how i keep busy...

chris and i went out to dinner with a couple of his friends from dental school to celebrate the semester being over... we are now on 2 week break (woo hoo)  but while we were at dinner i kept getting asked "what do you do?"  which is a normal question... its how you get to know people, but i sometimes have a hard time explaining what i do to people who are doing things like working as a high powered exec at a big hotel... or are going to dental school to become dentists and much more... what is my answer?  i'm a house wife.  i keep busy grocery shopping, and cleaning the house, and cooking dinner every night (almost every night... but not this week), and doing laundry and fixing things up around the house.  I go walking with my mom most mornings for 30-60 min.  i visit with my mom often and we often go visit my grandma who is in a home... so i keep busy.  i am also taking a class online.  i also have things i do with the youth of the church every week... etc.  i feel fulfilled in doing these things and someday we will add children to the mix and i will be happy be mom and wife... i guess i just feel insecure about it when talking to those who are on a serious career path.

but... i do love staying home... cause then i get to do crafty stuff!! for example... my sister in law stevie is about to have her 2nd little girl and i decided it would be really fun to sew her a quilt for the baby.  i have never sewn a quilt by myself like this before... i have helped my mom in the past and watched her do it... but not done it by myself... i consulted with my aunt joan first... who is the baby and quilt guru... she makes them often and soooo cute... so i borrowed a book from her chose my pattern and bought the fabric.  it took me a couple days and a huge mess but the finished project turned out pretty cute.

i also decided to sew a little lovey... the tiny blanket... my niece gigi always cuddles with one when she sleeps... i also made a little one for gigi for her 1st birthday and when my 5 year old niece amanda saw it she got all excited and asked if i would make one for her too... luckily i have lots of fabric left so i'm going to make one for her birthday which is the end of may.  

i also worked on a project of something to hang over our bed... it has been an empty space and driving me crazy so... i found these frames at goodwill and decided to paint them... then i found the wood letters at joanns and the giant S from joanns... luckily i get a ton of 50% off coupons to joanns so none of these projects get expensive... anyway... i bought some fabric to cover the giant S and now i have something over our bed!  

in case you don't get it the m is for marilyn and c for chris and s for spillers... haha.  chris asked me why it was cSm and i said cause i sleep on the left side of the bed... it just made more sense to have the M above where i sleep. haha.  i'm actually going to use the same brown fabric (and a couple others) to make a new quilt for our bed... the one we have is too hot especially with summer coming up... 

the last project i did is a little chair i found.  i bought a desk the other day to use as my new vanity... it matches the desk i got from my mom's childhood... way exciting... but i needed a chair for it... when i was at opportunity village thrift store last week i found this super cute little chair and thought it would go perfect!  it reminds me a little of the chair/bench my grandma has used while sitting at her vanity.  i painted it with green paint i had left over from painting my bathroom last year and then put this cool black antiquing glaze over it... the pictures dont do it justice... but it looks way cool... i also had to recover the seat and get new padding... the fabric was on sale at joanns... and vwala! 

i'm sure there will be many more projects to come... as i do like to keep busy and crafting is fun cause it makes your house look better... plus i am addicted to thrift store shopping... seriously.  its a good thing our apartment is tiny or else i be buying furniture all the time!! but for now... i'm only hunting for things we need... 

i am a sewing machine...

this month has definitely been craft month for me... i have had so much fun doing various crafts that include painting, sewing, sanding, and cooking... i have also discovered a new love and obsession for shopping for thrift stores.. i don't go for clothing... i go for furniture and other home furnishings... opportunity village has a huge thrift store right be my neighborhood... and its awesome... its big and clean and has TONS of furniture that is awesomely priced! but i will get more into that on another post... i bought a desk there... but haven't begun working on it... stay posted for that one.... but a couple weeks ago there was a yard sale in my neighborhood and they were selling some fun stuff... i bought this random mirror wall thing and decided it would be fun for my kitchen... it needed some serious love and paint! here it is:

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i really like how it turned out... i also went to another thrift store and found this window curtain that i decided would be pretty for a table cloth... i have a small 2 person table that you can't find table cloths that small in the store and i didn't want one to hang down on the sides where we sit... to hard to sit in the confined space... so i cut the curtain up and sewed it into this: 

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i have another big project i sewed but that post will have to wait till they receive it in the mail this week :) 

chris has also been busy around the house... he fixed out leaky faucet on our kitchen sink by replacing it.  he had a lot of fun figuring it out for himself... plus it worked when all was said and done!!

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when we got married my sister in law stevie gave us this awesome baking pan set... cake pans, cookie sheets, brownie pan... etc... but she also slipped in one of chris' favorite recipes his mom makes... pistachio dessert... he got all excited when he saw the boxes of pistachio pudding mix and saw me mushing up butter and nuts and flower... he knew what was coming but i made him hide in the bedroom till it was finished... it turned out pretty good... i needed to beat the pudding a little longer... but it didn't matter to chris... he still ate it for breakfast and dinner for the rest of the week...

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last thing for this post... i was having a rough weekend and bad day monday... nothing serious... just not having a good couple days... i had gone to the grocery store to get food (mostly cereal and milk cause chris had eaten all we had) and when i walked in the door i found the sweetest surprise... right there bam! i walk in the door and get tears in my eyes cause my sweet husband totally loves me.... he had gotten home from school early and just left it there right in my path... no way i could miss it... and now i still have it to look at for a couple days... and smile... here it is: 

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aren't they pretty?? i thought so too... i'm so lucky to have such a sweet guy in my life!

i have some other really fun projects that i'm working on and will post when they are finished!!

the dreaded trip home... cancun honeymoon... over

the morning came... i was tired so i stayed in bed a little longer... chris wanted to go out to the beach one more time and swim so he went by himself.  after maybe 30 min i was awake and got dressed... went down and grabbed a little something for breakfast and took it out by the pool.  i sat under the gazebo to read a book for a while.  it was the best shade i could find cause i didn't want to have to put on sunscreen.  after a while chris and i decided it was time to go ahead and check out.. so at noon we check the room one more time for those things you always leave behind... and left the room.  the front desk was really nice... we had to check out at noon but our airport shuttle wasn't coming till 2:20 so the front desk offered to take our bags and hold them for us and they let us keep our wristbands which gave us access to food and the rest of the hotel... we grabbed lunch and finally it was time for the shuttle to come... we loaded up and got to the airport pretty quickly.  our plane was leaving at 5:30 so this gave us 3 hours to get through customs and security... which was WAY fast! no big deal... it was only a bummer when we got inside and then had 2 hours to kill... we ate lunch and then decided to buy these giant candy bars because... well they were so giant! we couldn't resist... who could?

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the time finally came to board.. no big deal... the plane ride was fine as well... 5 hours went by fairly quickly... things didn't get bad till we got to LAX... let me just say... i hate LAX.. here's why:

when we arrived we arrived at the regular terminal... but since we were international flight we had to walk down these stairs to the outside and board a bus to take us to the international terminal... like a mile or so away.  weird... why didn't we just land there??? we get in line to go through customs... it was a long line but went by fairly quickly.. when it was our turn the guy asked us a few questions including... "christopher, where were you born?"  chris "casper, wyoming"  the guy "oh really?? this says you were born in reno, nv" chris "really huh... thats wrong..."  luckily the guy let us through... but we both looked at each other a little panicked... how is it he got this passport like 5 years ago and just now we are noticing it... he took it to europe and back with no problem... well next time they ask we will just say reno!   

then we waited to grab our bags... they came pretty quickly.. but then we had to wait in another long line to get through another check point.  after this things got really weird and confusing... there was a wing that said connecting flights... that was us! but it was closed... we figured maybe because it was now midnight... so we asked someone how we got back to the regular terminal for our connecting flight to las vegas... we had to go outside... again.. and walk... back to the main terminal... so lame!!! once we got there we printed out our boarding passes and went to check our bags... where the lady informed us we had to pay $50 to check our bags... we were like... um no... we haven't had to pay for our bags yet and we have been to cancun and back all flying with delta.. why would they charge us now?? lame!! we were not about to pay $50 for our tiny 45 min flight back to vegas.. after 20 min of her looking at it she decided to wave the charge for us... thanks! and then she looked at us confused because our flight was for the next morning.. yes we know it was the soonest flight you had back to vegas... we had always planned on sleeping in the airport... no big.. so she took our bags... we walk up to security... and they let chris through but look at my ticket and say sorry this is for tomorrow you can't come in...  close the airport from 1:30 to 4... i was like... you just let my husband through... so they made both chris and i leave... finally someone told us we had to just stay downstairs where you first check in... gross! it was cold and noisy and i was just so tired... 

we found a seat and i just broke down.. i was tired and gross and so frustrated with the whole thing that no one had explained anything to us till then... but i did finally fall asleep.  when 4 finally came we went upstairs only to discover like 30 people up there sleeping... yeah... they had probably come in late and had a connecting flight from the us... so they got to stay!!! so lame! we found our gate and i went ahead and sprawled out on the floor exhausted and annoyed... i quickly fell asleep... we got on our plane and went home... chris was asleep before takeoff and woke up just before landing... he said it was the shortest flight ever... ha! i slept a little... i was so glad to get home and shower and then we spent the rest of the day in bed... not even kidding... all day sleeping... much needed.  the whole trip was so amazing!!! it was sad to have this last bit put a damper on our fun... nevertheless we got home safely... and with all our stuff.. and we had a good time the whole week.. it was fun to have people call us honeymooners in their mexican accents and fun to play on the beautiful beach and just relax and enjoy each others company.  chris and i get along perfectly... and the trip was perfect (minus LAX) .