That's how it goes

It's true what parents say about giving young children toys - they are more interested in the box and wrapping paper than what's inside. However, we still continue to buy the neatest noise-making, sparkly, hippest toys because we think the child will love it. Apparently, despite all my years studying child development, I still fell trap to this phenomenon. I have a desk drawer at school full of stickers - glittery, shiny, holographic, animals, disney characters, princesses, fairies, etc. You name it and I probably have that sticker in my drawer. Wouldn't you know it, today when I asked what sticker one of the kids wanted to work for, he chose the produce sticker off his banana. *sigh*

Extreme Couponing!

The coupon fever has hit! There's a show on TLC called "Extreme Couponing" that follows women who go to the extreme to save money at the grocery store. I mean these women are really crazy - it's literally a full-time job strategizing what products to get at what stores and which manufacturers are offering specials, etc. They have binders filled with coupons, maps of stores with aisles coded to match the coupons, and every inch of their basements stockpiled with items. Quite frankly, I'm skeptical of that show because Sam and I have done the math along with the show to see how much is being saved and we never come up with anything close to what they say is saved.

Anyways, I did my own version of extreme couponing tonight and I must say, even though I only saved $37.00, I was so excited that I had Sam take a picture of me in the check-out line and I squealed in delight when the cashier handed me the receipt. Wow. I should tattoo "DORK" on my forehead. $37.00 is a lot of money to save buy taking a few minutes to cut out pieces of paper, but the women on the show save hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a single grocery trip...one of the shows I saw, a women bought something like $1,400 in groceries and after coupons, paid only $50. Sam asked how many of the products that I bought with coupons would I normally buy without, and really there wasn't anything that I bought that I wouldn't normally. I'm careful to only clip coupons of items I already purchase so that I don't fall into the trap of buying things I don't like or won't use just because I have a coupon. And, furthermore, there were several items that I had a coupon for that I ended up not getting because a different brand was still less expensive without the coupon. So, I may not be an extreme couponer, but I'm a responsible one :)

New Year; New Goals

Happy New Year to everyone! 10 days into 2012 and I'm just now getting around to writing this post. I wanted to write it sooner but school started up again and wedding mode is kicked into high gear. It dawned on me that all those little wedding details I had been putting off until after the new year now have to be faced. We have the major things down - ceremony church, reception venue, my dress and bridesmaids, tuxedos, cake tasting, and photography - but there is much to do still! Mom and I went flower shopping on Monday and I purchased my headpiece for my veil, but I still have shoes to find, which is always easier said than done when it comes to my giant feet! Lol! Slowly but surely it will all get done.

Anyways, it's a new year which means it's time to setting some new goals! Here are my 2012 goals:

1. Be calm as the wedding approaches and remember it is only one day and a marriage is a lifetime. My goal is not to stress about the little things because let's be honest, no one is going to remember every detail of our wedding 30 years from now. I am preparing to spend the rest of my life with my best friend, not just one day.

2. Enjoy this year of weddings supporting all my friends who are also planning the rest of their lives! I'm a bridesmaid in one destination wedding this year, and will be attending the wedding of two other friends, as well as helping another friend plan her wedding for 2013, so I really want to be a good support person for these wonderful women in my life.

3. Spend more time in prayer thanking God for everything He has blessed me with - a fiance soon to be husband, family, friends, a good job that I enjoy, a delightful new home, good health, etc. My goal is to pray the rosary every week and spend that time in reflection and thanksgiving.

And.....although I can't label this as an official goal because I'm still undecided about it myself....I might like to get a pet this year. Sam likes dogs and cats (and lizards, sugar gliders, parrots, tigers, etc. but I'm not entertaining those likes!) and I like cats, so I always thought I wanted a cat. BUT, I'm now thinking about maybe a dog. Not a little yapper and not a huge dog that would eat me, but something medium size that doesn't smell and shed a bunch. Sam's mom just got a new dog and I have to admit I really had fun playing with him in the yard. It got me thinking that a dog might be fun, but I have to give it some more thought. So, getting a pet is not a goal per se for 2012 but it may happen.

Happy New Year and thanks for reading my blog this past year. I'll continue with it as best I can :)

Candlelight dinner

Christmas is my favorite time of year for many reasons, but one of the predominant reasons is because it's the one time of year where women can wear fancy party dresses and eat as much desserts as they want without the nagging little voice in their head saying, "drop the cookie and look at your fat thighs in the mirror." Desserts are a widely accepted and embraced part of Christmas and instead of looking at a creme brulee thinking, "wow, that's a whole bowl of fat and calories," I can look at it and think, "what a beautiful raspberry and mint leaf adorning the top."

Sam and I had a beautiful and delicious evening at the Franklin Park Conservatory, dining on fabulous dinner and dessert fares while surrounded by lush, tropical plants in the Palm House, romantically lit by candles on the tables and faint Chinese lanterns hung from the ceiling. I knew it was going to be spectacular when I first saw the dramatic tree branches and Christmas lights adorning the walkway to the Palm House. We ate dinner, listened to a live concert going on in the main lobby, and walked around admiring the numerous gingerbread creations on display. Fabulous evening with my fiance :)

A girl, a sewing machine, and a dream

The curtain rod is bending in the middle making the curtains look uneven,

but really they are straight...I used a measuring tape :)

Santa brought me a new toy this year! My very first sewing machine to go in my craft room on my enormously-wonderful craft table :) While at first glance the machine looks complicated, it is actually so much easier to use than the old machines that you have to turn knobs ~ this one has a picture display of all 96 stitches, so all you do is punch in the number of the stitch you want to use and the machine automatically sets the tension, width, and length. I can always adjust them if I want, but for a beginner like me, it is so helpful not to have to worry about all that. I can simply step on the presser foot and away I go creating masterpieces! My first endeavor was a simple curtain for my craft room. It took me about 2-3 hours but there are a lot of things I learned I could simplify for next time I make curtains, but I think they turned out great and I even lined them so it would look nice from the street view. Mom will be so proud!

Next up on my list of projects....quilting!

Where to begin...

I opened this post so many times to write and then was stumped with what to put. The last time I posted was the day we closed on our house, so I guess I'll start there and give you an update as to life since that day.

Well, after we got the keys, Sam moved in a week later and is now living in our beautiful house while I waste away in my tiny apartment! Ha! May 5th will come soon, I know :) We decorated a little for Christmas but decided to wait for all the after-Christmas sales to buy lights and decor and stuff like that so we can really decorate next year for our first Christmas being married. I have always decorated a small tree for my bedroom - about 5 ft. tall - which looks huge in an apartment but now that it's in our family room, we took one look at it and laughed and decided next year we definitely need a bigger tree! Sam and I both had real trees growing up (my family went to artificial the past 15 years or so after my brothers became allergic to real ones) so I always thought when I had a house I would have a real tree, but actually Sam and I decided we like artificial better ~ we can put it up right after Thanksgiving, not worry about watering it and needles dropping, and the branches are stronger for holding ornaments.

I'm excited over Christmas break to do some painting in our house. The colors are already very neutral and lovely, but I want to do something to make it our own, so I think we are going to paint the upstairs hall bathroom and Sam's office. The office has beautiful French doors and a bay window, so a little color in there will make those features really pop. We patched nail holes in most of the rooms so we also need to do some touch up painting. Thankfully the previous owners left all the paint cans in the basement so we can match colors!

In other news, Sam got his wisdom teeth out a couple weeks ago and did great! I on the other hand passed out in the recovery room. Some support person I was! The nurse had to call my mom to come pick both of us up. Ha! I'm praying for no more surgeries for Sam in the future, otherwise I guess he will need someone other than his wife to accompany him :) I did great with the after care portion - fixing him soft foods to eat and giving him pain medication and ice on schedule, but perhaps the sight of bloody gauze hanging from his mouth after surgery was a bit much for me.

The kids at school have been sooooooo excited for Christmas. They were all convinced that as soon as we turned our classroom calendar to December it was Christmas. They didn't understand that even though Christmas is in December, you still have to wait 25 days for it. Halloween, Thanksgiving ~ no problem grasping that concept of a holiday being in the middle of the month, but Christmas was another story. When Santa didn't come December 1st, I think they knew I was telling the truth about waiting 25 days! Since I don't teach at a public school or parochial school (we are private) we are not suppose to talk at all about Christmas - no mention of religious aspects or secular ones ~ but my kids are so little that of course they want to talk about Santa. We had a "winter party" at school and I had the darndest time finding a song for them to sing that they already knew but didn't mention anything about Christmas! We finally settled on Jingle Bells and they did a great job singing. Since today is the last day of school before break, I decided to buck the system and read them the Little Drummer Boy story, which talks about a baby king being born in a manger but doesn't actually say the word Jesus :)

And that is what's been happening the past few weeks! Merry Christmas to everyone and remember to leave "Christ" in "Christmas!"

SOLD!

We are homeowners!! Unbelievable! Sam and I closed on our gorgeous house yesterday at 4pm, and promptly celebrated with a pizza party in our new kitchen :) It's so surreal to go from growing up in my parents' beautiful homes, then living in a college dorm/apartment, then my first solo apartment, then back to my parents' home, then to a basement with bugs in DC, then to an apartment with bars on the window, then to a nice but small apartment back here, and now to a big, beautiful home where I can unpack for a very long time. God has blessed me beyond anything I could have imagined.