65 Years

      

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            Before I begin this post let me just say that thoughts and prayers go to those who were injured last night at the Indiana state fair.  My heart is truly saddened for the families of those who lost their lives in last night's tragic accident.  Matt and I are thankful for the Lord's protection, especially when we realized we must have left the fair less than ten minutes before the accident occurred.  As soon as we got home from the fair, I wrote a quick post about how expensive fairs can be, but when I published the post and turned on the evening news, overpriced fair food was the least of my worries.  Please continue to pray for those involved in last night's accident.

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      On a lighter note, Matt and I had plans to drive two hours south to visit his family today.  Every few months we all get together to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, ect.  Today we celebrated Matt's 29th birthday, our nephew's 2nd birthday and Matt's grandparent’s 65th anniversary.  Yep, you read correctly……sixty-five years!  In this day and age, when marriage seems to be taken lightly and divorce rates are skyrocketing, I am thankful to have grandparents who still love each other through thick and thin.  It’s encouraging to know they never gave up on one another or their marriage.  Matt and I are truly grateful to have them in our lives as an example of a healthy marriage.   

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The State Fair

         
            It's the middle of August, and that means it's state fair time.  It's the one time of year that I feel like I can eat anything fried and not feel guilty, because it only happens once a year! 
            Fairs are soooo overpriced, but it's tradition....what's August without the state fair.  Matt and I usually set a $20 budget on what we will spend at the fair.  Last year, we did great with our money.  For starters, we got free tickets and free vouchers for BBQ pork sandwiches at a local blood drive, which made admission and dinner FREE at the fair!  We also brought water bottles in a bag that I carried instead of buying overpriced drinks.  That left us with money to buy the traditional fair favorites like a turkey leg, corn on the cob, a funnel cake and whatever the new fried invention of the year was....last year it was fried Pepsi....which was surprisingly good. 
            This year we didn't do as good.  The only free tickets we could find were for weekdays.  That didn't work with our schedule, so we ended up paying for admission.  Then as soon as we got to the fair,  I was dying of thirst, so we paid $5 for a lemon shake up.  No water bottles this year.  I didn't bring a purse due to my neck injury from Thursday.  When it came time eat, Matt decided that he just wanted a plate of loaded ribbon fries, which was $6.50 a plate.  Note to self: read the small print at the window of food vendors.  After we ordered, we realized that each topping of his loaded fries were $1 each, bringing the grand total to $11.50.....yikes.....those fries were so not worth it!  That left us with $3.50, so we skipped the new fried invention.  I would have passed on the fried Kool-Aid anyway.  However, I also had to pass on the traditional funnel cake, because it would have put us over budget.  I ended up getting a pineapple whip icecream cone for three bucks.  Now, we could have just gone to the ATM machine to get more cash, but when we set a budget we try to keep it.  With admission, we spent close to $35....is the fair really worth more than that? 
        Yep, this was not our best year at the fair.  It didn't help that my neck was hurting.  I skipped meds today, so I would be awake enough to go to the fair when Matt got home from work.  Skipping meds was probably not my smartest move, because I was hurtin' by the end of the night.  My poor husband ended up with a sore, sweaty, hungry, less than cheerful wife by the time we left.  I Still had a good time with the hubs, even if I was a little cranky.   I'm sure next year will be better.  But for now, its time to take my medicine and go to bed.  Good night all!

Indiana State Fair 2011

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a pain in the neck.......

       
      
        Unfortunately the title of today's post is quite literal for me.  I really do have a pain in my neck.  After spending yesterday in severe pain, my husband finally made me go to MedCheck late last night where I was diagnosed with a cervical muscle strain and trapezius muscle spasm.  Have you ever had a Charlie horse in your leg?  Yep....well that is the feeling that I had in my neck several times throughout the day Thursday.  I've had a stiff neck before, but this was a little much...even for me. I can't rememeber the last time I actually cried because I was in so much pain. 
       The solution to the problem was three ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer every eight hours, which completely knocks me out.  I feel as though I have wasted a whole day in bed.  I had so many things on my Friday to-do list, and not one of them got checked off my list.....sigh.  On the plus side, my neck does feel better today,  but I was told that it will take three to four days for the muscle in my neck to heal.   We were hoping to go to the state fair tomorrow night, and we have plans to drive two hours south and visit my in-laws on Sunday.  I'm really hoping that I can go without the muscle relaxers tomorrow, so we don't have to cancel our plans. 
        Before I end this post, I just want to say how thankful I am for my husband.  He was very patient with me last night.  Even though I didn't think I needed to go to the doctor, he put his foot down and made me go.  He didn't complain about taking me to MedCheck late last night even though he still had to get up for work early this morning.  I'm so thankful that I married a kind and patient man who can handle me....even when I'm a little bit stubburn.

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More No-Sew Pillows

Someone recently asked me where I purchased the pillows from on this loveseat.  I told them that I purchased the tan pillow from Kirkland's years ago and the other two I made a few months ago....

....using heat-n-bond.  Would you really expect anything else from me?

I found this fabric in the JoAnn's scrap fabric pile for half off the reduced price.  $3 looked like a good deal to me, and I still have plenty of fabric leftover for a different project.



I fell in love with this Waverly home decor fabric, and the cheapest place I could find it was from fabric.com.   Waverly fabric is not cheap, but since I only bought half of a yard, I justified the price;)



Using coupons, I purchased two pillow forms from JoAnn's 40% off the regular price.

I "no-sewed" the pillows using the heat'n'bond and an iron, the same way that I would have sewed the pillows with a sewing machine.

After three of the four sides were "no-sewed", I turned the pillow right-side-out and stuffed the pillow form in the pillow.  Lastly, I "no-sewed" the fourth side of the pillow.

Not too bad for a "no-sew" project, huh?  They were easy, cost-effective, and they look pretty good in the room too:)

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Chalkboard Wall Decor Knock Off

I saw this piece of wall decor at a store awhile back and thought it would be great for a kitchen.  It was $20, and I remember thinking that I could make it for less.

So when I saw this at Goodwill for $3.99, I thought it would make a perfect chalkboard.



I bought some chalkboard paint from JoAnn's (with a coupon it was less than $5) .....

.....and began painting.

Once the paint dried,  I looked at the picture from the store, and using a piece of chalk I began writing the "recipe for success".

My version cost less $10, and I think it looks all right:)

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Raspberry Tea Recipe

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine, and it's always a hit when company comes to visit.  In fact, I usually double the recipe when company comes, because it goes that fast.  My mom and sisters LOVE the stuff and have requested the recipe.  I told them how to make it last time they came to visit, but I also told them I'd put it on my blog for future reference;)

INGREDIENTS:

4 quarts of water

1 to 1.5 cups of sugar

1 12oz. bag of frozen raspberries

10 individual size tea bags. 

1/4 cup of lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

Bring water and sugar to a boil.
I've used Splenda and Steevia as a sugar substitue and it turns out fine, but there's really nothing quite like using real sugar.



Then add tea bags....
Don't use an off-brand tea bag; it doesn't turn out well.  I use Lipton.

.....frozen raspberries....
I've tried several different off-brands and name-brands of raspberries for this recipe, but Trader Joes all natural raspberries are my favorite ones to use.

....and lemon juice.
freshly squeezed lemon juice is best

Give a stir and let steep for 3-5 minutes.

Strain raspberries and tea bags and set aside.
I use my deep pasta pot to make the tea, because it has a built-in strainer that makes the whole process easier.

Once the tea has cooled, pour into a pitcher and put in fridge to chill.

Then serve it up...

.....and enjoy!

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Back to work I go.....

    

           

           Well, it's been nice, but it's back to the real world today.  With the exception of our little getaway, the past nine days have been full of whole lot of nothingness, and I don't feel bad for that one bit.  I didn't make a to-do list while I was on vacation (I know, it's so unlike me), I didn't do any school work (I'm sure I'll regret that later), I didn't go to the gym or watch my calories (that's bound to catch up with me), and I didn't make the house perfect by cleaning or doing any other house projects (yeah, don't really feel bad about that one). 
       Usually, I spend my days off of work by trying to do million little things here and there, but nope, not this time.  This time I relaxed.....and I have to say that it was nice.  I did some reading here and there, I journaled quite a bit, and I caught up on my blog.  
      I have to tell you that I could get used to being a stay-at-home wife, but when I mentioned it to Matt, we didn't see eye to eye;)  He informed me that if I was a stay-at-home wife, then I wouldn't have been able to do some of the shopping I did for myself last week, and we wouldn't have extra money to spend on the house or my many projects that I keep coming up with for around the house, and we wouldn't have been able to take our little getaway either.  Ahh, yes, I know he's right.  My job brings extra spending money into our budget, but a girl can dream can't she?
      Well, dream over, because it is 5:00 on a Monday morning.  Time to do some morning reading with a cup of coffee, hit the gym and get ready for work. Yep, vacation is over....sigh....it was nice to have a few days with nothing to do, but today's to-do list is already getting full.  After work, I'll hit the library, go for a walk in the park, have dinner with the hubs and work on my blog a little before going to bed and waking up tomorrow to do it all over again.  But that's really ok,  because I'm thankful to  have a job that I enjoy and a week's paid vacation.  Yep, life is good:)

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