New Hobby

I know, it's crazy, because I already have enough unfinished projects laying around, but... I have discovered that I LOVE stamping. I decided to give it a try when we went to Missouri two summers ago and I saw what Dawn had done. She made some pretty incredible things, and she gave me her catalog to look at while I was there. I think I spent the entire week just carrying that catalog around gawking at all the adorable things that stamp creators had thought of! This past fall, I found myself gawking at the 50th wedding anniversary celebration invitations Dawn had made with a stamp. Several of us drove up to Missouri for the party, and I got another catalog. This time it was mine to keep! When my mom asked me for additional things I wanted for Christmas this past year, I just handed her the catalog with my favorite stamps listed! Thankfully, I got several and was so excited. Unfortunately, with all the new house excitement and life in general, I haven't had a chance to do much with them. I decided this week to save myself some money and make thank you cards instead of purchasing them after I ran out last week. So, I made my way to the Rubber Stamp Fantasy on the Square (amazing!) and bought blank cards and envelopes. This afternoon, I went to town. It was the only productive thing I've done all day, and it didn't even take that long! Take a look...
You'll notice that I stuck with the same three or four stamps, but changed the ink colors. Obviously, they're not the greatest things ever made, but I still think they're pretty cute. I cannot wait for other occasions that are coming up that will allow me to make some different cards.

These next ones are my favorites. I kept having to clean off my stamps on a scrap piece of paper, and most of the time, I found that I liked the softened stamp too. So I decided to experiment and try it out. Of course, the orange and blue one is my favorite out of these three...

Now I just have to hope that I don't get too caught up in stamping to forget about my scrapbooking! I am really hoping to just bring stamping into my scrapbooking and then I'll be doing two things that are fun and that I love. I am really hoping to get back into that during my Spring Break because I don't have any major plans - which is fine! My first major project before I can start will be to sort my printed pictures. Maybe I'll plan to get THAT done during Spring Break... one step at a time... one step at a time... I need to keep reminding myself of that!

So there ya go! I have a new hobby that I discovered today! Watch for some fun cards coming your way soon...

The One You've Been Waiting For...

Pictures of My House!

Here is my front steps... Auburn garden flag to greet everyone, as well as the pansies (thanks Ashley!!), and my St. Patrick's Day door hanging. I have made it a goal to have something cute to hang on the door each month. I think I've been successful so far... maybe I could have a "running" blog entry of my door hangings!! Full view of house from across the street...

Close-up of house from the driveway...

My barn a.k.a. my dad's workshop... Yes, I have decided to be a gracious daughter and allow my dad's dreams of having a woodshop come true in my own backyard. Honestly, I have a three bedroom house - what would I need all that space for?! I may be regretting this decision later in life when I have too much junk, but for now, I think it'll be fun!

Haha, my swing - no worries, I haven't tried to sit in it. The plan is to buy a new one and paint it orange and blue (war eagle!)!

Before: Dining Room

After: Dining Room

My sister and I plastered this room in one day! It's called Venetian Plaster and the awesome people at Home Depot will color it for you. Then, you slap it on the wall with a trowel and move it around. You can then burnish it and/or glaze it... I just left it alone and love it!! I plan on getting some new lamp shades for the chandelier.

Before: Living Room

After: Living Room

You can't really tell from this picture, but the wall on the left is striped. My plan was to use a flat paint and a glosst paint to achieve this effect, but again, the awesome Home Depot workers told me to buy a glaze instead and just paint over the original paint. So, Kristen helped me tape it off after my mom and I painted it. We put about 4 layers of glaze to get this subtle effect. The door on the far right is my front door... in case you were wondering.

Another shot of the living room...

I have decided to start collecting crosses, so here are the beginnings of my wall of crosses.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

Painted by my mom and me...

Before: Kitchen

(this is Richard in the picture... the guy that sold me my new refrigerator AND fixed my cabinets - notice how low they are and then notice the height of the cabinets in the next picture PLUS the new fridge)

After: Kitchen

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

The amazing calendar is compliments of my sister - it was my Christmas present, and I LOVE it! My plan for the kitchen table is to paint it bright colors like the calendar. I'm thinking to do a cool design on the legs of the table and chairs.

Before: Den

After: Den

Painted by my mom, Kristen, Kaitlin, Katie, and me. The curtains look purple in this picture, but they are denim (like the loveseat) and have a yellow and white stripe. Curtains were hung by Brian Johnson - thanks! The quilt on the sofa is my Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt - love it!

Before: Den

After: Den

Before: Laundry Room

(Gotta love the rooster curtains!)

After: Laundry Room

(There was no door on this room before we started - my dad and brother had to dig it out of the barn, and my mom had to paint it.)

Painted by my mom, Kristen - ALL the way around the hot water heater (impressive work!), and me.Before: My Bedroom

After: My Bedroom

Painted by my mom, Mrs. Lewis, Sarah, Katie, Kaitlin, Elise, and me. (The whole thing had to be paint brushed because of the paneling).

Before: My Bedroom

After: My Bedroom

My armoire from college was ruined in storage and is now awaiting repair work in the barn, but it will go where the TV is now. My intention is to get another piece of furniture (like a dresser of some sort) to go under the shelves on the wall.

Before: My Closet

After: My Closet

Painted by Elise and me.

I love elfa shelving - sold at The Container Store - amazing store!

Before: My Bathroom

After: My Bathroom

Painted by me. Before: My Bathroom

After: My Bathroom

Yes, the little sign says "Laugh until you tinkle in your panties." ;) Haha!

Before: Guest Room

After: Guest Room

Painted by Katie, Sarah, Elise, Kaitlin, my mom, and me. Fun night - thanks so much girls!

The furniture was my grandparents' and I had it when I lived with my parents. They graciously allowed me to take it causing them to buy a new bed (oops). The quilt is another one made by my mom. Before: Guest Room

After: Guest Room
Gotta give credit where it's due... my initials were hung by Brian Johnson - thanks again!

Another view of the guest room...

Before: Hall Bathroom

After: Hall Bathroom

Surprisingly... NOT painted!!

Another view of the hall bathroom: "You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you." Song of Solomon 4:7 Another view of the hall bathroom: my monogrammed shower curtain! Before: Craft Room/Office/Guest Room

After: Craft Room/Office/Guest Room

Painted by - haha! - first shade of pink: Elise and me, then I decided I hated it, so I changed the color and it was painted by my mom, Kristen, and me. I am SO excited about this room and the things I hope to get accomplished in it! I am about 5 years behind on my scrapbook now, so I have LOTS of time to catch up on... maybe one day it will happen.

Before: Craft Room/Office/Guest Room

After: Craft Room/Office/Guest Room

Another view of my craft Room/office/guest room...

SO, that's my house! I clearly had LOTS of help to make my Open House happen this past weekend. I never would have this house painted if it had not been for my family and friends that helped - all of you are a blessing to me!

My house obviously needs some work still, but it is coming together really well, and I am fully enjoying it. Yes, there are the joys of homeownership that keep sneaking up on me, but as someone said to me the other day, my life can't be boring - I wouldn't know what to do! So, I'll take it.

I hope you enjoyed these photos, but I promise it's a lot more exciting in person, so PLEASE come visit! If you don't live near Marietta, I've given you proof that I have plenty of room for you to visit, so do it!

More Joys...

What a whirlwind my life has been the last couple of weeks! I went to Boston last weekend for IB training for school. I'm not really sure I can honestly say I learned a lot, but I was assured about what I have been doing in my own classroom. The girls I traveled with decided that we were going to stay an extra day to do some sightseeing. We went shopping and to the aquarium and more shopping. We did a lot of walking around in the meantime too. We returned home Tuesday night and Wednesday was a Professional Learning Day at work. So I decided to sleep in a little, which then turned into me sleeping in a little too late. Haha! So yeah, I finished blowdrying my hair and was putting my hairdryer away when I noticed water was dripping down the wall. I then discovered that it was coming from the OUTLET!!!! Yikes! I tried to stop the dripping because it has messed up my fresh paint, only to figure out that I can't because I really don't know where it is coming from. My dad advised me to call a roofer to try to find the problem. So, in between the forever-long meetings I had throughout the day, I called one and he met me at my house after work. After going in the attic twice and up on the roof twice, he determined that one of the vent pipes was not sealed properly, so he sealed it up. In the meantime, he also determined that I need a new roof before summer! So there goes some more money that I DON'T have...more YIKES!
And moving on to a REAL joy - and by real, I mean happy... I am in Auburn this weekend, and I just have to say that I LOVE AUBURN!!! I am so sad that I don't have more time in my life to spend here. There are so many people here that have been truly invested in my life and they continue to be a blessing to me even though I have moved from this city. So the time I get to spend with them face to face is even more of a blessing. And, I don't get to see my sister nearly enough, so of course, I always love the time we get to spend together!! The main reason that brought me here was a friend's wedding. Johnny and Amy had a very sweet, precious ceremony. I am excited to see how the Lord is going to use them together to bless others. Another dear friend was also in town for the weekend, and I got to see her at Cliff and Toma's house. It is so hard for me to believe that Emily is a mom! Her son is absolutely adorable and I know that her daughter will be just as precious when she enters the world in a few weeks. And oh, Cliff and Toma's house... so many memories there. It was truly my home away from home when I came to Auburn. I will forever be grateful to the Lord for the Knight family. I do not get to see them NEARLY enough anymore, so I am extremely thankful for the time I get to sit in the kitchen and talk with Toma or sit at the dinner table and talk with everyone (over food, of course!) or just sit and talk with Beck. LOVE THEM ALL. I've also gotten to celebrate a child's first birthday with his family. I cna't believe how much he has grown over the past year! What a precious testament to the love of Christ. I am hoping to spend more time with friends before I have to leave tomorrow, and I KNOW I will eat at my all-time favorite for breakfast... The Barbeque House!!!! I am beyond excited about my bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit and sweet tea. So, more to come on all this... until then, I pray that everyone else out there experiences daily blessings from the Lord and praises HIM.

The Joys of Homeownership

Most of you reading this already know about the great fiasco that happened to me this past week, but I want to blog about it so I can remember it! Let me just set this all up for you...

Thursday night I was hosting my Bible study group, so I had been doing things around the house all afternoon. I had washed two loads of laundry and run the dishwasher. In the meantime, I was cooking dinner. Well, as I discovered in college, I always mess up SOME part of dinner - usually, it is easily fixed. However, on Thursday, I was cooking rice to go with my champagne chicken and green beans. I got it all ready and it was simmering... I had set the timer to make sure I watched it, and when there was still TEN MINUTES left, I started smelling something burning. Well, needless to say, every single grain of rice was burnt to a crisp - they were all popping up in the pan and clinking against the top. I blame all of that on my gas stove - we all know how I feel about it to begin with (if you don't, read past posts), so that's what I'm blaming. So, I call my mom in a slight panic, and she graciously brings me another box of rice. While I was trying to give her back her Tupperware containers, she decides that she needs to use the bathroom before she leaves. The next thing I know, my mom is yelling, "Allison! Allison! Allison!" in a panic-stricken voice. I run to discover that the toilet she used is OVERFLOWING!!!! Ugh. I grab all the old towels (that also belong to her) and throw them at her so she can start cleaning that up, and I run back to the kitchen to take care of dinner. After a few minutes, I realize that this same thing happened to someone else I know and the water had also backed up into her tub. So, I look in my tub, and sure enough - there is a LOT of NASTY, old backed-up pipe water in the tub. I run to look in my shower, and yes, the same thing had happened in there...G-R-O-S-S!!!!! So I'm kinda freaking out since 5 other people are supposed to be walking in my front door in ten minutes for dinner!! We get the bathroom all cleaned up, I manage not to mess up the rest of dinner, and I even manage to give a tour of my house to everyone since they hadn't seen it with furniture. My mom called a friend of hers who is a plumber and he promises that someone will be there within the hour. My Bible study group enjoys dinner (and dessert, thanks to Sarah!) and we begin Bible study... and my plumber showed up. I have never been so glad to see a complete stranger standing at my door. We continued to have Bible study while Pete worked on cleaning out the pipes and flushing the system. So, I now have root-free pipes and a clean water system from my house - thanks to Plumber Pete and $550!!!!! Oh, this new house... and all the fun adventures that come with it... what a joy! ;)