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.)