Scrub A Dub Dub

Me and my hubby have been on a massive cleaning kick today. Everything is getting a top to bottom scrub down. We finally just finished, and put up our Christmas tree :)

I will try to get a better picture of it once it's dark inside and out! I love all the pretty colors, and was excited to put up a few of my new ornaments.

While cleaning the office, I stumbled upon a merchandise certificate from http://www.orientaltrading.com for $10.

Upon browsing their site I found this bad boy:

for only $8.99!

I ordered two of them, and will probably be spray painting them all one color, as I'm not too fond of the colors. I can't wait to get these here and hang them up!

Holidays

I can't believe how fast this year has just BLOWN by. Next week is December. DECEMBER! How did this happen?!

I came home from work tonight to my wonderful husband steam cleaning the hell out of the few rooms that we haven't put wood floors in yet. The carpets look amazing, and I'm thankful that I have someone that will do that without even being asked! I was planning on doing it Monday, as I'm hosting a Girls Night In on Tuesday night with some of my ladies.

I went and bought my ornament for the Nestie July 09ers this morning before I went in to work, and I sincerely hope that she likes what I've picked for her :) I plan on putting it in the mail Tuesday AM.

I also picked up a couple ornaments for myself, since we have so few, and I don't want a nekkid tree.

I also went in search of a coat rack for our dining room (which is attached to the kitchen, and the backdoor of the house)

After determining I couldn't find one that I liked I wound up with THIS:

The wrapping paper I originally just bought because I thought it was pretty paper to wrap gifts in. After a couple minutes though, I decided that I may use some of it to spruce up this coat rack, so it's not so plain. We are planning on spray painting it either white, or a dark dark brown, and then I will decorate :) I love little personal touches.

Monday I'm planning on putting up our tree and decorations, which I'm excited about. I love all the extra color it adds to a home! More photos to come then!

XOXO

-V

I'mmmmmm dreaming of a blaaaaaack Fridayyyyy!

Just wanted to say a quick good luck to those of you who are shopping the fabulous Black Friday sales!

I myself, knocked out 4 people's christmas prezzies for under $40 at Old Navy with their doorbusters!

Hoooooray for $5 Performance Fleece!

Good luck, and I can't wait to read about some of the cool deals you all  got!

XOXO
-V

Life, or something like it!

Ahhhhhh, finally a week without too much work in it! And a few days off to boot! One of the many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving! Next week is also a pretty light week, so I'm workin on getting those creative juices flowing again :)

The weather is finally switching from a VERY warm fall, to Winter type weather. I am not sure how I feel about this. Snow is a beautiful thing, but I hate driving in it. It's best for me when I'm looking out my window at it, nice and warm.  I hate that it is now pitch black by 430 or 5 PM. Makes it feel like the day is already completely gone. However, I love taking photographs in the winter time, so that is for sure an upside :)

I started my Christmas shopping this past Sunday. Partially online, and then me and my mother went out shopping. I got some great deals on the items I am purchasing, but many of my gifts are going to be handmade this year. As I type this, I am waiting for the first layer of paint to dry on my recipe box for my grandmother. I haven't quite decided what to Mod podge on to it, but I figure once I see it fully painted, something great will come to me :)

I was very excited to find a US Marine Corps Snuggie on www.harrietcarter.com, as my grandfather is a proud marine, and we have gotten him all the Marine Corps items we could find over the years.

Upon further discussion on our home situation, we have decided to stay where we are. What it came down to was when I have a child, what school I would feel comfortable sending him or her to. We have worked out a fantastic deal, and are starting to upgrade the house further in February 2010.

So that's my update! I plan on getting my booty in gear with crafting, and then soon decorating for Christmas!

How are all of you doing?

XOXO-
V

A Blessing In A Text Message

I got a very exciting text message this morning at about 7 am! I get an unexpected day off tomorrow! No more fretting about a 13 day in a row work streak! I'm relieved, since I have to work late tonight, and tomorrow I would have had to leave very early!

I'm going to finally get some time to sit down and do some crafting tomorrow! Christmas is sneaking up, and I need to start getting ready for it! So be expecting more exciting posts coming soon!

XOXO-
V

Twilight: New Moon Signing 11.10.09

Just got home from the New Moon signing event at Fox Valley mall in Aurora! It was amazing! And chaotic! But it was a good time nonetheless! Here is my lovely souvenir!

 And the stars!

Time for bed! Gotta work bright and early!

Have a great night everyone!

XOXO

V

Work Workety work work work

Nothing but work! ALLLLLLLLL week. Luckily, this upcoming week I have 3 (yup thats right!) THREE days off! This has not happened in about a month. I'm pretty excited for it.  Haven't had time for any fun crafts or recipes or anything this past week, so I don't have much to write about. Hopefully I will get a lot done this week. Have the Twilight New Moon meet and greet on Tuesday, so I'm sure I will update on that!

We are in the process of figuring out if we want to stay in the house we are in now, or go buy a different house entirely. There are pros and cons to each.

The house we are in now:
PROS:
-is in a great safe neighborhood
-has room to add additions and whatnot as we may need
-we wouldn't have to move if we stayed here.
-We wouldn't have to get a mortgage loan.

CONS:
-It needs a TON of work. Flooring, drywall, upgrades, siding, fence, landscaping, heating, air conditioning etc etc etc
-it is a 2 bedroom, 1 (teeeeeny tiny) bathroom ranch house, so additions would be necessary if we were to start making babies, which is on our list for next year.
-It would cost us $144,000 to own. (which is REALLY steep for the condition and square footage of the house)

The houses we can afford:
PROS:
-We can get a 3-6 bedroom, 2 bathroom fixer upper home for under $100,000. Since hubby does hardwood floors and knows an arsenal of various other handymen, we could probably get that work done, and still not hit $144,000
-We would be able to start fresh in a house I didn't live in with my mother when I was younger
-We would have more space to work with, and potentially not have to add any additions to the house.

CONS:
-The neighborhoods are not nearly as desirable as the one we are in now. And a few of them are not the safest neighborhoods
-The commutes to work would be a bit longer
-We would have to move (I HATE moving and packing)
-Credit fixing. I got my credit report run to see where I was at, and found a bevy of things that have been paid off, and reported incorrectly to the credit reporting agencies. I've started to fix all of it, but it's going to take a while to get everything cleared up.

We don't know which side we are leaning towards at all. We both love the neighborhood we are in, and would like to stay here, but we don't know that the price of the house is worth it.

Ahhh decisions decisions..

Least we have all the time we need to decide :)

Hope all you out there are doing lovely!

XOXO
-V