Year 3 - Day 229 - August 16

Here we are, on the first school night of the year. Tomorrow when the alarm goes off, I have to stay up! Oh the horror. Luckily I have a day to break in the alarm and my 5:45am days don't start until Monday. Whew. I got these paper globes at Target this summer and I'm hoping to make the Very Hungry Caterpillar out of them like this. Lots of people had it pinned on Pinterest and when I saw the globes on clearance I couldn't refuse. Of course we just got the email saying we can't hang things from the ceiling, so we'll see if I get in trouble. That'd be a bummer!

Year 3 - Day 221 - August 8

Another day without a car, and another day searching for things to do. (Yes, there are plenty of things I *could* do, but I don't wanna.) After moving the Duclaw glasses, I decided to actually put some pictures up. Us in Turkey & Egypt up top and us in Paris at the bottom.

Year 2 - Day 355 - December 12

The last Christmas decoration shot - our mantle of snowmen. The left and right snowmen are ceramic and have our college mascot names cut out of their bellies. They have lights inside so that they'll glow, but the power cords don't reach when they're up on the mantle. Mike's parents got them specially made for us somewhere last year. They're super cute!

Year 2 - Day 352 - December 9

Have you seen the Home Depot ads that show the awesome Christmas ornament centerpiece using a chandelier and clear thread?
http://howto.homedepot.com/videos/watch/1241858187001/Build-A-Christmas-Centerpiece-Ornament-Tree-Chandelier.html
I'm here to tell you that it's not as easy as it looks!

Year 2 - Day 349 - December 6

I have a few little Christmas village houses, but this is by far my favorite. I saw it in a real Department 56 area one year, but couldn't justify the expense. A year or two later, Sarah snatched one up (I think on eBay?) and it's out every year! It's hard to see in the picture, but this particular building is "Jenny's Corner Book Shop" and it's a kid's book store! I love it! It's not lit this year because there's no place to plug it in where I have it, but it's out! I have a few buildings and each one is a bookstore, library, or school. I figured that was a good way to reign it in. Oh, and I have Jenny's Coffee Shop. :) So that's my theme. Either my name, or my job!

Year 2 - Day 188 - July 8

Here’s the beginning of our lamp project … old 1987 style gold lantern lamp, taken apart for beautifying. We scuffed it up with steel wool & then took it outside to spray paint. Cross your fingers!

Year 2 - Day 187 - July 7

Today was a less productive day, but we were in a lot of stores. We were on the hunt for a new foyer light. However, our foyer is regular room height, and lots of foyer lights these days are made for taller foyers. The main difference is that they’re all on poles now instead of chains. That leaves less room for size changing. Even on the 12” poles, the lights hung down 24” from the ceiling. We bought and returned one, measured others, and did a lot of hunting. (2 Home Depots & a Lowes, plus 2 Walmarts – all of which had different selections of everything we were looking for!) In the end, we bought a can of dark aged bronze spray paint and we’re going to change the look of the light we already have. In my journey, I saw this hanging in Home Depot. Really? You’d label your key hider “KEY HIDER?” Look in here! Here’s the house or car key you’re hunting for so you can break in! Right here! Labeled for easy finding!! ☺

Year 2 - Day 186 - July 6

More than a year ago, we bought our new house. The first week, maybe even before our furniture was here, we picked a nice green to do the kitchen/family room area. Even before it was done drying, I decided I did not like the color. The light in these rooms varies so much throughout the day, and the angles make lots of shadows. I liked the green in the shadows, but not the light. I decided recently to change just the family room. We went with gray (grey? I can never remember which one to use. It’s one of my serious grammar issues.)  walls and white trim. I like the gray on the chip, but it of course changes a lot with light too. At first, the only place it looked not-white was on the ceiling where we smudged a little. Then it changed colors several times throughout the day as it dried and the sun moved and went down. In the evening it’s almost purple. It definitely shows its tint next to the white switch plate covers! Oh well, it works. It is at least a nice calming color!

Year 2 - Day 4 - January 4

I am not a morning person.  Not in any sense of the word.  But like the generations that came before me who sat and drank coffee and read the paper in the morning, I am willing to get up 10 minutes earlier so I can sit on the couch, have an OJ and catch up on my Google Reader.  A surprising amount of things show up between 9:30pm and 6:30am while my computer is off most nights!

*Please ignore the fact that the Christmas candles are still in the windows...I forgot about them when I un-decorated, and now I'm being lazy. Maybe tonight....

Day 343 - December 9

I came home from work today and collapsed on the couch.  I didn't have time or energy to be creative, so you're getting a glimpse at the second half of the snowmen of the year collection.  Starting from the left, we have patriotic 4th of July, a swimming snowman for August, Back to school September, Halloween October, Thanksgiving November, and Christmas December.  No surprises in the latter half of the year!

Day 336 - December 2

Several years ago, I got this "Snowman of the Month" set.  I like to decorate with snowmen because I can leave them up for more than 3 weeks.  Here's the first half of the year.  New Years, Cupid, Easter Bunny for March, a raincoat and umbrella for April, a Mom for Mother's Day in May and a golf playing Dad for Father's Day in June.  I haven't had them on display for awhile because I didn't know where to put them.  Mike was intelligent enough to realize that they'd fit nicely on top of the piano.  If you're lucky, I'll remember to take a picture of the second half of the year at some point....

Day 332 - November 28

The living room is decorated for Christmas now.  A very full tree, our stockings, snowmen on the mantle, and my lighted houses on the shelves.  A working fireplace will be a nice addition, but we're waiting for the extra inspection in a couple weeks before we make a fire.

Day 100 - April 10

Happy 100th day of 2010! 

These pictures are from our London/Paris weekend a couple years ago.  We climbed to the top of both of these structures.  The top one is St. Paul's in London & the bottom one is the Arc in Paris.  I survived and am here to tell you that the stairs that take you to the top of the Arc are SCARY.  They are spiral stairs and there is nothing to keep you from falling to your death except a wobbly metal railing.  My hand was orange for 2 days after the death grip I had on it.  Plus I made Patti walk right behind me the whole way up.  I guess I had more faith in her ability to walk up stairs without falling? :)

So why are pictures I took in March of 2008 my pictures for the 100th day of 2010?  Yesterday, Snapfish was having a "free 8x10" offer if you picked it up at Walgreens.  (There's one right around the corner from my new house!)  And then, Walgreens photo site was also having a free 8x10 offer.  I have a lot of these black float frames empty, waiting for enlargements of our favorite vacation shots so I filled both orders & picked the prints up today. 

And now I want to go on vacation to take more pictures.  But since I can't afford to do that this week, I shall instead decorate my new house with memories of days where all my extra money funded my around the globe galavanting. :)

Day 98 - April 8

Someday I'll go through and take pictures of the really done house with the good camera.  Once we have things on the walls and actual decorations as opposed to just furniture.  This is the front room girly man cave.  Notice the Longaberger baskets holding the remotes on the shelf. :)