Let the painting begin!!!!

So, I finally started back up on painting the house. We live in a lil trailer. It was made around...1976? As you can probably guess it needs a facelift to say the least. My in-laws actually own it and graciously let us stay there rent free, however, it does not meet my style requirements...not yet! I already revamped the master bathroom and it looks WORLDS BETTER! When I moved in with DH the bath tub/shower didn't even work and neither did the toilet. Now? New floor, new toilet, new shower head, paint, and a shower curtain later we have a cute fully functioning bathroom. Not to mention we stopped the leak in the wall between the master bath and master bed rooms (and replaced the wall and floor and carpet) so we no longer have an indoor mushroom patch. Yes, you read correctly, we had mushrooms growing IN OUR HOUSE. I was so mortified I cried. Leave it to DH to fix everything. :) Now I'm just doing cosmetic work and can't quite decide what color to paint our master bedroom. I kind of want a Mediterranean/Italiano vibe so I was thinking a tan/gold shade? I will be picking out colors this weekend. On my day off yesterday I managed to paint the little laundry area an off white and WOW what a difference it made!!!! The space looks cleaner and brighter and surprisingly much bigger. I can't wait to do the living room and kitchen...uggg the kitchen. My mother in law chose to put up wall paper. Now, I know wall paper can be cute, but it is NOT my taste or style. She chose off white wall paper with little apples all over it. I hate the wall paper. I can not wait to paint over it. Since my kitchen is done in lemons and limes, I was thinking a soft to springy yellow. Did I mention that in the 1970's it was super popular to put up that tacky wood paneling in trailer houses? I vomit every time I look at my own walls. LOL I will post a before and after pic of the laundry area soon. Hopefully master bed or kitchen follow SOON. LOL See ya later and may The Lord Bless you this day! :)

Snow! Snow! Snow! Let there be snow! It has snowed and flurried at my house! It looks all pretty outside! I'm sure you all know what snow means: everyone is driving like idiots, hurring to the stores, and buying up all the milk and bread. LOL Since it is ever so cold out, be sure to check on your pets!!! My lil buttheads are snug inside...I may go home to a destroyed house! LOL This brings me to my blog point of the day: people who don't care for their dogs make me want to punch them in the nuts.

I have long been an avid dog (and all other creatures) lover. Dogs are much better people than people. They are eternally forgiving, superbly resoursful, and fiercly loyal. I can not identify with people who just see dogs as basically decor or accessories. I know serveral of these alleged "dog lovers" who basically collect the breeds they like and then get bored and discard them to the back yard or simply give it away like it is last year's fasion or even worse: dump them in the country on a deserted road leaving them waiting, hoping that the master they loved so much will come back for them. Dogs usually don't survive the latter choice. They get hit by cars, starve, or worse fall vitim to even crueler intentions of passers by.

I have two dogs. I didn't necessarily choose either one. They chose me, or rather fate chose us to be a family. I could not love my dogs more, even if I had hand picked them from pure bred litters and paid a fortune for them. Hank is a (suspected) border collie. He is the love of my life (sorry DH LOL) and my constant companion. He was dumped in my hometown near my parents' house and was starving to death and had a horrific case of worms so what little he did eat was useless. He had no collar, his feet were bleeding because of all the walking on black top he was doing. I'm prettty sure he is pure bred. Someone paid a lot of money for him, then I suspect got frustrated with his extreme energy and just turned him loose. He is smart. Really smart, but EXTREMELY...I will use the word "enthusiastic". Border collies are not for the faint at heart. They are high energy dogs that need a strong leader: and by strong I DO NOT mean hitting, I mean strong like a good mom (the "child" listens bc they trust you and like to get praise!). Hankie's only fault is herding cats. He LOVES cats. Every other "bad habit" was broken in a few weeks by redirection and lots of exercise...BONUS: HE CAME HOUSE TRAINED!!!!

The point of my rambling? Research. Research. Research before you get a dog. Don't buy a yorkie if you want a "jogging partner". Don't buy a Great Dane if you live in a one bedroom apartment. And don't buy a high energy breed if you are the world's biggest couch potato. In fact, don't buy a dog at all!!!! Yep you read correctly. Don't buy a dog. Rescue one!! Thousands of dogs (and cats!!) are in your area needing a good home! The best parts about adopting? Most are house trained, nearly all of them are vet checked and "fixed" (they get shots, wormed, heartworm checked and spay/neutered!!! which saves you a lot of $$$$) and...an adopted dog knows when they have been rescued by a good mom/dad! A rescued dog will bond to you and love and appreciate you more than you could imagine! :)

ready for commitment

Ok, so I decided that since we are going on our honeymoon in December this year, (yes I know that is more than a year after our wedding but time and money were a luxury at the time and work/school schedules won't allow us one until then...sigh) I have finally decided to take getting back in shape a lot more seriously. I have been doing really good on the food part: eating lots of veg, no soda, just a few sweet snacks (and those I made homemade so I know exactly what is in them!) even my Hubby has been doing ok! Even though I have made strides in the nutrition department, I still do not workout consistently. So, I'm gonna go check out the Wii fit games and the workout dvd's this afternoon. I love workout dvd's. They used to keep me in such great shape. I just got lazy. Well, no more! I am ready for a commitment, to myself. Bring it on oversized tush! I'm ready to kick you! ;) have a great day!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!! We had the greatest time playing BUNCO last night. If you haven't played it before, grab a set bc it was super fun and super easy! Even you little ones can play! Now it is Christmas day and we are waiting for my brother and his wife and little ones and my sister and her husband and little ones...and of course Granny Patton. It has been such a wonderful break here. I hope the Lord has come and blessed you and your family! May His love, forgiveness and grace fill your lives over the next year! I have made it my intention to pray more over the last few weeks. I confess Christmas has not always been enjoyable for me, hence the praying. I have anxiety. I do not always do well in social situations, even sometimes family functions can be overwhelming for me and I get grumpy or withdraw completely and sit there with a frozen smile. Over the last few months I have been forced by school to face my anxiety head on. So, this year I was determined to sing Christmas music at the top of my lungs, hug lots of people, and completely enjoy myself...since I have already spent the last few months touching and talking to stranger in awkward situations and managed to have only very small anxiety attacks. LOL So, this Christmas has been one of the best of my adult life because I chose to try to be brave. It has not been easy but it has been more than worth it to get to full out celebrate with my, and my husband's, wonderful family. I hope if anyone reading is struggling with something of a similar nature, my little blurb about my experience will encourage you and at the very least make you want to try just a little harder. I'm so glad I have. :) ...A savior is born today!!! and I am truly glad Christ came and die for us! :)

Christmas Eve Gift!!! Oh, I bet you have no idea what that means? LOL So, when my Granny Patton was very young, she and her brother and sisters used to play a game on Christmas Eve. They would try to be the first to say "Christmas Eve Gift" to each other and "get" as many people as possible. The tradition continued when she got married and taught the game to her in laws and later to her children, including my father. Now all my cousins, their spouses and children and all my brothers and sisters play Christmas Eve Gift every year. We have gotten quite creative and competitive with one older cousin of mine...he and my mother get kinda nuts about it LOL. I look forward to teaching my children and helping them "get" Nana and Totty (my mom and dad :) ) This Christmas visit to my parents' house has been so lovely. I guess being away from home has really made me appreciate how warm and comfortable home is. I am so excited to do the traditional gingerbread house with my nephew. We have done this for four years now and I love it. I am so glad to have these great family traditions that I can one day share with my own children. Hope you are enjoying your Christmas season! May the Lord Bless you! :)

Hello again! I doubt anyone new is reading, but welcome and so nice to see you! I must say I am in the greatests of spirits this week; it is the first Christmas my husband and I will have as a married couple! Cheezey, I know, but still exciting! We are at my mom and dad's house for a few days and I am so excited about it! I hate not getting to see them very often anymore. I miss them when I'm in Stillwater. I only really see them once a month now. It makes me really appreciate how cool they are. We always have sooo much fun! Since my dad recently got a new job that requires him to be in Ada 5 days a week now, perhaps he and mom will eventually move to Ada and be only two hours from me and my DH. That would be so cool. :)

Alas due to the glorious holiday season I have not been eating very good. I have however discovered a line of soup with only 1oo cal per serving and only 10 carbs! I also is made from all natural ingredients: white meat chicken, egg noodles, real veg, parsley, sea salt. Believe it or not it is campbells! It is the select soups and they are spectacular! I think this will help me encourage my husband to eat a little healthier too (not to mention help me out when I want us to have something healthy, delicious and warm but I don't want to cook). I have been working out, just not as consistently as I would like. The traveling has made that part hard. I have not gained or lost any weight...sigh...I guess that is an ok place to start. LOL

Well, I have many many knitting projects started and finished in the last week or so. I have made a few hats, started a baby blanket, and made a couple pairs of booties. This is more projects than I have finished in the total time I have known how to knit! lol apparently I work a little better under pressure LOL I will try to post pics if I get a chance!

I hope everyone feels the Joy of the season! Remember the little baby that came to save us all, He gave his life so that we would know real love and eternal life. May the Lord Bless you this season with Joy and Peace! Happy CHRISTmas one and all! :)

sigh...I give up...almost

Ok. So I'm sure everyone has problems with inlaws now and again, but I think the time has come for me to share my frustration with mine. They have never liked me. I still try hard, put on a happy face, and play "one big happy family" with them bc that makes my DH happy and keeps the tension down. Yesterday after a rough but still ok clinical day (me and my classmate got power barfed on by a man with a horrible intercranial bleed) I went hunting on their land. I didn't see anything and came back to my car and changed. Even though I was cold and exhausted and had a huge test to study for, I went to say hello and maybe talk for just a bit. I knocked on the door and then tried to open it to peep my head inside...it was locked, so I looked through the glass and knocked a little harder...I with my little eye spied my MIL making a face and rolling her eyes and pointing at the door. Eventually she came and opened it. I tried to make conversation and she just acted like she could not get me out of their house fast enough. Normally, when I am with my husband she INSISTS we stay and tries to feed him (her cooking is not bad I just try to watch what I eat and usually don't eat there so she has since given up on trying to feed me) but last night she hardly said a word and at the slightest indication that I did not intend to stay long she told me good luck studying and see you later. I was a little baffled to say the least. I got so upset about it I cried the whole way home (we live in a trailer about 10 mins away from them but still on land they own...that is a whole different story...). I just kept feeling like total worthless crap. My parents could not be happier with my husband if they had birthed him themselves. He is an amazing person. I feel like I am someone they could be so proud of and excited to have marry into their family, but they are never overjoyed to see me like my parents are with DH. They told DH from the beginning I was lazy and socially awkward. I am anything but lazy. At the time they met me was the first time I had been unemployed for a very long time and I was applying to rad tech school so getting a job at the time was not a priority. I in the past have went to college full time and held down two jobs all at the same time...lazy? And as for the socially awkward part, yes, I am a little shy around people at first and I might not try to dominate the freaking conversation like ALL THE WOMEN IN HIS FAMILY. However, a sense of reserve does not by any means make me what she called "socially retarded or delayed". I have a crap ton of friends that would be more than happy to clear that up for her. What did my husband say you ask? Oh, I didn't tell him until this afternoon at lunch and his reaction reminded me why, he still thinks it is all in my head. I love my husband, and I know he just wants us all to get along, but he still makes excuses for behavior of his family that upsets me. He doesn't see the passive aggressive crap I see. I have tried so hard to turn the other cheek and be the bigger person and not let it get to me but last night it really upset me. So, as much as I would love to tell her I know just how stupid she is I will just smile and pretend like I don't see or hear the mean stuff. That is the only way I can make sure she loses. Jesus would not yell at her and throw stuff at her face, so I can't yell at her and throw stuff at her face. Sigh. She is so mean. Anywho, I'm gonna go buy some dark brown hair rinse tonight maybe if I have time! If I like it, I might be brown for a while...who knows! Have a super evening! :)