some furniture to my parents' to store until we have a bigger house.  And I gave back the extra bed frame my parents gave me when I got my very first apartment five years ago, because it's no longer needed.

Now that the room is a truckload lighter, I'm still left with this mess:

Sad, really, how much stuff you can amass and not even realize, thinking that you might need it one day.

Stay tuned though.  Over the next several weeks, we'll be redoing the room and will keep everyone posted with the details.

And hey, this probably made everyone else feel better, because surely no one else has a room this messy, right?

coupon lover

I'm not sure why, but both cats love when I clip coupons.  And their favorite place is right in the middle of the action, usually spewing coupons all over the house in the process.  I don't get it.

best seat in the house

I'm not entirely sure why, but all three of the pets seem to like my side of the bed best of all the places to sit in the house.  Henry is definitely not allowed on our bed, but I'm pretty sure he sleeps there when we're not at home.  And as you can see, the cats are now friends -- or at least they're friendly.

legos!

CJ and I have always loved Legos.  He was always into building the sets, whereas I would build the sets once and then make my own creations.  Truth be told, if we had the space (and time) now, we'd probably play with Legos even now.

We went up to my parents' today, partially to drop off some things (I'll write about that later) and partially to go to the Indy Brick Jamboree with my mom.  There were 7 different displays, all quite large and 90% of the displays were not made from sets, which made it even more impressive.  We thought it was pretty cool, so I thought I'd share some of the pictures.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- with 3,000 figures!

Two streakers at the Motor Speedway

Lucas Oil Stadium -- This might have been my favorite.  The roof retracted, just like the real thing!

The Lego models had numbers like the real Colts players and had their names in tiny print on the back of the jerseys too.  The defense was out on the field, but you could see Lego Jeff Saturday and Lego Adam Vinateri on the sidelines, with Lego Peyton Manning sitting down talking on the phone to the coaches.

You can see the locker rooms near the front of the picture.  In the corner of the stadium, there was a miniature TV, just like the giant screen in Lucas Oil.

This scene was with three pirate ships (which I always wanted -- CJ has two of them though) invading a beach.

Pirates invading the beach.  Some beachgoers were being attacked, while others still lounged around, drinking fruity drinks.

The next photos are of the largest one, an original scene.  As you walked around, you could search around for hidden figures -- 6 Starbucks locations (we could only find two), Star Wars characters, etc.  In addition to what you were supposed to find, there were all sorts of other cool Lego characters.

Penguins

Pumpkin farmer shooing a cow out of his crops

Train with ghosts and skeletons inside

A stranded group of hippies with their VW van