Today's Adventure...

I'm trying something new today. It is vain and shallow, but I want to try it.

I am going to get a spray tan at a salon here in town. It's not a "Mystic" tan where you stand in a booth and a machine sprays up and down as you stand in a box.
A professional is actually going to "air brush" a tan on me.

The professional I am going to has very reasonable pricing - if vanity can be reasonable???

and she comes highly recommended by some other gals here in town.

After doing some research I have found that this not harmful to pregnant women or their babies so I am going to give it a try. I am assured that I will not look like an Oompa-Loompa, or any other orange colored things.

Here is the bio I found on my technician...

"We all know that having a beautiful, golden brown color to our skin makes us look healthier and feel more confident. Sunless tanning has recently taken off the last couple of years. I have tried every product on the market and finally found the “perfect” tan.
I offer an easy and effective way of getting a rich, dark tan without being exposed to harmful UV light. This fast drying, non-streaking formula has no “orange” color to it. It is an Aloe Vera based formula that contains caffeine, copper and bio-blend that helps correct and reduce environmental damage that accelerates skin aging. The DHA bronzer reacts with the amino acids in your skin to develop a golden brown tan over a 4 - 6 hour period.
This is not a booth spray tan. I am certified to personally apply this solution to you. The airbrush technique ensures that the solution has evenly covered your body and that there are no missed spots!"

Wish me luck!

I will post a before and after pic tomorrow. :)

Restless Legs - ARGH!!!

So it is 1am on July 5th. I was exhausted at 9:30, stayed up to watch fireworks anyway and then tried to go to bed at 11:00pm - only to get all cozy and Restless Leg Syndrome "kick" in just as I was about to doze off.

I am so annoyed. I hear this is a regular symptom of pregnancy for some reason. My legs and my feet are driving me crazy - I just wiggle and twitch and wiggle some more. I can't make myself be still even if I try. The more I try to be still the worse it is.

Maybe I should get up and do a little jig. hee hee

I read I may need more iron. I don't know if that is true or not but I know I need Jesus to step in right now and make my legs and feet chill out - I want to sleep but instead it's 1am and I am losing my mind.

This is weird.

All Done!

Well, I finshed the tree. It's not perfect but then again it's art so we could say it's perfect - it's subjective right? :)

Also, Adam hung the curtain rod so I could hang the curtains.

Now I am super antsy to pick up the crib and have it assembled so I can make her bed and see what it looks like all together. I guess for now I will rest.





I hate it that the Khaki wall looks so yellow/green in the pictures. I promise it does not look like that in real life.

Update on Tree Painting

So the tree is in progress. I am getting a little less scared of this project as I go along. Small steps - I just keep taking small steps and slowly it is looking more like a tree. :)

The art teacher from the school I worked at came by yesterday and gave me some pointers and then my friend Amy stopped by last night and gave me a few ideas as to how to paint the shadding on the tree. Both friends were very helpful - so far I have done all the work...

I am kind of proud - proud of my tracing/paint by number....

Adam is hanging the curtains now and we got a call today that the crib and dresser have arrived at the furniture store. As soon as the tree is done I want to pick up the crib and assemble it. I can't wait to see what the finished room is going to look like. :)

Am I Crazy?

Picture of bedding I ordered. Baby's Crib is different but the same dark wood.

Two close up shots of the bedding and the tree I am trying to imulate on the nursery wall.

The dark colored wall is actually a dark Khaki - and does not actually look green in real life.

Stage 1 of "The Tree"

I am NOT an artist in the sense of painting anyway.
I don't draw or paint or sculpt.

I have been working on the baby nursery and had this wild hair that I would like to paint a tree on the wall the crib will go on. A tree that will look like a tree from her bedding.

So here's the plan....
I scanned the fabric on our computer scanner and then went into Photoshop and played around with the tree a little bit. Then I printed the tree the way I liked it and then made a transparency and then borrowed an overhead projector to project the tree on the wall.

I have traced the tree and painted the base color of the tree. I now need to go back in and retrace the tree to define the leaves and branches and go in with a darker Khaki color and outline and shade the leaves and branches.

I think I am Crazy and I am nervous now I can't pull this off. I called the art teacher from the school I was working at and she is coming over this afternoon to give me a little art lesson.
I really hope this tree thing works out and looks cute.

If not then I am just going to paint the wall a solid blue again and call it good. :)

Above are some pictures of my progress so far.
I will keep you posted.

House Under Contract!

I forgot to share with you that our house is officially under contract!

Last week we had two offers and then two counter-offers and by Friday morning at 11 am we officially had the house under contract. We are very excited!!!

The buyers have 14 days to have any inspections done and let us know if there are any problems they want us to fix or repair for them. We are not expecting that the inspections will find anything since we have done so much work on the house. I guess there is always a chance for surprises but this should go smoothly.

Closing date is July 23 - one month from today.

Praise the Lord for selling our house - sweet freedom! :)

New Favorite - A Must for Produce lovers

I hate infomercials - I REALLY Hate them!

Not long ago I was shopping with my grandma at Bed Bath and Beyond and she really wanted to buy a box of Green Bags, "As seen on TV", for keeping fruits and veggies fresh longer.

Honestly, I thought, What is she thinking? Yeah, I'm sure these bags work just like any air tight container.

When you buy a box you get several bags that are a couple of different sizes, grandma gave me a few to try them out, so over the last couple of months I have used them a few times just to see what I think.

They WORK!

I love to buy green onions, lettuce, celery, and strawberries and these are often the produce items we don't use quick enough so I end up throwing some of them out.

I am most impressed with how long my strawberries stayed fresh. I was able to keep the same pint of strawberries fresh for almost 2 weeks! That is crazy!

The bags work great for lettuce and celery and do ok for the green onions.

Anyway - I am a believer in the green bags and think everyone who loves produce but can't eat it fast enough should buy these. You can wash them easily and reuse over and over again.

I can't believe I actually found an "As Seen on TV" item useful.

You can buy Green Bags online or at Bad Bath and Beyond. My guess is you can probably find them many places like Walmart, Walgreens, or other discount stores as well. Cost is about $10 or less for 20 bags. I suggest splitting a box with a friend - our small family does not need 20 bags. :)

You are looking for Debbie Meyer Green Bags
www.greenbags.com

Have you ever....?

I have heard that adding a little clear vanilla extract to a gallon of latex paint can really help curb the odor of the paint.

Have you ever tried this??

Does it work?

I am getting ready to start painting the baby nursery (with some help) and am thinking of trying this.

I would love some feedback - I'll keep you posted on my results.

Waiting...

My husband and I are trying to sell a house in Manhattan, KS.
It has been on the market for a little over a month now and people are looking at it all the time - in fact I have lost count of how many times the home has been shown.
Last night at about 7pm our relator called to say that we had 2 offers on the house!
One offer was in writing and is offically on the table. The other offer was verbal but the buyers have an appointment at 8:30am to put together a written offer.
Our relator said he would call as soon as he had the 2nd written offer and we could go from there.

Ok, so now it is 10:30 am - seriously, I don't think it takes 2 hours to write up an offer - what is UP????

I think I am going to make a phone call if I have heard anything by 11:00.

Am I being impaitent?

hmmmm...

Trying to Remember

I am hoping I can catch on to blogging again. In the past year and a half I have gotten married, moved to a new city, had two different jobs (at different times) and just haven't had a spare min. to really blog.

I am now a stay at home mommy - although baby K is still in my tummy. She will be here soon and so I am busy nesting and preparing for baby.

Hopefully I will get back into the swing of blogging, b/c I do love it. :)

SO much work...

Hope you all are doing well. It has been awhile since I have posted.
My husband and I have been working on the landscaping of our house and I wanted to share some pictures with you.

Landscaping Project (click here)

The first picture you will see is of our house 3 years ago before the front door was painted, before the storm door, and before anything was planted. We had to use a picture from 3 years ago as the start picture because we forgot to take a before picture just before we started the "rock wall" project.

We jumped into this project because we needed to add some good top soil to our flowerbeds, we had hard clay in there and no amount of compost, sand or stirring in new top soil was helping. A nursery suggested we either raise our flowerbed or dig our beds out 12-18" deep and then refill with good top soil. Both options were a huge task! We chose to raise the beds and it looks great!

We look forward to planting some colorful flowers this spring. Some of our shrubs will be yellow come the end of Spring and Summer, just so you know that everything planted will not always been the same shade of green.

One last note - doesn't my husband do an AWESOME job keeping our yard green?! I think it looks fantastic!

Try This!

New Favortie Recipe! My hubby and I LOVE this new meal!

Basil Chicken Over Angel Hair Pasta

I scaled this down for 2 people. It is perfect with a salad and a piece of bread or any side veggie. Healthy and de-lish!
the recipe is on All Recipies.com if you want to make it for 4 or more people.

Basil Chicken and pasta for 2....

4 oz. angel hair pasta
1tsp. olive oil
1/4c chopped onion
1/2 clove garlic, chopped
1c cooked & cubed chicken breast halves
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
2Tb. Fresh Basil chopped (or 1-2 tsp. dried basil)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp of hot pepper sauce
Parmesan cheese to garnish.

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until it is al dente, about 8-10 min. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Saute onions and garlic. Stir in tomatoes, cooked chicken, basil, salt and hot pepper sauce. Reduce heat to med. and cover skillet.
Simmer 5 min., stirring frequently until mixture is hot and tomatoes are soft.

Toss Sauce with hot cooked pasta to coat. Serve with Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper to taste.

***Here's a great idea! I made my pasta ahead, only boiling it for about 5-6 min and then stored it in a zip lock bag in the fridge. Then I cooked up my chicken mixture and stored it in another zip lock bag.
Then later in the week I but the chicken mixture and the pasta in a large skillet and heated them through and then served them up (this will also finish cooking your pasta that you didn't cook for the full time before). You can have dinner in literally minutes with little clean up!

***I have enjoyed taking my raw chicken and seasoning it with a little salt and pepper and then cooking it on the grill, when cooked through let the meat "rest" for a least 5 min (so it will hold it's juice and remain tender) then cut into bite size pieces. Adds a yummy grilled flavor to the chicken.

A NEW fave...

Piztros! (click here)

You've got to eat here. It is fun and funky and not like the typical places to eat around here.

The food is GREAT!

Also the dessert is very tasty.

The ambiance is really cool.

My favorite dessert....

Pana Cotta, a creamy vanilla custard chilled in a chocolate cup with caramlized sugar on top...it is really big and we usually share it.

A Good Night's Sleep...

We just got an AMAZING new bed!!!!!
We were sleeping on a very old, very firm bed. I litterally felt as though I had been hit with a bat on my shoulders and hips every morning when I woke up. My bones and joint would crack and pop for hours.
Finally we both agreed that we were not getting the sleep or rest our bodies need to be healthy so we began to look for a new bed.

We are now the proud sleepers on a Denver Mattress called the Durango.
We LOVE it. I feel about 5 years younger when I wake up, ready to do anything. I can't feel my husband get out of bed in the morning because the bed has individual springs instead of springs that are connected to one another. The top of the mattress is quilted but not a pillow top.
Best of all, we got a King size bed - Oh my goodness, there's a TON of room!

We are sleeping like never before and couldn't be happier.

I'm Back...

This married life and working really keeps ya busy.
Just to update you all on a few things, I am still working for Victoria's Secret, I actually got a promotion and am now on the management team. I still get to work part time (which is usally about 25-30 hours a week) and I am really enjoying the ladies I work with. It has been a great opportunity to meet some new people and to get out of the house and have something, other than cleaning and going to Target, that I can be doing while my husband is at work.
Also we did find a church here. We are going to Eastside Community Church and we Love it. We are going to be in a young couples small group that starts on Thursday night. There are four couples in our small group counting us and the crazy thing it that I know two of the couples through my former job and we just all ended up at the same church within the last few months. The fourth couple in our group are really great too, I can't wait to know them all better and spend some time learning God's Word and heart with these couples.

The hunt...

Well I am offically married, it was a beautiful wedding a so much fun to share it with all of our close friends and family. My husband (I love saying that!) is wonderful and I love him So much (as I should).

We went on our honeymoon, came home, we have been going through gifts, my husband is back at work and I have been trying to put our house together, Christmas shop, cook dinner, clean and look for a job.

The job hunt is offically ON. I forgot how much work it is to get a job. I was at my last job for almost 8 years so I'm a little rusty. I would love to work with kids, maybe be a para or teacher's aid or work at a daycare or preschool. Jobs are few in those areas at this time of year. I am still applying a hoping for openings but I have decided in the mean time I think I will try out a retail job. Truthfully, I like working retail. It doesn't pay much but you meet lots of interesting people and usually you work with fun people. I need to make some friends around here.

We found a church that we are going to plant ourselves in and try out on a more regular basis, that hunt has come to an end or at least a pause.

I am looking forward to Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Saviour for the first time with my new hubby and my in-laws (who I totally love) and spending time with my family too.
Over the holiday we also hope to do some projects around the house, so if your in town come on by and we'll give you a hammer or a paintbrush or something.

Our next hunt...a new bed! Our current bed has a ditch in the middle of it, we just roll into the middle like we are wrapped in a taco. My back, shoulders and neck are screaming at me to get something different.

Merry Christmas!
love
Correnta

8 Days and counting....

In just 8 days I am getting married, to this wonderful man!



I can't wait to share the rest of my life with him. :)
Wedding details are coming to an end and the day is approaching...
8 days and counting...

Great Friends & Great Finds

My Roommate (top pic, gal on the far left) had a birthday at the beginning of October. Some friends and I surprised her with a trip to Chicago to see her dream...The Broadway musical, "Wicked"
The musical was/is amazing! The trip was so fun I so enjoyed my time running around Chicago with you gals

Ethels Chocolate Lounge...someone please open this store in my town!!! I will work there! I'm telling you people, you have got to check out an ethel's chocolate lounge near you, and if there isn't one, they hop on a plane to Chicago...it is one of the greatest places in America. And the chocolate is amazing!! Oh, if I lived on the same street with Ethel, I could be a city girl just to live by her.
I could go there every day for a taste of chocolate, a coffee and a chat with friends or read a book.

We had lots of other fun on our trip, seeing art, eating out, shoping, the L-train, people watching, laughing laughing laughing, and just enjoying time away from real life. Happy Birthday roommie, I had a blast celebrating you and your day.

Basically, my friends are awesome and Chicago is a great place to visit, I can't wait to go again.

Snap! Quick & Easy

Just to update you on Leviticus and Leprosy...
the traps worked and Leviticus and Leprosy have gone on to mice heaven, or something like that.
I'm going to set the traps again and wait a few days just to make sure they don't have any friends shacking up with them and then I'm going to clean up the mess they left for me. Oh Joy.

Meet L & L

(not actual photos of "my" mice)

Last month when I was getting the lawnmower out of my shed, I saw a little brown field mouse. I jumped and screamed. I meant to put a trap in there and kill it and set a second trap just to make sure there were not any other mice I had yet to meet.

I forgot.

Today I went to get the lawn mower out, which I discovered is not working. Anyway, there are 2 mice in there now, at least that's how many I saw today. They have gotten into the big bags of mulch I stored in there and have made quite the little home for themselves not to mention all the poop everywhere - crap!!!!!!!

SO, I did not mow the lawn, and my yard is embarrassing - beyond embarrassing, like I should be kicked out of the neighborhood, I did set two traps and I am totally grossed out!

I decided maybe the mice would seem less gross if they had names, I am going to name them Leviticus (b/c mice are gross and there are some gross things in that part of the Bible), and Leprosy because it's also a gross word.

I guess naming them didn't make them more likable. Shoot.

Well I hope Leviticus and Leprosy die soon so I can clean up the mouse poop, clean up the mulch and set more traps in hopes that if more mice come they will die upon entry.

Let's hope Leviticus and Leprosy haven't started their honeymoon!!!! Yikes! Baby mice are more nasty than grown mice, b/c they don't have fur, they are naked!!! Ok, I have to go throw up now (just kidding).