Yeight yeight

Another week closer to Christmas guys.

My mom and dad came to state on Saturday and they came to town after hanging out with my aunt on Monday.  GoodLooking came home from work early sicker than he had ever been.  That night I was wishing I was dead.  GoodLooking stayed home on Tuesday and my mom took care of us.  She boiled up a chicken and made good broth and separated the meat form the bones.  I bucked up and took her to the antique store to get her some Fiestaware.  Then had to sleep all night after a needed blessing.  They left on Wednesday morning though.  I am sooo thankful that they came but sad that we couldn't be more fun.  We were sick the whole time they were here.

We are feeling much better though.  The broth was great and the chicken I used to make a lot of sandwiches and today we had chicken noodle soup with the rest of it and the broth.

Kind of the Same

I don't find that my life is very blog worthy lately but here are a few small things of note.

The other day, I bought some cute jeans from walmart (yeah, I know).  They looked good in the fitting room (stupid low lit small rooms with skinny mirrors) but when I got home to try them on for GoodLooking it was a different story.  I don't know if you have seen it but there is a good Geico commercial with Abe Lincoln involved and it was just like that.  I put them on and he made "the face" and I knew he wanted to say something but wasn't quite sure yet how to get it out.  Then, I was able to see the backside in a well lit room.  The pockets were supper far apart making my now smaller backside look big.  Then, Honey laughed (for reals.  It was perfect timing)

Sold this Beauty.

Made these bad boys a while ago... so good.. and moist.

got these guys off craigslist.

That upper right drawer was a beast to get open and we found a children's book

yeah.. that is yellow wall paper under the cheap white paint

Strip Tease from a month ago

I am borrowing a sander from a friend and it goes a lot faster than sanding by hand but I have to be really careful I don't take the rippled detailing out of the edge.  The dresser is almost done.  Just the front with all the ripples and that bottom piece left.  I plan to stain it but GoodLooking has other ideas. I am not doing all this work just to paint it.

Honey

Is now over 10 months and only has 2 teeth. 

She LOVES mixed vegetables with beef... would eat it every night if I let her.  

Loves oatmeal with fruit in it.

Crawling... can sprawl (sprint crawl) 

Claps, wipes hands together, noggin, waves, and we are teaching her some useful things soon.

loves going through my bathroom drawers, kitchen cabinets, and diaper bag

obsessed with shoes

All legs...and torso...she is just really tall.

spiced apple sauce

she loves sucking on those handles

grandma greats house

Grandma Great

Doing great and we are really excited about the upcoming holidays.  We are driving home for Christmas so if anyone needs anything from Texas, let us know. and check out our other blog. and be inspired.

Strip Tease

This is my new hobby.

This is my new project.

And..

here is your strip tease!

all the drawer fronts are done but Honey woke up before we could get the rest of it done.

Recent Project

I recently came into some furniture from my aunt.  A tall dresser, night stand, desk, chair, and floor standing mirror with two legs.  I decided it would be Honeys furniture and thought about what I could do to make it more child friendly.  I painted it purple and yellow (which happens to be the local high schools colors).  It is not done drying at the moment but when it is, it will be placed and I can take pictures.

That project got me thinking that I like refinishing furniture.  Yes, it took a long time, and yes a lot of painters tape BUT I think it turned out good (it's not perfect but good).  Halfway into the project, GoodLooking found a desk on the side of the road that was in pretty bad shape but it had the makings of a nice piece with some hard work and thought (not TLC because I was not tender and am trying not to fall in love with it).  While cleaning it, I found a sticker on the underside and looked it up.  It came from a BANK.  for realz. 

I really like the way it turned out and it is my first refinishing project for sale in my ETSY store.  I am revamping the store right now so I won't link to it yet but it is listed for $250.  If someone I know is interested in it, we could make a deal.

Typical Day

Lets talk about Tuesday the 18th of September. As I recall it was pretty typical.
 GoodLooking gets up around 5.45 to get ready for work.  At 6.35, he gets Honey up, we have prayers, then he is out the door.  I let Honey play in my room for about 10 minutes then I get up.
7.30 We head out the door for 1.8 miles of trials otherwise known as hills.
8.15 Honey gets cereal and a 6-8 oz bottle of MILK
I put a coat of paint on the desk I am working on (more to come later) while Honey eats cheerios in her walker
Check internet things and update the Jack Sprat Blog 
10.00 6 oz. and bed for a nap
I do the shake n bake and throw the chicken in the oven for Sweet and Sour Chicken
Shower
11.40 GoodLooking is here for lunch and we talk and
12.00 he gets Honey up from her nap to say hi and bye real quick (she waves bye for the first time)
Honey gets 6 oz of MILK
I do dishes and pick up the house, organize a little, some laundry.. you know, domestic stuff.
Check internet
play with Honey
2.30 4 oz of MILK then a nap for Honey
I nap
4.00 We are up and playing
5. Vegetables
5.45 6 oz MILK
6.00 GoodLooking walks in the door
Dinner of leftovers (Lunch is the big meal of the day so I don't prepare anything for dinner.  It's either sandwiches or leftovers)
I work on some writing
8 Honey gets 6-8 oz MILK and put in her bed
Some internet t.v.
9.30 get ready for bed (scriptures, prayers, teeth, and talking)
10.00 bed
10.30 I am out of bed because I can't sleep.  I play the iPod, read, think
1.30 finally back to bed to try to sleep.

That is pretty typical with the exception of me getting up because I can't sleep.  I don't know what is going on right now but I hope it fixes itself because I like to sleep.

Write about your typical day and leave me a message with a link to it so I can read it.

Small Parcel and Little One

When we took my mom to the airport, we also picked up GoodLookings sister Small Parcel.  She brought her baby Little one and we spent the week keeping her pacifier away from Honey.
We ran most of the days (I think 3 times for me) and we did some shopping and planning and talking and just hanging out.  GoodLooking took her to play frisbee with him on Saturday and I stayed home with the two babies that were only 2.5 months apart in age and it helped me realize a couple things. A) I used to think that twins first would be awesome because that would be double help with later children BUT it means double trouble till they can help I guess, 2) Having more than one might be okay. and D) Honey can entertain herself.  This I already knew but she is a smart girl.

In other fascinating news, Honey has 1 tooth broken through and another either erupted or just about to.  Problem is, she won't let anyone look close enough at them.  She wants to walk but is a scaredy cat.  She gets into EVERYTHING and can reach anything on the coffee table if it is not in the dead center of it.. ie computers, cords, camera, other such things we use everyday and are too lazy to get out, put away, get out, put away a million times a day.  Right now she is in a whiney stage (hopefully that ends soon).  Her furniture is almost done being refinished.  Actually, it is refinished, it just needs to sit for a month curing.

GoodLooking and I have lost weight... a combined total of 40 pounds. check out OUR blog for details.

Also, I can run 1.5 miles in 18 minutes.  This week I am adding a mile.

My Momma

A few weeks ago, my mom was able to come and visit.  It was a nice relaxing visit and she helped me get started on a furniture redo project.  She very kindly and motherly helped with Honey and shared a lot of knowledge and stories and some insight to how her growing up years were.  I feel so special to be who I am and be where I am.  I am so glad she followed the example of her sister and was baptized. If my mom hadn't made some hard choices in her life,  I would not be me.  The more time I spend with my mom, the more I come to a knowledge that her youth was HARD.  It's not to say she didn't have some good memories but she is a miracle.  

"Wolfinger’s research also suggests that if one spouse comes from divorced parents, the couple may be up to twice as likely to divorce. Spouses who are both children of divorced parents are three times more likely to divorce as couples who both hail from intact families."

Statistically, my parents had an elevated chance of divorce being that her parents got divorced when she was young and also that she married at a young age.  My parents also faced hard times, trials, and other unknown factors.  Even with all this against them, they love each other more than can be put into words.  I never saw them in heated discussion.  I never saw my dad yell at my mom or vice versa.  My father was an example to me of what I deserve in a loving relationship.  From him I learned that I can demand respect, love, and help.  My mother was an example of how strong I can be, what I can do, and who I can become.  I am so thankful for their strength.  I am thankful that they pushed through hard times working and growing closer together. 

Thank you Mom and Dad

Running

My awesome cousin has a blog that sent me to this .
It gave me goose flesh.  I totally know how that feels.  To not want to go to the gym because skinny people go to the gym.  Skinny people that can lift a bajillion pounds on the weight machines that I don't really know how to use (I just used them to look smart and strong).  When I very first started to run (after my soccer days and into my senior year of HS), I could not run a mile.  I felt dumb and defeated.  I kept at it (pretending to have a cramp or that I had to re-tie my shoe over and over so I could take a breather).  Finally, I found a treadmill that I felt I could run better on.  I did a whole mile.  It took 15 minutes but I ran the whole thing.  Fast Forward to 6 years later marriage, travel, a little bit of running, some loss, pain, and a baby and I can run 1.5 miles in 18 minutes.
"Running is more of a mental challenge than a physical one"  I have heard that before and thought "I am not stupid". Running hurts.  "It's a jarring experience".  While yes it is a physical challenge, it builds me into a strong person.  I have to make choices when running. I could stop running.  and just walk.  No one cares if I run.  It's totally MY choice.  The more I run, the more I understand that quote.  At first, it is VERY physical.  But, as you grow and become fit, it is a mental experience.

Running, joggin, wogging, skipping, or hopping 

get out and do it.

Loving

I want to pay tribute to a few things that I use and love.

First, the swiffer vacuum.

I first got a swiffer while we were in MS for the summer.  It worked well so I took it back to UT with us. With the larger apartment (our MS apartment was a converted hotel room...small) I found that large pieces of debris collect at the front of the cloth and I would think "ugh" and continue on BUT duh duh duh DUH.  THIS is the amazingER upgrade.  It has a vacuum.   

AWESOME! (I know right*).

I just put the cloth on and I can do the whole house without running out of battery and without getting frustrated or making piles all over that I later have to get the broom and dustpan out for anyway. LOVE

Second, A weed whacker

Texas has grass.  and it grows.  We don't water it.  but. It grows.  Nice right... wrong.  We have a reel mower meaning no power (great work out) and without that power, if the grass is really long, it takes FOR-E-VER! and it is hot!  AND if you go on vacation and the grass gets long it is IM-POS-I-BLE. ENTER----weed whacker!**

Not only can I "mow" LONG grass (like a jungle okay?!) but I can get it as short as I want and it doesn't take nearly as long.  Downside... takes electricity.. from the house.. raising our power bill (I am on a mission to lower our power bill a lot)

Third, Microfiber

Rags! I got a lot for a little.  Awesome bright color*** and they are great for cleaning anything.  I van even get the nasty sticky, dusty, stuck on dirtiness of the toaster with this rag and WATER! cleans the microwave like a dream again.. just water.  mop floor, do windows, mirrors, counters, walls, we washed the car with them this morning. they are the coolest.

*I said "I know, right" and for some reason I like it a lot

** That's not the one we own but this picture is fine

*** If you get these (sams club) WASH THEM ALL TOGETHER IN ONE LOAD WITH JUST THEM.  UGH!

who's that?? my baby!

Boy Howdy it is HOT!

We just got back from spending a long time in Utah and Idaho (it didn't feel like a long time while we were there but when we got back, we realized it had indeed been a long time).  It was an amazing trip filled with family, a few friends, and great food*.  I didn't realize how hot it was here till the day after traveling home and walking outside to go run (I did not end up running because it was 105 degrees + humidity).  Blegch.  Also, I found out that our grass had grown a ton making it take 3 hours to be mowed by the boy that comes every once-in-a-while to mow it (we hire him when we miss a week or can't do it).

We walked into our house and it stunk.  The fish tank water was nasty!  The fish, I think, had been over-fed.  We did some damage control last night and it looks a bit better but it will need more help over the next week or two.

Yesterday, Betty and I were in the kitchen.  There wasn't anything that I could see on the floor that she could get into so I went to the bathroom and when I came back, she was chewing on something and had brownish slobber.  I quickly dug in.  It took a while but when I finally got it out, it was a little beetle (like a june bug that sits on the top of pool water when you have the pool light on).  AHHH GROSS!

I am extremely proud of myself for getting unpacked in one day.  It usually takes me about a week or two to get it all put away.

*All the food we ate was amazing and I had all that I wanted and only gained 1/2 a pound on our trip.  Super amazed and proud when I found that out.

Here's to counting down the days till my mom gets here, Small Parcel comes, and Christmas!!!

Sometimes I think to myself “self, you should try cloth diapers and save us a bunch of money”  but then….

WE HAVE A DAY LIKE TODAY.

Honey woke up at 5 and was fed then back to bed.  Up again at 9 and fed.  Fed again at 11 and napped 45 minutes.  Then we took GoodLooking to work and then to the post office and two drycleaners.  Then at home she ate 2 ounces of sweat peas (makes her gag a little) and some baby oatmeal.  We were playing on the rug when it happened.  Not in a so noticeable way at first but gradually became noticeable.  She was watching the fish and leaning forward and back and breathing heavy.  The sound was first, then came the smell.  I let her finish and then proceeded to her room where the changing desk is.  Opened up the pants then the WHITE onsie.  Then unVelcro the diaper.  Not so much was there “weird” then I lifted her cheeks to wipe and there it was… Exploded up her back was a lot of greenish brown stink.  DANGIT!

The onsie had to come off down the legs to not cover her face and hair in stench.  I threw it away to save myself from having to deal with it.  Then I put her on a changing pad on the floor because she was naked and drew up a bath.  By the time I came back, she had peed on the carpet.  I scooped her up and dunked her in the bath, washed everything and got her dried, lotioned, and diapered.  I then went to pick something for her to wear and by the time I got back, her diaper had a blue stripe (meaning it was wet).   Another change, dressed, and back to bed.  WHEW.  I am glad we have disposable diapers and that she was wearing something I didn’t mind throwing out and that we have a diaper genie. 

Never before seen photos

Found some great photos on phones and while browsing the camera and computer so here they are.

only a few weeks old

 I think this is her one month check up

her easter dress in McKinney

Trying out a cool chair at Tarjay on the top shelf... Dont worry, GoodLooking was right there.

Only a few days after my new haircut

Trying out a walker think at Walword

The really old microwave we have had since we got married.

Honey

ATTEMPTED photo shoot

We are REALLY enjoying Lone Star and the house.  and I am so thankful that GoodLooking got a job here.

Baking For Your Blog

So, I was on a site that shall be named "stick-it-note-trest" and I went to one of the links for a recipe of something (which I usually do because I am TRYING to lose weight and the best way NOT to do that is by going on "stick-it-note-trest" and look at all the amazing fatty food that I COULD be making) and it was a blog with a recipe for something with crisco, 2 sugars, egg, salt, blah blah and blah and the silly person that writes the blog put all the ingredients into separate bowls.  EIGHT BOWLS. Now, considering you don't wash the bowls containing the white sugar, oatmeal, or water, you still have to clean FIVE bowls plus the ONE you mix it all together in and then she has the audacity to put each ingredient for frosting into SIX separate bowls (by now she has run out of glass bowls and had to use 3 wooden bowls lol).  Now its the TWELVE bowls PLUS the ONE to mix the frosting PLUS the ONE pan to bake it in, she was to wash FOURTEEN things PLUS all the mixing stuff, spoons, measuring cups and spoons all just to show everyone what all the ingredients look like before they went into the delicious looking thing.  That is way too much.  I sure hope it was delicious.  If anyone has done this before, please explain to me WHY.

We are the very proud owners of a new fish tank and 14 fish.  It has taken us a lot of fish to get to what we have though.  4 sharks, 2 sunburst, 1 pregnant mickey mouse (livebearing), a silver tetra, and a striped thing is what we started with.  All but 1 sunburst died.  We now have 5 zebras named Z,E,B,R, and A.  4 black skirt tetras named Merlin,  Chunky, and the other 2 we can't tell the difference between so they are nameless.  A Betta named Lucky.  A Goramy named Elvis (because when I put him in the car, I thought he was leaning one way but he fell over and got "all shook up"). 2 Sunbursts named Ari and Zona. and a frog named Polly Waag.  We have killed a lot of fish (non on purpose) to get where we are but are thankful for the 2 week return policy of PetSmart and what we have learned about setting up a fish tank.

Size comparison

Lucky (because he is lucky we bought him...we saw him in a tank being nice to the other fish so we figured he would be okay in our tank)

Ari and Zona

home tour.

This is what our home looks like right now.

Our First Boat

Lots of Pictures.... and even more to come later.

Some pictures may be repeats from the previous post but it is nice to have a second look sometimes.

Here is the front of our house.

 The back yard.  Since this pictures was taken, the neighbor decided to finish his fence.  Our property ends at that bush.

 Here is the other corner... We sit on .3 acre

 What you see when you open the front door. (coat closet on left)

This is the view standing next to the coat closet in the entryway (in the left corner there, is the entry to the kitchen)

 View standing in the entry of kitchen

Standing under the fan 

  Standing under the fan looking at the entryway (back door on left)

 Standing in kitchen entry not looking in kitchen. when standing in that other door way (on same wall as the piano) in front of you is the laundryroom, to the right is garage door, and to left is the master bedroom.

Master Bedroom (door to bathroom and closet)

 Standing inside that doorway looking right

 Standing in doorway looking left

 While in front entryway standing by the coat closet, on the same wall as the kitchen entryway (kind of) is the dining room.  I only have a really dark picture so a better one should come later.

While standing in the kitchen entryway, looking at the wooden desk, to the right is a hallway and this is the view First door on left is the heater, Second door on Left is Honey's room.  The door you are looking at is a closet.  First door on Right is Hall Bath.  Second door on Right is the office.

 Honey's Room

 Office

 MOVE IN DAY

WHAT PROCEEDS IS SOME OF MOVING DAY.

 Honey's room

and that is the house.

and I guess you can have a tour after it is all moved into and looks better.