Blab 'n Gab

Here is what you've all been waiting for! I stained my cabinets a darker color and below is the before and after picture! Of course, I didnt have a picture of the before, but all cabinets in our house are the same 1997 oak color so I just took a picture of our other bathroom which we haven't stained yet. I plan on starting on that bathroom this week. Can you tell I'm putting off the kitchen? There are so many cabinets in there and they are so tall it would take weeks!

I found this awesome tutorial on how to stain ugly old Oak cabinets here Which is really awesome because I have ugly old oak cabinets at my house! See? (plus ugly floors and countertops too, but that will come later!) Well, I got all of the required ingredients for this painting extravaganza and have been layering coat after coat on my poor old bathroom cabinets. I decided I would test it on a small cabinet area (the bathroom) before destroying my entire kitchen. It has turned out great! I will be putting the doors back on the cabinets this weekend and will then post the lovely after look! Stay tuned and come back on Monday for the final reveal!

Sooo.. you know you can buy those picture frames that spell out your last name with pictures of random objects that make letters? Like these... Well, Our last name has 11 letters - ELEVEN - so there is no picture frame on this earth long enough to contain all of those letters.  I could have spent a fortune to pay a company to make me one, but I figured it would be a lot more fun to take all of the letter pictures ourselves! I let the hubby know my plan and we planned a day at the local flea market to take pictures. When it rained us out, we went to the art museum instead and got a lot of great pictures! I used a tree root for the L and K, art sculptures for the S’s, and found a lot of E’s and the W with in the ancient artifacts exhibit. I later took a picture of our gate for the Z and some sticks in our backyard for the other Z. It was fun going on the scavenger hunt and it gave us something to do together as well! Once I got all of the pictures printed in Sepia tones I had

Hubby and I are going to celebrate our first year of marriage in a couple weeks! He is very traditional and wanted to give gifts made of paper for our first year together. We will be on our cruise to the Bahamas when we exchange gifts so I wasn’t sure what I should get him that I can get on the ship and in our luggage. I thought about tickets to a play or show, but we had been looking at them together so that ruined the surprise. I then came across this great idea at http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/1st-anniversary-diy-map-gift-tutorial#axzz2RrDFqGHE   I had seen the framing of maps before, but I never thought of writing on the frames or cutting them into different shapes! I went to Michael’s and found a set of 4 square picture frames for about $14. Then I just googled our special locations and printed them off on a color printer. Finally, I searched for different clip art shapes that I liked and printed them off. The hard part was making sure they were all the same size. I j

I stumbled across this really cute idea to create a crossword puzzle for the hubby to figure out. You can make all of the clues related to your life together. Your first date, where you first kissed, where he proposed. So fun! You can generate a crossword puzzle online here . There was another idea to make a word search for your hubby.The words could be to ask him out on a date for later that evening. After he finds all the words he has to unscramble them into the sentence. Such a creative and romantic idea! I found a word search generator too here . Even another idea would be to create a matching game with pictures of the two of you. This would be great for long distance relationships and there's an online generator available here . Now I just need to think of clues.... :)

I stumbled across some great crock pot recipes and wanted to post them before I lost them all! I cant take credit, but these are publicly published so it shouldnt be a problem! All recipes should be divided into 2 freezer bags. Sausage and Peppers 6 Italian Sausages (or chicken sausage) 2 green peppers 1 red pepper 1 large onion 4 cloves garlic, minced (if using store bought minced garlic.. 1/2 tsp= 1 clove) 2 cans Italian diced tomatoes 2 Tbs Italian seasoning Add drizzle of Olive oil, cook on low 6 hours. Serve over hot noodles or fresh French bread. Teriyaki Chicken medium-large bag carrots onion flakes 2 large cans pineapple (undrained) 4 garlic cloves, minced 4 chicken breasts 1 cup teriyaki sauce Add add'l 1/4 cup sauce to crock pot. Cook on low 6-7 hours. Serve over hot rice. Savory Chicken 4-6 chicken breasts 2 cans stewed tomatoes 4 Tbs white wine (or extra broth) onion flakes 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 cup chicken

Yesterday was the hubbys birthday and I knew I had to make it special!  His day started with breakfast in bed of an egg muffin (we're on a diet so I couldn't go too overboard)! Then when he got up he had a surprise: 24 balloons for 24 years and a man bouquet! The man bouquet was a cool idea I found on pinterest. You arrange a bunch of manly things to look like a bouquet. I added lottery tickets, mini bottles, hot sauce, his favorite crackers and little debbies, a dart gun, and beef jerky. I thought about adding cigars but didn't have time. He loved it and thought it was awesome. The balloons were much more difficult to pull off since I had to find a time I wasn't with him to go get them blown up. Then trying to get 24 balloons home in your car is pretty difficult! They were stored in our upstairs closet for a few days so a couple were a little deflated the day of his birthday. Later that day I took him to get a massage. Although, ladies, always have a woman do your ma

Let me just show you the greatest invention of all time! This baby is perfect for keeping all that unruly woman counter mess in one place! I got it a few days ago and it has been amazing! I went through all my drawers and put all of my makeup in the nice little organizers and I was amazed to find makeup I didn't even know I had! This thing puts it all in an easy to reach and see area so getting ready in the morning is a breeze! I recommend it to any woman! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MC19YC/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

Can you believe it’s time to plan an anniversary trip?! WHAT!? The year has flown by and we know if we want a good deal we have to plan early! I figured now is the time to go on these big trips together. We have good jobs and no kids so we have all of the flexibility we need! In 5 years when life is a little bit different we can do the smaller, closer to home trips. I have ideas for those too, but I’ll wait for now! My sights are big! I’m thinking a cruise for our anniversary! I’ve always wanted to go on one and earlier in life said I would go on one for my honeymoon, but when the time rolled around I figured a resort would be better. Now I’m ready to experience that all inclusive cruise trip! We live in North Carolina so Charleston is just about the only port nearby, and the only cruise leaving from there is to the Bahamas! I’m totally fine with the Bahamas but I guess that means we have to get the hubby a passport! Hopefully it can come in 4 months. I got mine a long t

Ok, I am officially motivated to work on weight loss this year! Not that I wasn’t before, but I’ve really got to get this thing going in order to better my life! I started on January 2 nd and ran for 24 minutes. Then on the 3 rd I went for 23 minutes. Of course, when I say run I really mean a walk/run combo because I’m not in shape enough to run that long! I was really motivated to do something over the weekend, but we ended up working on the yard Saturday and Sunday so I figured that was enough. I raked leaves and gathered sticks and my arms are actually a little sore. I intend to run again this evening even though I have some terrible allergies going right now after all that yard work! At work we are having a weight loss challenge for Q1 which will go until the end of March. It’s based on percentage and not actual weight loss, but hopefully having the constant weigh-ins will keep me going! I also bought a month long membership to the boxing gym down the street. I went for a bit l