Organization & Garage Painting

This has been a crazy month - we had our first anniversary, went on vacation, and I just finished my first summer class of the year! I don't have a lot to update on house-wise but I wanted to show some cute pics of what we've done lately.

The first thing I was excited about was some organization I got done. I found a bunch of bins at Target to organize the minor holiday decor. (I already have red and green totes for Christmas and an orange and black one for Halloween!)

Then I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a pack of cute patterned paper tags and a pack of white tags that are slightly smaller to paste on the front to create cute labels!

Husband decided he didn't like our garage walls. The back wall is shown below and the side walls were just bare wood - you can slightly see it on the left side of the photo next to the bicycles. The black part is where a garage door to the backyard would go if we decide to put one in.

He decided to make the garage one of his summer projects and I have to admit, it does look a lot better with a coat of paint!

I've also done a lot of cleaning out our clothes that we don't wear and/or don't fit, and I dropped a humongous bag of clothes and shoes off at the thrift store already, with two more bags in the closet to be dropped this week! Husband asked if I'm getting rid of clothes to appease the thrift store gods so I can continue to get good deals ;) hey, it's not a bad idea...

Pinterest Win

I went thrifting this weekend with a good friend and found a ton of stuff! I'll post my second haul video at the end of this post - it's things for husband and my nephew rather than for myself this time around!



Anyways, I bought a few shirts for myself, including this super soft, loose, brand-new shirt from Kohl's. I tried it on and debated about it for a while but ultimately decided to get it. So as I always do, I stuck all the clothes in the washer immediately when I got home. After it all came out of the dryer, I noticed the tag of doom on my brand-new shirt:



dry clean only.


TRAGEDY. I tried the shirt on and it had shrunk in length a good 3-4 inches and was now tight instead of loose. UGH. So I took to Pinterest and found a bunch of pins that recommended soaking the shirt in hair conditioner and lukewarm water, then stretching it out on a towel to the size it should be and letting it air dry.



So I filled the sink, pumped a ton of conditioner in, and let the shirt soak for about 15 minutes. I felt like I wasn't doing much good when I was stretching it out, so after about 10 minutes of stretching, husband was like "I think that's as good as it's going to get..." It dried overnight and it actually worked! It's not the shape it was originally, but it's definitely longer and a little looser. Plus it smells really good. (Thanks, Pantene!) I really don't know what to do with it now, though. Can I wash it again? I definitely won't be drying it in the dryer, and I hope it's washer-safe... This is why I don't buy nice things.

Thrift Store Haul Video

I finally did my first thrift store haul video! This is only part one and it ran a little longer than I originally was going for, but I like how it turned out. Check it out if it's something you're into!

More Favorites

Here are more things I am loving lately!

1. The Ellen Show

I absolutely love Ellen Degeneres and everything she stands for. I DVR her show every day! She is so funny and generous and kind and it inspires me to be a better person. 

2. Interrupted

This book by Christian author Jen Hatmaker completely changed my way of thinking about how I live my life. It is inspirational and convicting, and I only made it through two chapters before grabbing a pen and highlighting my favorite passages! As soon as I finished, I left it on my dresser rather than shelving it away with my other books because I know I will want to read it over and over. I highly recommend this book for anyone unsure about their faith.

3. Shopkick

A coworker tipped me off to this app and I am addicted! You download the app and use it to scan certain products at certain stores. It's like a scavenger hunt! You use the points for products or gift cards, and I'm currently saving for a Coach bag :) I'm definitely that weirdo wandering around Target looking for a certain dishwasher detergent or bag of pretzels, scanning the barcode, and wandering off. Oh well. When I get my Coach bag, I'll be the winner!

4. Looney Tunes Dash!

This app is similar to Temple Run (remember that?) except it's more fun because you're playing as a Looney Tunes character. Plus this game gives you seven lives instead of the standard five! I'm pretty sure this game is marketed towards kids or teenagers, but I definitely play every day.

5. America's Got Talent

I am allll about this show!! The first episode of the season premiered this week, and I encourage you to check it out if you've never watched it. It's a family-friendly show and, in my opinion, more entertaining than American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance because the acts are varied and it's not just a solid hour of only singing or only dancing.

Green Thumb?

I decided that I need a garden this year. Our yard is not very conducive for planting in the ground, so I decided that a raised bed would be the best option. So we headed to Lowe's!

We got three 2x6x8 boards, one of which we cut in half. This would be the border for the bed itself! We also got some wire mesh to put on the bottom of the bed to keep out the moles. After a stop at a local nursery for some dirt, we were ready to go!

Husband did most of the building for me and he did a great job! We placed one half of the cut board on each end and screwed that together first.

Then we laid the wire mesh out and stapled it to the frame. The worst part was cutting off the excess!

We flipped it over and filled with dirt - done!

The Pinterest tutorial I followed recommended stakes in each corner to keep it from shifting, but our dirt was so hard that we couldn't get stakes in the ground further than about an inch. The bed is fairly close to the house, so I was hoping it wouldn't shift too much. We've had some flooding here the last couple of weeks but the bed hasn't gone anywhere yet!

I don't like your typical "garden" vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers...) and I only planted what I like and what I cook with. We have lettuce, onions, carrots, broccoli, and green beans. I got these cute little signs at the nursery when we got the dirt and you can write whatever you want on them!

I planted about a week and a half ago, and we already have some little sprouts!

On a less successful note... I also planted blackberries and strawberries about a month, month and a half ago.

We also planted this pretty lily.

I took this as the "before" picture, and they all still look exactly the same. I don't think I'll be getting my strawberries and blackberries! :( The lily was pretty for about a day, then we had a tornado warning and the wind ripped all of the flowers right off the stems. Sad day.

Fingers crossed that my vegetables do better than my fruit and flowers!

Netflix Docs {Part 2}

Here are five more of my favorite Netflix documentaries!

1. The Price of Gold

This documentary is about the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding drama where Harding was accused of injuring Kerrigan in order to ensure her own gold medal performance in the 1992 Olympics. This was a completely riveting drama that did not actually feature Nancy Kerrigan. Tonya Harding had a whole ton of crazy and it all comes out in this documentary. 

2. Crazy Love

Okay, I really don't want to give away spoilers but this story is CRAZY. This documentary is a little slower-paced than some of my other favorites but the story is so compelling that you don't want to turn it off. 

3. Imposter

Basically, this kid went missing and a random guy pretended to be the missing kid who turned up years later, fooling the actual missing kid's family and friends until the FBI got involved. 

4. Hotline

This one goes behind the scenes of various telephone hotlines, like suicide hotlines and teen help hotlines. It's really interesting to see what the volunteers go through just by trying to help those in need. 

5. Love Me

A documentary about American men trying to find Russian mail-order brides. My favorite part features a Ukranian woman who moved to Australia with her husband and now has a Ukranian-Australian accent. CRAZY. 

Lately

I haven't done a huge update post in a while but life has been just as hectic as always!

I got to chaperone the trip to state basketball and it was a fun game, even though we lost!

Husband finally got a chance to put together our Christmas present from my parents now that it's finally nice weather and he has grilled out quite a few times! I will never complain about a delicious steak on my plate :)

We got rid of the old fan in our bedroom because the blades no longer turned...

And here is our new fan! And the blades turn! It ended up that poor husband had to rewire something and put something somewhere else... he finally got it all taken care of, at least :) what a handyman I married!

As far as my health is concerned, not a lot has changed. I guess I haven't really updated since my initial problems, so here's a giant update. I got a CT scan mid-February and it showed nothing. So I went to a gastroenterologist and they ordered up a colonoscopy and endoscopy for me. Those both looked normal, so they did biopsies of my stomach and intestines, and nothing there either. They tested for Crohn's and Celiac, both came back negative. The colonoscopy prep wasn't horrible because I did a liquid diet for two days prior, rather than just one. I felt like I was dying the entire time I had to do the prep, but the prep only lasted about 6 hours, so I was feeling decent again by about 9 pm and I still got a full night's sleep! I only did about half the prep and I was still good to go so I would highly recommend a 48 hour liquid diet to anyone who has to get this done! Sorry if it's an overshare, but I figure someone somewhere is going to read this and will be glad they did :)

The day after my colonoscopy I had stomach pain that was about a 9/10. I tried to make it through work but it just wasn't happening, so I made it through half the day and went to the ER. They X-rayed my abdomen to make sure my stomach and/or intestines weren't perforated during the colonoscopy - scary! Luckily, it was just super strong stomach pain and nothing was perforated :) They hooked me up with more fluids (I never have enough fluids, apparently) and some pretty decent pain meds, and as they were getting ready to send me home, my mom goes, "I think you're allergic to the pain meds..." I looked spotted. Like a dehydrated, pink dalmatian. So they got some Zyrtec in me and sent me on my way!

So far, they've tested me for Ebola, measles, pregnancy (a million times), hepatitis, Celiac, ulcers, pancreatitis, Crohn's, and cancer. They've tested my blood about 10 different times, plus my urine and stool. I've had a CT scan, colonoscopy, endoscopy, and X-ray, and they have absolutely zero answers. So frustrating!

That's all that's new at the band life house. Husband finished up his final two concerts of the year and we both helped with the choir's musical review show! We only spent one day of rehearsal under a tornado watch, so that's not bad, right? ;) He's now on summer break, and I'm a little jealous when I'm getting up to go to work at 6 am and he is still comfy cozy in bed! But I guess we're even, because I definitely don't envy his 5 am rehearsals during marching band season...