Our House!

It is about time right...We signed our papers on August 19, 2010. Since then we have been busy painting, getting new carpet, changing light fixtures, light switches, door knobs (anything gold actually), more painting, etc. It has definitely paid off though. Our house looks completely different! And much, much better! We are very proud of ourselves!
Before

Before

After

Kitchen Before

Kitchen during

Kitchen After

Master Bed Before

During and After is at the bottom of this page (not sure why)

 

Main Bath Before

Main Bath After

Master Bath Before

Master Bath During (After is at the bottom as well)

Crazy wall Before

Crazy Wall After

Lots of painters tape later...

Carpet Installation

First vacuum! Thanks Mom!

And the end results!

The Master After (one day we will have a real bedroom set!)

The Master Bath

It is Halloween!

I will not lie...Halloween is my least favorite holiday. I hate being scared,  and I totally despise creepy commercials, costumes, and decorations, etc. I ONLY like "cute" Halloween things...So here is my "cute" little hunter!

This was before our ward Trunk-or-Treat. He was so stinkin' cute when he said "Trick-or-treat," and then finished with a, "Thank you!" I guess we are doing something right...

 We might have told Drayton a little white lie when we said that, "they will only give you candy if you have your face painted!"

 You have to bundle up for Halloween when you live in Idaho.

 He thought mommy needed face paint too, I thought it would make him want to keep it on better if I did it too.

 With Ab-dah Stace...

 Carving pumpkins...Derek took the lid off, and I did the rest! :)

 Drayton did not want to touch the "guts." He thought they were too gooey.

 Halloween morning pancakes! Colored orange and made into a jack-o-lantern!

Dissapointment

So far we have put in three offers for three different houses...and you guessed it! Number three just fell through today.

1st house:  Sellers were greedy, we had the best out of three offers. The seller counter-offered the other two buyers but not us. The end result: All three potential buyers walked.

2nd house: Sellers did not give us a counter or an answer when they said they were going to, a few hours before they needed to answer they received a cash offer and took that offer instead even though it was a lower price than our offer.

3rd house: It was a Short Sale and we had been waiting for two weeks to hear an answer from the bank. This morning our agent called and told us that the owner moved back in. He said the owners' attorney told her that she was going into bankruptcy and that she could just live in it for free until they really kick her out. Is that legal? Apparently...

I feel that someone else knows what is best for our family. We cannot give up hope.

Barely alive...

I have the sinus infection from H. E. double Hockey Sticks. Did I really just say that! haha It is true though....man do I feel "barely alive" at times. So like I said in my last post, it all started with a pretty high fever with the chills, sweats, and all of those fun "flu-like"symptoms. But before this, there was the sore throat. Once the fever ended I was so congested..my ears became plugged (and still are). And then everything that comes with a sinus infection...headache, earache, cough, sore throat, sore nose from trying to blow so much, and THEN...Since much wasn't coming out of my nose, I guess it decided to come out of my eyeballs! No joke! MY EYEBALLS! I looked beautiful yesterday! I guess my managers thought I was making up stories until I went in the store and showed them that I had issues! They finally decided they did not want me in the store, especially with the bacterial infection in my eye. Plus, I sound like a man anyway. I am on antibiotics for my sinus infection, eyes, and cough! I am glad that I do not have to work for four days! Hopefully that will help me rest and get better.

Just words...

It has been awhile since I have posted and A LOT has changed...

I started a job at Buffalo Wild Wings as a server...I have good and bad days as you can imagine you would working with every type of personality out there. I am hoping to help Derek put some money away for a down payment on a house.

We have been looking for houses for the past 2 months. We currently put in our third offer (all different houses). With the other two offers the sellers became greedy...This third house is a Short Sale, so we are in the waiting and debating process with the bank at the moment. We hope to hear something this week. We are pretty sure that we will get this house because the offering price is right. We just hope to get it for cheaper! Since this is a Short Sale, we will pretty much be STEALING this house! YIPPEE! I am trying not to keep my hopes up because I was VERY dissapointed with the second offer falling through. I LOVED that house!

Drayton was sick a couple of weeks ago with Pink-Eye, fever, runny nose, another cough, etc. And then this week I get a LOVELY cold! I feel like I am drowning. I have never had a cold/sinus infection affect my ears before! So painful and so irritating! I have a super sore throat; and I have beautiful white spots covering the back of my throat. I am finally over the fever which peaked at 103.3 degrees. That was enjoyable as well. And the best part. I had to work 9.5 hours with the 103 degree fever and the next day 7.5 hours with a 100 degree fever. So if I worked with you or served you this past weekend, blame it on my managers that made me come in. I am thankful I have two days off to hopefully recoop!

One week and two recipes

Chinese Orange-Barbecue Chicken over Brown Rice

I think that it looks AMAZING but honestly, not my favorite. I have never cooked with Hoisen Sauce and had no idea that it would taste so much like black licorice! It was similar to the taste of fennel, something my taste buds do not enjoy. I probably will not make this dinner again, or I will use a different ingredient...

Recipe # 2 was Summer Corn Fettuccine and I just realized that I forgot to take a picture before starting to chow down. Nuts! It tasted a lot like Corn Chowder over a bed of fettuccine noodles. I was not sure of that combination. I like corn chowder and I like noodles, but together?

To wrap it up: Two failures in One week. Better luck next time, right!?

Peas-and-Carrots Soup with Dumplings

I finally made another Rachael Ray recipe. I have made a few in-between but they are ones I have made before or just recently posted about. I recently had Italian Chicken and Dumplings at the Olive Garden and was inspired to try this delicious soup. It was very good, but I put too much salt in it. With the four cups of chicken broth I think that I could have just omitted the salt altogether.

I would make this soup again but be more careful with the salt!