Weekend Pictures

Here's a few pictures from our weekend. 

Me and Ally chilling on the couch. We had to get a picture because she usually isn't this loving. 

 Me getting ready for my date. ;)

 The stud that took me on a date this weekend.

We looked at rings and then went to Quizno's for lunch. 

 Zipper pouting because I'm outside cheating on him. 

 He's jealous because I'm outside holding Holly. I tried to get a self portrait, but I'm not very good at that. See the milk on her chin, she would only cooperate long enough for one picture because she wanted to get back to eating. 

Artful Delight January Sketch

One of my big goals this year is to craft more, especially cards. I'm a little nervous about making cards so I have found some new blogs to follow. One blog is Artful Delight. I'm still browsing through the website, but it looks like she does a challenge each month. She posts a sketch (blue print) and then you you it to make something be it a scrapbook page or a card. I thought this sketch looked pretty simple, so I thought I would give it a try. 

 I needed another thank you card, for a friend, so I thought I'd make one using the sketch. I used Close to My Heart paper, some ribbon and then a flower. I used liquid glass to glue on the accessories, I hope it works.  I think it turned out pretty good for my first attempt. I'm little worried it will fall apart when I mail it, so friend who is going to get it, if it looks funny when you get it, this is what it was supposed to look like. If it falls apart, look at my picture and know that I love you. 

The Three Stooges

While sleeping Monday night, I heard a crash in the kitchen and I thought "Hm, wonder if the cats found a mouse." We live next to a hayfield and the occasional mouse does get in, but they never last long. The next morning we couldn't find any proof anywhere. Most cats eat the mice they kill, but ours are spoiled, so they usually don't. Then on Tuesday night the same thing happened. This time we got up to investigate. Sure enough, Buddy had a mouse in his mouth. I was so proud, it was his first mouse. When we woke up the next morning, all we found was three of the cats watching the book shelf very intensely. That's a pretty good sign that the mouse got away and that was the last place they saw it. How can ONE mouse evade THREE cats? I've decided the cats probably get in the way of each other, so now we call them the three stooges.

Last night the same thing happened again, but it was right at bed time. Since we weren't half asleep, we got up to check. We found three cats (Buddy, Ally and Zipper) trying to get under or behind the computer desk. We finally got it pulled out enough and Buddy dove behind it and came out with a mouse. A mouse that Buddy had every intention of playing with, but apparently not killing. I was standing on a kitchen chair for most of this.

Several times the mouse would get away. I was on the chair shooing it with a stick while Josh was trying to hit it with broom, (maybe I should call this the 5 stooges). At least with our efforts we were able to keep it confined to a corner of the kitchen. The only place for the mouse to hide was under my kitchen shelf, which sits about an inch and a half off of the ground. It should be a safe place for the mouse.

Nope, Buddy's going in after it! He went under the shelf three times (because he let it get away three times).

 Each time Buddy had the mouse, Josh would try to get it with the broom, but Buddy didn't want to share and we didn't want to smack the only cat that could actually fit under the kitchen shelf. Finally when the mouse got away again, Josh was able to get it under the broom and "take care of it."

If it wasn't an mouse (EW!) it would actually be quite hilarious to watch all of this.

  

Thank You Card

I was feeling crafty tonight, so while Josh showered I hurried and whipped this Thank You card together. I used my favorite Close to My Heart paper pack, Sarsaparilla. Its pretty simple, but I think as a beginner card maker, its pretty good. I left it blank inside and penned in my own message, but when I said I LOVE my car, I stamped the word LOVE with a few hearts around it. I'm going to send it to the dealership tomorrow to thank them for my new car. 

More Birthday Stuff

My brother John got me this pretty earring holder for my birthday.

 Because birthday's are so much fun, I celebrated it again last night with my best friend Jessica. (We missed you Kim!) We went to Vernal and did some shopping where of course we bought some stuff for some crafts we want to try out. Then we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. YUM! We always have so much fun together.

Jessica thinks its time I jump into tucks and learn how much fun they are. She always makes the cutest ones, but it involves sewing, so I've never joined in on that fun. But she found the perfect tucks to get my attention.

The bowl to display them in.

Some super cute sunflower tucks! She was right, I LOVE them. Now I just might have to add tuck swap to my monthly girls night out activities. 

 She also got me a cute sunflower sign to go with it.

Thanks Jessica, I love them! Birthdays are so much more fun with good friends.

She came back!

Friday night we had a new stray cat show up. She is very friendly, so I fed her. Then I watched for her all day Saturday. I had finally decided she wasn't going to come back. I looked just as it was getting dark, and there she was!

 We are considering different names. I want something winterish. Right now my list includes:

Nippy (short for Frostnip)

Blizzy (short for Blizzard)

Holly

Felice

Nieve (Spanish for Snow)

 Zipper is all bear rugged out because the house is so warm. But I thought this picture also shows how he has been pouting since the new cat showed up. He does NOT like to share his momma.

 Proof that I need a new point and shoot digital camera. The sunrise was so pretty this morning, but my camera doesn't do it justice.

Holly

I came home yesterday and when I stepped out of the car, I heard a cat cry. My cats are spoiled, so they haven't been out much since it snowed. Most cats can live outside in the winter, mine don't think they can. But Zipper was extra whiny today, so we had thrown him out a few times. He would go to the end of the porch and then cry to come back in. I'm sure he is trying to tell me to make all of the white stuff disappear. 

So when I heard the cat cry, my first thought was that it was him. I could see a cat on the porch, but it wasn't as white as him. So then I thought it was Ally, but it was too white. As I got closer, I realized it wasn't one of our cats. So I carefully set my groceries down and slowly approached. The cat is pretty friendly, it ran right up to me. I picked it up and petted her. Then I walked up to the door and just looked in so Josh could see us. 

 She is so friendly that we think she is someones pet. And since she let me hold her, I decided to give her some food and milk. She followed Josh when he went out to get more of my groceries, and she was out there later when I looked out just to see if she was. But the last time I went out, she was gone. Hopefully she is settled somewhere warm for the night and we will see her again soon. 

And by "we" I only mean me and Josh. Everyone else was pretty jealous. 

 While she was eating I tried to get a better picture of her. She decided on a close up. 

28th Birthday

On Monday I turned 28. :) Maybe its because I'm still young, but I don't mind having birthdays because I don't feel like I'm getting that much older. 

We had planned a great day to spend as my last day of being 27. We decided to go to the city just so I could eat at the Olive Garden. And I'm in desperate need of a winter coat (we haven't been above freezing since before New Years!), so a little shopping was planned too. It was going to be a great day.

On Saturday night, Josh's family had a problem with one of their horses. He was down and couldn't get up. He had also sled into a fence and they were worried about him hurting his legs.  While trying to roll him away from the fence, Josh slipped on a batch of ice and hurt his back. 

The next morning it took Josh 5 minutes to sit up and get out of bed. Being the sweetie that he is, he told me to give him an hour and then he would take me to the city. Being the wise wife that I am, I told him there was no way I was going to make him sit in a car all day. I gladly offered to take him to the doctor and of course he refused. Then a few minutes later he changed his mind. That is when I knew just how bad he hurt. He's broken toes and not gone to the doctor, this must be bad. 

So instead of going to the city, we went to the ER. They did an x-ray and his spine was okay, but he had pulled all of the muscles in his lower back. I wish I had taken my camera! He had to put on a hospital gown for the x-ray, but he kept on his cowboy hat. He wore it while they pushed his chair to the lab, then I held it while he laid on the table. Then he put it back on for the ride back to the room. We left with some pain pills and strict instructions to take it easy. He is starting to feel better now.

Monday morning I got up a few minutes earlier (as in I only hit snooze once instead of two or three times) because Josh told me I could open one present before I left for work. I was excited so I opened it before changing out of my pj's. I think you should get to stay in your pj's extra long on your own birthday. 

I finally got an Itrip for my car! I fought off getting an Ipod for so long, now I'm not sure if I could live without it. 

Josh managed to get to class that day, despite his pain. After class he brought me some very pretty flowers at work. I love getting flowers at work! 

Then that night he made me Chicken Parmesan for dinner. I'm such a lucky girl. 

After dinner I opened my other two presents. Josh got me a new bracelet. 

Then he got me an external DVD player. Its not quite what I asked for, but its the thought that counts. Right? No, actually what I really need is an external storage device, so I will be exchanging this external hard drive the next time I get to Staples. 

We finished out the night with one of my favorite desserts, Decadent Brownie Pie. It is so GOOD!

And we played my new Mario game I got for Christmas. But really I was trying to take a picture of Ally hanging off of the chair. 

Zipper wished me a happy birthday by loosing a whisker right next to Josh, so Josh so could find it and give it to me. 

My first week of being 28 has been a little rough (I have now filled out my first police report), hopefully the rest of the year will be better. 

My craft room!

About a month ago, I decided I was done having an empty room that we called the "nursery" room, when in reality its been nothing but a "junk" room for years. So I went through it, dejunked, gave away and sold some baby stuff. Then I started moving all of my craft stuff in.

Each time I go in to work, I end up moving stuff around some more, but I think I'm finally about settled in. I love that this room is all MINE and I don't have to share it with Josh's stuff. And its a few degrees warmer then the back room so I don't mind working in there in the winter time. Now I just need to get a better light fixture in there so I have better lighting. And new blinds. This is one of the rooms we didn't redo when we got new blinds last summer and now I regret that. But I hope to replace all the other blinds next summer. 

This is where my creative magic happens. I got the lap top several months ago so I could have a computer to be on while Josh was on our computer doing homework. Its so nice to have it in my craft room so I can watch Netflix or Hulu. And if I get bored with that, I also have a portable DVD player I can set up.  

 The shelf is still a work in progress. I need to cut the ribbons spools down, but the drawers I have shoved full of ribbon are already full. I really should start using all this ribbon I seem to love to buy.

I also want to figure out a better way to organize my paper. I have TONS and each time I look for a certain pattern, I have to dig through all of it to find what I'm looking for. After I get my paper figured out, I think I'll be able to figure out where to put everything else that is shoved together on the top shelf. Notice Zipper, the cats aren't supposed to be in this room and they know it.

 And yet, here comes Buddy. They love sneaking into this room. At least with it all cleaned up, there is less places for them to hide.

 I think I've bragged about my filing cabinet before, but if not, I LOVE it. I got it for $3! All that ribbon I mentioned is in the little storage device next to it. And I love how big my stamp collection is getting. I might need to figure out something better for them too.

 Ignore the very ugly blind. This is the other corner of the room that I'm still working on. The stand is an old microwave stand that Barb gave to me. It doesn't fit in my small kitchen, but I think I'll get much use out of it here. The Tupperware in the corner is full of all the kits I have made from the Idea Closet. On top is a pillow I made years ago. Then a green basket that I found in all of my cleaning. I want to find something cute to display in the basket.

 This is an old dresser that was in the room when we moved in. The drawers don't open, so its not good for much, but I thought I'd cheer it up with some fun things on top.

Looks like I found something to put in the basket. Ally has become quite a little snot about claiming EVERYTHING as hers.

After I got my room all clean, I decide to work on some cards. It took me hours to get my room organized how I want, but only minutes to get it all messy. I also caved and let Zipper stay in the room with me. He can beat up the dog that is bigger then him, but Buddy who is smaller, picks on Zipper so I let him in so he could get away from Buddy.

The most expensive way to fix a car

 It started to snow on December 17th, 2010. It snowed all night. Then it snowed all day the next day. And the next night. On Sunday of that week we tried to get my car out of the driveway, with no such luck. It was STUCK. Luckily our neighbor took pity on us and came and plowed us out. Which only helped for a little while, because it was still snowing. It snowed for several days without stopping. By the time it quit we had 3 feet of snow. Since then my car has been stuck 5 times. Its just not meant for this kind of weather.

 Look closely in the photo below, my car is there...somewhere.

We had one more big storm after that one that gave us another foot of snow. Then on New Year's Eve it turned COLD. We went to my cousins for dinner and when we left at 2AM to head home, the car wouldn't start. No surprise, it was -14. Brrr. Luckily we had taken both vehicles so we hopped in the truck and headed home. On Sunday, we went back down and tried to start it. No luck. We called my dad and he came to look at it. He wasn't sure what was wrong, but he figured it all lead to one thing, it was just too cold. I left the keys so Jessica could try it every day on her lunch break. On Monday it started, only to die again. On Tuesday we decided to tow it to a sunnier spot hoping if it got enough sunlight it would warm up and start. 

I love my Ford Focus. I love how it is small enough to fit in tight spaces. Any other time of the year it drives beautifully, but if there is a few inches of snow, I'm in trouble. 

The solution only cost several thousand dollars.

 I test drove this escape home on Monday night and by Wednesday I had the loan approved to purchase it. It gets around wonderfully and I am in LOVE with it. My dream car has always been a Ford Escape.

On Friday my dad tried to start my old car. It fired right up. Which was a relief since I traded it in for my down payment. But it still seems ironic that the car would only start after I bought something new.