Fun day

Today was a really fun day, as I knew it would be due to my completion of housework yesterday. First of all, after I scooped out my coffee for the coffee pot, this was what happened to be at the bottom of the canister.

I didn't create this, I am not kidding. How can it not be a good day after a coffee smiley face? At 11 we went to the pool with my dad, whom Luke just adores. It's so funny to see him get all giddy about his Papa! Mom got there late because her school had orientation today. We stayed at the pool until 12:45, so I'm hoping this momma has more of a tan tomorrow than I did yesterday. When we got home from the pool I fed Luke lunch, where I had a brilliant moment to let him feed applesauce to himself while I unloaded the dishwasher. Here's what I got when I turned back around.

Do you see where the spoon is? What was I thinking? Although, I don't think he minded the mess too much.
I am pretty sure it will be years before I let him feed applesauce to himself again. He had to get a bath to get it all off. He finally went down for his nap at 1:15 and he didn't get up until 5:30. Child wore himself out! What did I do during this luxurious nap time? Nothing, just like I predicted. Then we played and I cut out the letters of his name to make a hooded towel for him. It's a double win- I get to practice stitching around letters some more and he gets a cute new towel. And now I'm wondering if I should go take the toys out of his crib, because instead of going to sleep I am currently listening to him loudly tell them something very important.

Aye yi yiiiii

So, my quick clean up wasn't so quick today. My house was in much worse condition than what I had originally evaluated. It took me allllllll day to get my house back into presentable condition, and it didn't help that Luke's nap was 2 hours shorter than normal. Apparently even 13 month olds can feel and react to time crunches. So it was good that we had friends over tonight, other wise my house would have just gotten worse and worse and I wouldn't have even realized it. That and now I can wake up tomorrow and guilelessly sit around because I know my house work is all done.

We had a great time with our friends tonight! I don't know why we don't have people over more often. It was so nice to sit and visit forever, and not have the rush of someone waiting to turn over your table (plus I didn't have to wear shoes). We sat and talked until 10. On a school night! Well, I guess more of a work night. For them. Not me. Anyway, thanks for coming over Katy and Brandon!

Now on a totally different note, my sister gave me her Proactive face stuff last week to use, she is switching to something else. While the Proactive has taken care of my dire blackhead situation, a battle I have fought winlessly for years on my nose and chin, it's not doing anything for the actual pimple I have. Is it too soon to tell if it's not going to work? Don't tell me this is one of those things that has to get worse before it gets better. I already had to quit using my wrinkle cream because it made me break out. How wrong is that. I either have a wrinkle and no zits, or a slightly less noticeable wrinkle and several zits. Not a choice I should have to make. Anyway, I think I'm just going to wear a bee keepers hat and not worry about what I'm using on my face. Then no one will see the wrinkle, the zits, OR the blackheads. Problem solved.

This picture has nothing to do with my post, I just love it. It's his 6 month picture.

Finished!

After three days of obsessive compulsive crafting, I finished my bag. There was much back ache, many seams ripped, mucho do-overs, but it's done. I am very pleased with it, except for the binding around the top. I couldn't get it to be smooth and not crease! Without further ado:

And the inside: (it has another pocket on the other side too) (okay, I don't know why it is sideways. I've tried twice to fix it. Weird. If I was with you I would rub your neck from the craning injury you are about it inquire)

I absolutely love the paisley print, it's what got this whole thing started. I have some left over, and I can't decide what to do with it! I would fabric my whole house with this print, but I'm thinking that would be a little excessive. Maybe a pillow for the couch? By now your are probably wondering what I made this impressive bag on. My mother let me borrow this:

But that's just a cabinet, you say. Ahh, how looks can be deceiving. It actually unfolds to this!

Now just to prove that this is the oldest usable sewing machine known to man, I took a picture of the owner's manual. Seeing that she got this before I was born, I'm pretty sure the 25 year warranty is expired.

After I finished the bag I tried to get caught up on some housework because we are having some friends over for dinner tomorrow night. I cleaned both bathrooms and have done 3 loads of laundry, along with making dinner and going to church tonight. What did you say? Oh yes, I am super mom.

Who needs chores?

So, the last two days I have forsaken everything else to make my bag. It's been......interesting. When I get a craft idea, I can't do anything else until it's done. Did I feed my child? Yes. Did I let my dog outside? Once. Did I stick to my chore chart? Absolutely not. I have set for myself a chore chart to have some accountability on when things get done. It's nothing fancy or extreme: Monday- clean bathrooms Tuesday- do laundry Wednesday- ironing Thursday- clean floors. All the other little things like dusting, wiping down the whole kitchen, etc. get done on an as needed basis. Or more accurately, on a as guests come basis. How many people really dust their house EVERY single week? Maybe that's why my allergies are so bad.....

Another thing I have started is Beth Moore's Breaking Free book. I tried to read it once before, but only got a couple of chapters into it before life caught up with me and stole my interest. This time is different though. I have wholeheartedly committed myself to memorizing the scripture that goes with it, ashamed at what little scripture I know by heart seeing I've gone to church my entire life. The study is exactly what I need. Cody and I still struggle in our marriage and I can tell that being more open in God's word has a profound positive impact on us. This thing that we are in, it's almost like an addiction- when we are good we are really, really good...but when we are bad, oh, it's so bad. To help hide the Word in my heart I've put my ring of index cards where I've written different verses on my wallet cord. When we are at the store I try and read Luke a couple of different verses as we walk around and I practice the ones I am trying to commit to memory. My biggest fear is raising a son that is wishy washy in the Lord (well, my biggest fear after my fear of losing my husband). I hope that setting these examples now will impact him in the future and he will be a better man for it.

Recap baby!

Here's a what's happened to Momma and Lukie over the last couple of days:

-Friday: Luke slept in until 10 (yes, be jealous, but it was a one time thing) and right when we got up I got a text from the girls that they were meeting at the mall for play time at 10:30. I hustled Luke through breakfast and managed to get out of the house by 10:45. Yes! But that meant Momma didn't get a shower, so I declared it hat day for the Carver family. If my teenage self had known I would show up to the mall basically having just rolled out of bed, I might have died of embarrassment. This is what a true momma looks like:

Notice the hand in mid air- it's my attempt to keep that finger out of his mouth whilst the shutter is clicking. The next picture is his absolute favorite thing to do while we're there. This, and try and take strange ladies cell phones. We have no stranger danger.

-Saturday: I took myself out to Ft. Worth to the Cabbage Rose fabric shop. Ohhhh, I was in heaven. I could have sat in that place and dreamed of all the things to make forever. I went in for two yards of vintage western fabric to decorate a denim bag for toys, but of course I saw some amazing things and came home with this instead:

The packet is a pattern for a bag. Eek! I've never used a pattern before, I generally just sit down and make stuff. But I spent about 5x what I meant to so this bag better turn out perfect. Good thing Cody doesn't read this, he might be a little upset. Mom is letting me borrow her sewing machine so hopefully in a week or so Luke will have a new bag to take toys to church or where ever in!

-Sunday: This morning I actually let Luke wear shorts to church. But he had a cute new brown oxford on, khaki shorts, and brown leather loafers, so I thought he looked super handsome. I wanted to get a picture, but I will next time. 10 minutes into the service I had a bad mommy moment where Luke took a tumble into the isle, made a loud THUNK on the floor with the back of his head, and immediately started screaming. I scooped him up and ran out the back door, horrified at what just happened. *sigh* Tonight was the going away party for a couple at church, who have sold everything to move to China and be missionaries for a year. They have a son that is a month younger than Luke, so he's sad his friend is going away. :( I did get a picture of us before we left though. Kelly always has such cute pictures of herself and her daughter, so I thought I better up the anti.

Perfume

Naptime is hosting a Friday Favorites about perfume, and since I love mine I thought I would jump on board. When I wear perfume, which unfortunately isn't as often as I would like because I forget, I wear Chanel Chance. As with all Chanel in general it is very distinctive. My goal is for someone to smell the scent somewhere and automatically think of me. Is that vain? Tough. Plus I absolutely love it and feel divine wearing it. I wish you could scratch the picture of the bottle and sniff it!


I've been wearing it for a few years now, but I've gone through lots to find my love. For instance, CK1 will always be the scent of middle school. I thought I was so cool wearing it, and I needed those cool points because I was the dorkiest kid ever. It pains me to see the pictures. High school was all about body spray- you could get 50 for the price of perfume and smell different every day. The idea of "signature" hadn't quite dawned on me yet.

All hail the Garmen

Have I told you lately how much I love the my Garmen? It allows me to go a myriad of places I would never dare to venture before. I am so spatially challenged it's pathetic. I've lived in this here town since I was 7 and I STILL get lost in it. Don't feel sorry for me (anymore), I have a little screen on my windshield to save the day now. It even takes me home. Tonight I went to see my friends Brandy and John at Medical City. Before I had my miracle screen I would have NEVER ventured into unknown lands alone. But, now that I am confident on all city streets, I was able to go. If you don't know the story of the Sloan's crazy week, you can read it here. Anyway, Luke and I went over and visited for a while, which was really nice. I did go during rush hour traffic, which was not the best planning on my part, but I figured it was okay since I really didn't have anywhere to be and to be a true member of the metroplex you must drive in rush hour at least a couple of times a year. Even though I was feeling no road rage what so ever, I was tempted to tail gate and honk and shake my fist at someone just for the heck of it. Then I remembered that I love Jesus and continued to sing to the radio.

After our hospital visit Luke and I did a little shopping. I'm in the market to get some new glasses, but I really don't want to take the time to pick anything out. Which is silly because I really have nothing but time. Just the thought of having to figure out what frames to get makes me tired. Then we went to the fabric store to look for something for me to make Luke a bag with. I have the picture in my head of what I want- vintage cowboy- but the selection was very disappointing . Anyone know of any good fabric shops in the area? If I'm going to start making things I need a good selection!

More trouble than it's worth

So today I got an IKEA catalogue in the mail. How we got on their mailing list I'll never know, but it's the closest thing to adult reading material I've had in a long time. As I was hungrily pouring over each lovely page, it made me realize how bad I want a new couch. Isn't that silly, to want a new couch when I have a little boy and a big little boy who can't let a day go by without spilling something? I know it will be YEARS before I will get a new couch, not only because of $$ but HELLO! who gets new furniture when there is a boy approaching adolescents? I may not have had any brothers, but I've been in plenty of college boy houses to know not to get anything nice until there are no boys around. :) Anyway, I'm dreaming of something like this:

The style is not quiet as cushy and inviting, but do you know how long it took me to find a kelly green couch? This isn't as bright as I want, but it's the closest thing. My new obsession is blues and greens. I think having a green couch would be so fun! Can you believe I spent nearly 2 hours trying to find something perfect and still couldn't? I found pink couches, sky blue couches, yellow couches, and every other shade of green out there, but not bright kelly green. Oh well. Good thing I can't purchase anyway. Maybe this is the reason for my blue and green obsession:

A boy will do that to you. This is Luke at Halloween, he was 4 months old, and he's sitting on our red couch. I used to be obsessed with red, and it will come in handy because the color hides a multitude of sins. We've already tested that out. But I'm on my way to being done with warm reds and have moved on to the cooler palettes.

Luke vs. Spaghetti

Tonight I tried to give Luke spaghetti for dinner again. Didn't work out so well. I am pretty sure he will be up at 4:00 in the morning starved due to his lack of dinner intake. Usually this kid fills his belly up so full he looks like Santa with a bowl full of jelly, but he barely ate tonight. I would have given him something else to eat, but I need to go to the grocery store tomorrow. So the tally is now:

Spaghetti-2 Luke-0

Although, I'm pretty sure he was faking the tears and the tantrums, because I did get this picture too.

I think I'm in trouble.

Anniversary

Well, today was our 6 year anniversary. The day itself was pretty uneventful- church, nap, 3 episodes of Law and Order:SVU, and a fancy date night. We went to the Capitol Grill in Dallas and had a wonderful dinner. I wish I could say that the last 6 years have been the best years of my life. While some absolutely have been, others....not so much. There are lots and lots of things I would do different if I could go back in time, and although I can't, I can take these lessons that I've learned and not only apply them in the future, but I can hopefully help someone else along the way. Isn't that what life is all about? I think we have fallen into just about every single marital pitfall you can encounter. I mean ALL of them. I choose to view these as things that will make us stronger in the future and make our success story that much more exciting. What good is a story without twists and turns?

August 2, 2003:My daddy walking me down the isle. This show is on the road!

This picture didn't scan in so well, but it's my favorite one of all. I have this one blown up in the living room. Our pictures weren't digital, so I only have a few of them on the computer that we scanned in years ago.

Yes, my cake was blue. I designed it myself, drawing out each tier of swirlys for the decorator!