Crafting On A Budget

Hey y’all! I am so excited! But first off, random picture of myself.

            [Mermaid hair!]

So today, I went out looking for a bargain so I can get started on all of my crazy DIY craft ideas that I’ve collected from Pinterest. I’m looking for a bargain, because, well. I’m unemployed. I have savings from the Navy, but without getting too boring financially, there is more output than there is input.

I scored, BIG TIME.

First off, I hit up the Dollar Store. Always a blast. I found this glass cylinder for [gasp] a dollar, which made me kind of giggle. A week ago we were in a department store [I’m not saying which…] and saw a set of three of those exact cylinders for…. $40. Seriously. They weren’t painted, they didn’t have any special shape, or color, or etching. Just plain old glass cylinders exactly like this one….           

                   [The paint is for a craft coming up later on. ]

Next I hit up Wal-Mart, which ironically is the only place I didn’t score a sale! Afterwards I went to Michael’s and scored even more loot. All of the paper cutting tools and craft paint was 40% off. I love 40% off!

So basically I scored all of this for…… $30.75. Exactly. I was so excited!

So I gathered up my favorite elf helper, and we started crafting.

[Love a man who will help me channel my inner Martha Stewart.]

Anyways, I’m off to do some crafts and watch some Kardashians. Yeah. It’s my guilty pleasure. <3

Three Tangent Tuesday

Hey y’all! It’s Tuesday again! Which means it’s time for Three Tangent Tuesday! This delightful gem was created was by Janae at Hungry Runner Girl, and it’s just a time for me to scare my readers off with bits about how WEIRD I am.

You can check out previous TTTs here, here, here, and here!

Three Tangent Tuesday!

+This is why I couldn’t make my bed this morning…

            [Bagheera took over my bed….]

Luckily I was able to lure her away long enough to get the covers done. She jumped back up before I could do the pillows however. I was FINALLY able to complete it, and this is the final product…..

[She definitely has strong opinions on where she belongs. Princess]

+This Friday is my birthday! And I will be turning 25, and guess I better get used to it, since I fully plan on being 25 for the next 5 years. It’s so hard to believe this is coming, it feels like just yesterday I was turning….

                                         [21]

I was obviously more excited about that birthday than I am this one. :)

…..However…. This birthday, I will be……

+Going to The Swamp! This Saturday I will be going to….

Which is….

If you know ANYTHING about me at all, it is I am A HUGE Gator fan. So my rock-star of a boyfriend got us tickets to the first game of the 2011 Season, which just so happens to be the day after my birthday. I am so excited I could scream. And will be. A lot. On Saturday!

Okie dokie, y’all, that’s it for this week’s TTT. I have to make it through 2 more days, and then it’s my birthday! Woohooo! From what I hear there are lots of September babies out there, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to y’all also! :)

We’re Alive!

Woohoo! We survived Irene!

In all seriousness, I’m so happy that Irene decreased so much in intensity before she hit us, because that angry lady hit us DEAD ON. Shane and I live in an apartment building, so there wasn’t much prep to be done, but we did buy some water, stocked up on some snacks, and kitty food/litter, and some activities to be done without power. Shane also duct taped our windows.

The storm itself was pretty neat, Shane slept right through it, and I kept waking up to look out the window at the trees doing backbends.

The only time I got freaked was when there was a tornado warning, one had hit ground not too far from out apartment, and I can do hurricanes, but I do NOT tornadoes. So we went into the bathroom and I snuggled up next to Shane and pretty much went between panic/praying for 45 minutes. Longest 45 minutes of my life.

During this panicked time Shane was trying to calm me, and in a moment of trying to distract me, gave me the power to decorate the bedroom in whatever I want. Yeah. I remember that! I’ve been stalking Pinterest ever since.

[No, really. I’m obsessed with Pinterest. It’s quite possibly the most amazing thing ever, and how am I so late to this party?!]

The next day we lost power. Yeah, that’s right. The hurricane was almost gone before we lost our power. Our good friend Chris lives about 45 minutes away and still had power, so we ventured out to asses damage, and enjoy air conditioning.

Thankfully, the damage to our area was minimal, mostly fallen limbs and slight flooding. There were, however, over 280,000 without power. Pretty crazy….

Now it’s back to business as usual, laundry, cleaning, etc. I’m working on more crafts, so I can’t wait to post on those! Until next time, my friends!

Hurricane Irene Prep

Hey y’all! Well Shane and I are bunkering down, since we have a visitor coming, and her name is Irene.

Hopefully all will be well, but in the meantime I leave you with a picture of what y super thoughtful boyfriend brought home yesterday!

I sure do love flowers! <3

Hope everyone is safe, including us! We’re going to watch the latest Resident Evil in 3D now, while we still have power!

P.S. I registered for Pinterest. Any idea on how long it takes?! I already found some amazing things I want to try!!

Halloween Decorations: Part I

Hey y’all! I’ve been trying to figure out a way to keep my creative side busy (I left the majority of my scrapbook stuff in Florida), so I went to stalking the wonderful Jenn’s blog!

She has this wonderful craft involving upcycling glass with acrylic paint! I’ll let her explain the details and the how-to, and I’ll just show you my version! :)

[Obviously the candle was not my doing. But that scent is AAAAH-MAZING.]

Shane and I bought some cheap glass vases at Michaels and originally some purple acrylic paint. Unfortunately, the type of paint we bought was obviously meant for painting, and not pouring. So, we zipped back to Wal-Mart and found the cheap kind! (Good news is, I got 3 different colors for the price of 1 at Michaels!)

[Please excuse the fingernails…. I know it’s time for a re-do!]

Then I got out my Sharpie paint pens. (These little gems were EXPENSIVE, at least for me, but are freaking amazing!) I bought them at Michaels, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen any. They are oil-based paints, and work wonderfully on glass! I googled how to draw spiderwebs since my drawing capabilities are like zero. And…… VOILA.

    [A little Desperate Housewives action in the background. ]

I tried drawing pumkins on the orange… but I need more practice. Haha. So thanks Jenn for the amazing idea, and I think they turned out pretty freaking awesome. Shane loves them, too!

Now I’m off to do some laundry and stuff. By that I mean watch Desperate Housewives and check on the clothes when the machine sings to me. Yes. Instead of an annoying blaring noise when our clothes are done, our ridiculously overpriced-yet-gorgeous washer and dryer gives out a pleasant little jingle. :)

Katy Cooks! The Horror.

And you thought Halloween wasn’t for two more months!

Nope, the scares start early, I have been in the kitchen for the past two weeks, and thankfully no hospital visits have happened!

Okay, actually allow me to take this moment to give myself a virtual pat on the back. So far EVERYTHING (from meatballs to cake to lasagna to bread to pot roast) has been quite a success.

It all started when Shane (AKA best gift giver, ever) got me the greatest thing on planet Earth:

A Tiffany Blue Kitchenaid Mixer!

It came with a nifty little recipe book and I have put that to use! But last night’s dinner was Pot Roast and Homemade Bread.

I found this recipe in my Cooking Light magazine, and it turned out amazing. But I think the best part was cooking with Shane. Cooking is fun by yourself, but with someone you love, it’s plain amazing!!

Normally I don’t purchase bottled water, that’s a preparation in case Hurricane Irene does in fact make an appearance!

Before it went into the oven. I promise it looked more appealing afterwards! Though there were no pictures taken, since it took 3 hours to cook, and we were ravenous! :)

The bread may look a little haggard, but I promise you it was AAAAHHHHH-MAZING.

 

Also, please ignore my nasty hair. I promise I have washed it since… Haha.

Well, that’s all for now, folks.

Three Tangent Tuesday!

Hey y’all! How have you been? I’ve been super busy moving into Shane and I’s apartment, and having a visitor that I’ve been an awful blogger. My apologies!

But, now I have a whole bunch of free time, so there is no reason not to get back to blogging regularly. Yay! Starting with TTT! For those who don’t know, Three Tangent Tuesday was started by Janae at HungryRunnerGirl, and it’s a chance to share three little tidbits about yourself or day. I love it!

So, here goes!

+ I started working out again! And boy does it suck. Haha. I made Shane get up with me before work today and go for a run with me, and let me say, I’m so out of shape, it’s ridiculous. So, thankfully I have a man willing to get up with me to help remedy that problem.

+ My new favorite past-time is taking pictures while Shane is trying to get ready. :) I just bug him in the bathroom, and luckily he doesn’t annoy easily.

+ I bought a new water bottle. Now, I have like 300, but they were all left at my mom’s house. So… I found a new one! A Bobble! Hopefully it helps me drink water, because besides being out of shape this morning, I was awfully dehydrated. Plus, it’s super funky.

In other news, I’ve been cooking/baking a lot lately, and I’m starting to get together decorations for Halloween. I’m thinking of doing a Halloween decorating post, or two. I’m kind of mad about Halloween, it’s my favorite holiday.

Hope everyone is having a good time!

Cliff Notes Update

Hey y’all! I know I’ve been kind of MIA lately, I’ve had so much going on! I figured I’d give everyone a cliffnote’s version of all my happenin’s lately.

+ Camp ended. We went to Wild Adventures as an end of summer field trip, and had a flipping blast!

+We had an end of summer camp presentation. The kids were AMAZING! I was so dang proud of them!!

+Shane and I had our first baby! She is a 6 year old beauty. As previously mentioned, I named her after Bagheera from the Jungle Book (yes, he was a boy, but I think the name is ambiguous!) She is the friendliest cat ever! She has such a wonderful personality too. She yells at me when I leave home. Seriously, when I get home she meows at me for like ten minutes, letting me know she is upset. Haha.

+ The most IMPORTANT thing that has happened in my life in the past few days was making a journey to move to North Carolina with THIS GUY. How sexy is he?! Who wouldn’t move?

+ My bestie Nancy is on leave from Iraq and spending the week with me!

+ And we have spent the last two days using my brand new toy the boy got me for our anniversary….

Now I’m off to make more homemade meatballs (TO DIE FOR!) and hang out with my Nancy-Pants. More updates later! Love y’all!

Look What I Got!

 

So does anyone else remember Bagheera?

Any other Jungle Book fans out there?!

Well, this weekend I went out and got my very own Bagheera!

Yeah, that’s right. Shane and I have our first baby girl! Isn’t she beautiful?! Well, I have more to talk about, but it’ll have to be later, I need to run off to work! And go play with my cat some more. Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!!

Three Tangent Tuesday!

 

Woohoo! It’s Tuesday again. My favorite day of the week! I don’t have be at work until 2 pm, and it’s THREE TANGENT TUESDAY! 

For those of you new to the party, TTT was started by Ms. Gorgeous herself, Janae over at HungryRunnerGirl. She’s fantastical, and my hero. Basically you tell 3 totally random, preferably embarrassing little tidbits about your life/day. You can check out some past ones of me, here, here, and here.  

Three Tangent Tuesday

+ Look at what I found… I currently have a room full of stuff. No seriously. I can’t move in my room, because I have somehow fit an entire household into one bedroom. So, since I am moving in three weeks, I’ve been slowly going through everything and getting rid of most of it, lol. I stumbled upon this gem yesterday when I was going through old clothes….

I don’t know why I have this dress… I’m sure it belonged to my mother at some point. You know, since she actually lived through the 80’s as opposed to being born in them.

+ I want a daughter so badly…. Just so I can do this!

Little girls are so much fun to dress up!!

+ This isn’t so much a tangent, as an excited proclamation…. IT’S SHARK WEEK! I love sharks. I won’t go in the water because I’m deathly afraid of them… (except the two times I went shark cage diving…) but I love them. So Shark Week is always exciting for me. <3

Well folks… That’s it for this week’s edition of TTT. Hope y’all have a great Tuesday! :)

My Anniversary Weekend!

Hey y’all! I just thought I ‘d pop in and do a quick post about the rest of my weekend, since Shane was in town for our anniversary. (Does anyone else always want to spell anniverrsarry?! I love double letters…)

After the epic win of the water gun fight, we had a wonderful time not shooting others with H²O.

I picked him up from the airport on Friday night, and I was SO. EXCITED. I was all dressed up and felt like I was in a movie! Haha. We headed back to Ellie’s to stay the night and hang out with friends. Mikey and Lance were there and we all gushed over water guns, and Shane spent about 3 hours “practicing”. :)

Saturday we woke up and headed out early to grab a camera charger for my camera (it was left in NC), to make sure we were back in time for shenanigans. :)

After the fight, which is fully recapped here, we had plans to go to dinner and then a movie, but ended up passing out on the couch for hours. The sun and late night Friday had taken it out of us!

We did end up getting up, and I got all fancified.

So did my boy.

We ended up not eating at the fancy Hibachi grill we planned on going to, and hitting up a Steak and Shake instead. It was not very good, but then again my stomach was already hurting. The milkshake was yummy, though!

After the obligatory kissy picture, we went to see Crazy, Stupid, Love.

It was SO. GOOD. Seriously. Everyone should go see it. It was funny, heartwarming, and had a twist I didn’t see coming. There was only one part I wasn’t too sure about, but I won’t say because it was at the end. I still give this movie 2 thumbs wayyyy up. It’s a really good date movie, too.

Sunday we went to this place in Jacksonville called Pottery Works. You take unfinished pottery, and paint it however you want, and they glaze and fire it for you. It was so much fun. A really neat (though expensive….) date idea.

Shane painted a piggy bank (I’m kinda obsessed with them!)

I painted a set of coasters (we also love those!) that I loved, except for the blue fish one. Haha. It will go on the bottom of the stack. :)

Here is the finished piggy. I put the skull on there. :)

All in all, it was a fun date, and one we will probably do again, though not very often, since it was pretty pricey.

Afterwards we met up with my best friend Patrick who was driving through town on his way to Virginia. We went out for cupcakes/froyo. I love him to death. Please excuse my hair. I have no idea what was going on with it.

Alas, my sexy manfriend had to make his way back to North Carolina, yesterday. I was so sad dropping him off at the airport. But only a few more weeks and I will be living with him up there, and all will be right again. I miss him like crazy already.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!!