Beautiful Blogger

Melanie nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award.

A big thanks to Melanie - who is someone who I absolutely adore her own decorating style as well! She's such a good mom, awfully sweet, and even knows how to make college apartments extremely cute!!!

As a recipient of this award, I must:

1. Thank the person nominating you for the award.

2. Copy the award to my blog.

3. Place a link to their blog.

4. Name 7 tidbits people don't know about you from reading your blog.

5. Nominate 7 bloggers.

6. Place a link to those bloggers.

7. Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the reward.

7 tidbits:

1. I have to sleep with my socks on. Usually with thick jammies, a heated blanket, and a down comforter as well. If I'm not warm and cozy I can't fall asleep.

2. Until I got married I could probably count on my two hands the number of foods I liked. No pickles, tomatoes, onions, peppers, mustard, etc. The list could go on! I don't know how the hubby did it but now I like pretty much everything!

3. I probably average taking a pregnancy test about every two to three months. I'm extremely nervous I'm going to get pregnant when I'm not planning on it. So far our plans have worked and we haven't had any surprises yet!

4. Until my sophomore year of college I probably had never run more than 1 mile at a time. Now I consider myself a runner (maybe jogger is a better word) and try and log between 3-5 miles a day. It's not something I love yet (don't know if I ever will) but I believe anyone can do it if they try.

5. I love movies but have never seen lots of the classics. No Indiana Jones, no Sound of Music, etc. Maybe one day :)

6. Besides good 'ole Canada I have never left the United States.

7. I used to have my belly button pierced. I should have listened to my oh so wise momma because that is one decision I regret. It's been out for almost 10 years and I still have a hole - ucky!


7 bloggers:

1. Two sites I check regularly are people I do not know but what they share. Amy at The Idea Room because she has tons of different ideas and Kari at UCREATE because she finds everything for me and takes the hard work out of blogging!

2. Sharla at My Little Gems. I used to teach school with her - she amazed me then and continues to amaze me with all her talents!

3. Kierste at Brown Paper Packages. My best buddy who always provides loads and loads of ideas and inspiration!

4. Jewels at Jewels of a Preschool. This lady has infinite wisdom when it comes to kiddos! I'm lucky enough to know her and ask her millions of questions!

5. Freebies for Moms. Who doesn't like free stuff? Enough said.

6. Rachel at Chronicles of Abigail. I met Rachel in college and she always gets my mind thinking of things I normally wouldn't have. Whether it's food, books, etc. I'm always drawn to reading her posts.

7. I love seeing redos - of anything and Better After features some cool ones. Whether it's furniture, kitchens, etc. I love seeing the somewhat crappy things people can turn into beautiful.

Entertainment Center

It's finished! I bought this about a month ago from Habitat for Humanity. It cost me $70. Add to that some primer I already had, $10 worth of paint, and $20 worth of new hardware and tad - I have myself a new entertainment center. The color has taken some getting used to - it almost has a little more of an orangey tint then a maroon one - but I think I'm in love with it - because I certainly don't want to repaint it!!!

Our formal living room got turned into a painting room for the last 2 weeks...

And after some imperfect coats of paint (I'm a little impatient and the thing has more than it's fair share of drip marks!) it's finally finished!

Here it is in it's new spot in our home. The only problem - the hubby now thinks we need a larger TV because the entertainment center could technically fit a slightly bigger one - haha...in his dreams :)

File Folder Games

I am FINALLY done with these!!!



When I was teaching I made tons of these for my students to use as fast finishers when they got done early with their work. Those of course are all for school-aged children and I really wanted my kiddos to have some to play with before that time.

So months and months ago I bought a file folder book (from Desert Book) and set out on the task to make some for my girlies. Lots and lots of crayons, contact paper, and velcro later MOST of them are finally done. And do they love them? Sure do. So I guess all the time and labor I put in to these things were worth it. Hopefully - they better - provide some good entertainment!


And who knows - I may even venture out and purchase another book to make some more!

Fly swatter games

When I was in high school I took several Spanish classes. In one of the classes we would always play a fly swatter games. There would be several things attached to the board, two students would come up with fly swatter in hand, then a question was read and the two students competed to see who could find and hit the correct answer first.



I've really been trying to find special times throughout the day to spend playing and learning with my little girlie. So using our magnet board in the basement I decided to introduce her to the fly swatter games.



I attached several magnetic letters and numbers to the board. Then I would say a number or letter and she'd have to find it and hit it. We then switched it up and she would call out the letter or number and I would be the one to hit it with the fly swatter. We ended up having lots of fun together and hopefully in the process she'll get even better with her letter recognition!