gifts from kids

now this student really knows me

getting gifts from kids is the best.
whether it's a macaroni necklace or a homemade card, gifts from kids are so much more original and full of thought than most gifts from adults.

this random calendar of dogs doing yoga poses totally made my day.

PS: I wish I could give gifts (and shop for them) with the same innocence and wonder a child does.

tuesday tidbits

sometimes you go to the wendy's because you're craving a burger and the husband isn't home.

side note: I would've just cooked a healthy dinner for his benefit.  I am try to trick him into eating as many fruits and vegetables as I can so he'll live longer than me.

doesn't this picture seem like the caption should be: ahoy matey?!
and why do I look cross-eyed? yo, I am hot.

whenever I go to get fast food they trick me 

into ordering a huge fry and drink by saying: medium or large?

then I say medium

and they charge me an extra 50 cents and I get fries as big as my face

note to self: 

value size = tiffany size

medium size = I just ran 10 miles and I'm really hungry size

large size = I just ran a marathon so give me everything on the menu size

don't worry though, I don't waste food so I ate it all anyway

didn't I already talk about this in a post before?

 

the drink was the size of my face too

but that's the size sodas should be right?

this picture totally reminds me of my brother who apparently went through a phase where he would hold up stuff in front of his face when you tried to take a picture, because it seems like we have tons of photos of him like this.

I cannot wait to watch the biggest loser contestants run a marathon and cry my eyes out.

but I won't be watching it until tomorrow on hulu so don't even tell me about it because tuesdays are for yoga and wednesdays are for watching the biggest loser on hulu. 

yoga>tv shows

hulu>regular television

 

thanksgiving?

Lately there is this Campbell's soup commercial advertising using their soups for your green bean casserole and the commercial is filled with adorable kitchen timers and the thing is I must have one.   It's really been getting me into this holiday spirit of cooking and being all domestic and using adorable timers, only I don't have one.

But this year all of this Thanksgiving feasting may just be wasted on me, because today, I might be sick.

The thing about being sick on Thanksgiving is that it sort of ruins things.  I have been coming down with a bug since Monday that makes my back tired and my stomach gurgly (and no I am not pregnant so I don't even ask, and especially don't ask if you say prego because I did not turn into spaghetti sauce).

The thing about Thanksgiving is that you are supposed to be grateful for everything in your life and eat too much food and play board games and get ready for black friday shopping.  But this morning I am sitting here with the Macy's parade on the tv, only I never really liked watching it anyway, and I am trying to summon the courage to eat a bowl of oatmeal.

That is really quite pathetic.   I take it as a bad sign that I am not even hungry because usually by 6 AM I am awoken by the rumbling of my own stomach screaming for food.   Once I eat breakfast that is really the turning point when I will know if I will be going to dinner or not.  If the oatmeal makes me sick then dinner is out, if not dinner is in.  I think you can see why this is so frightening.  Also, being a foodie, Thanksgiving is probably in my top two holidays, with Christmas obviously being in the number one position. 

What I really want to do is go running, preferably for a good 7-10 miles, only they'll be nice and slow because lately I am not so fast.  Afterward I'd take a shower and get myself a diet dr pepper.  If I really am still sick none of this can happen, except for maybe the shower, but without running it's not even really necessary. 

I even thought about going out for black friday this year.  I really want a sewing machine, only I haven't done enough research about what I want or what a proper price should be so I don't think this would happen sick or not. 

So good luck to me on eating my oatmeal and good luck to you on your Thanksgiving feast. And good luck to everyone on finding an adorable kitchen timer.

"I could make that"

One of my biggest pet peeves when I was a kid was how my mom would often say, "I could make that."

Example: Me: Look at that cool shirt/blanket/furniture/anything.
                My mom: I could make that.


This drove me batty.  If we're being honest she rarely ever made it, but the thing is, it stuck in my head.   She was right, oft times things that you could end up spending a lot of money on are things you could make yourself.   Sometimes I hear myself not really saying it, but thinking it.  Some day we all turn into our mothers. 

So here's some stuff I made lately. Forgive the horrible pictures, my camera apparently has forgotten how to focus photos.  If I take 5 pictures of the same thing, one might be in focus.  So just saying sorry in advance.  Time for a new camera, since mine apparently is going through alzheimer's.

These are some jeans I never wear because they are "too flared."  I am not a skinny jeans only girl, but if the flare of the leg touches while I walk it bugs me.  I am not trying to make a tutorial on how to do this and I cannot find the one I used, but here's another.

Basically I put them on inside out, pinned them the way I wanted them to fit, took them off, drew a line with a sharpie of where my new seam would go and sewed along the line.

PS: I do not have a fan and a hammer in the floor in my bedroom this is one of our spare rooms which I have taken over as a sort of craft room.

Here's the final product:

 

Hey, look that one was actually in focus.

 

I also got this sign at the DI for $1.50 

Sorry if you are a fan of the original, but I painted the red edges black,
took off the decal and slapped a new one on.

PS: I got this vinyl statement at Wall Written.

My friend's sister-in-law owns the company and they had an amazing clearance sale the other day.

Do you ever catch yourself doing something (mimicking a parent) that you swore you would never do?

greatest thrift store find EVER

Christmas came early.  I just found something at Savers for $9.95 that I was pricing on Ebay for anywhere from $30-125! Before I show this amazing item I have some others to share.  Keep in mind (if you've never been thrifting before) that the items I am showing you I collected over multiples trips to the DI/Savers.  Before we begin I wanted to share my rules for thrifting.


1. If you don't find at least one thing, you are either not being creative enough, are not in the right mood, or you are going too often.
2. If you are buying more than 5 items you are probably just buying crap.
3. If (I like it and) it's 5 bucks or less it's mine.  If it's $10 or less it's probably mine.
4. Never, never, never go on Saturday.
5. If you want it and it's relatively cheap you should buy it because if you don't buy it someone else will.  If you come back tomorrow it will be gone.

Here are some great finds; some of the prices I don't remember so I'll be guessing.

 

bread box $3.00

Owl $0.75-1.50     Lamp $4.00 Lamp Shade $3.00 {the lamp was originally gold and cream sort of striped; I spraypainted it with ORB)

$1.50 for the vase/planter/whatever $0.50 for that awesome Native American bust

And last the best of all the game....

My amazing ceramic Christmas tree! I was in love with one my grandma had when I was a little girl. Just look them up on Ebay and you can see how pricey they can be.

before & after

I painted my bedroom furniture, bought a new comforter set and a new hamper, and if ya ask me it looks pretty darn good.  It did not turn out according to the plan/the way I picture it in my mind, but does anything ever?

dresser: Before

dresser: after & new hamper

$5.00 Mirror that inspired me. I guess I forgot to take a before of my nightstand but you can see it in the background (sorta).

Nightstand: after

$10 Table

Bed: Before

Bed: After

After all was said and done it didn't turn out how I thought it would, but I still like it.

My tips for painting furniture are as follows:

1. Do not skip steps! Steps should go: 1. Prep/Sand 2. Primer 3. Paint
2. Using a glaze or stain does NOT work out on furniture that is not made of real wood.
3. Yes, there is such a thing as awesome primer to help you prep laminate furniture and/or prep furniture without sanding, but it is CRAZY sticky and that is why it works. Here is a picture of my brush I tried to soak in hot water and vinegar to clean it.  Notice how the sides of the bucket are painted. Yeahhh I painted the bucket from underwater.  Be careful with that stuff.

trash to treasure

I saw these great pictures on pinterest and it linked back up to a simple how to.

Unlike the other site, I did not take pictures of the project in progress, just the final project.  Since I bought four frames for this I decided to do one for each season.  I was being drawn again and again to autumn and winter silhouettes so I forced myself to include the summer and spring pictures.  This was so easy, but I did ruin one of my DI dictionary pages trying to send it through the printer.  They were very thin so I glued them down to a piece of paper to keep it from jamming the printer. 

I found these little gems recently and they begged me to take them home.

Mrs. Potts $1.00

I actually made this cake plate/platter with a candlestick and a plate and some E6000, but watch out that stuff is toxic! Yikes! The topper/cover was $3.00.

conversations

Me: Look at this awesome vase I got at the DI for 75 cents!
Lee: I think my mom just donated that.
Me: ...  :(

Arby's Employee: Medium or Large?
Me: Don't you have small?

During my half marathon today...
My fingers: It's too cold.
My calves: Please, stop running downhill. 
My right hip: Please, just give up.
Me: I wish I could, but it's really not feasible.  I would just be colder and stranded. 

In my opinion running long distances is largely mental.  Today I had such a hard time at my race.  I just had negative space in my head and it wasn't good.  I learned a lot from today though, and just like every other day I'm still grateful to be able to run.  Even on bad days it makes me feel good about myself, accomplished, and alive. 

trapped

 this is me..

trapped on the couch by 50 lbs of dog

soon to be posting oodles of DIY/pinterest projects

ps: I will tell the truth about how hard they were/are

all those DIYers are cheerily kidding themselves 

this crap is tough.  

now I know why people go to RC Willey and buy new furniture 

sanding,

  priming, 

painting,

getting gunk all over the garage,

and yourself

etc.

when I grow up...

Despite grading papers, unrealistic expectations the world has for teachers, and low pay considering the job requires a degree, I love my job!

Who wouldn't love working with hilarious kids who (mostly) think you are a genius/hero,  being the boss of what you do every day (as long you teach the required curriculum, you can do it in your own way/in your own style), 12 weeks off,  and... I could go on for a long time about the perks of my job.

But I am writing to tell you about the things I sometimes imagine are jobs that I would love to do. 
You know what I mean, the things you love to do and you think to yourself, "I love this so much, if I could just get someone to pay me to do this, I could die happy."

Without further ado, these are the jobs I fantasize about:

1. Book Editor: Hello, reading all day.

2. Puppy Breeder: Puppies, need I say more?

3.Olympic/Pro Athlete: I heart working out and I don't care who knows it.  Every kid wishes they could've been a pro athlete.  I just never got around to wishing it until now.

4. Independently Wealthy/Trust Fund/Inherit Money from a distant relative: Umm... this was the only thing I could think of that meant I didn't work, but instead I got to shop all day! LOL Maybe I could be a personal shopper?

5. Chef: I love cooking, but I would get so fat if I was a chef.  My world already revolves around food enough as it is. 

6. Personal Trainer: It would be like every day of my life I was living instead of watching the Biggest Loser.  The difference would be that I would be the one screaming at the people to "dig" or try harder or whatever... hmm maybe I only like watching that show and crying when they lose the weight.  Yelling = not my favorite thing and we all know Jillian (screamer) was a lot more effective than Anna (not a screamer) so maybe I wouldn't be that great.

Don't you love Hannah?
What is a job you think would love to do?
Did you know I almost became an accountant? I really like math.

getting rid of the tacky

A while ago I bought some ugly floral pictures at the dollar store. I kind of liked the brown one, I didn't like the yellow one, but I bought them anyway. I hung them up and I knew I wanted to change them somehow. I originally wanted to try to give the yellow one a brown tint, but then I had a better idea.  I didn't know how to do it and I still wasn't sure I even liked the brown one. 

Here is an awesome before picture of the bathroom, also note it is a picture I found on my camera of Lee taking his own before and after pictures of his beard.  Ha! He may or may not be mad when he sees it here.

I took the pictures down...

I sanded the pictures off, which turned out to be decals/stickers.  When I realized they were stickers I  used goo gone to get the rest of it off. That stuff is amazing.  Add a little paint, add a little painter's tape, and this is what you get.

Much better!

I solemnly swear...

via most likely from here though

I solemnly swear....

that I am up to no good
that I don't hate people, but I love sitting in my house by myself
that I will update my my blog twice a week when I am off track
that mormons are Christians
that oreos are good for you (good for your mental health)
that running is the best way to get in a great mood
that listening to U2 during spin class is dreadful
that November 1 is the appointed time to begin listening to Christmas music
that sock bun curls can change your life; hello awesome hair, goodbye curling iron
that there is no such thing as too much broccoli ... or oatmeal

instead of blogging

Lately I have had no motivation to blog! Seriously, it's just been like, hmm... well, I think I'll read other peoples' blogs, scroll down over and over on pinterest, and hate the new facebook.

Here are some of the things I've been doing lately instead of blogging:

• Trying to kiss my dog 
• Painting my nails gray or are they grey?
• Wasting tons of time on pinterest! Agghhh 
• Getting ready for parent conferences {next week} EEK!
• Making a playlist of songs from musicals, for absolutely no reason
• Watching LDS general conference 
• Eating my weight in broccoli
• Not registering for a race I wanted to do this Saturday and now I won't be racing it thanks to my wicked procrastination skills

Hope your Tuesday is rockin'

alphabet

Last night, looking through blogs of note I got an idea to pep up this blog of mine.

A. Age: 24
B. Bed size: full = me+lee+sometimes biff = full
C. Chore that you hate: laundry, dishes, sweeping, toliets... Oh wait, I think I was only supposed to pick one.
D. Dogs: Mister Biff
E. Essential start to your day: Oatmeal, wheat toast, and 1% milk
F. Favorite color: to wear: brown
G. Gold or Silver: white gold, but I like both
H. Height: 5’7"
I. Instruments you play:the tiniest violin in the world, aka, complaining! ha!
J. Job title: teacher
K. Kids: 25, but I only take care of them during the day ;)
L. Live: Utah
M. Mother’s name: Susan
N. Nicknames: Terrible T
O. Overnight hospital stays: I had pneumonia when I was 9 and had to stay in the hospital for a month.
P. Pet peeves: bad grammar, unless it's me doing it, like right now, with too many commas, I love commas.
Q. Quote from a movie: " I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."
R. Right or left handed: Right handed!
S. Siblings: 2 older brothers
T. Time you wake up: 5:30 AM boo...
U. Underwear: Yes, I wear it.
V. Vegetable you hate: Mushroom? It's not technically a vegetable though.
W. What makes you run late: pushing snooze
X. X-Rays you’ve had: my teeth
Y. Yummy food that you make: That's a good question for Lee.
Z. Zoo animal: Anything that's a baby animal! Eek!

First person to say what movie my movie quote is from (without google) can be my new best friend!

stolen images via pinterest

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Lately I've been too busy laying down on my couch, not working out AKA not following my training plan, feeling sorry for myself and coughing my little heart out to blog about anything of value.

Saturday I found out in the middle of a 'supposed to be 11 mile run-turned out to be more like an 8 mile run/walk/crawl' that I had come down with some kind of virus.  It was a poor, pathetic story, but I'll spare you any more details.

Instead I want to keep it positive and talk about what I am grateful for today.

• Tomorrow is Friday: I know, boring, but whatever.  Fridays are awesome sauce because my favorite 5th grade team goes out to lunch and it's early out day for us, plus, hello! weekend.
• Lee: He has been so good to me while I've been sick: buying me orange juice, warming up soup for me, vacuuming the floors, doing laundry, all that fabulous stuff.  I'm a lucky gal.
• Yesterday I made tater tot casserole; enough said.
• Did I mention sleeping in tomorrow?
• My church meeting I was supposed to go to tonight got cancelled/moved: We'll just have the meeting eventually anyway, but it's nice to be able to stay home on the couch in recovery mode.
• General Conference is coming up!  I am so excited for a PJ Sunday listening to the wonderful messages.  I am excited to hear what will be said.  I wonder if the speakers will talk as much about service as last time.
• I am almost back to 100% healthy :)
• Next week is the Biggest Loser and The Office  Frankly, I don't watch that much TV, 2 shows a week is literally about 2 hours. I am excited to watch these, although they'll be different with a new trainer on BL and no more Michael on the office. Speaking of the BL I just saw a commercial where Bob endorsed a diet pill? What the? Aren't they supposed to be all about the common sense diet, even if they can take it to extremes, that is supposed to be their whole philosophy. Not cool Bob, not cool.

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And if that doesn't make you smile, check your pulse, because you must be dead.

webified

A friend of mine blogged her results to an online personality test; of course I wanted to do the same.  This picture is supposed to represent my internet personality?

At first I was like what? Is that a pregnancy test?  I guess it's just a thermometer.  No idea what my personality has to do with a thermometer... or any of that stuff. 


Speaking of personality tests... Have you heard of The Color Code?  It's flippin' brilliant. 

I am a blue-red.

That means I am a sensitive, (overly emotional) bossy, know-it all.  {Poor Lee, right?}  Plus I guess some good qualities too.  That Taylor Hartman is a genius!

marital dispute

Okay folks, tonight as I whipped up some oatmeal, whole wheat pancakes {YUM} we, meaning hubster and I,  came upon a topic for the marriage ref.

Unfortunately we are not going on that show anytime soon so I must plea to any blog followers or people who happen upon this little corner of the web to answer this question...

Spatula? 

 Or...

Spatula?

  I tried to settle the dispute through a google image search, but I was the loser of that battle.  

Whatever you answer you must remember, Lee is wrong and I am right, {of course} ! We can't let him win this after he beat me in the 1 mile race, can we?

sweet september & gourds

Oh, friends!
Here it is; the first week of September, time for me to put out autumn decor.

Don't you love my ceramic pumpkins?

I have a collection.

I especially liked it when my sis-in-law came over for dinner last October and called them gourds!
Isn't that delicious?

What fun would decorating your house be without a holiday movie?

Unfortunately, I don't have any Halloween movies.
I don't really like scary movies anyway so I settled on Miracle on 34th Street,
which is much more about Christmas 

BUT it has a scene of Thanksgiving dinner so...
into the xbox it went.

You know what else it is time for?

I think it's time to redo my blog.  I noticed that all the cool kids, ya know people with things like actual followers and the like, have much cleaner white backgrounds, none of this gaudy pink stuff.

Hmmm... what to do?  Someday soon we are ready for a change. 

For now, I'd rather put out my lovely wreath of leaves and pumpkins.

Yesterday I ran 10 miles

out of doors

without an ipod

and without sunscreen (bad choice)

I even have a capri pants tan/sunburn line

for some reason I ran really slow...

maybe it was the nerdy belt I bought to carry a water bottle in?

Well I am going to watch my Christmas movie, smell my pumpkin spice candles and finish cleaning out the closet that holds holiday decor.

What do you love about fall?

I love... changing leaves, the beginning of the holiday season, trick-or-treaters, candy corn (but I will buy a giant bag and only eat one, because after that it is just too much), Thanksgiving dinner, wearing jackets/sweaters, boots, socks, new seasons of TV shows (the office and the biggest loser coming soon!) pumpkins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread and oh... everything!

Lee would say: football. 

I am going to try to be a nice wife and not complain about football watching and even try to watch some,  ya know, "Go Cougars!" and all that, but who knows how long that will last.

Tell me, are there any fabulous movies you watch during the fall? What are they?

good news

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well folks, lee made it. he finished reading HP 7; Monday night we watched HP7.1 on blu ray and we are off to see the second one tonight. I am so glad I am going to see it before it leaves the theaters, but sad that after today there will never be anything new to see or read of harry potter.

so sad

somebody needs to tell JK Rowling to get to work on something new.

I need to deliver some visiting teaching brownies, but I have a treat for you too. I'm sure it's been seen before again and again, but the first time I saw it I laughed my head off.

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