Living Room Transformation

Well, I promised Dad and Janet I would post these...sorry it took so long! :) We are VERY excited about our new living room set! We got a new sofa, loveseat, and recliner! The stuff we were using was an off-white, almost peach (very uncomfortable) hand me down from his grandmother, and we were very excited when we sold the land to go out and make our first big purchase! This set is all leather with real wood trim, and oh so comfortable!!! We found it at Ashley Furniture for a pretty good price. Blogger and I never agree on the order of photos...they always flip when posted. But, in the order they are posted, here is the sofa, full view of living room, recliner, and loveseat. They are dark, but the photos make them look even darker. And, of course, Spencer never passes up a chance to be in pictures! :) The puppies are also wrestling behind the recliner. I don't think they are happy with the new furniture, they are no longer allowed on the couch. I even think Spencer, with the help of the puppies, is learning he is a dog! Can you believe it?! Well, I just thought I would share...we are very excited! Aren't they awesome?!

My First Sewing Project :)

Now, my sister is the true seamstress. She in fact had a blog on her website about how sad it is that many women growing up today don't know how to cook or sew properly. I feel this is very true. She turned out knowing how to do all of this VERY WELL, you should check out her blog. (I have a link to it on the right..."Kim's Blog") I am not positive, but I think she learned from our Grandmama who she spent a lot of time with before I was born and when I was very little. Oh... and did I mention she has a degree in Home Economics and Education? (If you can't tell...I love my sister dearly and keep her on pretty much the same pedestal that I had her on when I was 5 and she was 15.)
Well, I am learning slowly but surely how to cook. But I have been wanting to learn to sew for quite some time. She lives 5 hours away from me, so that would make tutoring sessions quite difficult. However, I was given a sewing machine last December by a friend at work who had one she didn't want. I tried to teach myself, and to make a long story short...I hung up a piece of scrap fabric in the darn machine. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out that stupid little bobbin. So, my dear sister-in-law, who conveniently lives 2 blocks away and knows well how to sew, came over a few nights ago to help me straighten it all out. After reading the same instructions I had read, this experienced seamstress even got frustrated with the machine that was built the same year my parents married. So, we took my fabric and headed to her house to learn on her machine. I had bought some great flannel at the dollar rack at WalMart that I thought would make an oh-so-comfy doggy pillow. Now we didn't measure the pillow, and weren't concerned with it being perfect. So, it is way too long, but I learned the basics of working a machine and sewing as straight line. I now look forward to summer approaching and having more time to devote to my new hobby. I have even created a folder in my picture file entitled "sewing projectS" to document my "talents." I took a picture of this, and a few minutes later found Bella had situated the pillow in a little crescent and cuddled up in it. As you can see, the individual for whom it was created is quite pleased with my first sewing adventure! :)

Just In Time for Hurricane Season

As most of you know, on Sept 24th, 2005 we lost our roof to Hurricane Rita. Now, we were the fortunate ones, we didn't lose the whole thing, just a good portion of our shingles and our ridge vents. This was the worst of our damage, and for that we feel enormously grateful. But, we did have to get a new roof.
As you can see, we had to wait so long for it, that even the blue tarp that FEMA so graciously put up for us was even tattered and torn. It was a pretty sad sight, especially at Christmas with my Christmas lights. So, about a month ago, a very nice man named Bill came and pounded on my roof for 3 days, and Walla! Our new roof is even better than before, and we trust will not blow away during the 2006 hurricane season! :) He has done other roofs in the area prior to the storm, and they withstood the torrential wind and rain.
You know, I NEVER noticed peoples' roofs before, but we picked out the shingle color for the new roof, and now I notice colors of roofs all over town! Who knew there were so many choices? :)
On a related note, we are hearing that this year's hurricane season is going to be another bad one. Yikes! We are praying that it goes somewhere other than our house this year! You cannot imagine how devastated this area was. The media seems to focus on New Orleans and forget about us here in Southeast Texas. There are still MANY homes and businesses that look like the storm hit yesterday. Our mall here still only has about 20% of it's businesses open. It is very sad, and we are praying that we aren't hit again before we have even finished repairing from the last one!

Still Living, Just Not Blogging

Okay, so I stink at this weblog business. It is probably for the same reason I am no good at keeping in touch with friends and family that don't live in the same city. I just get busy, and when I am not busy, I seem to be lazy. I prefer to sit on the couch with my hubby when I am not phyisically doing something. It is a shame, especially in this modern day of technology to be so distant. So, to all of those of you who may be offended, I am sorry.
Okay, with that said, I am vowing to try to do better. I have had a bunch of great ideas to blog about, but not managed to enter. So I will do them now, or in the next few days. To catch you up on what has been going on in the last month and a half...
K and I went to a great marriage retreat the end of April, called "A Weekend to Remember" put on my Family Life. It was GREAT! We learned a lot about ourselves, each other, and our marriage. The conference was in the Woodlands, near Houston at a nice hotel on the waterway they just built at the Woodlands Mall. It was fun, and we got to spend some time enjoying each other's company at the great shops and resteraunts around there. We agree that our marriage is WONDERFUL, but it can never hurt to do things like this at least once a year or so. I mean, every professional license or certificate (i.e. nursing or teaching:)) requires hours of continuing education each year, why shouldn't we treat our marriage with equal or more importance!? I especially believe this about parenting, and the part at the conference about parenting was especially interesting, even though we don't have children yet.
We also sold our land and have paid off all our debts, and even purchased a little furniture! :) (I will share about the furniture in the next entry.) It feels so great to not be financially stressed out all the time! This was a big milestone in our marriage!
What else...hmmm...
I have successfully (almost...6 school days left:) completed another school year, and am now in the process of applying yet again with the Nederland school district and harassing principals. There are NO vacancies as of yet, but am praying for something to happen soon. I really need and want a full-time, contract postition next year! For you prayer warriors out there, won't you pray for this for us?
Well, I am drawing a blank for anything else, so I will end here and continue on another diary entry later. :)