A New Color

Last year when we moved in to our house, our living room was painted bright orange. Reminded me of Home Depot Orange or Whataburger orange. It was a color that we could no way live with so that was the first room to be painted. After sampling a few colors, I settled for a very, very light neutral color. Anything was better than the orange. Once it was done, I never really liked the color. It was probably my eyes playing tricks on me, but I swear I could see the orange coming through in some spots. Fast forward a year later. I've been throwing around the idea that I might paint the living room this summer since I'm not working. We painted the condo a color called Basketry that I love. Neal was out of town this week so I decided to go for it. I think he had an idea I might do it but I didn't really tell him I was going to. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, right? It's still a neutral color and not like I painted the walls red or bright blue. So I moved the furniture into the center of the room and got busy.

It took him a while but Mack managed to still find "his" chair. He wasn't much help and snoozed through most of the process which was good because I didn't have to worry about him putting his nose in the paint. Neal doesn't mind a new a paint color but painted puppy paws throughout the house might not sit too well.

Mom agreed to come be my partner in crime. If Neal didn't like it, I could always blame her, right? She wasn't coming until Friday afternoon. Thursday afternoon I decided to go ahead and just tape off the room to save time. Then I decided to paint just a little. Then I decided to finish the first coat for the entire room. Friday morning rolled around and I started working again. Time flies when you're having fun. Mom had a few things to do in Beaumont before she headed my way. By the time she arrived after lunch, I was finished painting. I told her to hold the brush and at least pretend like she helped me.

Overall, this was a success and I love it. I'm getting better at home improvement projects. This is the first one that I haven't royally screwed up and had to spend more time and money fixing what I started. Now if we could just get new living room furniture.....

Home Sweet Home

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of us buying our house. We're still in the process of fixing it up but it definitely feels like home. Who cares if our dining room is still empty. One day it wil have a table in it.

I finally put a curtain on the kitchen window and a few things in the window sill. I've also gotten around to hanging a picture or two.



Oh this table. Neal had this table in the condo and it had a yucky natural pine finish. I had this idea to paint it. Back in September was when I started. I primed it and put 2 coats of the green on the table. All it lacked was just a few touch ups in a few spots. Fast forward to July. The table was still sitting in the garage collecting junk. I don't really know why it took me so long to take the 10 minutes to finish this project, but it finally was completed.

I love this house as much as I did the day we bought it. It just seems to fit us. Here's to 1 year down on the mortgage and 29 more to go!

No Talent Needed

Tonight I went to Pinot's Palette with the VTXW girls. The painting was called Whimsical Fall. I learned that I'm definitely a novice painter. On more than one occasion, the artist came up behind me and said, "may i make a suggestion?" I welcomed her help. I think its interesting how everyone's painting has their own touch to it. Man, my trees sure are skinny!

Here we go again...

This is a road I've been down before. The minute I stop working out and not watching what I'm eating, I blow up like a balloon. Guess its true when they say you gain weight when you first get married. Well, I've let myself get a little too comfortable. Hello Weight Watchers, again. I went to a WW meeting this morning to weigh in and face the music. Yup, I've gained about 20 lbs in the last 5 months. Wowza! My main motivation is to get my weight under control before we start trying to have a baby. So here I go again. Back to counting points. Back to working out like a mad woman. Back to healthy. Maybe it'll be "for real" this time.

Bang Bang

Tonight was my Introduction to Defensive Pistol class. The instructor was great and the class was small with a group of 10 women. It was a 2 hour class and it was perfect for someone like me who has never shot a gun in her life. After the classroom lecture section of the class and we were familiar with our guns, it was time to enter the shooting range. Wow! I think I should have worn my heart rate monitor because I could feel my heart jumping out of my chest after my first round of shots. As you can see, I need some more practice with hitting my target. My shots were kind of all over the place.

We got to shoot 50 rounds and I mastered the art of loading the pistol. I'm really interested in taking more lessons and becoming better at it. I hope to God that I never have to defend myself with a pistol, but I want to be able to if needed.

It All Works Out

Let me start by saying that we actually went out 2 nights in a row this weekend. Tommy drove into town Friday night and we went to Watson's to sit on the patio and hear random live music. Good times and I could still picture everyone on the patio having a good time after our wedding.

Last night, Travis & Jessica invited us to go country dancing. It was fun catching up with them and watching all the people in the bar. It's hard to believe that my friends and I used to hang out in these places several times a week. I definetely had a moment where I thought, "thank God I'm not single anymore." No longer is it fun for me to be around a bunch of drunk people. What's sad is, I know I used to be that annoying person. I guess life has a way of working out like that. We were thrilled when our friends announced that they had to leave at 11:30 to get home to relieve their babysitter. Check please!

This morning we went to church and it felt great to be back there. We haven't been in a while because of traveling and what not. They're offering a newcomer's class in the fall that we're interested in doing.

A bit of randomness. We watched the Harry Potter marathon all day yesterday and it's raining outside right now. God is good!

Canton~4th of July

Last weekend, Mom and I drove to Karen's for the 4th of July weekend. We've been wanting to go to Canton, but we haven't been able to find a good month to go for like the past 2 years. We decided to take our chances and brave the July heat. It wasn't too bad because a lot of it is covered, but we were definetely ready to come home after several hours.

Neal and I aren't really ready to buy a dining room table yet, but this booth caught my eye. It's a guy out of Longview that custom makes these beautiful tables. For the quality you get, they're reasonably priced too. Whenever we're ready, I hope we can go visit this man and have him build our dream dining room table.

Mom and I came home the morning of the 4th. We debated on whether or not to venture out into the crowds to see the fireworks. For the 2nd year in a row, we watched the downtown fireworks on TV from the comfort of our living room. No crowds, no sweating, no mosquitos, and no traffic.