first christmas

wanted to share an original Lindsey Smith ornament we recieved for christmas.

we ADORE it! thanks linds!

quick ipod cozy (and other ramblings...)

i'm glad you all enjoyed my top ten. i'm trying to convince myself it is all part of the adventure. and for any concerned that the landlord won't be hearing from us - fret not!!!

i also meant to mention that when we arrived in columbia my acceptance letter for nursing school was here! happy i got in, but nervous to start back to school. it is an intensive 15-month bachelors program - i hope it doesn't overwhelm me! the actual program begins at the end of may, but i have to take one more pre-req this semester. hoping this will ease me back into studying and giving up my free time...

speaking of free time - i quickly made this ipod cozy as we headed out the door for our three week trek. gran't had nothing to cover his ipod and it was getting pretty beat up. i made it as i closed up the last box of my crafting supplies in about 5 minutes. I was pleased with how it turned out though!

oh joy...

this is how it looked after 3 days of unpacking. ridiculous! its getting better though. after today i think we will be through the bulk of it. which will feel much better.

a good thing? we got our dining room set! we ended up having to order it and pick it up here because the place we found it in ptown couldn't get it in time for us to move. i'll take a picture once we get all the chairs assembled and our dining room cleaned.

in other news - our apartment leave something to be desired. it looks ok, but it has lots of quirks and isn't the cleanest place i've ever lived. needless to say we will be moving when our lease is up in june. my top ten favorite things about our new place...

10. how our "back yard" is actually shared by all of our neighbors

9. how the door to the patio opens in and the wrong way so we can't have our table in the center of the dining room

8. how the blinds to the window at the top of our 20 ft ceiling are open and look directly into another apartment - did i mention it is primely positioned between our room and the bathroom - this means we must always be clothed - no fun!

7. how the list they gave us of what we are expected to do when we move includes the most extensive cleaning list i've ever seen and our place was incredibly dirty when we got in here. (also supposed to replace light bulbs and we have at least 3 out..)

6. how the blinds on at least 2 windows are broken

5. how one of the mechanisms that allows us to open the window in our front room is broken

4. how the upstairs bath (toted as a jaccuzi by the way) only runs scolding hot water (and does not at all coincide with the HOT label on the nozzle)

3. how part of the refrigerator door is missing so we can't store anything there

2. how if you use water (from the sink, tub, or toilet flushing) in the master bath a loud clicking noise occurs and doesn't stop for at least an hour

1. AND my all time favorite thing about our apartment... they gave us a coin operated washer and dryer - complete with 50cents we can use and retrieve each time we do laundry - AWESOME!

3,975:

number of miles we drove December 28th to January 9th. it was insane, but we made it and managed to have some fun along the way.

we had so much fun visiting with Jon & Jess in Omaha. Their home is gorgeous and the baby belly is the cutest thing EVER. i felt baby m kick and it was my favorite thing ever! 

a few pictures of jon & jess with baby loot...

after hearing our movers were going to be delayed several more days with our stuff we decided to head to manhattan to visit brett & beth for a few days. it was great to visit with them and we even went on a hike in KANSAS. whoever said the midwest isn't beautiful hasn't seen it for real.

you like my new midwest winter coat?? i have to get bundled out here.

i heart the prairie.

our last leg was to our new homeland. grant is still learning the basics of sign anticipation while acting as photographer... look closely and you'll see the welcome to missouri sign...

 

i'm glad we made it, but i'm now feeling the stress of the fact that we live in a very new, very different place. it will take some getting used to.

i'll post tomorrow about the joy that is our apartment and how much i ABHOR unpacking.

Handmade Christmas 2008

i was almost successful with my goal of a 100% handmade christmas, but not quite. the last few gifts i didn't even start, let alone finish! it worked out fine though.

Here is a smattering of what i made...

a few needle keepers using one of jenni's as a pattern

a few punch collages for some crafty gals...

dirty/clean girls & button ornaments for friends...

a scotty dog for my mom (she HEARTS him) - when she opened it her dog started barking at it!

a memory board for my step-dad's new office...

burp cloths & blanket for baby meendering

stitched cards for the gratitude wraps (i also made christmas tree ones as our card this year)

an embroidered keep calm for kendra (you've seen the posters all over right??)...

oh! and i also made passport covers for my aunt & uncle.

****************************************************************************
PS - we made it safely to omaha and are spending some much needed time with jon and jess. i'm still sick, but hoping it subsides soon!!

yuck

11 hours in the car through the middle of the desert while ill is NOT fun. the only thing that makes the thought of tomorrow remotely bearable is that jess and jon are on the other end - not some nasty ass motel in podunk texas.

 

today we broke out the dvds to pass some time - family guy for grant, mean girls for me. 

 

the sunset was breathtaking...