Ready. Set. Go!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I am so excited! My first Christmas as a married woman. We've spent a lot of time discussing where we're going and when, but I think we've got it figured out. There are so many things I'm looking forward to.

1. Making pull-apart cake for Rob and I on Christmas morning. Yummy! I only get it once a year!
2. Watching Rob open his presents. I didn't get him anything exciting, but one of my favorite things is giving people gifts!
3. Giving James his gifts. I got him a guitar for Christmas! He's been asking for one for ages (he watches us play guitar hero) so I thought, why not? Maybe he's a guitar prodigy... ;)
4. Seeing Isabella's first Christmas! She is so cute and fun. I can't wait to watch her reaction to all the festivities. It's going to be great!
5. Dinner!!! I'll be helping to make and eating dinner at my parents' house first and then heading to my in-laws'. I love holiday dinners. It's such a good time to get together and converse and be thankful for everything we've been blessed with.
6. Fellowship. I love just sitting around with the family on Christmas and enjoying each other's company. Everyone is happy and smiling and we forget all of our stress and problems for the day. I wish everyday was Christmas!

Tomorrow I'll be cleaning my house, doing laundry, and wrapping the final presents to put under the tree! Then, the hubby and I will watch "A Muppet Christmas Carol" and go to bed. I love starting new traditions!

If I don't get to post again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a good one!

Winterizing the Puppies

I have two doxies, Oliver and Dudley, and I treat them like my children. I'm one of those dog lovers that you look at and think are insane. But, in my defense, I've only pulled out shirts and sweaters on holidays. This year though, after bringing Dudley inside from going potty in the snow, I realized that his belly was REALLY cold.

I decided to call the vet and ask what she thinks about coats for them. Is it possibly a good idea? The vet says yes! Dudley and Oliver don't have any hair on their bellies and since they are so low to the ground, they are really susceptible to frostbite.

So, I decided to make them coats. Here's the breakdown:

• $2 for a pattern for a dog coat
• $2 for a clip for each coat
• $4 for "strapping"
• $2 for "d" rings
• $0 for fleece (we used a couple of old fleece blankets!)
• $0 for Velcro and other notions I had laying around

Total cost: $10 for two dog coats!

My big thing was making the coats cover their bellies and that I could hook them up to them like they were harnesses. I have success! I originally was going to put the "d" rings on the clips in the middle of their backs, but that didn't work so I put a piece of the strapping up by their necks on the ribbon (I used that to keep the fleece from stretching) and attached the "d" ring to that. I also had to add about 6 inches to the pattern to make them long enough. Overall, I'm happy and I think they are too!

What do you think?

A few more...

I've got a few more album pages. I'm a little obsessed. That's a good thing though, I've been meaning to do this for some time. I'm a little disappointed at my last post though. One comment?! (Thanks mom! I love you!) I NEED feedback. Seriously. I have a thing about seeing things from another's perspective. So tell me what you think, mmmkay? It'll make this a little less stressful (even bad thoughts!). I just want to make sure they look okay before forking out that kind of money to get it printed.

So here's another batch for critiquing. I'm expecting a better turnout this time... (hint, hint, wink, wink).

On a more humorous note, Oliver discovered the mouse today. The computer mouse, that is. Oliver and Dudley are my computer buddies. They lay on either side of me while I'm working and annoy me by sticking their noses under my hands and subtly informing me that they want attention. Well, today Oliver was very intently watching the screen. This is very unusual. Then I noticed that he was following my mouse. So I started playing with him. Until he attacked the screen. Don't tell Rob.

Designer's Block

I'm having a bit of a block with my wedding album. I was making great progress for a little while. Then, I got to the set of pictures I have of Rob and I in the woods behind my church and realized just how many good pictures I have! I want to use as many of them as possible, so the problem isn't choosing, it's putting them in some sort of layout. So, I think I'm going to call it quits for tonight.

I realized as I was writing this post that I never told my wedding story here. Going through all the pictures has definitely brought the memories back to the surface of my mind, so I'll put that on my list of things to do over Christmas break. Along with finishing the album, figuring out how to edit video so I can put it on my blog, and catching up on some other topics I've been neglecting. I really was a bad blogger, wasn't I?

I hope I haven't disappointed my readers too much!

I'll leave you with the progress on the wedding album. Any suggestions/criticism/praise are more that welcome! PLEASE let me know what you think! This is my wedding album, I want it to look beautiful and be something pleasing to look at! Its really hard to see something from an outsider's point of view when you're the one who created it. Does that make sense? I guess I just see the layers, cropping, etc. that makes up each page, not the actual page. So, seriously, let me know what you think! Rob says it looks great, but he's a little biased, I think!

Here goes...

By the way, you can click on them to make them bigger!

The first page of my wedding album...

Here it is! Okay, it's not the FIRST page (I'm still working on that one) but it's one of the first pages...

Regardless, I'm excited!

Christmas Cards...

Check!!! Woo-hoo! They're done! Now onto the wedding album... this is going to be fun!

Some Saturday...

:::SIGH::: This was quite a Saturday. I've been caring for my sick husband all day. :(

We're still not sure if it was the Chinese food last night, or a stomach bug, but -without going into detail - it wasn't pretty. I got quite a bit done though. My motives? The looming possibility that I might get sick... please, Lord, I don't want to get sick. When I wasn't caring for Rob today, I was getting caught up on housework all the while thinking about what wouldn't get done around the house that needed to if I get sick. I have so little faith, don't I? Maybe it's just the men in my life, but it always seems that when they get sick, everything stops for them (I'm not complaining about caring for Rob!). But when we get sick, it just keeps right on going. I think it's one of those rules of nature.

Though I didn't make it to the to the store today (for groceries anyway), I did manage to get a lot of my Christmas cards done. I'm doing two different groups, family and non-family. The non-family cards are some nice ones I bought at Target since I didn't think those at my church really cared to have a picture of Rob and I with the dogs staring at them. For the family, however, I made a little card in Photoshop that I'll be picking up tomorrow at Costco. Check it out:

I'm pretty happy with it. It took Rob and I several tries to get a decent picture in front of the tree with the boys. Oliver, for once, actually looks pretty good. I think Dudley, on the other hand, was too busy trying to eat Rob's hand... :) What do you think? Any suggestions for next time?

Next on my list, COOKIES!!!

We're also expecting some snow on Sunday night and Monday. Snow day? Mmmm... I hope so... :). I could do stuff I've been wanting to do for ages!! Can you tell I'm still basking in the glory of being done with school for the semester? I'm loving it!

Wow.

Yesterday was um, err... eventful. I took off work because I had my last final (woo-hoo!) and needed to get the paperwork signed for the class I tested out of. I also had to deep clean my house for the cookie exchange I hosted last night. So I got up and started taking care of the clutter (it kind of builds up when you don't clean it every once in a while, you know?). I hadn't really cleaned my house in a few weeks because I was up to my eyeballs with school work. I then wandered over to Lindenwood to take my final and take care of some last minute things. Afterward, I came home and finished cleaning (it really felt good!) and got ready for the party.

Well, at about 10:30 am yesterday, I got the following text from Rob at work: "Something is going down today at work... XXX said it isn't good. I'll know in about an hour. Try not to worry it may be nothing bad and I trust God to get us through whatever it may be. Love u!"

What???!!! Okay, here's the back story: Rob works for company X. Company X got bought by company Y (making company XY) who says they won't be doing major job cuts (right....). Now company XY is outsourcing all of their techinical support to the Philippines!!! HAHAHAHAhahaha! Ho. Ha. Ahem. Um, what? Are they morons? 

So, in one year my hubby is getting laid off. Yeah, it could definitely be worse considering some companies only give a day or two notice (:::cough::: A-B) but still, who likes to hear that their job is in jeopardy? Rob has a GOOD job. It pays decent and the benefits are great (okay, not great, but definitely above average). 

I can't say that Rob is disappointed. He isn't really fond of his job. You see, he supports a piece of software stock brokers use in trading. When it doesn't work right they get a little frustrated. Then they call Rob and he gets to fix their problem. It's slightly stressful work. I mean these people could be losing mucho money when the software doesn't work right, so he's under a lot of pressure. But it's a good job! 

Ugh... now the pressure is on for me to get a teaching position next year and Rob has to find something else. In this job market, I'm a little scared. Maybe by next year, things will be better. 

I'll tell you though, this economy isn't being nice to us. My dad's on temp. disability for his heart, my brother got laid off, my sister-in-law got laid off, my brother-in-law might get laid off, as well as my aunt and Rob's cousin. It sucks. I guess this is one moment I'm thankful to be a teacher - a little job security! If I can get a job.

I guess I'm just a little annoyed. Annoyed that these higher-ups in companies want to ship US jobs to the Philippines. Annoyed that our economy sucks. Annoyed that I'm not a millionaire and can give away all my money to people who need it (hey, a girl can dream, right?). 

Okay, vent over. I'm still working on my Christmas video, by the way. Stay tuned!

Christmas Pre-lims

I was planning on making a big Christmas post with video and everything, but my computer is wheezing as I type this. It just can't handle much anymore and until my darling Hubby lets me have the new laptop, I'm stuck... :o)

So until then, I have a picture from our Christmas decorating extravaganza. We spent an entire Saturday watching movies, listening to Christmas music and spending some great time together decorating the house for the first time. It was so awesome to start thinking about our own traditions as a new family. I'm content. :)

Here's Rob and I hanging "Our First Christmas" ornament on our first Christmas tree in our first house as a newly married couple... life is good.

Another happy bit of news, I have one more final tomorrow and I will officially be finished with general undergrad classes! I passed my college algebra exam (I tested out of the course) and I student teach next semester! I am SO nervous! I have my placement at a middle school close by my house and my cooperating teacher seems really nice. But that doesn't cover the fact that I'm envisioning vomit and hives (TMI... sorry) the few days before it starts in January. I just keep praying that God will be with me and everything will be perfect.

I'm so afraid I'm going to get there and hate it. That I'm going to go through my student teaching thinking to myself, " Why did I do this? Why did I decide to be a teacher?" Am I going to be a good teacher? Will I be able to find a job? Ugh... I'm just so nervous. Someone tell me it will all be okay. Are my fears completely unfounded? Oh well, I've reached the point of no return. Suck it up, Stephanie. Suck. It. Up.

Christmas is 14 days away!!!

Made Some Changes

My previous e-mail address contained my maiden name, so in tune with my transition to wife-hood, I've created a new e-mail address with my new last name. Here's the deal, I've been swithching all of my online accounts to my new e-mail address, including my blogger account. So, I'm posting this from my new account. If you can see this on your Google reader let me know! I just wanted to make sure everything went through right!

Thanks!

I know, I know...

Okay, I've been extremely busy. I know I said I'd post more often, but honestly, I just haven't had that much time. Here's the shortened version of the long story. I've been going through that little period at the end of the semester involving projects. I swear I've written 60-70 pages of reports in the past week. I'm done though!!! Except for studying for my College Algebra exam (I'm trying to test out of it... wish me luck). Aside from that I've been playing the role of supportive wife to my husband and his new business.

:::Begin shameless plug:::

Rob and his business partners - Matt (the idea maker), Andy (my brother), and Greg (our good friend) are starting a business called The Gamer Lounge. To start this business off they have teamed up with the Mid Rivers Best Buy (all you St. Charles folk know what I'm talking about) to host a Guitar Hero World Tour tournament. Let me tell you, it's gonna be awesome!! They've been working hard to prepare for this by making three of these babies:

Consisting of four 42" Plasma TV's and four XBOX 360's they are The. Bomb. That's right, we dropped a little under 13K one day on the electronics for these. Best Buy loves us.

So, that said, The Gamer Lounge will be hosting a Guitar Hero World Tour tournament on Saturday, December 6, 2008 at the Mid Rivers Best Buy. The entry fee is $20 for a chance to win your choice of a Wii bundle, a PS3 bundle, or a $400 gift card to Best Buy. We will also be raffling a Wii Fit. Come on out check it out! If you want to enter you can go here and pay through PayPal. Or you can enter the day of (if there's space available!). I hope to see you there!!!

Okay, I've done my wifely duty and placed an advertisement on my blog. ;o)

But seriously though, I'm super excited about this and so is Rob. Come support our new adventure!

P.S. If you can't make this one, we're planning another for December 28, details to come soon!

A little fun with Lightroom

I've posted about my new favorite computer program: Adobe Lightroom. I LOVE this program. It can take a "meh" picture and turn it into a masterpiece. Now, if only I could afford a really nice camera.... So, I just thought I'd share some of the fun I've been having with Lightroom recently. Some amateur attempts at photo editing... enjoy!

My James Before:

And... After:

 

My Isabella Before:

And... After:

 

Can you believe Isabella is already a year old? That picture is from her first birthday party. She was a cutie!

The picture of James is from picking pumpkins this year - he's already three!

Married Life: The Good, The Bad, and the Superfabulously Ugly (and cuteness you can't deny!)

"So how's married life?" I love that question, because then I get to dwell on the fact that I'm married for a few minutes out of my day! I'm sure the question will get old, but for now I'm going to bask in all of my newlywed glory.

The Good.
If I said everything about being married is good, I would be a liar, and I don't like lying. I'm not going to sugarcoat things and say that marriage life is all rainbows and puppies. It definitely has its ups and downs. Sometimes its more down than up, but mostly its more up than down. I have to remember to cherish these times because they don't last forever. But, all in all, I LOVE being married. I love taking care of my own house. Cleaning, doing laundry, its all so fulfilling! I'm sure it will get old after a while, but knowing that I'm doing my job as a wife is such an awesome feeling. I also love the freedom we have. We are accountable to each other now. We go where we want when we want and our only real responsibility is our babies! Don't get me wrong, we definitely try and spend time with out families on a regular basis, but for me, never having lived away from home, I feel very liberated! I love not having so say goodbye to Rob every night, going to bed with him, waking up next to him. It's all so wonderful! So I could go on and on with all of this sappy stuff that your are probably ready to vomit at, but I'm gonna move on...

The Bad.
Ah... the bad. Did I ever mention how when I said my vows, I wasn't just agreeing to marry Rob, but all of his lovely friends too? Yes, I sometimes feel like the housekeeper for a frat house. Okay, a very tame frat house, but a house full of boys nonetheless. It's fun, sometimes. Others, it can be slightly annoying. Rob and I have had many a discussion regarding "us" time. But, marriage is a learning experience. We have to work hard on it and we are perfecting it every day.

Then, there's the business. Rob is definitely the entreprenurial type. He is desperately searching for a way out of the 9-5 business world. Can you blame him? Who doesn't wish they didn't have to wake up to an alarm and report to a boss everyday? Rob has wanted to start his own business since I've known him. So this summer has been a roller coaster of business meetings, loan applications, and me sitting on the edge of my seat with butterflies in my stomach at the thought of the bank putting a lein on my beloved house. Is scared a good word? I think so. Rob won't rest until he's tried. Whether he succeeds (please, God, let him succeed) or fails, I'll be standing here next to him.

The Ugly.
They grow them big out here. Spiders that is. From here on out I will refer to these disgusting eight-legged creatures as just that creatures. Because, I can't stand to even look at the word. It grosses me out. I've mentioned before my ridiculous fear for creatures. If I get surprised by one, I'll hyperventilate. So, living here has been a bit trying. Our house was built in a subdivision that used to be a farm field. Our house is somewhat alone over here in the new part and there is still a lot of open land. All of this land allows for unprecedented growth of creatures. They are large. Disgustingly large. Frightenlingly large. Rob stepped on a wolf creature outside our garage that was about the size of the palm of my hand. Luckily we have a pest shield system that seems to work well and we haven't found any inside yet. But, apparently Satan has discovered this little weakness of mine and is taunting me with it. I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

The Cute!
So, let's end this on a high note, shall we? Another thing I love about being married? My family. My own little family. Me, Rob, and the kids. My babies. They're the best! I love them and they have been awesome! Remember my post on them peeing in the house. I've discovered a solution that works. I pick up their food and water! They've only pooped in the house once or twice since then and haven't peed! Squee! My life is now perfect! Just look at Dudley, who can deny a face like that? 

My Babies

One of the last posts before my 2-month hiatus from blogging referred to a severe frustration in the area of my furry children.

Luckily, I have found a solution to my problem.

Remodeling

For all you Google Reader users, my blog has a new look! Welcome fall!

More soon!

Isn't it funny...?

I love it when I hear the phrase, "I'd like to settle down." You know when you're talking to someone who is still exploring what life has to offer and they say, "I think I'm ready to settle down. Get married, have kids." Whoever said anything about settling down? I, for one, don't consider this whole marriage thing to be a "settling down" experience. I mean, sometimes growing up sucks the big one. I find myself thinking that once I get past school things will "settle down" a little bit. ::Snort:: Riiiiiggggghhhhtttt.... When someone finds out how to get life to settle down, let me know. Mmmkay? I'm really interested.

I got on blogger today with good intentions of updating my look and making a post about changing up my blog in conjunction with my transition into life as a married woman, but alas, the internet here is getting a big fat 650 kbps. For all you non-techies out there that's called slow as molasses. So, there will be no fabulous pictures and no face lift because I refuse to wait 10 minutes for a picture to upload.

So, hopefully tonight, while I'm procrastinating on my homework I will get some motivation to use our sweet 15mbps connection at home and get some stuff going.

On a lighter note, consider this an interim post until I get in a better mood. :o)

A Long Time Coming

Yes, I'm still here. No I haven't given up on my blog. I'm just EXTREMELY busy.

I keep wanting to post, but I have so much to say that I can't even begin to comprehend where to start and the longer I wait the worse it gets. So here's what I'm gonna do, I'm listing below all of the topics I will blog about in the hopefully near future (pending homework - although I'm reaching for activities to use as an excuse to procrastinate...). My hope is that listing these topics will inform my lovely readers (I'll know who my fair weather fans are!) of what's to come and give me a little boost of motivation to actually post about these numerous topics.

Coming soon to Purely. Simply. Love:

• Updating the blog. Now that I'm married, do I change my title? Add a catch phrase? What will the new look be?
• Married life: Living it - the good, the bad, and the super-fabulously ugly (and cuteness you can't deny)
• My babies (not human, thank you very much)
• James (the other love of my life - okay, I have a lot of loves, but he definitely tops the list next to Rob)
• Isabella - My Squishy!
• Worky work!
• Preparing for student teaching - ICK.
• Decisions I've Made - Why?
• Things I'm looking forward to
• The newlywed nine... :(
  
• 101 in 1001

 Okay, I think that's enough for now. Bear with me as I try to get my life a little organized and  catch up on this hobby I truly enjoy. To all of my readers, I'm so glad you're still around, I apologize for not posting more comments, but I still LOVE reading your blogs!!!

Leaving you with a glimpse into my stressful life:

Okay, it's not THAT bad, I just needed to have a picture... :)

Oy.

I've done it again. I've neglected my blog. Mom so lovingly reminded me that it has been quite a while, and she's right. It's like an old friend that you really want to talk to but it's just way too easy to let it slide, you know? I often feel like I shouldn't post because I don't have pictures to go with my news and the news is so abundant. So, I won't cover it all, but I'll touch on the highlights!

• Many of you may remember the decision I had to make. Well, I made a decision, and then God made the decision for me. I decided I was going to put off student teaching and pursue certification in Early Childhood. Well, God had other plans (and His plans are perfect!). Turns out enrollment dropped dramatically at the preschool I'm working at and they don't have a job for me anymore. So, back to the original plan. I can't say I'm happy about this, but I trust that this is God's will and I know if I follow his will everything will be great! Now I get to look forward to a semester of subbing! (note the sarcasm...)
• Rob and I did another big home improvement project. We planted trees! We spent one of the hottest days of the summer (our only free day) going to Home Depot, Lowes, and a local nursery picking out trees and getting some things to plant them with. Then, with the help of Mom, Dad, and Andy we planted them! We got three trees, a Weeping Cherry Blossom and two different Maples. They look wonderful!
• We are approaching our two month anniversary and four year dating anniversary! I can't believe it's been that long! It's been great though!
• 
  

Trees!!!

One of the things we've been wanting to do at our house is plant some trees. We have a 15,000 sq. ft. lot and 75% of it is in full sun literally 90% of the day. So, in hopes of keeping our grass from frying, and to give some relief to the puppies when they're outside, we planted some trees today!

We got an awesome $150 credit to a nursery for a 2" diameter tree as a part of Wentzville's tree program. So we got to splurge and get a really nice tree from a nursery! We also hit Home Depot and got a couple more. We planted 4 trees today!

We got a Weeping Cherry tree from Home Depot for our front yard for some decoration. It is gorgeous when in bloom!

We took the Crabapple out of the spot in the front yard and replaced it with the cherry. We then put the Crabapple in the front side yard.

We got a Acer Rubrum Burgandy Belle Maple (from the nursery, in case you couldn't tell) for the back side yard.

Then we got another maple for the back yard.

I'm so happy! It was a LOT of work but it looks great!

I love my babies....

I really do. But, I really HATE them right now.

Before Rob and I moved in together after the wedding, Oliver and Dudley were happily living at my parents house and doing just fine. I mean, what dog wouldn't with someone home to keep you company ALL THE TIME. Obviously, that's not the case anymore. Oliver and Dudley live with Rob and I and are home 9 hours a day by themselves. Before we moved, we could let them roam the house without worry. They didn't chew (and still don't) and wouldn't mess in the house. Ahhh, until now.

Now, everyday, I come home to a pile of dog poop. And lately they've been peeing on the carpet. And it's not in a single spot everytime. It's all over the house. I'm so done with this right now. Poop, I can handle (though I still hate it) but pee is a totally different story.

Now the question, what do I do? Should I buy a crate for them? Should they share it? Have their own? What about blocking them off in the kitchen?

I would love to take like two weeks off of work to devote to housebreaking them again. It doesn't help that we don't have a fence either.

I'm so mad right now... :(