Recent Randoms!

~Another recent purchase from the online yardsale-- A desk for Brooke! Someone was selling one of those school-type desks, and I knew Brooke would love it for her room. To do her homework, play school, whatever. Totally random, I know, but thats how we are! ;) In related news, I am loving the people I've met on that site so far, they all have been super nice! I like doing this almost more than regular yardsales... better stuff, and can look at all the stuff from the comfort of your chair ;)

~This past weekend Rachel and I went to check out the new Dollar Tree down by the C. Walmart (I dont write towns on here for safety reasons, since my blog is public!) Its really pretty nice! I love checking out new stores right around the time they open, before people have had a chance to trash them. Really was just checking the place out, but ended up buying Brooke some socks, and Rachel picked up one of those HUGE pens, and a pack of Christmas tree suckers, so we ended up getting those too :)

~Boxes have continued to arrive all weekend and this week so far.. all those Christmas gift orders I was putting in around Black Friday! Just let me tell you if you haven't heard of a site called Papter Coterie, you should check it out! I made a lot of Christmas gifts on there this year, particularly for the kids' Grandparents. (memory books, calanders, and stuff like that) I got a few of them in the mail this week and they were gorgeous! I had found a code online that made them a lot cheaper, but they are definately worth the price anyway!

~So Arnold ended up finding out about his big birthday surprise day trip I was planning for Dec 17th (long story-- I ended up telling him by accident!!) My plan was to drop the kids off with their Grandparents that morning, and spend the whole day with him, just the two of us, and it would all be a surprise. I was going to take him to a huge guitar store that he loves, in SC, and then take him out to lunch, and maybe catch a movie too, depending on time. Well..... now that he knows we are still going to do the trip but now HE can be the one to drive. I was getting a little nervous about driving all that way and finding it all by myself anyway ;) He is excited to go of course.. so it was a good plan ;)

~The huge project of getting rid of junk and de-cluttering our house is moving right along. Arnold and his dad spent 2 Saturdays hauling off bags and bags of trash from the basement to the local dump. The basement has really improved. He spent yesterday ripping up the old nasty carpet. Our dream is to eventually turn that area into a huge playroom for the kids. Leaving a small area of course, to be Arnold's "man cave." Thats where all his guitar stuff is, and he goes down there most nights to play music after the kids have gone to bed. It is a HUGE area, and I cant wait until we can get that finished one day. But we have a loooot of work to do. But along with all this we decided to get our carpets cleaned, so that will hopefully be happening this weekend. And... that someone got me roped into hosting our family Christmas party this year.. since our living room is bigger!!!! Ahhhh.. LOL i dont mind, I was just surprised is all. As long as I dont have to cook a lot I will be ok.. Arnold assured me it will be a potluck-type thing ;)

~For Christmas Arnold has agreed to FINALLY paint our bedroom!!! I have gotten soo tired of staring at that ugly green in our bedroom for the past 6 years. yes, green is my fave color, but not that shade! So this is where it really comes in handy having his Mom work at a paint store, and she is usually able to get us mistints. We looked through her color books and picked a purple shade. That was my idea of course.. and I love it! We have also picked out a blue shade for our living room, and a yellow shade for our kitchen, but one step at a time! When we get tax money back we hope to do the rest of the rooms, paint the cabinets in the kitchen white, and put down new floors in the kitchen. Things are really moving along with our house updates, and it makes me so happy :)

~Today Rachel and I went to a playdate at the mall with Jackie, Erika, and their kids. The kids had an awesome time together, and at one point both Makenzie AND Logan were in my lap. They were joking around calling me the "baby/kid whisperer." I seriously dont know what it is.. but babies/kids and dogs seem to be drawn to me. I dont know if thats a good thing of what.. Maybe they can sense how much I love them! But anyway... I guess it is a nice trait to have. Anyway, us girls had a great time chatting and I swear I feel like I ran my mouth the entire time. I feel like I had so much to catch up on, and It really hasnt even been that long at all since I've seen them! ;) After playing we went to the foodcourt for lunch. Of course I hit up my usual spot-- Sbarros. I admit that I crave that place, and then afterwards I always end up with a stomach ache and feeling sick (its a love-hate relationship really!) And of course Rachel wanted Chick Fila! She has a strange love for that place-- everytime I ask her what she wants to eat she says "CHICK FILA!!!!" She tried to walk right into the work area and the manager walked over to her and asked her if she wanted to work with them. Everyone was being super sweet to her. And one lady that worked there gave her a Stuffed Chick Fila cow! She was just beside her self with that. She had it sitting beside her at lunch, was rubbing it against her cheeks and saying Awww I love you cow, I love you! And hasnt let go of it since. There may actually be a chance that this takes the place of monkey, but we will see! Rachel really cracks me up sometimes ;)