Working the System

I found a coupon on Spoofee that let you buy one shrub, get one free at Home Depot. That was pretty exciting since we need shrubs and trees in our backyard, so I printed off a couple and decided to see what we could do. A few weeks ago we discovered that Lowes and Home Depot coupons can be used interchangeably (how is it we didn't know this already?) so we decided to work the system and see how many free shrubs we could get.

First we went to Lowes and got 4 Purple Leaf Sand Cherry (on the left) bushes. We are unsure as to how big these get, since the tag says 4 ft, but Home Depot says 8 ft, and http://www.arborday.org/ says 7 ft. I guess we'll see. We paid for 2 of the 4 and went across the street to Home Depot. Here we found 2 Golden Privets (on the right). We paid for 1, used a 10% off Lowes coupon Aaron found online, and got a free bottle of round up (Another coupon we found with the free shrub one).

Then we took our plunder home, lined them up in the garage, and went to the Home Depot near our house. We found that they have a crappy garden center, so we got another free bottle of round up, some root stimulator, and a patio set (with another 10% off Lowes coupon)! All in all, we used 7 coupons (I think that might be a record!).

Today we are going to grab 2 more shrubs if they are still there, so we will use some more coupons and have a great backyard! Plus, I just realized that today is ARBOR DAY and we are going to plant! So go plant a tree everyone! I am and I'm soooo excited!

Blogging Scattergories

Thanks Janey for the great idea!

Your Name: Devony

1. Famous Singer/Band: Diamond Rio (this is totally the only one I could think of)
2. 4 letter word: Darn
3. Street: Davis St.
4. Color: Dark (there are dark/cool colors and warm/bright colors)
5. Gifts/Presents: Diamonds
6. Vehicle: Diablo (Lamborghini)
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop:
8. Boy Name: Donovan
9. Girl Name: Daisy
10. Movie Title: D-Day
11. Drink: Daiquiri (Only virgin please!)
12. Occupation: Database Administrator (oh gosh you can so tell I work in IT)
13. Flower: Daffodil
14. Celebrity: David Duchovny (Double points!)
15. Magazine: Discover
16. U.S. City: Denver
17. Pro Sports Teams: Dolphins
18. Fruit: Dates
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Driving Conditions
20. Something You Throw Away: Dirty Diapers (I think that's double points too!)
21. Things You Shout: Drat!
22. Cartoon Character: Daffy Duck (double points again!)

Here are the rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question... Now Go! Anyone who wants a fun creative blog topic is tagged on this Scattergories!

Welcome Spring?

We've been enjoying some nice weather lately, and last night it started raining a lot. I was excited because I love the sound of rain on windows and feeling all cozy inside. It stopped around 11:00 pm or so, but when we woke up it was at it again. There was a river of muddy water running down the rock strips between our house and our neighbors (courtesy of the empty lots behind us) and things were looking wet. A few hours later it turned to snow when the temperature dropped. After a while I looked out and noticed all our cute straight tulips were lying on the ground, so I donned a rain jacket and Aaron's tennis shoes (I still only wear flip flops on my hurt foot, so this was an interesting development) and ran outside to save them. I grabbed a mattress bag and stole some good sized rocks from the neighbors (thanks Hannah & Steve!) to cover and save the flowers after shaking them all off. The snow was seriously heavy and wet and was bringing everything to the ground. After saving the flowers, I ran around shaking off the trees that were drooping (mostly those with flowers or lots of leaves) so they wouldn't break. I've repeated this two additional times so far, and it's getting a little old. After coming in each time, I find that all parts of me not covered by the rain jacket are soaked to the skin. Also, I just read that this is supposed to continue throughout the night. Hmm. Welcome Spring?

Our Lovely Daffodils and Tulips this morning as the rain turned to snow.

The land of the tulips (now covered with plastic and snow)

Interestingly enough, Aaron told me that there was no snow, only a bit of rain at the office which is about 20 miles away. How is it that they get a little rain while we get a blizzard?

Holland...Who Knew?

The other night we were chatting with some friends and somehow, we started talking about Holland. For some reason though, no one believed me that Holland is not a country! I literally had to pull up Wikipedia to prove that Holland is not a country, merely a part of the Netherlands (or the Kingdom of the Netherlands). Am I the only one that knew this? It hasn't been a country since Napoleon reigned in 1810! What gives guys?

P.S. The pic is of the first tulip we had bloom. Interestingly enough, the bulbs came from Holland according the the package!

Gotta love Scholastic

Do you guys remember Scholastic Book Orders? Remember getting them in class and being sssooooooo excited to take them home to your mom and beg to get the books? Then remember the great day when your teacher would finally bring the books to class and send them home with you? Ahh, it was like, the best day ever. :)

Seriously, who doesn't love them? I still love getting them and picking out my books. I love circling all of the ones I want, and tallying it up to discover I have over $100 in books that I want. I don't love crossing ones off, but I do love sending in the order, waiting impatiently, and finally getting the books. Then I get to give them to all the other people that order through me. It's so great. Especially when I get to see them give the books to their kids. The kids go crazy! And I think, "Huh. I still do that. I'm totally addicted to books!"

For anyone in the area, you can order through me if you want (I don't get paid or anything, I just do this for the sheer joy of spreading the love of books to all mankind. :) If you still don't know what I'm talking about, check the link below and click on the May fliers on the right. It'll come back to you...

http://www.scholastic.com/cool

Yum

They have strawberries on sale at Albertsons - 4 lbs for $3.99. Oh my gosh they are so good. I think we may have eaten 2 lbs this weekend. We got 16 so we can make jam. I cleaned them all this weekend and put 2/3 of them in the freezer (for the jam). I think we need another case.

Have you ever seen such cookies?

I know Easter is over, but I had to post a picture of the cookies my visiting teacher brought me. Have you ever seen such fanciness? The bunny has individual pieces of icing fur and each of the eggs are beautifully decorated. Even the tulips have individual petals frosted on! How crazy is that? Bethany, you're amazing.

Long Overdue

I know this post is long overdue, so I'm sorry. Maren, and everyone else that is curious, here is what happened to my foot. Also, I'm sorry these pics aren't the best, but this is what you get when you hold x-rays up to light at your back door and try to take pictures! Enjoy!

The drama all started on March 30 (Friday night - why do all accidents happen when doctor's offices are closed? Is it because that's the only time we are at home?) I was sewing the crib bumper for the nursery bedding that I am making (pics will follow in a later post) and when I stood up from my sewing table, I felt something sharp hit my foot. I of course immediately jerked away, and upon further inspection of the carpet, found part of a broken needle. This of course sent up a red flag since I didn't know where the other half of it was. After inspecting my foot though, I found absolutely no wound, simply a tiny pinprick where the needle had hit me. I dug around a bit just to make sure that there wasn't anything in there, and was finally convinced. My foot was hurting a little where I had dug around, but that was normal - right?

So I went about my weekend and watched it. It was actually a little better on Saturday and we went to Home Depot (although I did take it easy and didn't walk around TOO much) and on Sunday it was mostly the same. Sunday night it actually started sending shooting pains into my little toe, so I decided to call my doctor.

Monday it was more than a little painful, so I got the doctor appointment and went in. They sent me down to radiology (someone remind me to thank whatever forces made our general care practitioner be in a medical complex so everything was within walking (or in my case riding in a wheelchair) distance. After shooting a few x-rays of my foot, here's what they found:


There it is plain as day! The needle had gone in my foot. So we went back to my doctor who told me that we could try to get it out there (although he warned me that things like this were usually fishing trips) or I could go to a podiatrist. I asked him to try since I didn't want to go to another doctor or make this any bigger of a deal than it already was. So he gave me a local anesthetic (OW!!!!!), made a small incision, and went to work. After about 10 minutes or so, he finally gave up. He couldn't get it out. So he sent me down to the podiatrist (also mercifully enough in the same complex).

We got there at 11:45 and were actually asked by the nurse/helper person to wait until 1:00. We declined since I was cut open, bleeding, and the anesthetic was wearing off, so she unhappily took us back. The doctor came, gave me some more local anesthetic (OWW OWW!!!!), made the incision bigger, and went on his own fishing trip. Too bad. He was no more successful than the first doctor, and couldn't even find the needle.

He took us down to the day surgery area and put my foot under this cool real time x-ray so that he could see my foot, the needle, and his instruments at the same time so he knew how close he was. He started in again and dug and dug. This was probably the most painful part since I could feel him pulling stuff out (and see it since I was awake) but could also tell it wasn't the needle. Just muscle. Yeah, knew that would hurt later. - I was right. Plus the anesthetic was starting to wear off (I apparently go through it fast) so he gave me another shot (OWW OWW OWWWW!!) Here is a picture of what we could see on the real time x-ray machine (I think it was called a C-ARM or something) because we were watching the whole time.

The doctor finally gave up and told us he couldn't get it out. I was starting to panic a little with the thought of having that in there for the rest of my life, when he told me I could come back the next day and we would do a full surgery where they put me under and everything! I went home about 30 minutes later, wrapped up and on Vicadin which was doing nothing yet for the pain.

On Tuesday (April 3) we went in early and had the whole procedure done. This time I only had to endure the IV pokes and such. Everything else was done while I was asleep. Yay. :) They finally got it out, although the incision ended up being 1 1/2 inches long and the needle was just over an inch long! (P.S. I can't show a picture of the incision because I know some of you have weak stomachs and anyway, my foot is still all wrapped up). I have been resting at home ever since, although I did have to take myself off the Vicadin on Friday since it was giving me terrible headaches. That means I'm back to OTC Tylenol, which doesn't give me the headaches, but leaves some pain going on in the foot. Sadness. At least I can function though!

There is my long novel of what has happened lately. I am very glad the needle is out, and the stitches should be out on Thursday, as long as all continues to go well. The doctor said I am healing well and that things should be fine. The scar shouldn't even be there much soon. Plus we had really fantastic medical people (except the wenchy nurse at the podiatrist who continued to be wenchy) and our ward was awesome. They brought us lots of yummy meals and took care of us. Thanks to everyone!

Aaron's Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Devony's Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.



Isn't this fun? You can upload a picture of yourself and see who you look like. What do you think? Any matches?

Wanna See My New Crib?

YAY!!!! We finally got a crib! I know you're all dying to see it, so here it is!
On Saturday (after buying the chair) we went to Babies R Us to get the crib since they were kind enough to put it on sale. :) We found out though that they don't stock hardly any cribs, so we had them put one on hold at another store (since we didn't have 3 weeks for them to order it) and I went and got it yesterday. We got the Babi Italia Pinehurst Espresso Single Crib.
P.S. Who decided to give these things such long-o names?



Devony did most of the work (her choice) and Aaron was kind enough to take pictures while she was unpacking the box (which I'm pretty sure would have weathered a hurricane just fine. You'd think packing tape grows on trees or something! Once we got it all upstairs we both worked on it. We did put it together in the room though. Remember on Alias when they didn't and they had to do it over because it didn't fit? We learned from them. :)



Let me just say that putting a crib together is confusing! We constantly had to re-read the directions and even do a couple of things twice! Who writes these?
The finished product with our crib blanket. (Angela these are my nursery colors - olive and tan - and I'm so glad you came to visit my blog!) Now I am feverishly working on the bumper (I have great motivation all of a sudden) and hope to have it done very soon so that I can do the crib skirt! YAY this is such fun!

Adventures in Chair Shopping

Some of you know that I have ideas about things. Lots of them actually. So I KNEW I wanted a traditional rocking chair for my nursery! Well, after much shopping, I finally decided a couple of things:

1. Traditional Rocking Chair are not very popular, and therefore very difficult to find.

2. Not so great in the comfort arena

3. Drat :(

So we started looking at gliders. But I don't really like traditional nursery gliders. Plus the only REALLY comfortable ones I could find were also REALLY expensive ($550? No thanks.)

Then we found these upholstered gliders. Classy looking and pretty darn comfy. I thought we had found a match. Until we realized that Babies R Us is basically the only physical store that carries them. And they are still really expensive. Double Drat.

So we spent about 4 1/2 hours at American Furniture Warehouse on Saturday and ended up coming home with a rocker/recliner and a mismatched ottoman. I liked the ottoman because the tan and green combo goes great in the tan and green nursery, and it is very comfy (Aaron and I have each accidentally fallen asleep in it already!). Plus it's microfiber and will hopefully wear better than a few other fabrics. So here is the first real piece of furniture we bought for the nursery! What do you think?

Are You Excited?

I am. :)



You can also see this at http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/atworldsend/

Blocks

I had these great building blocks growing up that we played with incessantly. I loved them and I really wanted our kids to have some too. Therefore, being the handyman that he is, Aaron took it upon himself to try out his new miter saw (poor guy) and make some for me! Our friends Annie and Tommy came over and Tommy helped Aaron with the block cutting.


The blocks turned out really great. There are lots of different shapes and as you can see, they work really well! We even had our friends' son try them out and he thought they were pretty good, so I guess they're kid approved! Now we'll be able to test them on our own little girl! One question though - should they be painted or left natural?

Big News....

Guys the day has finally come - we're getting a little girl!

She's due on April 14th, so around that time we will be traveling to Georgia (where her birthmom lives) to pick her up. We still have to hammer out some of the details and things, but we are really excited.

I painted the blocks for her room and Aaron is going to make a shelf to put them on! These beautiful roses are from Aaron (our caseworker actually called him first, so he got to tell me about her).

This means that we are busy shopping for her and trying to make sure we have all the essentials. There's definitely a lot to buy! We're having a great time though and loving every minute that we spend getting ready for her. Our families are really excited. My brother's wife is due one week after our little girl, so she'll even have a cousin her same age really soon!

The Talented Miss Haylee

My little sister was in the Miss Rexburg/Upper Valley pageant on Saturday and she won! She was crowned Miss Upper Valley and will compete in June for the title of Miss Idaho. If she wins, she goes on to the Miss America pageant in January! Congrats Haylee! Here's a link to the official site. I am expecting better pics from the Beauty Queen herself soon, so stand by....
http://69.20.157.118/missrex/

Goodbye Whitie Tidy Bathroom

I love color. On my walls. Is there anyone who hasn't figured that out yet? This past week I painted the powder bathroom (1st floor) dark brown. It's lovely and chocolaty. Like a Willy Wonka Bar. Yum. :)
I also found some fun bathroom "niceties." They were pretty fun. Now we just need pictures on the walls and a towel and a rug!

Painting the Roomy Red...Sort of

The paint saga continues. Surprisingly enough, the next room to get done was...Ours! I was pretty sure that our room would be last, but we decided on a color and went to work this weekend. On Saturday we went shopping and got paint for our bedroom and the powder bath on the first floor (different colors). We also got a bunch of tools for Aaron (more on those to follow). Those gift cards from Christmas sure came in handy! (On the tools, not the paint. Don't worry!)

We both had Monday off for President's Day and went to work first thing in the morning. We taped and caulked and covered the floor. Then we started cutting in.

One more thing. The color (on the paint swatch) is called Warm Mahogany and is a deep red. (I know - you're all shocked. I haven't liked red since I was about 5 years old). Well, when the window is open and there's lots of light on it, the paint is a deep red. Kind of burgundy-ish. When the blinds are closed, it's like a deep plum. I like it! Here are some pictures!

Cutting in the Room

Us with our handiwork.

The master painter himself. Aaron was so good to help me paint even though he hates painting.

The room - looking very red I might add. It's not this red.

Our straight, clean line!

Look how pretty that is! For $1.28 you can buy Acrylic Painter's caulk at Home Depot or Lowes. You tape carefully, then apply the caulk where the tape meets the wall. Run your finger along the caulk to flatten it out. Paint like normal (cut in, roll, etc.) Let dry a bit, but not over night. Remove the tape. The caulk on the tape side will pull away, but the caulk on the wall will stay there. It stops the paint from bleeding through the tape, and you end up with beautiful clean lines like this! Hooray for whatever genius came up with painter's caulk! Oh and it lasts a long time. We did the nursery, the kitchen and dining room, and our bedroom with one tube. we might even have enough to do the powder bath with it before going to a new one! YAY!!! Come see our pretty paint job!

Sprouties!

Look guys! Sprouties! We are so excited to plant a garden this spring that when we saw the seeds in Walmart a few weeks ago we bought some! We only got the ones we knew would have to be started indoors first. So here in our nice little tray we have peppers (on the left - the ones that just look like dirt. Because currently, they are just dirt) and tomatoes (on the right where you can see green).
We were very excited when we started getting sprouties and amazed at how quickly they are growing (they are about twice this size now). One slight problem we discovered this morning - it says to transplant them when they are about 3 inches tall in April or May. Except I think we planted them too early because they are about 2 inches now and they will be way bigger than 3 inches by April or May! Oops!

Look at our 'Maters!

Craftiness Projects

So my latest project has been these soft books. I have a whole bunch of them that I am sewing together and then quilting (there is batting in between the pages to make them puffy). I'm totally excited about them since they blend two of my favorite past times (sewing and reading) together! Plus while at the neighbor's super bowl party on Sunday, I'm pretty sure the soft book I was working on was the only reason that Lynn (a 2 year old friend of theirs) warmed up to me initially. It also gives me something to work on while watching TV, riding in the car, etc. I'm all over these things! (No seriously, every time I see one at the store I want to buy it!) But they will be great later on because kids can't rip them and you can throw them in the wash when they are dirty! Someone brilliant came up with these.

Also I wanted to post a picture of my very first project with my serger! Here is the first receiving blanket I have ever made (I think it turned out pretty well) and it was so quick with the serger! I love it. I'm so glad I have it. And it's not even that hard to thread! YAY!!!

My Pink Razor

Great news guys! The nice Fed Ex man left my new cell phone at my house yesterday! It is home charging today. That means that tomorrow I will have a new pink razor with me to use! Hooray! Isn't it cute? :)

Brake Changing Captured on Film

Here is the promised video! Sorry it's so dark. Thanks to Aaron for the flashlight, but I guess next time we try to film a video at night in the garage we'll bring out a big lamp or something. :)

Brake for the Mechanic in Pink

Hello all! I get to brag a bit right now - about me! On Friday night Aaron started changing the front brakes on our Blazer. I was in the garage helping, and when he finished the first side, I said, "I can do that." So then I did the second side! I did it all by myself, with only a little coaching from Aaron (he also took the tire off but it wasn't my fault since it was off before I even got outside and decided I wanted to do it). So here are some pictures to document my new skill:

I got the brake pads and caliper off by myself - that was a little tough and a lot heavy - and made the telescoping part of the caliper get smaller (so the new brake pads would fit).

I took off the old rotor and put on a nice shiny new one (but did not touch it with my hands since the oils from your fingers make it wear unevenly).

Putting the dark green goo on the caliper and brake pads so they don't squeak.

Putting the tire and lug nut caps back on.

See I really did do it all! A video that we took will come next, but hooray, I did the brakes and now I know how! It was kind of fun too!

Guys my serger is here! YAY!!! More later on how it is after I get to test it some more.

FREE BOOK!!!

Guys I'm so so so excited! Shea Homes supports the Curious George series on tv and if you go to their website they will send you a free book! I ordered mine about a week ago and today I got
this book! Curious George Goes to a Movie! I love love love books, and what's better than free! So go to this link: http://curious.sheahomes.com/main.cfm?dir=prizes&sec=register&temp=register and order your free Curious George book today!

The Blizzard of 2006 - 12/20

Hey guys. I know this is late but I wanted it to be on my blog and this is the first video I have uploaded, so it is my little expirement. This was our house on day 2 of the blizzard.

I Bought a Serger!

Look guys I am so excited! I just purchased this serger today! I am so excited about it and can't wait till it gets here!

It is a Brother 1034D and I got it on Amazon. They have a great deal on them right now!
So now I can sew projects a LOT more quickly and have finished seams! YAY!!! Happy Day!

What should I sew first? Or maybe I should say, which project should I choose to complete first? Since I pretty much have a million I'm working on. Hmm. Have to work on that - and now I can!

Bragging Rights

Today's post is about my sister. And because this is my blog and I have sole control over what goes on it, I get to brag about her. Because she's a hottie and if I were a boy I would totally be swooning over these pictures. Here you go: Oh and remember. She's 19, at BYU-Idaho, talented, and available. So who wants a date? :)


Also, if you need a great photographer, let me know or click on the link on the right. My brother-in-law is a professional photographer and he took these photos in my parent's basement! He's really good. He lives in Boise, ID, but travels for photo shoots sometimes, so if you want him to take your pictures, check it out! http://www.hrgraphicsphoto.com/index.htm.

Original Numa Numa

If you liked the last video, you may get a kick out of this one too. It's the original by O-Zone and they are pretty goofy. It also has the whole song, as opposed to the last one which only plays 1 verse and the chorus I think.



Then someone with too much time on their hands decided to make this video with lego people. Who does that?



Ok I'm done. No more goofy videos for awhile. ;)

Numa Numa Dance

For any or all of you that have not seen the Numa Numa Dance by Gary Brolsma, you are sooo missing out.
This guy lives in New Jersey and was goofing around on his computer when he made the video. It is a song called "Dragosta din tei" by the Romanian group O-Zone. I love this video. No really. It makes me laugh so much. I'm so glad Annie introduced me. And I'm so glad Haylee shares my deep and abiding love for this song. And thank you Jane for showing me how to post videos on my blog. You're the best. Enjoy it!