Around the house...

So while we've been getting for baby...we have also been trying to get our house in order. Sorry these aren't the best pictures...I will have to retake some with better lighting.

A month or so ago, we got this beautiful TV console which I love! And we finally put out our new rug...which you can barely see at the bottom of the picture. I'll have to take a better picture another day.

With Fall right around the corner, I started looking up fall decor ideas. I found this idea on Pinterest. & who doesn't love candy corn?!

Also put some candy corns on my mantle with a candle in them, next to my little green bird. I have lots more ideas of fall decor just haven't had time to drag all my fall stuff down from the attic...maybe this weekend?

I have also been working on making curtains/drapes for the living room. There will be another panel on the left side once I finish sewing it. The one on the right is not near finish either...sigh. Just not enough hours in the day or week.

School is pretty much consuming all of my time right now. I'm hoping things will slow down soon, very soon.

In other news...we had a Dr's appointment today. Everything looked great, we go back in 2 weeks for the glucose test & blood work.
I can't wait to meet our baby boy! After we get his room ready, of course!

The weekend...

Friday...

Allen's parents came over to swim & visit with us for a bit.

Allen & I had date night.

We went to Water Street Seafood. It was delicious!

& biggest news of all...

I SIGNED my teaching contract!!

It was touch & go for awhile (thanks to all the big budget cuts) but I serve a God who is much bigger than my problems, any budget, or man.

Now I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing I'll be employed another year.

Saturday...

We had a fun, filled shopping day in town with Allen's parents.

Ate at Wings N More - yum!

Got new pillows from The Sleep Number store.

And a got a new flag pole & an American flag to fly out front.

I also made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby & found an A&M flag half off, whoop!

Sunday...

Had our Sunday lunch at DQ! It's what you do in a small town.

Organized & cleaned my sewing room.

Had friends come over for hamburgers & some swimming (okay the boys swam while us girls chatted).

All in all a good, restful weekend.

Now only 7 weeks TILL summer!

I canNOT wait!

House update...before & after

If anyone is still out there & still reading my inattentive blog, this one is for you!

I FINALLY finished sanding, priming, & painting the built-in bookshelves in the living room. It was a chore but now that I know how to sand, prime, & paint with oil-based paint, I am ready to tackle that ol' dresser I bought back...hmm a year ago?

The before...
The after...
The plan was to paint the fireplace brick also but I am undecided on what color to go with...
As well as being undecided about "distressing" the white cabinets.
I still need to touch up where the wall & built-ins meet but other than that they are done.
Now for the fun part of filling them up!
The white brightened up the room so much. I love it! & don't you just love the blue in the back??

We also took down the lattice work that was in the front. It looks so much better & opens up the front walkway.

Before

After - no more lattice & a new roof
Sunday I mowed the front & back yard, while AB weed-ed & edged. Then we planted 4 knock-out rose bushes and a few purple impatient type flowers for a little bit of spring color.

We also got a NEW roof last week! Right before we bought the house, we had a hail storm & caused us to have to get a new roof. I am so thankful that is over & done with. The roofers on the roof drove me & Coco crazy.

And guess what? We are expecting hail tonight! Let's hope it decides not too.


Other news...
School is taking up most of time. The TAKS test is right around the corner & it is definitely crunch time. Seems like I never have a chance to just relax between house work & school work. I think we are now about 9 weeks out from summer...saying I'm ready for summer is an understatement.

I'll take one of these...

So since I have house on the brain & I've been searching high & low for ideas/inspirations, I came across this for our bedroom...

I am in love...

We were already considering doing our bedroom a blue color & now I am all for it. Our bedroom is way down on the list of priorities but either way as of now this is what I want. Never too early to start planning/looking for those perfect pieces.

We have carpet but we have plans to rip it up & put down hardwood floors. And we have really high vaulted ceilings so I'm not sure if we'll do a light fixture like this room but either way, I love everything about this room!

What do you think?!

Source

In other house news...I painted a 2nd coat today in the kitchen & sanded one of the bookcases in the living room. Tomorrow I hope to paint the guest bath and sand the vanity & linen closet door. Then AB will be ready to hang the new light & I'll be ready to paint the vanity & linen closet door. I'll try & post pictures tomorrow.

Our weekend & our 1st guest...

This weekend was one, full of adventure & hard work.

And our very first over-night guest. My momma!

I took Friday off (yay! it's safe to say I am really ready for summer!) and waited for my mom to arrive. She has been wanting to come see our new house & finally got the chance to come. Which I am so glad she did. We needed her help, in a bad way. Picking a wall color is harder than it looks.

She got here around noon on Friday, I gave her a quick tour then we headed to pick Allen up for some lunch. After lunch, we headed into "town" to look for an inspiration piece for our living room. Note - we live about 20-25 minutes from any kind of shopping.

We went to World Market, Pier 1, & Lowe's on the hunt for a rug. Our living room is huge. We either didn't find one we liked or it was too small. But I did find some that I did like & we ended up picking paint colors based on that. Thank goodness for a good camera phone.

I bought these curtains at World Market for the kitchen. We put in french doors going out to the backyard and I painted the kitchen a creamy yellow color so I thought they would look perfect.

My mom & I were comparing who has the best camera in our phone. She just got the new iPhone & I have an EVO. Neither one of us could agree ;)

After loosing our inspiration magazine or more like leaving it at Pier 1 and 2 trips to Home Depot & Lowes (mind you they are about 30 minutes away from each other) - we finally ended our night with 10 cans of paint, a nice dinner at Railroad & a few cocktails.

After we got home from dinner, we decided we'd go ahead & see exactly what the paint would look like on the walls. We ended up painting the bottom half of the walls.

Our living room has huge vaulted ceilings - making painting so much more fun!

At 1:30am, we decided to call it a night.

Saturday was a day of painting...lots & lots of painting!

We ended up going with this color on the walls...

Valspar Smoked Oyster - we used Behr paint though.

It is much more gray in person.

I love it! & it looks so good with all the bright white trim.

Before...
After...
Hallway...
I still need to paint the ceiling.

We had a nice little lunch outside on our new patio furniture. Allen's parents got him patio furniture for his birthday. We love going outside to eat. Especially since we really don't have a dining room table at the moment.

Our delicious little lunch.

We spent the rest of Saturday painting until the wee hours of the morning. My mom left Saturday night with a list of "homework". Like they do on those HGTV shows, ha! She is planning to come back in the next few weeks to help us finish our living room. We still need to sand, prime, and paint the bookcases on both sides of the fireplace. And we are going to paint the fireplace. Yes, paint the brick! Right now it is a pink color brick & eventually we are going to cover with stacked stone but until then we are going to paint it to spruce it up.

Our house is already looking so different. So far we have ripped all the wallpaper done, textured the walls, removed paneling, added bead board in the dining room.

Sunday I woke up so sore! Painting is hard work!

Today I spent the day out & about. I met Nicki at the Country Peddler Show & finally bought this sign I've been wanting.

Because yay, I now have a place to hang it!

Afterward, I headed back into "town" to get a few things aka shop! I ended up buying some new shoes & went to the grocery store. These black spring shoes.

Now I just need a pedicure. Did I mention how ready I am for summer?!

This week will be a stressful week. We have one week until the TAKS writing test & I am just a bit freaked out. My kids just need more time! And we have a meeting with our superintendent this week, eek!

And Allen starts planting this week so he will be working long hours, which means we really won't get to see each other.

But Thursday night, I am going HERE so I am super excited about that!

Ahh, bring on Thursday & the weekend!

Hope you have a very blessed week!

I'm Alive!!!

Whew, it seems like it's been FOREVER! The kind of forever that hurts.

So a LOT has happened since I last posted.

I almost don't even know where to begin...

First of all, let me say that how did we ever go without internet?!

But thanks to Time Warner - we are back in business! I feel like my life is complete again. I know pathetic. But almost 2 weeks without it is certainly hard to do.

Yes, I had internet access on my phone but it's just not the same.

So why did we NOT have internet you may ask? Well we moved and we moved because we finally bought a HOUSE!!!!

Yay for homeowner-ship! Scary & exciting, all at the same time.

We are semi-moved in. We have a new KING size bed, a couch, recliner, NEW 60' TV (AB's birthday present) anddd lots of dust in our new wonderful house.

We have been busy stripping wallpaper, removing paneling, scrapping popcorn ceilings, texture-ing walls, installing new toilets, putting in new lighting & new french doors. And trying to pick paint colors...which I am not a fan of!

We have been busy! But we are loving every minute of it.

We still have a good amount to do to get the house where we want it but it is moving along quite nicely and we are so thrilled about our new nest aka home.

And did I mention...we have a POOL?! And a SLIDE?!

I really can't wait till summer now!

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! -Ephesians 3:20

My Famous Chicken Spaghetti

If there is one thing I am often asked to cook, it is my chicken spaghetti. And not the kind that has ketchup or any kind of red sauce. I have learned that chicken spaghetti means different things to different people.

In my opinion, there is only one way to make chicken spaghetti. It requires lots of cheese, noodles, more cheese, and nothing short of creamy goodness.

Just be warned - it is no where near healthy but pretty heavenly! I tend to make a TON of it...yes, not 1 but 2 whole 9x13 pans of it. It freezes really well. But one 9x13 pan does not stay around here for more than a day or two.

Make this for your family this week, I promise they will love it!

(click on the image to make it bigger in a different window)

Also feel free to half the recipe if needed.

We love anything that is cheesy, creamy & well fattening. Ha!

Enjoy!

Hello Long Lost Friend

Well...hello.....

It has been way too long since I last blogged. A whole month! Where has the time gone? I apologize to all my faithful followers, the few that I do have.

School/work has been kicking my booty. And sewing has also kept me very busy! Honey B. is starting to take off...of course once I start working again. Isn't that how things always seem to work out? I can not believe October is almost here! October, November, & December are by far my most favorite months! Now that it is officially Fall, I wish the South Texas weather would reflect it.

In other news, we had lots and lots and lots of rain here over the last week or so. I am so over the rain at this point! We had lots of flooding and school was even canceled last Monday due to all the flooding. Rain day! I had all intentions of blogging that day but instead curled by in bed & watched movies instead :) haven't had one of those kind of days in forever it seems like. Here are a few pics from all the rain/flooding.

There's a field somewhere out there...
Below is the road that we live down
The other side of the road/intersection that we live on
Here is CR 1944, the road I take to get to work
Field on 1944
And thankfully we were done with harvest before all the rain/flooding started. The last 2 days the sun has been out & finally things are starting to dry out. Hopefully, the rain stays away and the cool weather comes to stay. Wishful thinking on my part but hey I can always hope.

I also got my Etsy shop back & running! Our website is also up & running! So things with Honey B. are going great...just wish I had more time to sew & play!

I promise to get better about keeping up with my blog...I really have missed it!!!

First Day of School

Today was my first day of school. My first day as a new teacher. My first day as a special ed teacher.

And my husband was so incredibly, sweet & thoughtful - he sent me flowers for my first day! I was so surprised and it was such a sweet surprise! He knew how nervous I was and he definitely made my day!

God keeps reminding me there is where I need to be and to TRUST him! Gosh, who knew trusting could be so difficult?

I was scared to death about my first day. But my one life skills student showed up and oh my heart melted. I will not meet my other kiddos until next week. Which thankfully because I feel so unprepared at this point. I will be working with my life skills student as well as pulling kids daily for resource. I am still very nervous about this year, mostly because it is uncharted area for me. But I am fully believing God has a MUCH bigger plan for me than what I can see.

So I will continue to seek Him first and now the rest of everything else will fall into place.

After school, I headed out to the fields to see my sweet husband! He needed eye drops & of course I wanted to see him so I could tell him all about my day.

While out there I managed to take a few more pictures...
My first day of school outfit :) yes, I wore 4in heels out into the field & on the tractor!
Gettin' ready to go to the next cotton field
BIG ol' bales of COTTON!!!

Hope all you other teachers had a FABULOUS first day back!!!

New Adventures

So tomorrow starts a new adventure. Summer is officially over and all teachers in this area will be reporting back to school.

But since last week was new teacher orientation, I got a started 3 days sooner. Last Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday were filled with information. More information than my little brain could take, actually. But I made it through and tomorrow starts teacher in service.

Woo-hoo...okay I'm only kidding. I am anxious, ready, terrified, and excited all in one. I will be the Life Skills teacher for grades 3-5. More than anything I am nervous about ALL the paperwork! But I am believing and praying God will give me all the tools necessary to do my best.

The funny thing is life skills has always been the job I never wanted to do but for some reason knew that is the job I'd end up getting. It's not because I didn't actually want to do life skills - it is just special ed in general scares me. I have always felt it took an extremely special person to do that kind of job & I guess I just never thought I'd be that person. I guess I just didn't feel I was equipped enough for the job. But God does know best and I am so thankful he has called me to be a life skills teacher. Throughout most of my time in San Antonio, I often would tell God - ok I am ready and where ever you want me to go, I will go! And I believe this is exactly where he wants me but at the same time I am so scared. I believe it is only natural considering this will be a new adventure for me in a new place. So far I could have not laid out better plans for my life regarding the way things have turned out this last month, so I am confident he IS the one who will carry me though this next school year.

As for new adventures...I have been trying to spend as much as my free time with AB. He has been working really long hours and so when I get a free moment I try to swing by "his office" to see him. This week they will start pickin' cotton! Which means 16 hours or so a day in the field...that makes me exhausted just thinking about it. But I already have plans to go out and ride with him and of course take pictures! :)

Here are few photos I've snapped w/ my phone while out in the field with him.

This is what plowing looks like my friends...

Other than that...I have been busy (super busy) with Honey B. Boutique orders, which is a great thing and busy getting prepared for the school year.

I feel so extremely blessed and stand in awe of God's amazing love. Hope you all have a fabulous week!

Small Town USA

One of the best parts about moving for us was being able to be in a small town and community. The kind of place "where everybody knows your name..." and pretty much everywhere you go you see a familiar face.

We both grew up in small towns and greatly enjoyed it. We thought moving back to AB's hometown would be a great place for us and our future kids.

But it is also so nice to not be in the hustle & bustle of life. Seems like everyone lives a much slower pace of life.

And I love it!

I can honestly tell you I do not miss SA one bit. I definitely do not miss the traffic or people. I thought I might miss all the places to eat - because we have very few eating establishments here & on Sunday pretty much your only option is Dairy Queen but I don't. We eat at home much more often these days which I also love.

Right now it is harvest time so AB has been working a lot and it has been HOT! I have also passed more tractors on the roads than cars these days. I am hoping to go out to the fields one day & ride the combine with AB and get some pictures of this year's harvest.

So far small town USA has been wonderful to us! This evening I took some photos for Honey B. and snapped a few for here while standing in the front yard.

Here is our small town USA bliss...

Callie is even enjoying her new home

already plowed grain field

the view out our front door - pretty heavenly!

One Year Later

Today marks a year that we have been in San Antonio. Actually...yesterday was a year to the date. And I remember the day as if it was yesterday.

My car completely FULL of stuff, the curb full of stuff that I could not fit in my car, & well a whole bunch (I mean a ton) of tears as I turned our apartment key in and saw Kyle Field disappear in my rear-view mirror.

And truth be known, I still cry every time I go and leave Aggieland.

Our first night in San Antonio was well adventurous to say the least. Actually our first 3 months here in SA were more than adventurous. RV living is not for the faint of heart. How my mother did it all those years with FOUR kids - is beyond me! She is a much stronger and braver woman than me.

I could go on for hours about our year here in San Antonio but it's really something I don't want to go into at the moment and I'm sure you don't want to read a novel.

I will just say that this year has been one of the most trying and difficult years I have ever had to face. Struggles I never thought I would have to face or things I never knew could happen to little ol' me. Happened and I faced them. But yet while it has been one of the most difficult, it has also been one of the most humbling.

I have learned so many things about myself, about my relationship with others, about just how strong or not strong I really am.

Moving to San Antonio for us was a chance or a new life, new adventures, and the beginning of a new chapter.

Amazing how much or how little (whichever way you want to look at it) can happen in a year.

One year later, I have realized regardless of what our plan is...more than likely that is not His plan.

But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

Jeremiah 17: 7-8

House update...

Ask & you shall receive (Laura Duck)...here is our new fancy washer & dryer (yeah the ones that play a soft melody when the load is done) - makes doing laundry so much more pleasant. Notice the rugs...the laundry room is strictly MY room & the only room I got away with putting PINK in :) silly husband whom I love more than words!

My mom came to us see last week & thanks to her & her wonderful creative-ness, our kitchen is no longer white, white! (my only compliant about our new place, the kitchen is SO white & while I could paint it, I'd rather not mess w/ all that...) Kind of hard to see all the wonderful things she bought for the kitchen & the beautiful flower arrangement she made above the fridge. This picture really doesn't do it justice. If you click on the photo it should enlarge for you :) and I realize my RED "Cake Fixes Everything" sign doesn't really go but I just couldn't part with it...
But a BIG thanks to my mom for being so giving & helping us turn our place into a home! We love you!

Callie Kit-Kat is feeling much better after her accident Sunday night...thank the Lord nothing was broken & required no surgery :) just limited exercise which FYI is almost impossible with a 6 month old kitten & if I try to lock her in the bathroom, she cries & then Reno barks b/c he wants her out (they can't stand NOT to be together) such a crazy life I lead...haha!

Look for my next post - the recipe to these easy & delicious chocolate drizzled macaroons!