Sharing My Jennarocity

Today was Avery's first dentist appointment! I know, many of you are like, 7 months old, dentist? Really? But, she has 7 teeth and grinds them all of the time, plus, insurance pays for it, so why not go ahead and take her?? We went and the girls here were SO nice to her. So sweet to her and just did a fantastic job. It was a brand new dental office in Frisco called Healthy Smiles, it's only meant for kids, so if you live up there I would highly suggest taking your kids. So, turns out, she had another tooth pop out in the last day or so, making a grand total of 8!!! Holy moly! She is very far ahead, as teeth go. The dentist told me this is the amount of teeth they normally see in a one year old, so I did good to bring her in now. They put some flouride treatment on her teeth and some other stuff meant to protect enamel. They also told me that pacifiers are fine up until age one, not to give her juice unless instructed by a pediatrician, and to make sure to wipe her teeth down wi...

I have no awesome before and after project to show you today and I didn't take any new pictures of Avery last night, so I wondered what I was going to write about. I thought for a second about not writing anything at all, but I saw this article on Yahoo and I had some opinions.... Apparently, some stores are reeling in some coupon rules and options in order to prevent people from receiving so many things for free, in response to TLC's show "Extreme Couponing." In this article , it talks about how people are trying their best to get savings similiar to the people on this show and are trying to beat the store's policies to make it happen. Therefore, stores like Target and Rite Aid have changed these policies in order to prevent themselves from losing money.

I talked a while back about my Bucket List. There are some things I've wanted to do and just never really done it. Well, I have decided to put one more thing on my upcoming list of activities. I have always wanted to run in a 5K. Like, not walk but run in one. I have determined I am a goal oriented person - I need a reason to work out and it can't just be that I want to lose weight. I found one that will be October 1st in Grapevine called The Vineyard Run.  (There are some of you who are reading this blog who see the reason I chose THIS to participate in). I need your support - I start training TONIGHT!!

As of July 1st, there will be something in my life that is going to happen that has never happened to me before. I will be covered on someone else's health insurance. I know, it seems like such a strange thing to think about, but ever since I've been an adult who has been able to work and been out of college, I have always been on my own plan. Even at my last job, the kids and Jason were on my plan. Well, that will be changing and it is kind of weird for me.

We had a relaxing weekend, for the most part. Friday night, Jason and I watched movies and stayed up (kind of) late and then woke up (kind of) late and watched another movie on Saturday. We stayed in our pajamas and cleaned and then went to my parents to spend the night. As I have mentioned, Avery is obsessed with hats, especially baseball caps. She will grab the bill and try to eat it. I got some cute shots of her in her daddy's cap.

Raise your hand if this is what your bathroom looks like after every round of baths at your house????

Happy 7 Month Birthday Avery!!

 

I am a little bit aggravated with Blogger today. I went to my sister's blog to read it and noticed my blog on her followers's list, with some weird FW: title and a picture. SO - let me tell you how I blog. I blog using my phone. I actually send the pictures in an email from my phone to my blog and then I add the words in afterwards. You can actually set the settings to post immediately or to save as a draft. I think I messed around with it yesterday and told it to post the pictures I send immediately. Anyway, long story short, I hope you all saw the cute chalkboard paint project from yesterday! I do have another project to show you today. Remember this lovely item that was a fail??

It's like I am just LOOKING for stuff in my house to redo!!! If it's not nailed down, it's getting painted and going somewhere!!! So, I bought this cookie jar at Walmart ages ago. I think it's maybe, had about 30 cookies in it, total. It's been collecting dust on top of my fridge for the last year or so. Well, it's really collected pennies. I don't know how they ended up there, but it gave me an idea.... I duct taped the lid so it wouldn't get painted (I liked the stainless steel look)...

To say that Brooke's husband and my husband were disappointed that we all spent the day at the driving range and they didn't get to go was an understatement. Jason really wanted to go, but we didn't think we could afford going two days in a row. That was, until, I saw a poster at Top Golf for Father's Day specials. One free game for fathers of Top Golf, plus $10 unlimited family play on the mini-golf course. Which was very nice. THIS was a great deal. We wanted to be the first ones there to avoid the lines and the heat, so we arrived at 9 am. The kids were blown away by this mini-golf course! The lady told us that Jason could actually just play off my card (I still had 5 games left) and then she would add the free game to my card, which was awesome!! So, we took the kids to play mini-golf first and then we played Top Golf.

My sister, Brooke, asked me and Avery to come down and spend the night with her on Friday evening. She lives in Midlothian, so I left work early to make the hour drive and I am SO glad we had a chance to go visit! My other sister, Leslie, was able to come also so we spend Sister Night together! I am really beginning to love to hanging out with friends and family at the house and not actually have to go do anything! Below is my sister's Shih-Tsu. His name is Buddy. He looks like an Ewok! Anyway, he loved Avery. He licked her to pieces when we set her down on the floor. Then, she grabbed his ear pretty hard. (I mean, wouldn't you?? He looks like a stuffed animal!) I am SO glad my daughter is used to being around dogs. 

It's like I am reading my autobiography. Check out Thrify Decor Chick's post today. For those of you who know me, you will know why I posted this today. So, I mentioned to everyone about moving to GP and starting the mortgage process. We started. And OY. This is going to be a process. I am very glad we have waited to buy a home until after we were married and had the baby because there is going to be so many things that I am going to have to pay attention to and keep updated - I can see why purchasing a home can take over your whole life!!!

In case you can't tell, this space was ready for a redo. It had become our Rock Band storage space, our "let's put this random thing here" corner, and our general "nothing really goes here but we will put it here anyway" space. We had a lamp on top of that bookcase for the longest time, even though there is not a plug in sight. I think one of us just put it there one day while we were moving things around and it just stayed.

During my visits today to Once Upon A Child and Goodwill, I got to thinking about secondhand stuff. What all have I bought secondhand??? This pac-n-play for $40 on Craigslist. This is a Graco Pac-N-Play, worth about $100 retail. It was one of the first things I purchased for Avery and I loved it (still do, it's been folded up since she moved to her room but I have a feeling it's about to be pulled back out again)!!!

So, that little dresser in the corner...you see it? The brown one? Well, what you can't see is that the dresser is completely falling apart. That dresser was a Target dresser from 2003 . Yep, it's 8 years old. It's been moved 6 times. It's very rickity, the side slats were falling off, and it's ALL scuffed up. But, in my attempt to save money and salvage old furniture, I decided that I would attempt to save it. I pulled off all of the side slats. as they offered no more than looks. It still needs some glue. But, I digress. Then, I started to paint.

So, we dropped Avery off at my parents Saturday morning and had the day and evening FREE! I am not going to lie. I missed my daughter a great deal. All we really wanted was some adult time, so we just ended up inviting a couple of friends over and hanging out by the pool!! It was great fun. I went to bed early. Very early. Sigh. I am old.

This dress is a hand-me-down and I am glad I finally put it on her - the back would barely button!!! I just couldn't resist taking some pictures this morning. I go a little nuts if I haven't taken a picture of her in a few days. I feel bad for Sophia - poor thing was second born so there are a multitude of pictures of Jordan and Avery, but not many of Sophia as a baby. I have a lot of her now, but not many of her as a baby. I am glad Jason was able to take alot of those pictures of the kids with him to our house. Call me crazy, I even insisted on keeping his wedding album from his first marriage. She didn't want it and neither did he. But one day, Sophia looked at it and said, "Daddy, you were married to my mom?" And it made me sad. I want them to know that at one time, their mommy and daddy were happy and that they were married. The kids were 4 and 1 when Jason and Kristin got divorced and Jordan remembers a little of them being married, but Soph remembers nothi...

Ok - I have decided that the spray paint industry has been officially and incredibly affected in a positive way by bloggers. I am sure that in the past 4 years, blogging has influenced spray paint companies to make all kinds of paint to do all kinds of things: make things metal like, leather like, rock like, chalkboard like. It really is incredible. My new favorite spray paint is Valspar. It is under $5, it goes on very even, there are tons of colors, and it is much easier to use than others I've tried. I have also decided I will no longer use a brush for any more redos, unless absolutely necessary. I took these pictures one after the other, just experimenting with natural light and flash. Man, it is amazing how much light affects a picture! The one with flash looks like I took it at midnight. Just thought I would mention that.

I found this article on Yahoo! today and it really made me think. Actually, I think about marriage alot now that I am married. Not about my marriage, per se, but what marriage means and what it stands for.  The article is really not pro or against marriage, it is just stating some statistics and thoughts of people who are "semi-happy" in marriage and why people get divorced or have affairs.

This is what my picture wall has been transformed to (today, going to change Saturday!) It's definitely looking MUCH better than what it was like before. I actually enjoy looking at it now!! The lamp shade in the corner was an experiment that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I think I am trying too hard to make things too cutesy. So, tonight, the lampshade will be tan and the base will be white. Simple, to the point. And I still have to paint the dresser, although now, I think I am getting some hand-me-down end tables and a coffee table. I love hand me downs. :-) I also love those curtains but they are turning out not to go so well. I think they don't look "rich" enough (in texture, not taste.) I want something thicker with some substance. Plus, there is alot of blue in it and I am having a hard time wanting to put any blue decor in my room. We'll see. Ugh, that couch. Yuck. Can't wait for THAT to be gone!!!

Tatortots and Jello is having a great giveaway for Luminess makeup. This looks really cool and I am totally down to try and win an starter kit. It's an AIRBRUSHING makeup kit that the stars use....woo hoo!!! Check it out and enter the giveaway too!!

So, my cute little DIY art project was a huge flop. I couldn't get the designs on the block to look good. So last night, I tried to outline them in black. It looked like a 4 year old did it. Cheap. And ugly. I didn't even take a picture, I just went outside and painted over them. BUT I did think, what if I just painted stripes in white? Two big bold strips?

How CUTE and AWESOME is this dad? He waved at his high school son, every single day, as he drove off on the bus, as he was dressed in costumes. And he blogged about it. There are some great costumes on here!!!! http://waveatthebus.blogspot.com/ And, I have found a great new blog that's got nothing to do with family updates, or clothes, or decor. Just a good, old fashioned funny mom telling her funny mom stories. And she is really funny. It's called Thou Shalt Not Whine. This is her family picture listed on her blog.   SEE?? Funny.

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE this face? This face makes me smile, and laugh, and happy every time I see it.

I wanted to share with everyone a low fat, low cal broccoli and carrot soup recipe that I have just fallen in love with lately!!! Here are the nutrition facts (from http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ ) Calories Carbs Fat Sugar Sodium Fiber Broccoli Soup, 1 serving                  120        8      3      3       521      0 Ingredients: 3 - 4 cups of broccoli stems and crowns 1 cup of carrots 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth 1 tablespoon butter or margarine 1 tablespoon flour 1 tablespoon milk 1/8 tablespoon salt (or however much you'd like, for taste) pinch of pepper (or to taste)  1 cup low fat cheddar or colby cheese (optional) 1. To make the base of the soup, you will need about 3 cups of broccoli. The way I do it, I use more stems for the...

I actually got to visit with my sister on Friday in my neck of the woods. SO nice to see her. I brought Avery with us, she was good for about 20 minutes, but around 7 she started to realize she wasn't home and getting ready for bed and had a bit of a fit. But for about 20 minutes, she was in her highchair, kicking those legs, talking to us, smiling for us, and performing for our entertainment. Haha. I took a few pictures but I LOVE this one Brooke got on her phone!!!

We had a pretty busy weekend....swimming, movies, sunburns (for Jason and I). I was pretty busy yesterday. I have had some ideas for redecorating for a while. If you look at my "ideas" page you will see some things I've been wanting to do. One thing is chalkboard paint projects. So, I stopped by Lowe's on Sunday to find some. While they had metallic paint, rust paint, stone paint, etc, they had no chalkboard paint. (Lowes has a MUCH better selection of spray paint than Home Depot, by the way) But they did have clear finish paint (my black paint on my new shelf is getting dinged) and some beautiful brownish paint that will go on the furniture with some white accents. Stay tuned for that redo. Here is what my living room looks like before. I have really hated that mirror there for a while. It's been the backdrop for my couch at each apartment I've lived in for 6 years. I found those candles 4 years ago and they were really cute at the time. But now, the mirro...

Avery's Stats!!! How big is she: 26.5 inches long (75th percentile) 18.5 pounds (90th percentile) Wears 9-12 month clothes Size 3 diaper Teeth: 3 teeth, 1 more poking through What does she eat: Eating solids, now 3 times a day: carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce, and prunes Rice cereal or oatmeal 3 times a day Starting to eat puffs Activities: Stands on her legs with assistance or leaning on something Hasn't figured out crawling quite yet Sitting up completely on her own without toppling Rolls Over Favorite Position to be in: Standing up holding on to our hands Sleeping: This is a challenge, she was sleeping through the night but wakes up now about 2 am to talk and play Words: Da Ta or at Ba Ka Hair: Reddish blonde Eyes: Greenish hazel (more green) Here are some pics:

I wanted to show everyone what I've been working on these last few evenings.... This table has had a time of it...looks like it's been moved a few times, huh? While it's not where it needs to be yet, I did want to show you how it went from this (man, I need a new camera phone):

I feel like I need to be inspired lately and I have read and seen some great posts lately that I would like to share that have inspired me. I have some new craft inspiration to add to my list of things I want to do....