Our Last Valentine's Day Weekend Together as a Family of Two! (Sunday & Monday)

• After having a horrible night's sleep Saturday, I got up and showered. After I showered, I dressed and packed up the suitcase while J showered. When we were completely packed and ready to leave, we went downstairs and took all of our stuff to the car. While J smoked, I went in to to get some breakfast. The breakfast spread was great! I had a bowl of fruit loops, a blueberry muffin, strawberry yogurt, orange juice and I grabbed a banana for later. J came in and checked us out while I was eating. He complained about the bed and the lady said the hotel was only 4 years old! The rest of the hotel was really nice, but the beds were cheap! 
• When we left the hotel, we went to St. Elmo to ride the incline. (We had to pay to park there, and it was exactly $2! Remember that $2 J found Saturday!?) I was terrified and the higher we went, the more my terror intensified. By the time we were at the top, J was convincing me that I didn't have to ride back down unless I wanted to. He would ride down by himself and bring the car up to get me. I was in agreement at the time (but I did eventually calm down enough to ride it back down).

• We got off at the top and walked down the street to the Battles for Chattanooga Museum and Point Park.

•  We looked around the museum and store, but didn't see anything we wanted, so we went out to Point Park and paid $3 each to walk around. The park was mostly a military park, with cannons, statues and lots of historical information about the site and battle that was fought there and nearby. The views surrounding the park were incredible! You could see forever!  

Point Park

View from Point Park

In Point Park

• When we left Point Park, we walked back to the Incline gift shop and J ordered me some hot chocolate to warm up. It was freezing outside! Then we walked to the top of the building to look out over Chattanooga.

• By the time we got back downstairs, it was 10 minutes til boarding time to go back down, so we got in line so we could sit in the front. The ride down was not as bad as I thought it would be and it was much less-terrifying than going up. Especially since going down, we were facing the direction we were going. 

The other railcar was coming up, so we switched lanes! 

• When we got to the bottom, we went into the gift shop to buy a few postcards to satisfy my obsession. haha.
• After we left there, we went back to downtown Chattanooga to find somewhere to park for the day. We found a parking garage that only charged $8 a day instead of the $9 to park at the aquarium. We walked around awhile instead of going straight over to find something to eat. We walked along the river and I took a few pics at Ross's Landing. 

Ross's Landing

Artwork on the wall leading to the landing.

My Love. ♥

• By the time we left Ross's Landing, I was freezing and really had to pee, so we went to find somewhere to eat. The first place we tried was so packed, we could get in the door! (Cheeburger, Cheeburger) The next place we went to was closed and the next place had their menu outside and nothing looked appetizing. We finally ended up eating at Big River Grille & Brewing Works. I wasn't that hungry, so I ordered off of the kids' menu. I had a grilled cheese sandwich with carrots and ranch dip. I ordered pickles on my grilled cheese, but they didn't put them on there, so I had to get the waitress to bring me some to add on to it. I hate when they forget! I ended up liking the ranch dip so much, I dipped my sandwich in it, too! :P
• After we finished eating, we walked around a little more before we had to go into the Ocean Journey building for our backstage adventure! It was great! We got to see the penguins from above, the biggest tank from above where we got to meet the divers and feed the fish and then we got to meet a rare gecko and pet it! 

Penguins! 

 This sea turtle was injured by a boat and as a result, his back fins had to be removed.
He has trouble swimming down low, so he stays near the surface where his butt often floats above his head. Bless him.

Gecko

• We had so much fun on the backstage tour, J wanted to do the River Journey, too, but I convinced him we should save it for another trip, so we could go see something else. 
• We left the aquarium and headed back to the car. When we left the garage, J couldn't get the ticket to go into the slot, so he pressed the button for assistance. Turns out he was trying to insert the ticket from another parking lot! HAHA! We got a good giggle out of that.
• We pulled out the GPS and headed towards Rock City which was near the incline. Rock City was awesome! I was freezing, but it was totally worth it! There are so many pictures on my camera and phone that I don't have time to look through all of them, so I'll just post a few sneek peeks from my phone.

J taking a smoke break.

 Fairytale from Mother Goose Village

Gnomes in Fairyland Caverns

• We didn't leave there until they were closing, so after we left we headed towards the Chattanoga Choo-Choo Hotel to check in to our room. J had bid on hotwire.com for a three-star room at $61/night. This was the hotel that we got. The main building where we checked in was beautiful, so we thought our room would be awesome, too. We were surprised to see that our room was very much not up-to-date and the only thing that had been updated was the television. The mattress was so old that the end of it was higher than the rest of the bed and there was a huge dip in the middle of it. Needless to say, it was very uncomfortable.
• We settled in and then decided it was time to go get dinner. First we walked around and didn't find anywhere that was open other than the ice cream shop and The Gardens. The Gardens wasn't our style of dining, so we asked if any of the other four restaurants were open and they said that the deli was, but all they served was soups and sandwiches, so we went next door to The Tavern. We had to wait FOR-EV-ER for a seat. They seated us on the second floor and it was so cold, I couldn't take my jacket off. There really wasn't anything on the menu that looked appetizing to me, so I finally just ordered a burger and some baked beans. When it finally got there, I was starving. I didn't think I could eat 1/2 pound of ground beef, but as it turns out--I can! I also ate the small serving of beans (I'm talking baby food jar small) and the waitress brought me another serving, which we were charged for. WTH? It's not like there's a shortage on baked beans in this country! They were $4! 
• After we left The Tavern, we went back to the hotel to swim. When we got in, there were only 5 or 6 kids and 4 adults, with only one adult in the pool. (The other adults weren't even wearing swimsuits!) By the time we left, there were at least 15-20 kids in the pool and probably only 4 adults! What is wrong with this world that parents don't get in the pool with their young children!? There's no way I would let my 3 or 4 year old in the pool by themselves even if they were descendents of mermaids. SMH...
• I need to mention that this was a 9-foot deep pool! 
• When we got back to the room, I was freezing so I showered and then we crawled into bed to attempt to sleep. Not much sleep was had...
• When we got up Monday morning, we dressed and packed the suitcase up. I wanted to take our stuff to the car then, but J said we'd do it after we ate breakfast. So, we headed over to the main building to see which restaurants were open. Only The Garden was open and it was $10.99/ person for the buffet. All I really wanted was cereal, a muffin and some yogurt and I wasn't about to pay that much for it even if they did have it. We turned around and went back to the room, grabbed our stuff and headed out the back stairs to take it to the car. J had had to park so far away the night before, that he left me and the luggage waiting on the sidewalk so he could go get the car. It was pretty warm Monday morning, so it felt great to be outside. After we loaded everything up, we drove around to the front of the hotel to check out. Then we headed out of Chattanooga to get on I-24. It didn't take long before we found a Cracker Barrel off of 72, so we stopped there to eat.
• I had two little boxes of cereal with a small carton of milk, two chocolate milks, an apple, a pineapple yogurt parfait with granola, almonds, and cranberries, and a huge blueberry muffin which I ate later for a mid-morning snack. All of that was less than $8, so I'd say we got a much better deal than we would have at The Gardens. 
• When we left Cracker Barrel, instead of getting back on I-24 as we should have, J turned left onto 72 because he thought it would take us straight to Huntsville. He was wrong...lol.
• As we were driving along, I told him that nothing looked familiar and he said it was probably because we were going the other way and b/c I had had to pee so many times that I wasn't paying attention on the way through.
• I saw a huge yellow sign advertising Raccoon Mountain Caverns and I told J that we should check it out because it looked interesting, so he turned down the dead end road. Turns out, being lost was a good thing because the caverns were really cool!
• J got in free because he's military and my ticket was about $15. It was a 45 minute guided tour through the first cave. Since we had just learned about stalagmites and stalagtites and cave formations in my college science class, I found the different formations very interesting! 

Stalagmites and Stalagtites joining together.

 Soda straws and stalagmites hanging from the ceiling.

"Iguana Rock" and that hole at the top is where two flows of water joined together

and swirled, causing the hole to form. The geckos that live in the caves come in through the roof here.

Crinoid, or "sea lily" fossil.

 I think this is part of a Crinoid fossil as well.

 The round object in the center of the photo, with the "beard" is a cave shield. They are not very common and have only been found in 80 caves in the U.S. 

• I had a great time and asked a lot of questions. I was afraid of falling because in a lot of places it was very slippery because of the water from the ceiling of the cave, so I was walking very slowly. But no one in our group seemed to mind. ;) 
• I have to tell you that I expected to see some raccoons in the cave...but there aren't any. That was my only disappointment.
• After we left the cave, we headed out on 72 again until there was a detour which led us to I-24 where we were supposed to be. Thankfully we hadn't gone too far of the correct path and we got to have an adventure along the way!
• We only stopped one more time along the way home for a bathroom break and then we went to pick up our fur-babies! They were so excited to see us! 
• **Here's where those stars from yesterday come into play. I called the Animal Care Hospital twice, two different times during the week before we were to board the girls. I asked both times about the pricing and both times I was told that it would be $20 for each dog, each night. So I planned on having them there Friday and Saturday night. I asked what time we had to pick them up Sunday and she quoted me a time that was only about an hour window. I asked what if we were unable to get them in that short time frame and the woman told me the price would be the same if we picked them up Monday as if we were picking them up Sunday. So we only expected to pay $80 for the boarding and then $39 for Sabrina's shots to be updated. When we got there to pick them up, they charged us $160. They charged us for Sunday night's boarding. I argued with the lady, but she wouldn't change the price, so we just paid and went home. Both girls had to use the bathroom badly when we got home and Sabrina peed three times before she would come inside! I don't think they took very good care of them and we won't be using them again. 

All in all, we had a great trip and enjoyed ourselves immensely! Even though my legs, back and head were killing me most of the time, I have to say it was worth it to spend some time together before the baby gets here. Hopefully we'll be able to go to the beach sometime this summer, but if not, at least we got our last hoorah in!

 

I hope y'all enjoyed reading about our little adventure! 

RTT: Our Last Valentine's Day Weekend as a Family of Two! (Friday & Saturday)

J and I decided to spend our last V-day weekend as a family of two in Chattanooga, TN. We had a great time! Here is the timeline and what we did:

Friday (the 15th):

• I worked on schoolwork all day, washed laundry, cleaned the kitchen, washed the dishes and packed while J was at work.
• I packed up food, treats and toys for Sabrina and Reba and dug out their medical records.
• When J got home, I quickly showered and dressed and we loaded up the girls to take them to the Madison Animal Care Hospital for boarding. *notes at the bottom*
• After we dropped the girls off, we headed to Jaybee's church for the annual birthday dinner. The food was amazing! They served green beans, ham (which I don't eat, so J got an extra helping), mashed potatoes, pineapple casserole (so good, I had seconds!) and a roll. Everyone at our table could tell they were sitting with a pregnant woman since I was stealing green beans off of J's plate and I cleaned my plate and had seconds of mashed potatoes, pineapple casserole and another roll! For dessert, they had an entire wall in the hallway that was lined with tables full of all kinds of cakes! There were so many to choose from, but I chose a chocolate cake with a cherry on top, coconut cake (to die for!) and a mandarin orange cake that was super-moist! They were all so yummy and I definitely got full!
• After most everyone was finished eating, the church members put on little skits, sang and told jokes. I really enjoyed myself and my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much! Thanks again for inviting us Jaybee!
• When we left the church, it was already almost 9! We stopped by Wal-mart to get a few things for the weekend, including: new loofah for me, travel containers for shampoo, conditioner, body wash and face soap; candy, drinks, nutty-butty bars (which I've been craving lately...), air fresheners for the car and a couple of cd's.
• By the time we got home, finished packing, fed Toby and J cleaned out his litterboxes, it was after midnight. It took forever for us to go to sleep. Mainly because we couldn't shut up or shut our brains off and J eventually ended up going to the couch so I could sleep.
• We got up at 5:30 ( I think...that was a couple of days ago, so I can't be sure! haha) and showered, dressed and loaded the car. I spent a little extra time loving on Toby while J was packing the car up. We ended up leaving late because J couldn't find the cigarette lighter charger adapter thingy, so that we could plug in more than one device at a time.
• We stopped by McDonald's and grabbed some breakfast on our way out of town.
• It only took about two hours to get to Chattanooga and although we forgot about the time change difference, we were still there pretty early. We went straight to the Tennessee Aquarium and bought tickets. (FYI, they're giving a 50% off discount to students this month!) With the IMAX, both aquariums and a backstage pass for the Ocean Journey, it ended up being only about $60! Not bad for two people!
• We were going to get something to eat before we went into the aquariums, but no one was open yet for lunch, so we went ahead into the River Journey building. I cannot express how much I love the aquariums! I could go every month and never get tired of seeing all the different fish and animals! I'm like a little kid. :P

The smaller turtle was swimming close to the bigger turtle the whole

time we were watching them. It looked like the little one was trying to

get a kiss!

 

Nemo! 



• After the River Journey, we went to eat lunch. We wanted to eat at TGIFriday's, but the wait time was 45 minutes or more, so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings instead. It was really good and I was starving. I had the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Wrap, which I always have. The lady was so sweet, she brought me a huge handful of celery to munch on while we waited for our food. I honestly have no clue what J ate, since I was so absorbed in my food. Haha.
• We played games while we ate. J played some kind of poker and I played the Lunchtime trivia. I won...twice. Although, I played by myself the first time. Haha!
• After lunch, we went to watch the IMAX movie. It was so pretty to see the different ocean creatures up close. Some of them were really scary though, like the eel. J fell asleep during the movie and I had to keep nudging him. Also, they told us to move into the middle of the theater with no empty seats, because they had sold out of the show. So, I was sitting to very large lady who kept hitting me with her elbow.
• After the IMAX show, we headed back to the aquarium to tour the Ocean Journey. J was so tired and it was so incredibly hot in there, that we really just cruised through so we could get out sooner. Plus, it was so crowded! I have never seen it so busy there before. We did spend a little time at the Ray tanks, so I could pet them. I never miss that opportunity!
• When we left, we had to walk all the way back to the car which was parked in the lot in front of the River Journey building. As we were walking through the parking lot, I spotted a $20 bill under a van. I grabbed it before the wind could carry it away. There was no one around, so I just kept it. J looked to see if there was more and he found $2! (Which we would need Sunday!)
• We got to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express), checked in and immediately stripped down and put on our swimsuits! I was more than ready to swim!
• The pool room was WAY TOO HUMID so J cracked open the door to the outside and stuck his flip-flop in so that it couldn't shut. It cooled off after awhile and it was more tolerable. I stayed in the pool a good hour or more. J could only handle so much of it. It was a salt-water pool, so to my tired pregnant body, it felt really great!
• After I had a craving for some milk while swimming, J went to the front desk to get me some milk and to get his phone from the room so we could listen to some music while I swam. When he came back, we looked outside and it was snowing! It didn't stick, but it was really cool to see it snowing outside while I was in a swimming pool inside!
• After I got all pruney and super-tired, I got out and we rushed upstairs to finish drying off and decide where to eat for dinner. I laid down in the super-hard and uncomfortable bed and fell asleep for an hour or more. J let me sleep while he got dressed and left the room for awhile. When I woke up, he was back and I had a bad headache. I dug out my one reserve of Tylenol and took it to try and relieve my massive headache. It didn't really help that much, so I went ahead and got dressed for dinner.
• We headed towards the mall about 10 miles away to find somewhere to eat. We didn't see anything along the way and ended up eating at Red Robin (YUM!) which was attached to the mall. It took forever for our food to come out and I was starting to feel really bad. By the time the food got there, I was already really nauseous. And then, to make matters worse, they brought me my chicken sandwich with onions on the plate which really made me sick. The waiter had to take it away to remove the onions and replace my lettuce and tomatoes that had been touching it. I ate several of J's sweet potato fries while I waited for my food to return. When our waitress brought my plate back, I scarfed down my sandwich and ate a few fries. I finished my chocolate milkshake (which was really just vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and not enough of it...) and I was ready to go.
• We went back to the hotel and got ready for bed. We watched a little TV while we waited for more pillows to be brought up and then tried to sleep. I say try, because I was so uncomfortable! The mattress was so cheap, the springs were stabbing me in the hips and shoulders and everywhere else! I probably got about four hours of sleep before I woke up for good at 7:30 (30 minutes before the alarm went off...of course) with another headache.

This post is already really long, so I'll continue our weekend recap tomorrow with Sunday and Monday. :) I'm not really sure if this post constitutes random, but I'm going to say it does! If you're thinking of any random thoughts, be sure to write a post and then link up at Stacy Uncorked!

 

 
 
 
 





Rewind 365

Found a new meme that looks like fun, but I probably won't remember to do it each week. It happens on Thursdays over at Cammo Style Love, hosted by Rheanna.

Rules are as follows:

Create a post with a picture, memory or even an old blog post from one year ago and make sure you include the Rewind 365 button so more people will join in the meme each week!

Tweet about your blog post.

Link your post on the linky at Cammo Style Love.

 

One year ago today, was Valentine's Day 2012 and I was:

expecting to spend Valentine's Day alone, but my awesome sister and her babies came to see me in Anniston so I wouldn't be all by my lonesome! :)

Boog played Mario while Boo-Boo napped and Boopsie played in the floor.

She was so little then!

(J was in Savannah for some kind of Army thing, so we had celebrated V-Day the weekend before with a trip to Maggie Valley, NC.)

 

So that's what  I was doing a year ago. Pretty boring. LOL. I only have a pic of Boog playing Mario:

 

 He was three!

 

One more day!

Valentine's Day is tomorrow! What are you getting your sweetheart(s)? We don't have a whole lot of money to spend on each other this year, so we're just going to go out of town instead. We deserve the time away and we haven't been on vacation since June! 

I can't wait to spend the night somewhere that I don't have to clean! Ha!

♥

Gone Again?

It seems every time we get used to being together, the Army is going to make sure we remember what it's like to be apart. J has drill this weekend, then he leaves for Savannah on the 12th and will be gone until the 29th. Then, he leaves somewhere around March 27 for school in Pennsylvania until the second week of May. Can we not get a break here?  Seriously...let's just go ahead and make sure he's gone for our 4th anniversary, too. Especially since he has been gone for our last two anniversaries. Might as well make it a habit.

*stepping off soap-box now*

I hope everyone is surviving winter! We certainly are. We haven't had any snow and our temperatures range in the low 40's to the upper 70's. Feels like spring if you ask me! We even had tornadoes a few weeks ago. They really messed up several parts of Alabama. 

Jeremy and I decided, since we won't be together for  Valentine's Day this year (again), we would celebrate before then. So, last weekend (since he had drill this weekend and leaves next weekend) we went to Maggie Valley, NC!

We spent Friday night in Maggie Valley. When we woke up, Saturday, we went up to the ski area to see what it was all about. It was really cool to see snow, where there really wasn't any anywhere else in Maggie Valley. It was wicked expensive to ski, though. Plus, we didn't have any cold weather gear, like ski pants. We drove over the mountain into Cherokee and then  through the park over into Gatlinburg. We spent all day there. It was a lot of fun! We bought tickets at the Ripley's Believe it or Not! Aquarium for only $4.99! They have incredible rates for military! {Just show your ID!} We then walked all over the place just looking at everything. We stopped in several places, but didn't buy anything since we really wanted to eat first. We ended up eating at T.G.I.Friday's since we don't have that restaurant in Anniston. It was so yummy! We had fried green beans and pot stickers for appetizers and I  had Bruschetta Chicken Pasta and Jeremy had a burger.  {I think} I have a hard time remembering what he ate. I was so hungry, I wasn't really paying  attention to him. Haha! After eating, we went walking and rode the Ripley's Moving Theater ride. It was really cool. I've done it several times before, but Jeremy had never done it. Then, we rode Earthquake The Ride! Don't do it! It was the lamest ride I have ever been on. Waste of money and time. 

We had a sign made at The Sign Company of Gatlinburg.

Then, we went to the aquarium. I LOVE the aquarium!  I didn't take my camera in, so all of the pics are still stuck on my phone for the time being, but I will post a few of them later when I get a chance to free them! LOL. 

After the Aquarium, we walked around some more and picked up our sign. {It took an hour to make.} We stopped for awhile near the middle of the town, trying to figure out if we wanted to play put-put. {It's our favorite thing to do on vacation!} But, the prices were too high and it was pretty windy and chilly. So, I stayed behind while Jeremy walked back to the parking deck behind

the aquarium. I waited about 20 minutes before he came to get me and while I was waiting, a couple got engaged right beside me! It was really cool to see. When he got down on his knee, a crowd started forming behind the couple, in front of me. Everyone clapped when she said yes. It was so sweet! :) 

After J picked me up, {I was nearly frozen!}, we went back to Maggie Valley to find somewhere to eat dinner. We wanted to eat at Butts on the Creek {we ate there for our first anniversary and it was amazing!}, but when I called the number listed for them, it was out of service. We drove by there and it was completely pitch-black. The only place open, looked like a locals-only kind

of place. So, we drove over to Waynesville and ate at Nick & Nate's. Jeremy had pizza and I had a Turkey Club. It was really good. Afterwards, we went by the tubing place in Maggie Valley to find out times and pricing. They only do runs every two hours, and they were just starting one, so we would have to come back later or on Sunday. It was $20 each! I told J that we might come back Sunday while the sun was out. We ended up not going. I told him I would rather do something on the way home than freeze to death and have to change clothes in a gas station bathroom since we had to check out of our hotel room by 11. So, we slept in late

and checked out around 10:30. We got on the road and stopped in Sylva for breakfast at Bojangles. It was really good. We bought 2 biscuits each and ate only one, so we ate the second one for lunch and didn't have to stop again. When we got to Atlanta, J wanted to stop and watch a movie. We stopped at Atlantic Station, walked around and watched a movie. {Underworld 4...or whatever it was.} Then, we finally headed home. I was so tired! And I wasn't even driving. 

All in all, we had a great time. :) It's going to be awhile until we have a chance to go anywhere together, so I'm glad we had the money to take this opportunity. Now, we have to start packing to move. Ugh. I really love our apartment, but hate how far away it

is from anything. Especially how far it is away from my doctor. We're going to start trying to get pregnant in June. Since I don't ovulate, I have to take a pill to help. Hopefully, it will work. Wish us luck!

Hoo Are You #32

Since I didn't go to bed Tuesday until after 9am, and didn't get up until after 2pm, I didn't see Night Owl Crafting's new Hoo Are You post. So I'm a little late with my post, but here it is anyway:

1. What did you get/give for Valentine's Day?
For my Hubby, I made a little book out of playing cards, 52 Things I Love About You and a stuffed Owl with a note that said: "Owl" always love you Valentine, will you be mine? I also made a stuffed owl for my Mama, sister, brother-in-law and pen-pal.




From my Hubby, I received: a stuffed-lion, lion box with chocolate-covered animal cookies, and a Nine West purse! :)

 

From my sister: small neon-blue puppy and bag of M&Ms! {I love M&Ms!

2. Do you have a vacation planned in the next couple of months or in the summer?
No, probably not going to have a vacation this summer since neither of us have jobs or a place to live...
{J's job interview didn't pan out. They guy hiring him told him that the company he was being hired for didn't want National Guard guys since they couldn't work every weekend. I'm not sure, but I think they are not allowed to do that. It's so not fair.}

3. What is one thing you do to pamper yourself?
Once a week, on Saturday night I take a bubble bath with candles and read until the water gets cold.

4. What sparks your interest to other people's blogs?
I like reading other blogs by people I have something in common with. Whether it be crafts, being an Army/military wife or writing about family. I enjoy reading funny blogs by Moms especially. I like to know what might be in my future when I have kids. LOL. Maybe I'll know how to handle everything.
 
5. What kind of a mood are you in today?
Not sure. I'm really lazy today since I didn't get very much sleep again last night. But I'm not grumpy or anything.

To participate in Hoo Are You, visit Night Owl Crafting, link up and read other blog posts! 
 

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Random Tuesday Thoughts is brought to you by Keely, The SuperMom @ The Un Mom. To participate, visit her blog and link up! 

I can't believe Valentine's Day is already over. It's a good thing we have so much candy left over, huh? Yep...thought so. Excuse me while I unwrap a oddly shaped heart-shaped Reese's peanut-butter cup. Did I mention I'm looking forward to the 75% off sale on V-day candy later this week I'm dieting? Or at least thinking about it... *sigh*
           ******************************************
I had a great time with my Valentine yesterday. We slept in super-late...well, I did anyway. (I couldn't go to sleep Sunday night or last night for that matter; I'm still awake.) We ate at Sonic for our romantic on-a-budget dinner and then went shopping. I got two pairs of jeans and some socks...woo-hoo! J got a belt. I'm sure he's enthusiastic about it though. I'd ask, but he's currently sawing logs. {You didn't know he was a lumberjack?}

After shopping, we went to see what was playing at the movies. We bought our tickets for Sanctum and The Rite. Then, we went to get a drink at Buffalo Wild Wings to pass the time. It got boring really quickly when the only sport they were showing was women's basketball. {No offense, we're just not basketball people...} So we browsed the clearance section of the Christian Bookstore. {We got some really cute magnets and bookmarks for mere pennies! My favorite magnet says: "God Recycles: He made you out of dust! Gen. 2-7".} After we spent about 15 mins. in the Christian bookstore, we were burning up, (they still had their heat on and it was 65º outside!!) so we went to the theatre. 

We had over an hour and a half til the first movie started, so we bought our popcorn and drink and then J played a few video games in the arcade area. Then we watched both movies and came home. We spent the next 3 hours reading. {Aren't we romantic?}
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After being so excited about giving out my home-made Valentine's, I only got to give out 2! Mama really liked hers and J was kind of indifferent since he had already seen my sister's. (I had to bounce ideas off of someone, didn't I?) I plan on giving the others out today. {Sorry Joey, yours is going to be even later than planned...I promise it's going to make it to you eventually.) I can't show you what I made yet, since I haven't given Joey, my pen-pal, hers yet. Sorry!
       *****************************************************

Did I tell y'all what I made J? 

I got the idea here. (And yes, I copied the same paper they used. It was pretty and I just so happened to have the same. exact. paper. Weird huh? It was my paper's destiny.) I changed the design around just a tad, since I don't have a sticker maker, {but would gladly accept one!} I used a Xyron laminating roll to adhere my little sayings to the cards on the pretty side. {The blog I got the idea from put them on the "face" of the card. I decided it was too busy.} And I searched high and low and even got J to help me look, for the rings that hold together index cards... but nowhere had them! Michael's and two Wal-marts were out of them! It's a disgrace! So I used ribbon instead. It works fine for now, but it's hard to turn the "pages".

 These are just 4 of the 52 things I love about

my Hubby! I love the way they turned out!

*************************************

That's really all the randomness I have this week. I might surprise you later on by having a bit of randomness Thursday. Who knows. I hope y'all had a great weekend and a great Valentine's Day! Now, go visit Keely and let out some randomness!

"I Love You" Sign

Everyone uses the symbol for "I Love You".

{Even little babies can say I Love you!}

But do you know how the sign came to be?

It is American sign-language, but 

it is used all over the world! 

The sign is made up of 3 different letters.

'I'

'L'

'Y'

Put them all together, and you get:

 "I Love You"

*******************************************************

A couple of cute ways to say "I LOVE you"

across a crowded room are by mouthing:

   

"Olive Juice"

(this is my favorite!)

or

"Elephant Shoes"

Or you can say it at home with sticky notes 

 like I did at our apartment in 2008:

How do you tell your LOVEd ones how 

much they mean to you?

Six Word Saturday

Six Word Saturday is hosted by Cate @ Show My Face. 

This is one of my favorite Memes! Be sure to check out

Cate's blog and link up to SWS! 

  I can't wait

for Valentine's Day!

I've been working extremely hard

on Valentine's for my family and my

pen-pal, Joey of Big Teeth & Clouds.

I really hope everyone likes them. It

takes me about an hour to make each "Valentine".

But somehow I found the time to make two extras!

And later this coming week, (after V-Day) I'll

be having a giveaway! Be sure to watch out for 

it and enter to win! You're gonna love it.

{I hope!}

Happy Six Word Saturday y'all!

Wooden Picture Frame Makeover

I was feeling a little sluggish yesterday, but had promised myself that I was going to do something with all the stuff I have been buying. So here is a short tutorial with horrible pictures.  {I need an assistant to help me take pictures. The lighting is horrible in the room I craft in and so this is what you get.}

{I got these cute XOXOs at Hobby Lobby for $2 each. Cute huh?}

Supplies I used:

1. wooden frame (from Michael's)

2. felt in any colors you like

3. red paint, white paint

4. small paint brush and sponge brush and 

something to put paint in.

5. thread to match felt

6. pins to hold roses together before sewing
7. glue-gun

First I painted the frame red, using the sponge brush.

(I started the project several days in advance 

before I started taking pictures. So, the paint had a lot 
of time to dry.) Don't forget the sides of the frame!

Also, I painted the stand on the  back. Don't forget it   

if you used the same kind of frame I did. I used a 
clothespin to hold it, so I wouldn't get paint
all over my hands. {I did anyway.} You don't
have to necessarily paint the part under the 
clothespin, since it will be inside the peg-hole.

After the red paint dries, mix your white

with water to make it go on more smoothly. Then,

using quick strokes, brush the white on with your 

small brush, to make the frame look weathered. 

{Around the edges and on the inside edge where the frame

would get the most wear.} If you mess up, you can

just cover it up with another coat of red.

While the paint is drying, you can make your

roses. Cut your felt into a strip about 6 inches long

and 1-2 inches wide. Depending on how large you want

the rose to be. Then fold your felt strip in half

lengthwise. (hotdog style!)

Start at one end and roll the felt around into a coil.

On the larger roses, you can twist the felt 

periodically to make extra petals.

 When you get to the end, use a pin to hold 
the rose together in a few places. Then, thread 
your needle with the thread that matches the 
felt the best.

{I doubled my thread to make sure it didn't break

through the felt easily when tugged.}

 After pushing the needle through the rose

a few times in different locations, tie off

the end of your thread and remove the pins.

Your rose is done! 

After making several roses {if you plan to use more

than one.}, your paint should be dried. Using your

glue-gun, attach the roses in one corner of the frame.

Your frame is done! {Be sure to attach the dowel

in the back to help it stand up.} Stick in a picture

and add it to your Valentine's Day decorations! 

{If you have any questions about this project

or anything else, feel free to email me!}

While making this frame, I had a little helper 
come to visit. You might recognize her as The Princess.

  ♥