my blog name

I never share anything that I make with you, so enjoy.  They all include the use of GLITTER, PAPER, and SCISSORS! Plus hot glue! :)

i made this in craft club last year. i love that little girl. and the green paint.

"our feet are earthbound, but our hearts and our minds have wings"

 this is in my front bathroom.  i love it.

this is picture frame in caroline's room. sorry the lighting is so bad.  it used to be plain black, with some kind of quote in cream on it, it wasn't me so i jazzed it up.  and now i actually have a picture in it and not the stock one!

i love the little rose trim and the feathers.

it says "keep a green tree in your heart, and singing bird will come"  caroline likes it :)

wreath i made for my salon door.  it's made of a 10" foam wreath covered in magazine pages.  topped off with a turquoise glittery ribbon.  i had to get glitter on it somehow!

this took me two days of free time at work, plus probably 8 glue sticks and many burns.

hope you enjoyed some of my crafts.  have a wonderful day. 

oh so tasty.

the last couple of nights i've been looking online for dinner recipes.  i'm not a recipe girl at all, i'm good with what my mom taught me growing up and i go from there.  i don't like to take chances on recipes and new things in fear that i won't like it and will have ruined dinner.  kylie thinks i'm a great cook, and says because of me his gut is now fuller and wider.  it doesn't help that the space between his ribs and hip bone is approximately 1".  it's ridiculous!  anyway, last night i made bubble up pizza. oh my!  it was amazing.  i borrowed pizza sauce from abbie and zac, so they came over and indulged too.

Recipe:
1 can biscuits-cut into quarters
1.5 cups pizza sauce
1 bag shredded mozz. cheese
pepperoni
and whatever kind of topping you would like

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Take 9x13 baking pan and line bottom with pepperoni.  Then in a bowl mix the biscuits, sauce, and 3/4 bag of cheese, along with other topping. Place mixture on top of pepperonis. Then top off with chesse and any remaining toppings.  Bake for 30-35 mins.

We used browned hamburger, pepperoni, and mushrooms

***I used jumbo biscuits and they were not done all the way through so we had to re-bake. If caught in this situation, cut the biscuits smaller :) ***

Before the oven:

 

Out of the oven:

 

Caroline ate green beans:

oops!

i was going to blog about some things i've made using glitter, paper, and scissors, however i fell asleep.  i've been really tired and kinda didn't feel good.  so when kylie left and caroline was asleep, i laid down with her.  i just woke up THREE hours later! and this sweet pea is still sleeping. 

her first day going to the baby sitter

her family lives in KY and some of them go to UK.  they loved this picture, i do too :)

i'll try to write a legit blog tomorrow, but enjoy my sweet baby girl today.  i sure do.

something everyone wants to do

save money!

however, this is EXTREMELY difficult.  i don't know how many times kylie and i have sat down and made "budget."  i mean really, it's so easy to "make" it, but to LIVE it is a different story.  but, if we don't want to live in one of these...

for the rest of our lives. (this trailer is so much more attractive then the one i live in)

considering the timeline to building our dream home

is getting shorter and shorter we MUST save money!  our plan is to build the lane THIS summer then the HOUSE the following summer.  that leaves us with only one year and six months to save, save, and save again for our house.  we've known pretty much since the beginning of our marriage that building a house was what we wanted to do.(despite the time we put an offer on an adorable cottage house in town, thank the Lord we did not get it because we were so NOT financially ready for it. but it was so cute.) but instead of saving for the last almost three years, we waited til now, CRUNCH time.  so here is our plan and what we have been doing.  i wouldn't call it a "budget" but this is what is working for us.  for the last year we've been saving all of my income.  needless to say with buying a trailer and a new jeep we cleaned a lot of that saving out to lower our loans, but hey we did it and it's done.  so, we are still putting all of my income into the savings account.  now that kylie gets paid each week we take out money for his IRA or COW(an actual cow, he abbreviates it b/c he's funny), then we take out an additional $100-150/week for savings.  each week when i get the bills i pay them off.  i don't wait til the end of the month to pay the bills.  this is really working for me.  this way i can see how much money we are needing to pay that week and i can judge how much we can afford to put in the savings.  we pay cash for groceries, gas, babysitter, and recreation.  our debit card is for emergencies and when we get in a bind at the store.  we make lists and try to stick to them as much as possible.  we shop at aldi and avoid wal-mart at all costs.  that place is seriously a place to just throw away your money.  after that, i order diapers online for free shipping and money off, we make our baby food, and i breast feed.(helps me burn 300 calories/day too! yay for a healthy bean too!)  we currently have three loans, our trailer, my jeep, and kylie's truck.  none of them are longer than two years and we intend to pay them off as fast as possible.  the trailer has five payments left and i've been paying about $100 more each payment.  i've recently started paying more on my jeep and soon kylie's truck.  my goal is to have them all paid off by house building time! we have a rental trailer and it helps to pay extra on loans and add to our savings, however our renters suck butt...bad.  they've literally lived there two months and are currently late on january rent. needless to say, the eviction notice hit their mailbox today.  thank goodness the deposit will cover the rent they owe us! today we decided that we like to order out at least once a week.  we try to avoid drive-thrus during the week, and splurge on mexican or pizza at night.  so, we decided when we have the urge we can either 1. take the money we were going to spend on food and put it in an envelope to save or 2. order the food, but still pay into the envelope.  so it's a win win for the savings.  it sounds silly but these kind of things some how work for us.  it's wierd, when there's an envelope in the freezer for certain money things, we fill them.  we have a pringles can with my tips in it for christmas spending, and cardboard log cabin for change, and $5 savings envelope in the freezer.  and we do as above.  a $5 saving is, every time you get a $5 bill you put it back.  then with in a year you can save up like $1000!  we've been doing this since november and have almost $300.  it's easy.  if i'm shopping and i buy something and get a five back i put it in my jean pocket so i won't be tempted to spend it at the next place.  for some reason it's not hard for me at all.  i literally look at that five and think of this...

because THIS is what our $5 savings is for.  a trip to disney this november with my family.  my parents are treating us to tickets for christmas, our aunt is hooking us up with a condo, and we just have to pay for traveling and food.

so, saving money is extremely difficult, but extremely worth it.  our goal is to save $20,000+, but if we only save $10,000 and have all our loans paid off, i'll be happy with that. but a low mortgage, would be so wonderful!

are you trying to save money this year for something you love?

a place to rest our heads

welcome to our new shabby chic bedroom.  i forgot to take before pictures, so enjoy the now pictures. 

new duvet from simply shabby chic at target.  thank you rachel ashlwell.

sweet dreams.  our bed is so cozy, i can't wait for the day to end so i can snuggle up in it with my husband.

a night stand i bought for ethel edith project and stole it for myself.

part one of my christmas present from kylie.  i spray painted the knobs a flat gray because the gold was just hideous.  but for this and this...

for $80 he did REALLY good!  thank you kylie!

i love my little vanity in the corner!

i love the mix of chippy paint with the very shiny silver candle sticks.  thank you for the idea mom!

this little couple planter is to die for.  i think it is so cute!  and yes that is my engagement golf ball, i'll forever keep it.

my morning makeup station.  i got the chair from my mom. it's one of my favorite things in the room.  it's pink and has awesome turquoise and pink bark cloth.  thanks again mom :)

my collection of mercury glass canisters.  thank you to annie for the big ones and my jewel jewelry case.  i picked up the small brush holder at big lots for $3.  can't beat a bargain.

my bird mirror.  my mom got this for my bday last year.  it was bronze but i painted it and love it even more now.

and last but not least.  my most favorite thing!

my new chandelier light fixture.  my husband truly loves me.  first he let me buy it at target, then when i was bummed because it was just a plug in one he told me he could mount it.  and he so did! oh my it's so pretty.  it's just white with pale pink flowers.  i always wanted one in my bedroom but with a trailer i thought it wasn't possible.  but kylie made my dreams come true!

this room is my comfort room.  i used to hate it and never went in there except for bed. now it's so romantic and cozy.  i often go in there and watch tv when baby is sleeping or i play with her in there.  it's my new room!

enjoy!

once you turn your back

something amazing happens! caroline joann ROLLED over today!  she was so close last night, but today she did it. from back to belly too!  i just looked over and there she was belly down.  i cried i was so happy.  now i just keep flipping her and she just keeps rolling then gets so mad because she hates being on her belly!  here my little sweet pea is, so proud! i just love her blue eyes, thank you daddy kylie :)

p.s. i was going to blog my new shabby chic bedroom today, but carlie trumps that anyday! so maybe later during her nap

neighborly fun

so my brother in law and his friend recently opened up a new land surveying office in my building's back room.  they have a very quaint little office and we share a hallway and bathroom.  they officially were up and running january 4th...and that's when the harassment began.  first week, jade pokes his head through our beaded curtain doorway and asked if i'd been in the back.  i told him yeah i'd seen it, looks good.  he just grins real big and says ok and goes back to his office.  later i went back to the bathroom and discovered something very similar to this, hanging from the purple bathroom's door!

it cracked me up big time.  jade and jake really got a kick out of it.  it's still hanging on the door, i mean it's their bathroom too! 

so the UFC poster was the beginning.  we both leave the doors to our businesses open to help with air flow.  one day we went in and all the power was off.  jade starts yelling to turn up the heat and i told him not possible b/c all downtown was out.  they start laughing and claim they have power.  so we go back and they're both just grining and typing away on their laptops.  what goobers.  we often frequent eachothers' businesses and give eachother crap.  it's all in good fun and it's nice to have some new faces around.  like i said we share a bathroom.  i went back one time to discover unflushed man pee.  i stopped in and told them no more peeing and evacuating.  they both denied it.  i said i KNEW it was one of them b/c three women that use toilet paper.  jade tells me it was jake, and i totally knew it b/c i saw him go in there earlier. 

as i mentioned early, a beaded curtain doorway...jade and brittany complain about it so i finally took it down.  then the plan developed to hang it over the boys' hall door, now we just had to wait for them to leave.  which is NEVER.  but yesterday we had our chance.  i went to check and they were gone, i ran down the hall yelling it's GO time!  and our trap was set!

almost two hours later the boys finally came back.  jake went to go pee and POW beads!  it was priceless.  i took them down later so they wouldn't have to deal with them.  it was a fun prank though.

all in all, i really enjoy having them back there.  it helps when we're slow to break up our time going to chat and just get a change in scenery.  i love my brother in law and it's nice to see him daily.  today they were out and i was solo and slow so i did some major cleaning.  since i was mopping anyway, i visited good ol' hammond and reid and cleaned them up.  it was supposed to be a random act of kindness, but they caught me.  i think they first thought i was pulling another prank but actually i was helpin a brother out. 

good luck h&r, i pray you're very successfull in your new business!

*all pictures from flickr*

honest to blog

apparently i won an award!  thanks sister!

Thank you to my sister annie over at The House That Jade Built.  The deal is that I share 10 honest things about myself with you.  Then I get to tag 5 lucky readers to do the same!

1. i am a huge tv head.  i have dvr and it's set shows everyday, saturday and sunday included!  it's terrible and i watch some really TERRIBLE stuff.  for some reason i really am in to bad reality like...JERSEY SHORE! oh my i can't believe i'm admitting it. but something about snooki and "the situation" draw me in for more.  GTL baby, GTL. (gym, tan, laundry, everyday!) i was pretty bad with tv before caroline, but now that i wake up in the middle of the night, i have to watch something.  i try to watch my hour long shows before bed so that i don't get sucked in to them in the middle of the night.  yes, i've been known to feed the baby and continue watching tv to finish an awesome episode of greys.  tv...it's my drug.


2. i sleep in "late".  to me, 8-8:30, is not late.  BUT i go to work at 10, while the average person is at work by 8.  that means for you commuters you're LEAVING your house at 7!  people always say i need to get up early but tell me why.  if you worked in town and your sitter was in town and you went to work at 10, would you still wake up at 6? i don't think so. i have a baby that sleeps late, so i take advantage of it.  today she woke up at 7 and i did too, i was 40 mins early to work.  i didn't know what to do with myself!  i LOVE sleep!


3. i hate everything about organic foods.  i know, some might think i'm crazy, but i don't really buy into it.  i feel like if i am cooking my family meals each night and it's not from a box i'm doing good.  my grandparents are 86 and 90 years old and doing very well.  i know my grandma loves to cook with bacon grease and puts butter on bologna sandwiches. my feeling is, if you're not eating out or preparing precooked meals every meal you're going to be fine.  live your life eating delicious-ness, you only live once.

4.  i have glasses.  i hardly EVER wear them.  if i'm sick or lazy i wear them to hide my tired eyes, but that's really it.  they have a very LOW perscription. i got them in high school to just sharpen up things.  my left eye is the "bad" one, but i don't even notice a problem.  when i slip on my glasses, i don't see a change.  but i have them and they're cute.

 5.  like my sister annie, i was also in tumbling and cheerleading.  i cheered 6 years!  my town was always known for good cheerleaders.  the best in our conference.  was this a known thing to the common basketball or football fan, no.  but we knew we were the best.  my senior year i almost didn't try out b/c i was going to graduate early.  i'm really glad i cheered, but wish i would have graduated early.  i think my best year was my senior year for me.  i learned how to roll my hips out in my jumps and really fly through my flip flops. i had an amazing stunt group with two of my best friends.  we were really good.  that sounds so terrible but really we were.  hillary was our flyer and she was so flexible. she would take one leg above her head and hold with the opposite hand and pull her other arm through. pretty much like a human bow and arrow, it was truely amazing.  she hated being dropped and she knew no matter what i would always catch her, and i did. oh yeah, and our football team went to the final four for the first time in YEARS! it was so fun.

6. i am a huge home body.  i'm not sure if it is because i'm the youngest, but i hate being away from home.  i used to have a really hard time spending the night at friend's houses.  mostly when i was in elementary school and jr. high.  but when i moved to eiu my freshman year, i hated it.  i wanted to be home SO bad, i went home EVERY weekend.  i didn't party, so i went home.  i loved my honeymoon, but i wanted to come home after about 4 days.  it's not just me that i want to be home. when i was little i would cry when my parents left.  one time kylie went on tour two weeks and i was a mess.  i just hated it.  which leads me to 7.

7.  i have a fear that myself or my loved ones will be killed.  either in accidents or murdered.  isn't it terrible.  why would i ever think someone would be murdered.  i think i watched to many scary movies growing up.  i know when i was young my cousin's girlfriend got in a BAD accident.  she had some broken ribs and stuff, but was totally ok.  but i was so scared it would happen to my parents, that when i was in school that i would cry in class(3rd grade).  i was once pulled out of class to talk to the school counseler. she seriously asked me if one of my parents were abusing me!  can you even believe it?!

8. i hate doing my hair.  every morning it is the thing i dread most.  i always have to wet it down(crazy bedhead), blow it dry AND straighten it.  i like to style it different each day, but it's so hard sometimes.  i'm recently trying to grow it out, but it is SO hard.  i've been growning for a year now.  its currently just below my chin and last year it was the bottom of my ear.  really not much growth.  i've had some "healthy" trims, but not really a good CUT.  i was itching to cut it today, but i didn't. i've gone this long, so i'm going to try a little longer.  why do i do this to myself?!

9. i LOVE a good soda.  i like it all.  my go to is always coca-cola.  pepsi is for wieners. i've recently rediscoverd dr. pepper and vanilla coke. oh yum! i would say the best way to have a soda is cold, on ice (cubed or crushed).  so delicious.  i can even drink them room temp.  nothing like a fresh bag of pop corn and an ice cold coke.  oh man, that might have to be my snack during the real world. yup, it's another bad show on my list. 

10. i really want a tattoo on my foot.  my dear friend and co worker casey has a wonderful pair of scissors with pretty swirls on her foot.  i love it.  she tells me to get it, but i don't want to be a copy cat, she doesn't care.  but i do.  i've wanted to get "walk by faith" but i'm not sure if i just want words of pretty filigree around it. OR if i want print or script.  i feel that it's the best that suits me.  my fear is that in 10 years from now i won't love it, OR that it won't turn out how i envisioned it and i will forever hate it.  i just love it though.  case wan't "my treasure is heaven"  i also love that, i hope she gets it.  we've recently talked of peacock feather, and it just sounds FABULOUS!  but again a fear of hate, and it's a forever thing.

ok i tag....

jillian at i still take out the trash
tiffany at ramblings of a newlywed
elise at elise is...
ashlie at the factory

the proposal

on hot summer night, we were supposed to go to decatur to help friends rearrange their furniture.  courtney called me and said they had to cancel because some bogus reason.  i was bummed and she said "maybe you'll come anyway and he'll take you on a date."  i replied, "yeah right, maybe he'll propose"  totally joking!  i called kylie to tell him the news and he suggusted we went up there anyway and play mini golf at this place we've never been before. i thought it sounded fun so i agreed.  he swung by and picked me up on his way home from work.  on the way there i had told him that i always make my friend ashley paint my nails before the weekend just in case.  he was like dream on sister.  and we laughed.  we ate at culvers then headed to the put put golf in the park.  we walked around and he showed me this bench that had starry night painted on it.  then we went to play.  it was july 28, 2006 and was SO hot!  we were playing and there was this creepy high school kid that was just playing by himself and we would just hop around from hole to hole in no order. kylie kept complaining about creepy kid and i was complaining how stinking hot it was! he asked if i wanted to go play a different course and i said "no, lets just finish this crap and go home.  i'm freakin sweating!"  so on the last hole, he hits his ball super fast and RUNS to the end. i didn't know what he was doing so i did the same.  there  were giant dice blocks, so i couldn't really see him.  when i got there he was pushing our balls into the hole then he looked up holding this!

i nearly died!  he handed me the ball then pulled the ring box out of his sock, haha.  then he held up my beautiful ring and asked me to marry him.  i just kept saying "are you serious? you're joking!" then we hugged and kissed and threw our golf balls in the hole and got the heck out of there!   it was better then i ever imagined.  by the time we called everyone and spread the news, we were home.  and we had already chose a date.  april 28th, 2007.  later we found out it was my grandparents anniversary and we would be married on their 66th wedding anniversary.  too sweet

here's the bling

p.s. annie helped him with the plan

p.p.s.notice my nails are painted.  thank you ashley!

sweet sweet love IV

So this is when my life with kylie begins.  I was 18 and he was 21.  I graduated high school then we were both off to school at EIU.  I lived in a dorm and he commuted.

We have some really great memories from eastern.  He was a master at the toy crane game, I swear my dorm room was filled with hideous stuff animals, but I kept them.  We loved eating dog n suds and getting cinnamon rolls from wal mart and going to the lake.  We used to eat cinnamon rolls and have stick races under the dock. 

We also had a small obsession with mini golf.  We frequently went on dates to mini golf.  Decatur, Effingham, Mattoon, Charleston, we knew them all!  It was lots of fun.  At semester, I quit eiu and transferred to lake land community college for cosmetology.  I moved home and it was great.  I really hated living in Charleston, but it did give me some wonderful memories.  I started hair school in jan. 06 and kylie and I shared rides.  It was really nice. 

At this point I knew I wanted to marry him.  We talked about getting married and what we wanted for our lives. I never imagined that in just a year, I would be in love and ready to REALLY make a commitment to him.  After we had dated for a year, I was expecting a ring at any moment.  He would trip and I would think he was proposing.  It was ridiculous. I loved him and couldn’t wait to be his wife.  I would pester him all the time about when we were getting married.  I found a ring at wal-mart that I LOVED, but he refused to buy me a ring from wal-mart.  So we went looking.  I didn’t really care what kind of ring I got, as long as I had one.  I told him I trusted him to find something fabulous and if he was in doubt, buy a solitaire.  So that was that.  Except I couldn’t help but keep pestering and questioning him ALL the time.  He would get mad at me.  He wanted it to be a surprise but I wouldn’t let him.  One day he cracked and said he had the ring!  I almost lost it.  When I knew he had it, I turned every scenario into a proposal.  I’m not kidding I was so ridiculous!  Then, out of no where he got me!

sweet sweet love III

ok, back to where we left off.  so i was not sad about the jared situation at all, only that i had screwed up my opportunity with kylie.  i talked to kolby about it at school and he told me to just keep trying.  kolby had let me listen to kylie's new cd(the one he recently recorded) and i was BLOWN away.  it didn't even sound like the same band.  it was SO good.  since kylie wouldn't speak to me, i felt this was a good oppurtunity to send him an email.  so i emailed him and told him how impressed i was with the new fingerprints ep and that i just couldn't believe how amazing it sounded.  i went on for a little bit then said hope you are well-maggie.  i can't really remember, but i don't think he emailed me back.  but kolby said to be persistant, so i did.  i went over after school or something and it was only kylie, kolby and their parents.  not the group of friends i had thought there would be.  so it was kind of awkward.  kylie and kolby were playing a video game in kolby's room so i sat down on the bed next to kylie.  he wouldn't even acknowledge me!  kolby had a phone call so it was only me and mr. not so happy to see me.  i tried to talk to him a little bit and again tell him how good his cd was, but then he was wanted on the phone. kolby came back and i told him about my failed attempt.  again he said not to give up.  so i went home and this is where it kind of gets blurry...i think at this point we are now in the new year(2005) i really don't know if kylie was talking to me very much, maybe but only keeping it short.  but i continued hanging out there, because well all my friends did and i still liked him.  so one weekend a group of us were headed down to jerseyville to stay with other friends. kylie some how got stuck in the back seat with me. about half way through the ride i guess he couldn't take it anymore and grabbed my hand. CHA CHING i was back in! :) we had a great trip and when we got back and in a private setting we talked about what had happened.  he had liked me all along but wanted to make me feel bad and guilty for what i had done, which was totally fair.  so kylie and i continued our hand holding.  we weren't officially dating and we were always on again off again. mostly because i was scared to commit to him again and fears of breaking up.  i was happy where we were, but then kylie told me it was my last chance.  so i jumped on board! in march of 2005, we were a couple and this is when my life began to change...