Late Birthday Post

About 4ish times/year, Matt goes all out and fixes me a really great dinner all by himself. One of those times is on my birthday. This year, he made me apricot chicken, roasted garlic and lemon broccoli and peanut butter pie for dessert. Now usually I stay out of the kitchen for 2-fold reasons: 1. So that I dont start helping and get in the way and 2. because he always makes a really BIG mess!!! But at least he cleans it up :) I was a little nervous about the chicken but it turned out really great. As did everything else. I was very impressed with everything :)

On Friday, Matt, Rob and I went to Royal Bavaria for dinner. I really like German food alot and this place is pretty authentic tasting to me. I really like schnitzel and spatzle so thats what I always get and Matt always gets so kind of man-meal full of lots of meat. It was delicious as always!!

For the grand finale to the birthday weekend, we went to Tulsa on Saturday to spend time with my sister and grandparents. We ate at a great new Mexican restaurant called El Guapos (owned by the same people who own McNellies). And we also went bowling which I havent done in a while at a new place in Tulsa. The best part about it is that it is smoke-free!!

My mom was super excited when she got her first strike. She did really well on her bowling game that day!

The plans for this weekend changed about one grazillion times but it ended up being really great. Thanks to everyone who made my birthday special. And Happy Birthday again to: Leo, Rob, Derek, Jack (our cat-since I know he reads this), David, Beth and Zach --all of us have birthdays in March within the same week!

A Mini College Reunion

About a month ago, Matt and his jazz band buddies from OC had a wedding gig in Norman and tagged along to hear them play. We didnt know the bride or groom except the fact that it was Cary's sister and fiancee but it was still fun. I havent seen some of those guys in FOREVER so it was really good to visit and catch up. Here is a pic of the gang:

Janoah always has to be different :)

Just like the old days when I would sit and listen to jazz band and Matt's solos!

And here we are all fancied up! Matt even broke down and wore a tie for the whole evening!!!

I took a video of one of his solos but it was too dark for good quality video viewing. However, you can still listen if you want.

It was a fun night even though I didnt know the bride or groom (that was a little awkward) but I always enjoy listening to live music...especially my when hubby and friends from college are playing!

A Feast Fit For Kings and Queens!!

What a great way to return to the blogging world with a fun night of birthdays to celebrate!! Sorry for the lapse in blogging but my life has been entirely too crazy and tiring and unfortunately my blogging has taken a toll. When I come home at night, all I can bear to do is just sit and watch television or fall asleep on the couch. But alas, I have returned and with a fun event to share with you all. Tonight we had a big combo birthday party for the animals. Lucy's birthday is today, Jack's birthday that we made up for him is March 13th,ince he was a stray we dont know what it is for sure) and Charlie's is sometime in May but I forgot what it is for sure. This past week Charlie (Katie's dog) has been staying with and we had a birthday extravaganza to top off the slumber partay fun!! I fixed the dogs a gourmet casserole made of eggs, chicken, bananas and peanut butter (Lucy's favs) with a lovely dog food garnish and the kitty had his favorite, Starkist Tuna topped with seafood cat treats!!! Doesn't it look delicious?

I started putting it all together a little too early because they could harly wait for Matt to get home and were pacing around the bowls and begging until it was time to eat. Below is a our attempt to capture the excitement but I dont think it does justice.

Anyway, it has been a fun week and Lucy will be sad when Charlie has to go home. They have been playing constantly, destroying toys, digging holes, etc. until they are too tired to play anymore or we make them go to bed (whichever is first).

Animals are the best and always make me smile no matter the circumstance :)

This one is for Katie M...

As previously blogged about here, I finally covered these two ugly ottomans that I bought a year ago at the church garage sale. In the first post I just showed the before and after of the first ottoman, but by request of Katie, I attempted to take step-by-step pictures of how to cover these ottomans for the second one. Hopefully this will help those of you get an idea of what to do should you want to cover a piece of furniture as well.

Step 1:

Now for these ottomans, I chose to use decorative cording to separate the top of the ottomans from the sides. If new to sewing, I would not suggest using this stuff because it is difficult to sew and can be frustrating even if you aren't new to sewing. Instead, I would just measure the top and sides and just sew a regular seam. If you are using cording, pin all sides to the piece that will be the top of the ottoman. Carefully sew all sides together. If using a material that is not reversable, make sure you have the wrong sides facing out. If not using cording, skip to the next step.

Step 2:

Now pin the side piece to the top piece with the wrong sides out.


Step 3:

It should look something like this when completely pinned. Sew all sides together to the top piece and then pin and sew the two remaining sides together.


Step 4:

If using a dark opaque material to cover an old piece of furniture, you dont have to remove all the old upholstery. In this case, I just cut off the ugly dust ruffle and removed the legs before I started covering the ottoman.

Step 5:

If you would like to add extra padding, you have a couple of options. You have several options of padding thickness but it is always cheaper to buy the thinner padding and add several layers if desired. In this case, I used 4 1-inch layers because this thing had virtually no padding what so ever. If using several layers, you should use some kind of spray adhesive to hold them all together slightly and keep them from moving to much when you are trying to assemble everything together. Spray the adhesive on the ottoman, and then between each layer you are adding.

Step 6:

Cover everything with a thin layer of batting so that the final product looks and feels smooth on all sides. Make sure that you measure the batting to be a little longer than the ottoman on each side.

Step 7:

Use a staple gun to secure the batting to the bottom of the ottoman. Staple in one or two spots on opposite sides then finish stapling the remainder areas. You dont have to staple many places for this step because you will staple more securely when you add the cover.


Step 8:

Cut the corner pieces as shown below or tuck them into the sides. I have covered both ways before. I just pick the option that looks and feels the smoothest.

Step 9:

Slip the cover over the top and turn upside down to begin stapling. Pull the material firmly but not too firm and staple in a few areas starting in the middle of one side (if you pull the material too tightly, you will create puckers in the material). Repeat that step on the opposite side you just stapled. Next, repeat these two steps for the other two opposite sides. One you have a few areas stapled on each side, you can fill in the gaps leaving the corners unstapled for now.

Step 10:

After you have finished stapling all the sides, manipulate the corner material so that it looks somewhat like this and then staple several times for security. Sometimes you will have too much material and will have to cut some off before stapling.

Step 11:

I forgot to take a picture of the next step so this might seem confusing but for a final touch, you can tuck the extra material under itself and add some more staples to avoid future fraying. I did this for all the under sides of the ottoman.

Step 12:
Pull the material firmly but not too firm and staple in a few areas on one side.
Screw the legs back on and you are finished! I hope this wasnt too confusing. It is kind of hard to type out all the instructions but good luck!!

Well I turned 27 today...

First, thanks to Matt for being sneaky and posting Happy Birthday to me on the blog. And thanks to everyone for all the texts, messages and Facebook messages today. My phone was going crazy will all the emails and things coming in! I only realized about an hour ago that Matt had announced my bday on here today. I couldnt figure out how everyone knew it was my birthday! Duh!

Anyway, here is a little Wikipedia trivia about this day a mere 27 years ago:

Okay, well after looking just now, it seems that nothing really significant happened on March 12, 1982 other than the fact that I was born. Wikipedia mentions no historic events happening, nobody famous was born or died on my birthday, and no holidays or national observances are on this day either. And as we all know, if it isnt on Wikipedia, it must not have happened! It is the almighty internet reference!!!

I guess the earth just stood still when I was born, just kidding! Anyway, well despite the lack of trivia I was hoping to find, I did have a great birthday. Lots of people sent me birthday wishes and I have already recieved some cool gifts. Katie got me an awesome cupcake cook book. It has tons of supercute cupcake ideas so be looking for me to make some soon! My grandparents sent me a gift card for Hobby Lobby and a friend at work brought me some goodies and made brownies since I had kind of a bad day yesterday.

As we speak, Matt is making a delicious dinner for me and this whole weekend will be filled with birthday celebrations and lots of eating! Today has been a great day and thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes.

Shannon's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Shannon!!!!!

Today is Shannon's birthday, so whenever you read this shoot her an email or a text to wish her the best. I love you Shannon!



Also, here is a cool youtube video that combines lots of other videos into one. Pretty Funktacular!



Here is a link to 6 other videos like it: Thru-you

whats better than a snuggie...

...AN ELECTRIC BLANKET, DUH!!!

Matt decided to give me an early bday present tonight since it was getting so cold this evening. And from the moment he opened it and plugged it in, this is where I have been all night long! As many of you know, I often fall asleep on the couch and get a little delirious when anyone attempts to wake me up while I am sleeping. I have been known to say weird things in my sleep and sometimes not nice things and often, I dont remember saying anything that I am accused of :) . But my sweet husband just laughs at me and eventually gets me up and into bed even if I get mad at him (in my sleep of course) for waking me up. Maybe this heater blanket wasnt such a good idea for Matt. He might have is work cut out for him in the future!! If you want any hilarious stories, I am sure he has loads he would love to share with you and my sister probably has some as well.

On another note, sorry for the tardiness in posts, I have a few to catch up on from last weeks happenings. There hasnt been any good reasons for not posting, just laziness. And one more thing, Happy Birthday Rob!



So this