Black Friday

In searching the ads, Simon found a few things he wanted from Black Friday sales. So, in usual fashion, we made an adventure out of it.

Here we are leaving the house at.....

4:36 in the morning!

We drove straight to Best Buy in Irving and got there at 4:54. They were opening at 5:00.

Simon's not exactly a morning person!

Here we are at stop number 1.

The line at that point started at the front door, went across the front of the store, and down the side of the store. When we got in line, we were standing in a driveway behind the store.

Had to update facebook!

Trying to stay warm. It was a little colder than I thought it would be. Simon was kind enough to run back to the car to get some more accessories: gloves and a hat!

At Best Buy we were in and out in about 5 minutes (after waiting about 25 minutes to get in). People were scrambling around grabbing things. It was crazy! However, we found Simon's new computer monitor easily and left.

Next stop was Fry's...just for the free stuff! It was also a madhouse, but we were able to find a few things. Most of the free stuff was already gone, but we got a laptop cooling pad. We had to pay $5 for it, but we'll get it all back in rebates.

Simon with all the exciting purchases.

Next stop on the list was Sam's Club. They were offering free breakfast to members.

It was a little after 6:00 AM, but I was still feeling pretty good. (I think mostly I was excited to be inside a warm building again and for the free breakfast.)

The offerings were pretty good....fruit, yogurt, cinnamon rolls, danishes, muffins, sausage biscuits, juice, and coffee. (Just ignore the fact that there is no fruit on either of our plates!)

It was a nice break from the shopping.

After Sam's, we stopped by Half-Price Books. They were offering tote bags to the first 100 people in line. Each bag had a $5 gift card and one bag had a $100 gift card. We arrived just a little too late and discovered that there were already 100 people in line. We were kinda glad to not have to wait out in the cold.

So, we headed out to our final stop on the list...Home Depot!
There we purchased batteries (60 AA for $10), Christmas lights, and timers. Then, exhausted, we headed home for more sleep.

We pulled in to the garage at 7:20.

Simon couldn't wait to set up his monitor, so he did that while I crawled into bed. He eventually joined me...thus ending our eventful Black Friday shopping adventure.

Thanksgiving Week Busyness

It has been a busy week around here at the Dixon household...well, for us anyway. We didn't have any family over or anything, but we had lots and lots of fun!
On Tuesday, I completed a project that I've been wanting to do for months now. I went to Lowes and, all by myself, picked a paint color for the front door. Simon and I had talked about what we wanted, but the decision in the end was all mine. I then came home and worked most of the day taping, sanding, cleaning, painting, waiting, and painting some more. We love our new front door.

Check out the before and afters...

The little bit of color on the door seems to add so much! Can't wait to paint the rest of the house.

And now for the few close-ups...I haven't put the kick plate back on, so that's the gross part on the bottom.

After all that excitement of painting, I was thrilled when Simon called from work to tell me that he had gotten a pair of Stars tickets for the game on Wednesday night. A man he works with had two extra tickets they weren't going to use, and Simon snatched them up. It wasn't until we got there that we realized that they were about 10 rows up, right behind Marti Turco! They were amazing seats. We felt so lucky to be there!

The most exciting part was scoring a goal in the last 45 seconds to tie it up.

We then went into overtime and it all ended with a shoot-out.

In the end, we lost the game, but it was so fun to watch! Neither Simon nor I had ever seen a shoot-out live before, so that was exciting and something new.

:(

When planning for the game, Simon suggested that we take the train in, rather than trying to drive in to Dallas and then have to deal with parking. I've taken the DART train many times and always enjoy it. However, when he told me that we were going to take the double-decker TRE train....I was as excited as a 6-year old boy! We got to ride on the upper level on the way to the game and back. It was so fun! I tried to contain myself so I didn't look like an idiot, but I loved every second!



That brings us to Thanksgiving day! Simon and I headed to my parents house about 10AM (a little early for Simon's taste) to help prepare dinner. When we arrived, my parents already had the turkey in the roasting pan...covered with BACON! They found the recipe in the newspaper and decided to try it. It was so moist and delicious! Who knew???
My mom and I worked on stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, and a few other things. (Pies were made the day before!) Overall, it was a truly successful and delicious dinner!

Simon got to carve the turkey!

I tried a new recipe for stuffing. It was made with sourdough bread and pancetta. It turned out really delicious!

It was just the five of us for dinner (mom, dad, Kyle, Simon, and myself) but we had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the food!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday Stroll

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so Simon and I decided to head to downtown Fort Worth and just wander around. We wandered in and out of a few beautiful hotels and found quite a few people at the Water Garden. If you have never been there...I highly suggest it. It's a little scary walking down on big pieces of rock with wide spaces between them and water flowing. It's an experience!

(Sometimes I can't get over how handsome he is!)

The sign says, "Mountain".


It's pretty loud when you get down to the bottom. I was just trying not to fall in.

I just LOVE hanging out with him...no matter what we're doing!Dedicated to the fans of the open-mouth pics. Sorry I haven't put any up recently. Here's one for you!

Further Improvements!

We were so excited to get out into the yard on Halloween. It had been a little while since we had done any yard work and it was a beautiful day, so we got out there and worked our little hearts out! The result was more amazing than I could have imagined. When we finished, Simon stepped back out into the street and, in regular Simon fashion, acted amazed and asked, "Am I on the right street?" I figured he was just goofing around, but then I stepped across the street and took a look. It truly looked like a brand new house! Take a look and see what you think.

Just one more look at before....

Now for the after pics....

Left Side

Right Side

Whole House!

A Little Nip Here and a Little Tuck There...

Happy October!
The last few months, Simon and I have managed to actually accomplish some things around the house. Here are some of my favorite:We bought the rod and hooks from IKEA. (Love that place!!!!) I was tired to having to store the oversized BBQ tools in the kitchen, so I found a way to keep them outside. It's great to have all the tools you need out there and ready to go, but not in the way at all!
Next, my amazing husband cleaned out the garage enough for both cars to fit. Now, you have to understand that for at least the last 6 months Simon had been saying that he was going to do this. I expressed disbelief at this possibility at every chance I could. Halfway through this project, I got tired and felt a little sick, so I went inside to lay down. He came in some time later and said he was tired too. He told me that he felt bad because he hadn't finished it, but would be able to some other day. Later that night, I went into the garage to find something and was shocked to find my car in there with his. I was shocked and amazed at his wonderful work. Thanks love!!!!

You may remember from a previous post that our front yard is on step 2 of a 100 step recovery program. Well, welcome to step 3! Simon spent hours on a ladder (despite his pretty severe fear of heights) with a chainsaw, hacking off branches of our tree. Then he spent another good hour cutting up the branches he cut down so he could drag them to the back of the house to be picked up. The tree still needs some trimming, but he did what he could. I'm just happy you can actually see the house numbers from the street now. Unfortunately, you can also see how badly the house needs to be painted. To be continued.....

And now....for my favorite recent home improvement project......

We found this mirror at a garage sale. They were asking $20, but I just kept thinking that it would look really great on our fireplace. We picked up the mirror and on the back it still had the Pier 1 sticker and a price tag of $99.99. Plus, it was the end of the sale so I figured we could get a pretty good deal. We ended up paying $15 for the mirror and walked away very happy.


The next day we bought some spray paint and I went to work. It was a lot of fun! I think spray paint might be my new favorite toy!!!

I peeled the tape and newspaper off and was so pleased with the result. The mirror has some slight imperfections, but up on the mantel no one will mind.


It will eventually be hung a little bit higher, but it's currently hung on the only nail up there. I love it!! I'm so proud of how it came out.
Guess it must be all that HGTV I've been watching. ;)