Our First Appointment

Our first doctor's appointment was on August 31st. We were 7 weeks, 6days along. This was the day I fell in love with ultrasounds. I just love having that magic window into my baby's little world! One of the first things I saw was my sweet baby's heartbeat just flickering away!

Everything looked great and our due date was set for April 12th. The heartbeat was 166 bpm.

My husband made a copy and put it in his wallet. I carried one around with me for days! I would just sit and look at my sweet blessing from above!

My Child

Before you were conceived I wanted you

Before you were born I loved you

Before you were here an hour I would die for you

This is the miracle of life

6 Years

Today marks 6 years of marriage for us. Today I'm looking back on all that we've done in the last 6 years, and I'm wondering where the time went. It seems like just yesterday that I walked down the isle. After six years I can still say that I'm madly in love with my husband. He is the perfect man for me, the Lord's greatest gift in my life. 

 I added the song Marry Me to my playlist- it's one of my favorites.

Our Home: The Master Bath

For an update on how we finally arrived at a decision on tile, grout, colors, etc... click HERE to read about our conclusion to work with an interior designer.

Before...

• Wall Color: Some funky shade of blue
• Tile: The shower and floor were marble. It was originally laid crooked, and thus when we bought the home we had to redo everything. 
• When we purchased our home, the shower was unfinished and could not be used, and there were not any sinks.

My husband picked out the sinks and faucets.

 The doors, moldings, and baseboards were not even primed.

 This part of the bathroom was just primed sheet rock.

 No shower heads.

During the renovation.....

As you can see, all the marble had to be torn out. The entire shower was gutted down to the studs and then built back up in order to install backer board etc to prevent leaks... (which was not placed behind the marble originally). We also had two partial walls built up to give some privacy to the shower.

 Inside the shower.

 The day they started laying tile.

 We painted the room before all the flooring was put down. This is the day they began working on the boarder that goes around the bathroom.

After.....

• Wall Color: Woodlawn Colonial Gray
• Trim Color: Du Jour
•  Tile: 3x6 subway tile in shower, 6x6 on floor, 3x6 border around floor
• We had to paint all the doors, moldings, and baseboards.

His side of the shower and closet door.

 My side of the shower and my closet.

 Rain shower Heads

My husband picked out the sinks and faucets when we first moved in. I wasn't so sure about them, but this was the easiest thing to do, otherwise we would have had to cut the granite. Now that everything is finished, I think they look good.

Looking in from our bedroom

 His side....

 My side...

There are still things I want to hang on the wall, and decorative accents I need to put up, and I want to change out the vanity mirrors.. I've come to the conclusion that you're never completely finished decorating a room.

Adventures in Canning

I have discovered that canning can be a real pickle.

I decided to try my hand at canning pickles. My grandmother made some using an easy 3 step ready-made packet so I figured I'd go the same route. Being as this was my first time ever canning, I wanted a simple recipe.

I skimped on the nice canning equipment because this was my first time and I wasn't sure how it would turn out, or if I'd even survive. First mistake. I purchased a cheap starter kit, borrowed large pots from my dad, and set out to make my own pickles.

I planned to make 12 quarts of Kosher Dills. I ended up with 11 quarts (one jar busted, see notes below) that consisted of 4 jars of dill slices and 7 jars of spears. I was surprised they all sealed and turned out great. We've already consumed 2 jars of spears.

Lessons Learned:

1. Invest in one of these: 

2. The jar picker-upper-thingy has 2 black plastic handles. This is not the end that grasps the jars (figured that one out a little to late). I wondered why the black handle thingy broke so easily. I lost one jar and my favorite spoon rest  due to this mistake. The only reason I'm sharing this embarrassing tidbit is in the hopes that someone else might not make the same mistake as me.

3. Your home will smell like a pickle for at least 2 days. Any attempts to rid your home of the smell are futile. 

More Coupon Deals

7-1-11

Picked up 2 tubes of Colgate Total toothpaste.

On sale for $2.79 with $2 back in ECBs.
Purchased 2 and used 2  .75 cent off coupons, which meant I purchased them for $4.08.
Received $4 in ECB's = I paid 8 cents + tax

7-3-11

Purchased all items below (and 5 2-liter Coca-Colas, not pictured)  for a total of  $11.88 by using coupons and splitting it into 2 transactions to use ECBs. The toothbrushes were free because of coupons and the green deodorants were purchased from another store.

On the first transaction we purchased 9 items and paid .62 cents after coupons.

On the second transaction, we purchsed 5 items for $11.26

 

 

Our stockpile is getting bigger every week!

Happy Independence Day

July 4th means more to me this year than any before. Today I'm thankful for my freedom that cost the lives of so many. I woke up with my brother on my mind. I am thankful for him and all of the other soldiers who sacrifice in order to serve our country.

When it comes to freedom though, I think of my sweet Savior who died so that I can have the ultimate freedom.

Let It Be Known...

...that as of 6:15 p.m. this evening, I finished painting the very last bit of trim work in our home.

Since we bought our home last Spring, we've painted every single room in this house, 19 doors (all front and back so that's actually like 38), 2 sets of folding closet doors, all window facings and door facings,  all the molding, and approximately 3,082 square feet of baseboards. The baseboards I might add were the worst in that we were on our hands and knees painting those.

Here's what my week has consisted of:

• Monday: trimmed out and painted one of the guest bedrooms and 2 linen closets.
• Tuesday: began painting trim work and doors for these rooms, stained the new cedar shelves in the pantry.
• Wednesday: put shelves back up in pantry and reorganized everything, finished the last bit of painting we had left.

Tomorrow I plan to clean out the bedroom I painted and get things together to donate/give away. Friday I'm planning to sand and re-stain my great grandmother's trunk, along with a few other odds and ends.

I'm afraid our house will no longer feel like home since we no longer have to spend every spare minute painting!

Now that all of the painting is over, I'm ready to dive head-first into some hardcore decorating.

And yes, I will list this under the label of 'milestones' because for these homeowners, it is a big one!

Friday's Favorites: Summertime Edition

1. Flip Flops
While technically I wear these from early Spring to late Autumn, they're still a Summer favorite.

2. Summer Dresses
I mostly wear comfy, cool dresses in the Summer. Old Navy usually has really cute dresses, which is where I found these. Too bad for me, I have to travel to get to an Old Navy store.

3. Watermelons
Yummo! I live off of watermelon and tomato sandwiches during the Summer.

4. The Beach
It's just not Summer until I've been to the beach.

5. Seafood
Speaking of the beach, I cannot go without indulging in seafood. I love it all except for oysters.

6. Lemonade
While I'd love to say that our lemonade is homemade, it's not. We are country time fans. Their pink lemonade is my favorite!

7. Dove Energy Glow
I think this has made the top 10 before, but you can't talk about the beach and summer dresses without addressing the tanning situation. While I usually get a little color from just being outdoors, I'm not a sun goddess. This pale girl needs a little help!

8. Fourth of July
This would be one of my top 3 favorite holidays. I love the cookouts, family time, watermelon, and, of course, the fireworks.

9. Being Outdoors
We spend a lot of time on our porch just sitting. Since this is the South, it's nearly impossible to get out and about before 5 p.m.

Speaking of outdoors, these two showed up on the lake about 2 weeks ago. While we've always had ducks or geese show up from time to time, these are the only ones that have stayed. They've been hanging out right in our back yard! I hope they decide to make this their home.

10. Our Anniversary
We have about a month until, and we've been trying to plan something fun. We usually travel to the beach for this occasion.


While this favorite does not have anything to do with summertime, I thought share it. I added one of those traffic feeds to my blog to see where people are visiting from. If you scroll down it's on the bottom left hand sidebar, you can also click it at the bottom of the box where it says "Real Time View" to all previous visitors.  It's been really neat to see all the different places: Bangladesh, Utah, South Carolina, Tennessee, several from Butler and the surrounding area... pretty neat! I encourage you to share your thoughts by leaving comments- I'd love to hear from you!

As always, Happy Friday!

FREE Brag Book

Now through 6/25 you can enjoy a FREE photo brag book when you use the promo code BRAG only at Walgreens.

Plus, you can ship it to the store and receive free shipping!

Click on the picture above to head on over and get yours.

The brag book includes 20 pages and you can choose from several different styles.

People are always asking what our house looked like before we did anything to it. So, I compiled all of our before pictures into this free brag book.

Frozen Coconut Caramel Pie

Ya'll, this pie is divine! My grandmother made one and we loved it. I'm definitely not a coconut person, but I didn't know it had it in it until she told me. So, even if your not the biggest fan of coconut, you'll still love this!

You'll Need:

• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 carton (16 ounces) frozen whipped cream, thawed
• 2 graham cracker crusts (9 inches each)
• 1 jar (12 ounces) caramel ice cream topping

Directions:

    In a skillet, melt butter; add coconut and pecans. Cook by stirring over medium heat for 10 minutes or until golden brown and toasted; set aside.

    In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and milk together until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into crusts. Drizzle with caramel topping; sprinkle with coconut/pecan mixture. Cover and freeze for 8 hours or overnight or until hardened. Remove from the freezer 5 minutes before slicing. Yields 2 pies (6-8 servings each).

Enjoy!

Great Post

One of my blogger friends posted this about our attitudes and how they affect our outlook. It was just what I needed to hear, and I'm sure a few of you will feel the same way.

Click HERE to head over to her blog and check it out.