Home Renovations . . . Still Not Complete

So months ago we started working on the house again, most finishing painting. We're still not completely finished, may never be, but this is what we have done thus far.

We finally got a new stove in the kitchen that works properly and matches everything else and we put some new hardware on the cupboards.

our bedroom - just a "during the chaos" since I never got around to taking a good after pic

our bathroom - the before

the after - we still plan on changing out that ugly vanity to a white one, redoing the flooring, and painting the door white

main floor bathroom - the before

the after - still plan on changing the flooring and this vanity too, or at least the counter top since it doesn't really match

Take Note

Although James bought me a nice camera for Christmas this year, I still really suck at taking pictures. I either don't remember the camera or I feel awkward taking advantage of the photo ops. Anyway it's just James and I, and it's not like we do really exciting things around here a lot, hence the reason I rarely post anymore; plus we're at work all the time.

Anyway today is one of those rare days that I'm not at work or doing something with James because well it's Saturday and James has been at a class all day, so I'm bored and thought I'd post a little something. Things have been pissing me off lately, so I thought I'd stick with that theme.

Things that Piss Me Off Lately:
(In no particualr order.)

1. Dogs that bark all night in our neighborhood: Dogs, warning, I am not an animal lover and am not ashamed of killing you and burying you in my backyard. There currently isn't any grass back there anyway.


2. How I just ate a whole box of Hot Tamales by myself: I don't even know how that happend, but it did, and it pisses me off.


3. Exercising


4. Life, you really piss me off recently.


5. Secretaries


6. Counselors


7. State testing that doesn't work like it should, and just state testing period.


8. Loud noises: James, that one is for you.


9. Doing the dishes, that's a hint for you as well.


10. Old lady visiting teaching partners: No old lady, I will not quit my job just so I can go visiting teaching with you during the day!

Clearly I need a vacation. Hope I can make it to Spring Break in a month.

Things & Stuff

So, I've been slacking on my blogging because we are renovating again, and I've been waiting for all of that to get completed, but we're slow at it. I will fill you in on this though: we may have added somethings to the kitchen, we may have painted something BRIGHT torquoise (LOVE!), we may have painted something else blue, like really blue, by accident - thought about repainting it, but it grew on us - and we may be finally finishing out bedroom. Still have a lot to do, but we kind of like it - minus James is not a good sport when it comes to painting.


Anyhow, I'll leave you with this fun pic to tide you over until I get around to actually blogging again.

For New Year's Eve we played poker, and more importantly, it was my first time playing poker. I'd like you to take notice of a few things in the below picture.

1. Chad's face

2. Chad's "pile" of chips

3. My pile of chips

And although my victory may have been short lived, you better believe I basked in it!

"Hip Hip Hooray for Christmas Vacation"

Ugly Christmas sweater party, hand crafted awesomeness right there people.

24th birthday party: went shooting my new gun and snowmobiling.

New Year's Eve at our house.

(Although we might perceive to be dunk, and James clearly looks mentally unstable in the first picture, remember appearances can be deceiving.)

And now I'm horribly depressed because Christmas vacation is over, and I have to go to work tomorrow. Ugh, back to real life.

The Good, the Bad, and the Alveys

Here is a quick recap of the past month, with all it's awesomeness, all it's horribleness, and all it's regularness.

The Awesomeness:

First, we celebrated James's 24th birthday. It was a hunting themed party, since Boo likes to hunt so much.

Yeah, people I made that awesome camo cake.

Everyone enjoying the party, especially mom for some reason. I have no idea what is so funny.

The Horribleness:

James and I were looking forward to telling everyone over Christmas that we were going to have a baby. Unfortunately, after an ER visit the night of James's birthday, lots of blood tests, a few ultrasounds, and bad news about certain things making it difficult for me to carry a baby, a long, drawn-out two weeks ended worse than it had began. I miscarried at around 6 weeks. After a few days off work, some moping around, some hating the world (especially people that have kids,) I finally decided I had to move on. So we're doing ok with it now.

And about Thanksgiving, well that's what we were dealing with over that holiday, so it wasn't the greatest Thanksgiving ever. (I was still in my "I hate everyone" phase that day. I may have wanted to pick up the turkey and throw it at people, maybe.)

The bright side of the horribleness is that I realize what an amazing person I married.

I love you, Boo.

The Regularness:

Church callings are not my most favorite thing, but dang, they sure do like me. I was called as a Sunday School teacher for about a second, just enough time to teach one horrible lesson. I am now called as the 2nd counselor in the Young Woman's. I think I may have liked my once a month teaching job better.

I have almost made it through a half a year of teaching! I may have yelled or swore at a few kids, but I have not killed or beat any of them. They have actually been a really good group of kids to teach, and we FINALLY made it through reading The Hunger Games after two and a half months! I was sick of it by the end, but they LOVED it.

And, now we are getting ready for Christmas, which I love. This year's Lloyd Christmas party is going to be awesome, and just let me tell you fam, my ugly Christmas sweater is pretty awesome, so is James's.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Boo

Ok, this is pretty late coming. James birthday was Thursday, but we've been having some life issues, so this is the first chance I've had to post it.

Look what he can do!

175ish pounds

A whooping 6ft. 3 in.

Head circumference = big (not as big as mine though)

Milestones:

Doesn't like sleeping that much

Walks surprisingly fast

Still hasn't mastered the art of whispering, but is improving

Eats everything

Is quite gassy

Loves to make loud, annoying noises just to tick me off

Favorite shows of late: How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory

Enjoys frantically waving, much like a lunatic, at random people that drive by

Loves shooting at, killing, blowing up . . . EVERYTHING still

Jeez, isn't he just growing up so fast!

Happy 24th Birthday!

This is Like an Oprah Episode: Full of Random Crap and I Intend to Talk About Myself a Lot

First thing's first. If you're looking for a good book to read, one that you can be mindlessly sucked into like Twilight or The Hunger Games (not to say the The Hunger Games is as horribly written as Twilight because I'm reading it with my students right now, and I think there are some definite merits to the book, anway,) I just read a new book by Veronica Roth called Divergent. It's the first of a triology. (The second unfortunately doesn't release until May of next year.) It's got a dystopic society/corrupt government theme like The Hunger Games that I like in books for some reason. Anyway, I'm just saying it'll probably be one of those books that explodes when they decide to make a movie of it, which I guess is already in the works. Definitely not the next great piece of American literature, but an entertaining read. So, Chad and Amanda, you wanted a book recommendation; there it is. I'll even lend you my copy.

Next, oh yeah, it was Halloween, and we "festivitied" it up. Okay, so we carved pumpkins like we normally do, but we were actually home to give out candy this year, which James loves to do for some reason. I do not, however. But, I did win the GVMS faculty costume contest! (Sorry, no pics of that.)

Last, I've recently discovered a great joy in buying crappy things from the DI and making them less crappy. Also, just buying cheap, random things at Ross.

Sweet metal, old-school bicycle: got at DI for $10.00.

Box with painting on it: got at DI for $2.00.

Very tall candle holder thing: got at DI for $1.00.

Bird house that I painted: got at DI for $1.00

Most awesome birdcage: got at Ross for $10.00.

Random things that I love above my cabinets: totally worth it!

Now this little beauty (my menu board because yeah people I have OCD and plan out my meals like a school cafeteria,) I fashioned out of the bottom of a treadmill that didn't work, painted it with chalkboard paint, painted some strips of wood for the boarder, and made James nail them on for me. Plus, the fall thing hanging on it, I made out of letters, wire, leafs, and hot glue.

My kitchen sign, just in case anyone gets really confused as to where my kitchen is. I got a metal board at a boutique for $3.00 and those letters for 1.00.

My box of crap (mostly for James because I don't like it when crap is laying around). He made it. I painted it.

Now, my fat kitchen man I got at Ross for like $2.00, and I made the sign from a plate I got at DI for $0.75, and then painted it with chalkboard paint.

The pitcher I got at DI for maybe $2.00, and I spray painted it green.

Please ignore the crappy picture. I made the fall wreath a while ago. It's a yarn one, and they are a huge pain because they take so long, but we just barely put up the vinyl "welcome" sign on the door.

And last, I got this sign from DI for $2.00 thanks to Trisha finding it for me.

Why didn't I realize DI was so fun a long time ago?