I finally gave in.

I think even before we had our hardwood floors installed, Jeff was already talking about rugs. I wasn't thrilled with the idea. I didn't want to pay what we paid for the floors just to cover it up with a rug. I've been pretty stubborn (shocking, I know) about it since the floors went down. I wouldn't even consider it and looking at rugs was out of the question. We were at Lowe's looking at dishwashers (stay tuned for another post about that) and in a moment of weakness, I agreed to look. Looking led to purchasing and we left the store with a rug. Those of you that know me, know how much I like a good deal/sale. I attribute this purchase largely to that. Even though I agreed to look, I don't think I would have considering purchasing a rug if it had not been on clearance. I'm such a sucker! It does look nice and as my brother-in-law, Todd, said, "It really ties everything together." We were fortunate that they had a matching smaller rug that we could put in front of the back door. Here's a picture of the smaller rug. It gives you an idea of the pattern on the bigger rug.


We also bought a rug for our patio, surprisingly enough, we picked it out before we looked at dishwashers or the other rugs. We also purchased some accent pillows for our patio furniture. The patio is a nice, relaxing space! Here are some pics of the patio's renovation:

"F as in Sam"

Having a unique name has it challenges, namely (pun somewhat intended!) when you're trying to make an appointment or reservation. Usually after several attempts at "Dawn" (must be my southern accent?), I automatically begin spelling our last name. It goes a little something like this:

"M as in mother, A, K, O, F as in Frank, S as in Sam, K, I"

Only today when I was spelling it, I spazzed out and said, "F as in Sam" which I'm sure confused the lady on the either end of the phone. I didn't realize I had done it until I started in with "S as in..." wait a minute, didn't I already say Sam? I began to laugh, apologized and then corrected myself. I bet she's wondering what kind of nut-job doesn't even know how to spell their name? Guess you had to be there...

Yes!

I am pretty proud of myself right now...

This was my first attempt at "utilizing" some of the features of Photoshop (other than cropping). I'm pretty excited that I figured out how to do the "selective" color in a black & white photo. This isn't perfect...you can see color where I didn't want it but at least I know how to do it now!

Here's attempt # 2...

If I had more time tonight, I'd be doing this with all kinds of photos. Sadly, I am out of time. It's time for Jake's bedtime routine to start so I'm off to give him a bath, dry him off, diaper him up, lotion him up, put his pj's on him, brush his hair, give him his medicine, brush his teeth, read him a book, say our prayers and get him to sleep. Hopefully I didn't forget a step! He'll be sure and let me know. And, when we're done with the book, "what do we do with it? We put it on the table." It's become a nightly saying...along with "go darker."

Tuesday...afternoon...

I find it sad and a *tad* bit humorous that I was so excited to receive our new office shredder today. The one that we had no longer worked and I've been "sitting" on a pile of shred papers for eight months now. I finally took time to research cross-cut shredders and picked one out. I ordered from Office Depot on Monday and it was delivered today. I've been checking the mail room all day and lo and behold there it was. I wheeled it into my office via the green hand trucks. I got it "assembled" (not much required...popping the wheels on and that was about it) and went to town. I filled up two trash bags before I decided to take a break. I'm out of trash bags so I guess I will have to a) go buy some or b) wait until Johnson Controls comes tomorrow and ask for extra.

It's also sad that I'm looking forward to going to the bookstore to buy a new three-ring binder and dividers. I think it's partly because no one is in the office today and my love for office supplies. Seriously, I could go nuts in those types of stores! I shall contain my spending since we have a small budget. I won't post about my three-ring binder because it's not as exciting as the shredder...unless there's some new kind of binder that I don't even know about...doubtful, but you never know.

Oh, is it just me or is it odd that I know THREE people having babies this week?!? One was induced last night (no baby yet)...one is induced today and the other on Thursday. Crazy, huh?

Brent & Jenni are having a ...

Our good friends Brent and Jenni went to the doctor yesterday to find out what they're having...it's a BOY! Congratulations to them! I'm guessing they didn't have the same issues that Brent and Regan did because I had a text message around 8:30 and their appointment was at 8:00. They are due almost the same time as Brent and Regan so we'll have a boy and a girl!

In other news, I saw someone being arrested on my way to work. That would really ruin your day! I was already going slow (speed limit is 40 mph) but I slowed even more and rubber-necked as best I could. I couldn't deduce much except that the little pickup was pulled over by the Sheriff and there was a cooler on the ground. The Sheriff had called for backup because there was another Sheriff car there. Maybe when they ran the tag on the truck it came back with bad news or they found some drugs or weapons? Either way the man was handcuffed and being put in the back of the cruiser.

Hopefully your day is going better than his!

Brent & Regan are having a ...

Today my brother and his wife went to the doctor to find out what their second child is. Brent called me and said, "You're going to be an aunt again!" Duh! I already knew that! He was just being funny. The ultrasound was scheduled for 2:30 but the baby was stubborn and they couldn't tell anything. They went to her check-up at 3:00 and after that, they went back for another ultra sound. The baby cooperated a little more and they're having a GIRL! Congratulations to them! I'm tickled for them and would have been happy either way...now for the hard part...a name!

Jacob's a smurf...who knew?

As we were driving through our neighborhood after being gone for a week, I asked Jacob what our house looked like. He said, "Um...white and like Mommy, Daddy and Jake." We had a laugh over it. Yesterday as we were driving home from "family swim" at my work, Jacob said something about our house being white. I told him it wasn't and he said, "Daddy's white, Mommy's white and I'm blue." That cracked me up. For some reason he thinks he's blue! Who knew we were raising a smurf?!?

On a side note, he also told me this week that he was "going to be happy and so fun." That kid...