Just a List

So, I totally stole this off someone else's blog, but I thought it would be fun to complete and share (and it motivated me to blog) so here goes...

What I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Spending all my time with my boyfriend
2. Getting ready to graduate
3. Making decisions about where to go to college
4. Working at Quiznos
5. Practicing (or procrastinating practicing) my clarinet

Things on my to do list:
1. Call the doctor
2. Fill out applications for school districts
3. Find Paige a birthday present
4. Finish painting the shelves
5. Find a reading game to teach and "entertain" my third graders

Snacks I enjoy:
1. Pita chips (even though they hurt my teeth right now)
2. Cheese sticks
3. Pudding with whipped cream
4. Pizza pockets
5. Taquitos

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off my house
2. Go on a vacation with my amazing husband
3. Help my brothers (and sisters-in-law) pay for college
4. Fly to Maryland to see Paige's baptism
5. Buy Simon an original Mini Cooper in British racing green

5 Places I've lived:
1. McKinney, Texas
2. Binghamton, New York
3. Laie, Hawaii
4. Layton, Utah
5. Salt Lake City, Utah

5 Jobs I've had:
1. 2nd Grade teacher- Clearfield, Utah
2. Sandwich Artist (Subway)- Laie, Hawaii
3. Sandwich Artist (Quiznos)- McKinney, Texas
4. Event program seller- 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
5. Loving doting housewife

Hope you enjoyed this! Until next time...

Greeting Card Alternative

Hate spending money on greeting cards for your spouse for every occasion? Hate finding places to store those greeting cards from your spouse? Hate the guilty feeling you get after throwing away old greeting cards? Want to be able to keep the sentiments together and available?

Well, I have your solution...sort of.

I can't remember where I read this idea, but I love it and wanted to share it with "the world"...or the few of you who read my blog. Here it is...
Instead of purchasing cards for your spouse for Valentine's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc, purchase a journal. On the day of the event when you would normally give and receive greeting cards, use the journal to write a letter/note to your spouse. Then, leave the journal where they will find it and enjoy the special note.
Here are a few of the benefits of this method:
1. Save money on greeting cards
2. Save the environment by not having to dispose of the used cards
3. You get to save the special messages. You can go back and read the sweet, thoughtful notes exchanged between you and your spouse through the years.

Simon and I have just begun this, and while I still enjoy a good greeting card every once in a while, I look forward to being able to keep all the messages in one place that we can go back and enjoy in the future.

So Adorable Onesies

So, my friend Alice had a baby recently and I was invited to her baby shower. I've been feeling crafty lately, so I decided to make something for handsome little Brandon. For my wedding back in August, we bought a cute onesie for my nephew (3 months) that had a bowtie on it.
So, feeling inspired, I set out to design some cute little outfits for the baby. I went to the store and bought four different fabrics (1/8th of a yard each) and then used a iron-on fabric adhesive to stick them together. Here's how they turned out...

It was about midnight on the night before the baby shower when I finally got to work on them. Every time I finished one, I would run into the office and say to Simon, "Isn't this so cute????"

Little nod to the cowboys...

So cute! Love this material!

After making this one, I started thinking about how easy it would be to make a whole scene with a cactus, moon, lizard, etc. Maybe next time...

Nice and simple.

I couldn't resist a little cowboy hat.

One more look at the whole set...

The next day I called my sister to get sizes for my nephews so I can get to work on tons of cute things for them. I can't wait!!!

We really didn't need it...but it's fun to have!

So, for being a tech guy, Simon has very little technology in his life. He has a pretty basic computer that he likes to mess with and fix up. His phone is pretty basic. Up until recently, we watched TV on 27', 10-year old televisions. He's extremely frugal, so it takes quite a bit of pushing from me to acquire new technology. I originally wanted to buy a flat screen television as a wedding gift for him, but the money ran short (as it almost always does in a wedding). We waited and thought and thought and waited. Finally, I suggested putting together an actual fund to save up for the purchase. We did and were amazed at how quickly the money came together. Between Christmas money and weddings (Simon performs weddings as a hobby and makes pretty good money doing it!), the money came together during the Christmas break. We did our research and went out on the hunt. After visiting 6 stores (Target, Walmart, Sams, Conns, Best Buy, and Fry's), we settled on one and decided to buy. It took some pretty "gentle" persuasion from me to get Simon to hand over the money, but he did it and we took home our new toy!

It took up the whole back seat of the car. I was really worried that it wasn't going to fit!

I loved seeing him this happy and excited. It was so fun!

Out with the old...

Unpacking it and seeing it for the first time.

In with the new!

I hate to admit it, but we watch a lot of TV. We're getting better, but it's fun to snuggle up and relax at night. This makes it so much more fun. We still occasionally comment on how amazing the picture is. We love it!!!

(For those of you who were wondering it's a 50' plasma LG.)

PS-This post is not meant to be any kind of brag or anything, so please don't take it that way. This is a fun thing we decided to do and I wanted to share it with the world.

Laundry Room Remodel

Laundry is not my favorite thing in the world, so shortly after moving in, I decided that the laundry room needed some brightening up...just to make the chore slightly less despicable. I decided on a nice bright yellow. Simon was kind enough to donate some of his time off of work to help with the project.

Originally, the walls were white with white shelves (quite warped) on the wall.
(I always forget to take pictures before I start the project.)

What a handsome painter!

Carefully cutting it in...

And...there you have it!

I spray painted the shelves black and they look nice and modern. When we redo the kitchen, I think we're going to use the old cabinets from there to put in here. We'll see!

One final touch to this project was a homemade curtain. It was my first real project on the sewing machine I got for Christmas. The material is really cool cause it's fuzzy! I like it!

The final thing I'd like to add is some vinyl lettering on the walls. I have a few quotes that I'm debating. Let me know what you think:
1. Laundry Today or Naked Tomorrow
2. Laundry Room...Drop Your Drawers Here

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!