Goodwill project

While I sort through pictures from Emma's birthday, check out my post at Thrifty Living on turning this



into this!

Pumpkin decorating

Check out my blog Thrifty Living to see how I decorated our pumpkin!

Announcement!

I have started a new blog! It is called Thrifty Living and is about living thrifty! This has been something that Martin and I have been talking about me doing for a while, and last week was my "trial run" meaning I posted like a normally would, except I didn't tell anyone about it. So now you have a whole week's worth of reading to catch up on! Actually, the first post on Thrifty Living is an introduction and purpose statement of sorts, so I'd love to hear what you think about it!

We will still be using this blog and keeping everyone up to date on all that we are doing here in Delaware.

Enjoy...Thrifty Living

Christmas stocking

Martin and I both have Christmas stockings with our names on them, so I've been planning to do one for Emma. I looked at TONS of different options online and it was nearly impossible to decide. Then, one day when I was at Joann's, I spotted this stocking:

For this price:

Perfect! -- for several reasons. Obviously, it was a great price. But also, I really wanted something that wasn't Santa (not that I have a problem with Santa, but thats not the point of Christmas). Now, snowmen aren't the point of Christmas either, but they don't pretend to be! And I hope that this is something that Emma will be able to enjoy once she's grow the way I have enjoyed mine.

So we'll see how this goes. I've never done a cross-stitch before, but I have a lot of motivation! (and hopefully enough time)

The tomato plants

From the ashes of disaster grow the roses (tomatoes) of success!



Remember how my tomato plants were ravaged during our crazy hail storm? Well I am pleased to say that they have really come back to life! I had four plants, all with blooms on them when the hail hit, and only one retained any blooms after the storm.

A few weeks ago they looked like this:
(three plants in the long planter and one in the large one)


All the plants had flowers, only one showing tomatoes so far though

NOW:

I can't believe how much they've grown! I'm really glad I took that picture a few weeks ago to compare.

I don't think that I've ever really seen a plant grow the way it looks on the package, except for these tomatoes. They look really close to the picture:

Now we're just waiting for them to ripen!

ps...bonus points if you know the movie referenced in the first line of this post!

House Projects

A few weeks ago I painted our powder room a rich, dark brown:


We really like the way it turned out! I'm hoping to add a few pictures soon. Becca - we have a photo shoot request for you when you get home from school!


We also added a beautiful clock that was Martin's grandfathers. Martin would help him wind it up when he went to visit, so it is really special that we have this now. It fits in great with the rest of our living space too.

I mowed the lawn today!

With one of these...

It was hard work, but fun too. I think I have officially recovered from having a baby! I'm feeling good right now, likely because its so nice out, but I will probably be very sore tomorrow!

Crafting

Karene and Jeremy's wedding is this weekend! I made the ring bearer's pillow, and finished it yesterday:

I dont think the ribbon looks right in this picture because I used the flash when I took the pictures.

Side view:

Close up detail of the heart shaped button:

Hope you like it Karene!