Gimp Love

If you don’t know, Gimp is the free version of Photoshop and I love it! I have very little experience ever using Photoshop, but I use Gimp a ton and it’s great. I had some fun whitening teeth and brightening eyes of pictures I have taken.

In this pic, I whitened Hilary’s teeth. Much nicer right?

                     In this picture, I brightened my nephew’s eyes. It’s a subtle difference, but I think it looks cool.                      In this pic of myself, I brightened my eyes and whitened my teeth. Pretty cool!                        If anyone is interested in how I did this, let me know and I will post the links to the tutorials I referred to.

Obsession.

Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to get a bit obsessed with things. I kind of go through phases but I don’t think it’s really a bad thing. I get focused on one or a few things for awhile then eventually I move on and I may or may not keep doing that thing. For example:

-Making beaded watch bands
-Digital scrapbooking
-Cooking
-Crafts
-Home decor

I love all these things and I still do them, but for awhile, I really focus on one of them and become a bit obsessed. Anyway, my latest obsession is………

Food Storage!

Okay so I know that I’m a weirdo, but whatever. I just started thinking about food storage, and of course I go and google the crap out of it and find out everything I possibly can in a small amount of time, then I make tons of lists and plans and before I know it, I’m obsessed.

But really. In all seriousness, I think food storage is a good obsession to have. I think it came into my mind for a reason. Because it’s important.

"The best storehouse is the family storeroom..."Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing" (Doctrine and Covenants 109:8). ~President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008)

So I have found some fabulous sites that are very helpful and I’m just starting slow but I’m really excited about it. The sites I have been referring to a lot are:

http://preparedldsfamily.blogspot.com/

http://providentliving.org

I have always been one to look at all the grocery ads each week and write down prices then price match stuff at Walmart :). So it’s not a big deal to keep an eye out for deals in bulk. I’m also making sure I’m only going to buy food we will eat. That way, I can rotate it through and actually use the food so it doesn’t go bad. I will probably get some things we won’t eat but will last 30 years for long term storage and we can just keep that back in the pantry.

We have an unfinished basement and like a lot of homes, we have a perfect food storage area under the porch. My mom is demonstrating it beautifully here. It’s nice because it is a long hallway and it also turns 90 degrees and is an L-shape. So we’re going to get some shelves and set up shop in here for now.In case anyone else is interested in getting started, here is what I have done so far. Using her amazing Case Lot Sale Price Comparison (here), I made a list of the items we will eat, along with the prices and stores that she listed with the lowest prices. That way, when I do buy something, I can refer to my list to see if what I’m about to buy is actually a good deal or if I should wait for a better price (from her list). Here is a part of my spreadsheet so far. For now I’m just going to focus on getting a good 72 hour kit for Dan and I and then start working on a 3 month supply of food. The church has started focusing on 3 month instead of 1 year because 1 year is really overwhelming for people. I made my own 72 hour checklist based on a few I found online and through the church. Here is a picture of it. If anyone wants a copy of some of the lists and stuff that I have, just let me know and I’ll send it. Also, leave me a comment and let me know your feedback on food storage. What works for you, what doesn’t, how you got started (if you have), and how you stay on top of it. Maybe I’m weird, but I get a strange excitement about buying food in bulk! I’ll probably update a few times on the status of my food storage obsession as it progresses. Stay tuned…

Song of the day (or week or month…)

Dan and I have religiously watched American Idol since David Archuleta was on and we love it. It's our guilty pleasure....don't hate.

Anyway, Didi Benami sang this song and I LOVE it! Kara Dioguardi (one of the judges) wrote Terrified and Didi sang it and it was awesome. So I found Kara singing it with Jason Reeves and I also love it! Check it out!

Kara and Jason:

Didi Benami (American Idol tryouts). She ended up making the top 24! Sweet!

A New Look

I have had long hair for EVER! I cut a lot off my jr. year of high school, but grew it right out again. I have always loved it long but I started to get really sick of it so I decided to chop it off!                  This is my long hair in October or so when we got family pictures.                          So around Christmas I cut off a lot of it but kept it a little long just in case I didn’t want it shorter. I really liked it for a few weeks, but then it just started to bug me a lot. I was ALWAYS pulling it up and it was the length that would always get caught in my collar and stuff.                                    So I finally decided to cut even more off! I chopped the rest of it today and I really like it! I haven’t had my hair this short since I was a little girl so it’s really weird for me. I can’t believe I can’t pull it in a ponytail and it’s so weird to not feel hair on my neck!                                           I really love it and it’s nice to change things up a little bit. It’s definitely different for me, but it’s just hair and if I don’t like it, I can grow it out! But for now I’m excited about my new look!                       

Temple Makeover!

Yesterday the church announced that over the next 2 years they are going to be making over the Ogden temple!   I’m really excited because this is the temple we usually go to and the pictures of what it’s going to look like are beautiful!

The Ogden temple is usually on the list of least attractive temples (maybe because it looks like a giant 1970s cupcake??)                                                  It’s also kind of in the ghetto (If you haven’t heard, Ogden is pretty ghetto in a lot of places). But the area around the temple has been built up a lot and there are a lot of cool restaurants and places down there. You just need to make sure you don’t leave that 3 block radius :).

But it’s pretty cool to see the pictures they have of the new temple and garden areas! It looks like a new temple and I’m really excited for it. I’m just a little sad that it will be closed during most or all of the remodel time! But we’re lucky enough to be able to go to Bountiful or any of the other gorgeous temples so close to us!

Ta da!

Finally! I have gotten all of the things done that I wanted to do about a month ago! I didn’t think I would get them done in one weekend, but I didn’t think it would take a month! It’s okay though because I’m really happy with everything!

I had made an attempt to make this simple curtain panel for our back door window and it looked okay, but I just don’t know how to cut straight or measure apparently. So I asked my mother in law to help and it looks great! She whipped it up on her sewing machine and I love it! I just used magnetic curtain rods from Lowes and the fabric is a dark brown suede and I really like it.

This was something I didn’t really plan and I’m definitely not finished with, but I found these candlesticks and glass vases at Savers awhile ago and I made them into these! The candlesticks were a sick gold/copper color so I spray painted them then glued the vases on top.

I also made this key frame thingie. I have seen it on a bunch of blogs and I really like it! I got the keys at Tai Pan for $3.99 and the frame at Savers for $1.99. I spray painted the frame and glued the keys to burlap and put it in the frame! I think it looks awesome. I still need to get something to put in the green vase and maybe paint this table or get my own if my mom makes me give it back to her :).

I finally got some pictures on our wall going up the stairs and I also really like them. I used vinyl lettering and just put some cute pictures of us in the frames. I still want to add some more frames and also make a frame with the letter H in the middle like a monogram.

And last but not least, the bathroom is complete! Woo hoo! Here are the only before pictures that I had. 3 of the walls were a blueish color and one wall was white with spackle everywhere. Awesome. There was a huge towel bar that kept falling off and it really served no purpose because it’s a half bath.

And here are the after pics! It’s really hard to get a good picture in a small bathroom and it’s hard to show the real color, but it’s a burnt orange color called Chai Spice from Behr. I love having color on the walls and I think this looks great!

I saw this cool vinyl sticker on an etsy shop then had someone make it for me.

I got new fixtures for the toilet paper, toilet and towel ring. I got them online from plumbersurplus.com. I’m really happy with them and they were cheap!

Above the toilet I spray painted some brown things I found at Hobby Lobby.

We installed crown molding and I think it turned out really awesome. I used corner blocks so I didn’t have to worry about angles and stuff. We used a nail gun which was AWESOME.

We framed the mirror with molding and I love it! I saw it on some blogs and I’m so glad I did it! We just used a fast setting epoxy glue and glued it right on top of the mirror. It makes such a big difference and looks a lot nicer.

I forgot to take a pic of the new towel ring and towel next to the sink. The towel is white with orange stripes on the bottom.

We’re really happy with the bathroom and it was a lot of fun! I can’t wait to start on the next project!

Fun

Thad had his first birthday and we went up to Logan for his party. It was fun and Shell did a great job making a super cute cake! I forgot to take a pic….But Thaddeus Maximus is one already and it seems like he was just born! He’s such a cutie and I just love him and his mom! Thad didn’t want to eat his cake so Shelley smeared it on his face but he just got mad.We baby sat Wellyn and Everett on Friday then stayed and hung out for a bit with them during the opening ceremonies. Wellyn was copying the Indians in the opening ceremonies and he went and got his drum and bunny ears (kinda close to a headdress)! He was so funny and cute! Wellyn wanted Everett to wear the bunny ears but Everett wasn’t too excited about it: ) Jon and Danny were throwing Wellyn way high and he loved it! He’s not scared of anything.

They were also putting Wellyn in a blanket and swinging him back and forth really high! He was giggling and loving it! He wanted Danny to try it too.