Luke Hating Bananas

Why I Love Me Some Saturday

Yesterday, while my son did this:

I wanted to turn this:

And this:

Into: ..well...not that. (I can't give it all away at the beginning...I'm trying to be more mysterious. It's womanly.)

I've been working on making my living room un-ugly. It's going smashingly so far. As many of you know, we're on an EXTREMELY tight budget...so I've been attempting to do these projects for little (and preferably no) cost to us. It's been an exciting challenge and so far, I'm loving the results. We got new couches, (Cost: nothing out of pocket.) a dining table, (Cost: nothing out of pocket.) a new entertainment center (Cost: nothing out of pocket) and I've also finished a few projects I found on Pinterest. (Cost for three projects: around 30 dollars because I lack in basic crafting necessities and am only now building up my supplies.) I love finding bargains. I'm in love with yard sales, (though I'm still figuring out how to do the whole 'early' thing with a four-month old son) craigslist (for more on how I get things for free on craigslist...stay tuned to my youtube channel. Michelle and I are considering doing a 'thrifting' special. Be. Excited.) and of course...thrift stores.

So yesterday was the day I'd decided to do my gallery wall. We got beautiful photos taken at our wedding, but I hadn't gotten a display together in which to..well..display them. After doing a bit of research on gallery walls and such, I finally decided to take the plunge. DID YOU KNOW WAL MART HAS 3 DOLLAR FRAMES?? Bless that store. Bought three 3 dollar frames (so this project cost me a total of 9 dollars being as I already had several frames) and set to work.

First I figured out the layout I wanted on the floor as I was taught. I did not, however, do the newspaper outline which probably would have been helpful, but I decided not to conform.

Then, I recruited my fabulously handsome husband to help me put my vision onto the wall. He did a tremendous job.

After a few, "Tilt it to the right!"s and "Oops...that's a quarter of an inch too high"s. We had completed our first gallery wall. I think it looks fabulous! I'm really excited about how it turned out:

Props to Brianne and Ky for gifting me two of the pictures. Kyla gave me the on on the left that says, "A true love story never ends." I LOVE it!! And Brianne made the one on the right. It has our family name over a transparency of The Proclamation to the World.

The Video...finally!

I was right! Uploading to youtube was WAY faster and easier. So. FINALLY...here is a video of Luke. Now that I know how to do it, I'll probably post a bunch more.

The Definition of Parental Desperation:

is when you try to time the flush of the toilet to perfectly coincide with the loudest surge of the noise generator's wave sounds that are keeping your baby asleep during nap time.

A quick update:

Thrice I have now attempted to upload a video of my son being cute to blogger; thrice I have been denied the fruits of my labors. (My labors: I pushed several buttons and then waited.) Today I will attempt to first upload the video to youtube and THEN post it to blogger. Maybe it will work? Keep your eyes peeled...a video is forthcoming. I hope.

They replaced our hot water heater now enabling us to enjoy warmth despite the fact that we share hot water with the mother, father and SIX DAUGHTERS that live next-door to us and share one bathroom. I love being able to do dishes without waiting an hour after showering. It's the little things...

Shem and I are reading our Christmas present. My dad gave us a copy of Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover". We're learning how to be rich. It's most exciting.

I have to go to the bank, make about 5 or 6 phone calls, (one of which is to the government so it should take approximately 8 years) clean my room, finish cleaning the kitchen, put the crock-pot meal together that we're supposed to be eating for dinner and finish my laundry. And yet. Here I sit. Blogging. *sigh* Nap times are so precious.

In attempt not to squander the time given to me by the napping gods, I should go. And do things.