DONE!

This weekend we finished the tiling! Our last big project for a while (I hope!) It took until 10:30 on Saturday night, all day Sunday, and then I surprised Jeff by staying home today and finishing the grout and some painting. It feels so good to hae accomplished so much. I'm sure there will be plenty of small things to work on now, but this was major and it is a relief to have it finished.

Here is the before picture: linoleum.


and after: beautiful tile with awesome bronze accents!

Chloe and Clarence are also happy it's finished :)

Ta-da!

Here are the curtains! I wish the camera could capture how pretty they really make the room. It's a dramatic difference. It always looks so bright in the house when I take pictures, but really it's not that bright, and that light you see is even dimmed. I don't get it.


See those orange and yellow flowers in the corner of the above picture? We replaced them with the red and white flowers below :)


Here is the other window.

See the sunflower on the fireplace? We replaced it with the flowers below :) (it's the little touches people!)

Curtains...

…are the greatest invention ever. After chocolate. And flip flops. Teeth whitener. Scented candles. Creamer! Artichokes. What do you think are the greatest inventions ever?
(real pictures of curtains [and awesome red flowers to tie it all together!] to come!)

a schmorgasborg

Here is Cade doing some sliding across the floor action!

How classic is this face?

Jeff's new tile saw! We've seen plenty of this in the past several weekends. We've done the fireplace, entryway, a bathroom, laundry room and hallway. All we have left is the kitchen! PHEW!

At the Renaissance Festival. Cade and Scottie had a dual.

(PS, this is my gansta brother who has been mistaken for a Puerto Rican. Now he sports a cowboy hat. Go figure!)

Cade was a great shot! He even won a prize!

Here is Clarence showing of the newly tiled entry way.

I tried my hand at this yummy iced tea recipe. It took about 40 minutes, and even with simple syrup, lime and mint, it still tasted pretty much like regular tea. Oh well, it is pretty :)

More sawing!

Last weekend Grace and Sarah hosted a beautiful bridal shower for Tiff. It was so wondeful! Elegant, gorgeous and classy, just like Tiff!

Before and after pictures of the fireplace. I could not love it more!

the end.

Magic Camera!

So after spending 15 minutes on the phone with Best Buy trying to figure out if I could get a replacement USB cord since my fancy new camera didn't appear to come with one, I found out the greatest thing!...The USB cord and the wall charger are ONE! Yep, just pull gently on the cord that connects to the wall and Voila! USB cord! Here come the picutres :)

Passion

I wish I had one. I think I might, but can't put words to it. In any case, Jody has passion! I've been following her blog as she and her husband Andy and their 4 children went through the adoption process of adding 2 Sierra Leonian babies to their family. I went to college with her sister, Jess, who is one of my all time favorite people! Jodi was just honored by Lifetime! So anyway, check these people out. Please! And get passionate. It's remarkable!

PS. both Jody's Hubby and Jess's Hubby are musicians and super talented. Check them out, too!

http://www.water4christmas.com

bling

Can I just tell you I LOVE my wedding ring? I was without it for the past week beacause I took it in for it’s 6 month check up/cleaning/beautifying. I got it back yesterday and I can’t stop admiring it. It's so sparkly! Plus I love thinking about when we went ring shopping. It was a spontaneous thing. We were up in Denver visiting several of my friends. On the way home we stopped at the mall. Hubbs just led me right to a jewelry store. I was so nervous! And a bit surprised. So we started looking at rings. And then I started trying them on. I started with the ring I’d imagined liking most. A solitaire with a simple white gold band. I tried small, round diamonds and square ones. (I don’t even know what they are called. What kind of girl am I?!) Then the helpful sales person brought out the wedding bands that would look nice with the rings. One of them was this really pretty, simple yet classic white gold band with little diamond around half of it. It was so beautiful! Hubbs said, “why don’t you try that one on by itself.” So I did. And you could tell that he really loved it. And that made me love it even more. And that’s the one he got me! It’s been so perfect for me. Goes with every outfit (I know, what ring doesn’t?) Isn’t hard to keep up. Doesn’t get caught on clothes or my face. Ouch! I think it’s very me. And very me and Jeff. Anyway, just wanted to share. It’s not about the ring, I know. It’s about the love. The commitment. The eternal. And I love other girls rings, too. They can be so unique, so charming, so elegant, so HUGE, and each one really seems perfect for that girl. But I do, I really do love this ring :) (I would take a picture of it to remind you what it looks like, but I got a new camera and I can’t find the stupid USB cable! I’m so bummed! I’m going to have to go buy one I guess, but it’s just so irritating that I keep putting it off hoping it will magically appear.)

Also, it never gets old looking at Hubbs hand and seeing his ring. It belongs there, I do believe :)

Kill Grandma? Debunking A Health Bill Scare Tactic

Listen to this:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111729363

Cafe Feminino

http://www.buywellcoffee.com/

Seriously. Buy it. If you like coffee you really have no other choice. I mean, you DO have other choices. But you SHOULDN'T. Here's why:

"BuyWell Coffee sources and roasts only 100% Certified Fair Trade Organic coffees. This is our commitment to our growers, to the planet and to you. BuyWell Coffee is the only premier coffee roaster committed to roasting 100% Fair Trade, 100% organic coffees that are naturally rich in antioxidants, handcrafted to perfection using 100% certified renewable energy. We commit to these principles in 100% of what we do. We source only the best coffees in the world that hold the double certification and are shade grown whenever possible. We look for more ways to become more sustainable and make our footprint much smaller. All the while providing exceptionally good small batch roasted coffee to our customers at an affordable price that everyone can enjoy."

Cafe Feminino is a specific blend I learned about via the Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival a few years ago. These women are amazing! And Buywell pays them fairly, which is so so so important. Check out these links to learn more.

http://www.cafefemenino.com/

http://buywellcoffee.com/shop/altagold.html

Also, I just called the office last week to inquire about bulk purchases, you know, to see if they had any less expensive options. THEY. DO. I bought some that came out to about $6.20/lb. Hello, that is AMAZING for fair trade organic coffee. DO IT people. DO IT.

Confessions of a Budget Breaker

OK, so the hubbs has decided to implement a budget for the Schurz family. Pretty cool, huh? I mean, I’ve been trying to do the budget thing for a year, but we didn’t really NEED to and Hubbs just wasn’t into it. But he got to thinking about it recently, and read a Dave Ramsey workbook, and then we went and bought a new, bigger house, so here we are now in budget-excel spreadsheet-ville. I’m really proud of him and excited to think that we can pay down some debt quickly if we make good choices. It’s not easy, though, let me tell you. Of the two of us, I would have guessed I was the more money conscious one. Like I would tell myself, sure, you can have Starbucks. How about once a week? Sounds good. Or I’d be at the store and see that they had ONE DOLLAR CEREAL. Value brand. ONE DOLLAR! Is it tasty? No. But is it cheap? Yes. I’ve never been the girl who looks down her nose at brand names or won’t spend good money on a great pair of jeans. But I am the girl who gets her hair cut at Great Clips instead of Aveda and is even sometimes known to put a little water in the last of the shampoo bottle to make it last a little longer. Speaking of shampoo…I went with a few girls from work to the annual Beauty Brands liter sale. Never heard of it? Me either, but it happens to be this sale where you can get liters for $11.98. Great deal?! It is if the liters were normally $42! Who could pass that up? And they smell so wonderful! And they come in bright pink and orange colors with seductive names like Sexy Straight or Candy Curls (OK, I made that one up.) Hello, these are WAY better than plain old Suave or Pantene. $11.98 is a STEAL! Not to mention when I step out of the house in the morning I’ll probably look like Julia Roberts or Angelina Jolie or something. YES! I am the best shopper in the world! And I didn’t just buy one bottle. No no no, I bought 4. Yep, 2 shampoos, 2 conditioners. I know. I just saved, like, $2000 or something. Wait a sec. Then why is it that as soon as I walked out of the store I had buyers remorse. Could it have anything to do with aforementioned budget? Or aforementioned Suave, which is, by the way, .97? Hmmm, perhaps. So that night I say to Hubbs,
“I did something bad.”
“Oh boy, what did you do?”
“I spent money. A lot. On shampoo.”
“what? How much?” “$40 (said in timid, embarrassed, regretful little peep.)
“hahahahahahaha! No you didn’t!”
“WHY are you LAUGHING?”
“Because that is funny! I can’t believe you did that. You would NEVER do something so silly!”
Hmmm. I wasn’t expecting such a laugh out of the whole thing. But I confess it made me feel better. And it was a good point. Don’t get me wrong. I can spend money. I don’t have to ask permission. I don’t feel guilty when I shop. I’m not being monitored any more than Hubbs, we just want to be cautious. But I did feel a little ridiculous spending that amount of money on shampoo, which I never do. We’ll just chalk it up to learning. I probably won’t do it again. But in the meantime I’ll have some fierce hair. And $40 less in my personal budget category for the month ;)

Great quote

‘O Lord, deepen my wounds
into wisdom;
shape my weaknesses
into compassion;
gentle my envy
into enjoyment,
my fear into trust,
my guilt into honesty.’
~Ted Loder~

I love politics...

...and politics make me want to puke.

Just a few resources regarding the congressional bill regarding national health care. Educate yourself. Don't read people's blogs, forwards and commentaries to make your decisions for you. They could be wrong. (gasp!) Maybe this bill is the worst idea in the history of the world (I don't know, I haven't read the 1000 pages.) Maybe there are some good things and some bad things. Maybe it's a graet idea that isn't getting worked out just right. Maybe it's the best thing that could happen to US healthcare. Don't just take someone's word for it, though.

http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf

http://www.mahalo.com/americas-affordable-health-choices-act-of-2009

http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BILLSUMMARY-071409.pdf

http://washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_HR_3200.html

http://www.hrsonline.org/Policy/LegislationTakeAction/affordable_health_choice_act.cfm