Exciting news!!

Ok.. I have not been on here in a while and for good reason!  I have some exciting news and I knew if I was on here, I would let the cat out of the bag sooner than I should!  So I have avoided the internet a little!

The exciting news......I am going to be a mommy in October!  I'm pretty excited.  We have been trying for a little over a year and I had just about given up hope!  Then, ta-da! 

The tentative due date is October 11, and I will definitely post pics throughout the pregnancy!

Resolutions...

So far, I am trying to do so well on the resolutions.  I watched what I had for lunch and didn't have a soft drink either (gasp!).  I'm in the process of finding healthy recipes (if I find any worth sharing, I will) and will start to cook more and exercise more.  Luckily we have a Wii.  Between that and work, I should be good!  As long as I can keep up the motivation, I'll be in good shape (figuratively--and hopefully literally by the end of the year).  I have been couponing and trying to find good deals to save money.  I'm still a rookie, so I'm not that good yet...but I will get better. 

The taking time for me thing...not going so well.  I feel like I have so much on my plate and I'm always going, going, going.  If I could get the dear husband to help, it may be a lot easier. 

Good luck on your resolutions! 

Happy New Year!!

I'm hoping 2013 is the best year yet!  I have made resolutions that I'm hoping to keep. I'm going to share those with you and I will share my progress (hopefully) with you as well. 

Resolutions:
1. Lose weight (isn't this everyone's first resolution--or so it seems!)
2. Gain more financial independence.
3. Eat healthier--less take out!
4. Save more money on groceries and other stuff.
5. Take better care of myself/take more time for myself!
6. Keep the house clean... (any volunteers to help?)

I have also created my bucket list that I hope to start tackling this year as well! I made a book with 100 things I want to do before I die and have a page for each item to journal about it!  I will share bits and pieces of that with you all as the year progresses as well!

Best wishes for the new year.  I hope it finds you happy and healthy!

Wow.  I haven't posted in well over a year. I blame it on school, boards, and the new job!

That will change.  One of my promises (to myself) is that I will take more time for myself and blog/craft/do whatever I want to do more! 

I started selling Longaberger (for fun---and the discount!) and my friend sells Stella and Dot jewelry.  I actually had a Stella and Dot show today!  Other than that, work has eaten up my time...Grr.  I did get to go to Hilton Head the last of October with my family (mom, dad, brother).  That was a blast (I will post more about that later). Oh, and I FINALLY got to meet my little nephew in person this summer (he is now 2). 

Christmas is coming, which means I will be busy crafting and will keep the blog updated with different crafts as well.

This is just a getting back into blogging entry, but I promise I will post more!  Thanks for listening!

Spring Cleaning Day 1

Spring cleaning with Ask Anna has begun!! Ok, so technically, it began yesterday. I just didn't get pics taken until today... Our "assignment" for yesterday was to wash/iron our draperies and clean our blinds/shutters. I have very few draperies (1 in the bedroom and 1 in the bathroom). In the rest of the rooms, I have open windows or blinds only. I got my curtains washed and my blinds cleaned, and I must say, it feels fresher already!

Ignore the unmade bed--the sheets are in the wash! It's hard to tell in these pics, but these are nice and clean and I feel happy (for the moment!) I'm actually looking forward to day 2!

The winner of the hearts!!

Ok. So, since I had two people interested in the hearts, I drew names from a hat (yes a bit old-fashioned, but very easy and hard to mess up! Ha ha). The winner of the hearts is (drumroll please)..... Caroline. So, Caroline, just send me an e-mail with your info and your hearts will be on their way! Congrats!

Another tchotchke!

Ok, I have found another tchotchke! I received these as a gift for the bathroom that is being remodeled. As sweet as the gesture is, I had already bought accessories and will not use these.

If you would like these, comment and become a follower! I will randomly select who gets them (if there's more than 1 comment) and I will pay to send them to you!

One of my tchotchkes

So, as some of you may know, MeganDVD at Beauty in the Attempt is having a blog hop. But, not just any blog hop! People are linking up and getting rid of some of their unwanted treasures! All of these treasures are free (you may have to pay shipping) and you may have some competition for some of the stuff, but it's really neat. It's called the Road to the Final Tchotchke.

I have decided to join. The item I'm giving away on this post are these lovelies!

They remind me of flat metal baskets. You can hang them on the wall and they actually hold stuff (like mail!). They are actually home interior and this is how they came. They are white and distressed looking. I will pay for shipping (yes, you heard that right--free shipping) if someone wants to give them a good home! Just make a comment and become a follower. On March 29, I will randomly choose (through a number generator) who gets them!!

**If you want more info on this blog hop, click here!**

The BOLD and the beautiful

My friends Megan DVD from Beauty in the Attempt and Gail from My Repurposed Life are doing a really neat blog hop!! They are inviting people to get critiques on their blogs and to critique the blogs of others. Sounds like fun!!

I decided to join! So please feel free to critique my blog--tell me what you like, what could be better, etc. Please be gentle:)

Thanks!

Gearing up for the New Year and new challenges!!

Happy New Year!!! 2011 is looking to be a great year--graduation, hopefully a new house (fingers crossed I get a job), a trip out west (the cabin and meals are being paid for by my in-laws!), and who knows what else. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked! However, I do have a few challenges ahead of me. The one I'm most excited about is our weight loss challenge. My mother in law and I have decided that all of us going on the trip need to lose weight (we want to hike some pretty nice trails in the Rocky Mountains). She threw down the challenge of a couple's weight loss. Whatever couple loses the most combined weight-wins. I'm not sure what we're "playing" for yet--but my competitive juices are in high gear (I can be a little competitive--I was in band and played softball in high school--and I HATE losing). Now to motivate the hubby... Any suggestions? ;)

Let it snow!

So, I am officially on break from rotations!! Yay! I've been on break for a couple of weeks and I've been working like crazy on crafty projects for my friends and family. One thing that I have finished is my snowman plates! I think they are very cute (I got the idea at the Michael's store near me). They were fairly easy to make.

You need:

Charger plate(s)

SnowTek

Orange and pink paint

Buttons (2 for eyes, 3 for nose, and 3-4 for mouth)

Glue (I used the Gorilla Super Glue--AWESOME!!)

Ribbon

It's really easy. I used a sponge to apply the Snow-Tek to the charger plate.

I had to let these dry overnight. While waiting for that, I painted the buttons for the nose orange (to make it look like a carrot of course!)

After everything was dry, I glued on the buttons for the eyes, nose, and mouth. I painted two little rosy cheeks with the pink paint. I made a bow with the ribbon and glued the bow on the snowperson. This is what I ended up with.

So that's one project down, many more to go. I guess I better get busy! Until next time, adios!

New additions

So, I haven't blogged in forever. Mostly because of school and projects :(. In good news, in sticking with the purpose of the blog, I have started eating healthier (yay me!). This could be because the hubby, PG, has been diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. Guess who gets to deal with taking care of the meds... that's right-me. But that's ok. But I digress. We have some new additions here in the house. First of all, my wedding set got upgraded! Happy birthday/anniversary to me!

Then, I had to get a new phone-my other one failed. Not that I'm complaining--love my new phone. And lastly, I have a new nephew. James David Banet was born on 9/2/10 sometime around 4 ish. He was 19 inches long and 6 lbs 9 oz. He's a doll baby--of course, I'm completely unbiased! ;) Sadly, he lives in Louisiana, so I won't see him as much as I like. However, when I do, Auntie Trish will spoil him rotten! Well, I must get back to my projects. Till next time, adios1

Goodies from Goodwill-part 2!

Okay. So I have some of my stuff redone and the rest is in progress. The mirror, picture frame, and jewelry chest are not quite done yet. I broke the glass part of the mirror and now have to find a replacement. I'm still trying to figure out what to put in the picture frame. The jewelry chest-well, that's just taking a little longer than I anticipated. But, I will show you what I have done to them.

The jewelry chest

Obviously, I have a little ways to go, but it'll get done (at least when I get a break from school!).

The picture frame

I'm thinking about putting some kind of paper on the back and gluing a shell in the middle, but we'll see.

The mirror

This will have a mirror in it when I find one.

The tray thing

I like it much better in the oil rubbed bronze than the silver! I used the ORB from the Shop and Hop Swag Bag. I LOVE IT!!!

The candle holder

Again with the ORB. But it looks sooo much better than the white!

Well, that's it for now. I will post more when I get them done and hopefully soon get back to what I really started my blog for--new year, new lou! Until next time, adios!

Goodies from Goodwill!

I'm late to the party, I know. But, I have finally taken pictures of some of the things that I found when I went to the Goodwill Hop and Shop that was put together by Beckie from Infarrantly Creative and Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick. It was a blast. I met lots of interesting women and got to eat and shop. I digress. Here are some of the things that I found. (There are more, but I haven't photographed them yet).

This is a jewelry chest that has seen better days. I believe she will be painted a creamy white with new handles and either kept as a jewelry chest or transformed into a phone charging station (thanks for that idea Megan!)

This candleholder will be spray painted with the oil rubbed bronze that was in our swag bag. The white just isn't doing it for me.

This darling little mirror is also going to be painted with the oil rubbed bronze and put in my bathroom!

I'm not really sure what I will do with these two yet, but I have some ideas. We shall see.

Hopefully, I will have after pictures for these finds soon. Until next time, adios!

Meg and Lou do Indy

I just got home from Indianapolis with my friend MeganDVD. A bunch of bloggers met up in Indy thanks to a couple of really awesome bloggers who put it all together. I met a lot of great ladies and just got to take a day to unwind. It was a nice break from studying for finals anyway. There were some great finds and I was able to find some things to do for projects over my upcoming break. For now, I must return to studying. Until next time-adios!

Just call me Frau Lou

Have you ever felt like you lived in a foreign country? One that is run by communist dictators? Welcome to pharmacy school. I'm not saying all pharmacy schools are like this, but my particular school is. I finally made it in after driving through ice and snow. We got at least 5-6 inches of snow and the roads refroze over night. Yet, we still have to be at school or we will get in trouble. Because apparently we are 5 years old and can't manage our own lives. Therefore, the "superiors" at school must manage them for us and make our schedules and decisions since we are not capable adults. (In case you haven't figured out-I'm being sarcastic and bitter!) I feel like the poor people in East Berlin must have felt. We are supposed to have a scheduled lunch, but we may not get it. If we do get it-we must be grateful because the pharmacy gods have decided we are worthy of getting to eat. If not-we are supposed to suck it up and suffer in silence and not send hate e-mail to the culprit of our lack of lunch. Oh, and we don't have lives outside of school. For example, my anniversary is tomorrow and we are supposed to have school till 5:15 since we didn't have school yesterday. This means that I won't get home until 6:30 or so. So, apparently, I really don't get to celebrate my anniversary. Sorry PG-school says no happy anniversary. But let's face facts. How many people think I will stay until 5:15? I'm skipping out at 4:15 and claiming I have plans. Take that dictatorship! Well, I better go back to the hell I call pharmacy school. Until next time-adios!

Long Time, No Blog

Ok. So I haven't blogged in an incredibly long time and I am sorry. School has kept me busy and I've been horrible about taking time for myself. And as much as I wanted to be a good student this quarter, I failed my first therapeutics test. Oh, well, there's always the next test. I have determined that I am far too stressed and I need ME time and I need to exercise. My friend EB and I are going to start jazzercising--exciting! We keep saying this, but we are going to make it happen. I think it'll make me feel better--about myself and in general. This might help reduce the stress--PG even admitted I had too much stress and he didn't have nearly as much stress as I do. Heck, PG straightened the kitchen cabinets for me (the kitchen is currently one of my remodeling projects-the back bathroom is the other). On a side school note-certain people need to realize that karma will come and get them. They need to stop trying to cause trouble for people-especially people I care about. Sorry-had to rant for a minute. But, anyway. Until next time-adios!

Wishing my life was rated PG

So, this really has nothing to do with my resolutions except that it could be what causes me to fail. My hubby, PG, is lazy. This may sound harsh to those who don't know me or him, but it's the nicest thing I can say right now. Today is the second day he has called into work sick. All day he will lay around and do nothing. I understand-he is sick. But when he's healthy, he does nothing. I am a full time pharmacy student-so I go to school full time (Monday-Friday), study after school, and have a part time job. You would think I would get some help around the house. Sadly, you would be wrong. I have to do everything on top of my already packed schedule. I have no time to do anything for myself. Maybe that should be a resolution-take time for myself. That sounds like a good plan. Anyway, back to the possible fail of my resolutions. I fear that I will be so busy taking care of the cleaning with no help that I will suffer burn out and won't be able to take time for myself and exercise or do anything I really want to. If anyone has any suggestions, please comment. I really want to make me into a better me (and not end up bitter!)

The beginning of a long journey

Ok, so I previously mentioned some of my resolutions. I have actually began cutting the budget and saving money!! Exciting! I went grocery shopping after work this morning and managed to get groceries for the week for $43. Of course, I have stuff in my cupboards to use as well, but this excited me. It's better than eating out obviously and better than I'm used to! I've also been working on cleaning my house. Slowly getting there. And, to help lose weight, I bought a calorie cutting cookbook and am currently making vegetable beef soup from a recipe in there. Let's just hope it tastes ok. On a totally different note, I've been trying to craft more, as a friend and I are trying to get a little side business going and it helps me relax. Until next time...good travels.

New Year, New Lou

So, like everyone else, I have New Year’s resolutions. My thoughts are that if I blog about them, I might actually accomplish them. First and foremost, I want to lose weight-a lot. Ideally, I’d like to lose 70-80 pounds, but I’ll settle for any weight loss. I plan on exercising daily and walking my dog, Remington. Secondly, I’d love to get organized. Currently, my life is chaotic and therefore, stressful. Third, be a better student. I’m in pharmacy school, so I really need to stay on top of this. Fourth, get my house clean. It looks like a tornado ripped through it and the fact that I have a husband, a dog, and a cat does NOT help. Fifth, I’d like to cut expenditures. I need to cut down on the wants and use coupons and whatever for the needs. I have several more, but we’ll start with these. Wish me luck on this fun adventure!