Miscellany Monday

1. We had a "it's not goodbye it's see you later" party for my husband this past weekend. He leaves for 7 months and it's starting to hit me. I kept saying it was fine and I wasn't upset, but am I. So don't tell him, ok?!

2. We had a blast doing a trash the dress in the snow yesterday. My aim sucks and I hit C in the area that you aren't supposed to hit in with a huge snowball. As punishment, I think I broke my shoulder. Sheesh!

I can't wait to see the photos! I'll set the scene...

Me, C, and a snowman named Bob. Love it!

3. My kitten got neutered on Friday. He had a rough weekend.

Oh Amazon, how I love you...

This week I've been tickled by the Amazon bug. Recently I got a LivingSocial email to buy a $20 Amazon.com giftcard for $10. I was hooked. I originally thought I was going to use my $20 for some books for my Kindle, but that changed when I found the items below.

Source

Unfortunately it does not come with the cat in the picture, but it looks like a blast. My kitten needs it. (And my couch does too so he will stop scratching it).

What else do I want?

THIS!

source

I'm a total cheater. I bought this as a white elephant gift for a Christmas party I went to. It didn't get picked so I grabbed it woohoo! However, the person after me had their gift stolen, so they took mine. Damn it, I was so close. Maybe now is my chance to get it.

And finally, since my hubby is a totally carnivore, I think this is only appropriate to get for him. Mind you, he said no way, but still I think it's fascinating.

source

I could spend all day on there. This can't be good. Anyone care to share what they would purchase from Amazon? I want one of everything please!

A flower a day keeps the doctor away

Ok, maybe that's not the saying per se, but close right? Anyway, I've had the crafting bug lately. I've been in a funk. My hubby is deploying and I'm desperately trying to figure out someway to fill my time. Usually I occupy myself by eating mass amounts of junk, but, since my New Year's resolution is to cut back on junk, I needed another option. Ugh.

Have you all heard of Craftaholics Anonymous? Well, she's fabulous and has provided me with a boat load of new ideas. I made arm warmers (which is another post) and was so happy with how they turned out that I went back for more. Well, with my love affair for Etsy and my fascination with headbands, I had to check out her singed flower and knee high tutorial. It was love at first sight.

source

See?! I had to make this.

Now, the tutorial says to use 100% rayon, nylon, or polyester. It also involves using fire, which my husband rightfully so, thought this was a job for him. Rather than using rayon, nylon, or polyester, I had some left over satin from my wedding that he, and I quote, "wanted to see if it would burn and/or catch fire." Men. So luckily, much to his dismay, it did not. So I can rightfully say that satin will work too! (just be careful, it did melt a little bit).

First things first, I don't know if it was the satin material or a crappy pen, or what, but I bought a disappearing ink pen to use to make my circles and it has yet to disappear. That is a sidebar. Sorry.

I cut out three circles, each relatively smaller than the other. Since I'm a newbie and suck at eyeballing, my perfectionist hubby came in handy here. I cut out three circle looking things and heard him say, "what the heck are those supposed to be?" Apparently not circles. Sigh. He is smarter than your average bear and suggested I trace three objects that are smaller than each other. Brillant my dear. Success!

I had my circles cut out and he proceeded to light the edges, which made the sides curl up and prevent fraying, which was a ok with me. Woohoo! I laid all three on top of each other and was very pleased at my flower power. Good work Megan. Next, as the tutorial stated, I attempted to heat a pin and poke a hole through the center. My husband said that was just silly and to allow him. So he popped a brad right through, without any effort. (See why I keep him around?!). I secured my brad in and my flowers were done.

Next, since I failed to read the title of the tutorial correctly and didn't have knee highs, I used stockings instead. I cut up my stockings and wrapped them around my head, because that is how I measure. I cut a piece to fit my head and sewed it together. Then, to make it look somewhat pretty, I sewed another piece over the seam to cover it.

Lastly, I attached the flower to the headband and viola!

Please disregard the blurry photo, my camera phone sucks. Also, see how perfect the circles are? Woops.

This was a lot easier than I anticipated. Even my hubby complimented it, so that made me happy! Yipee!

By the way, I'm Megan, and I'm a craftaholic.

Milspouse Friday Fill-in

1.What do you usually want to know about someone when meeting them for the first time?

I'm extremely chatty, so I want to find out everything from where they went to school, what their favorite color is, to who is their celebrity crush (mine is Brad Pitt, in case you were wondering). Anywho, on our first date I asked C which was his favorite dinosaur? I still remember to this day! :)


2.Would you rather know everything about your spouse, or be regularly surprised?

Oooo tough one. I like knowing things, but I live for surprises. Can I say both to this question? I love when C and I communicate, but I do like little surprises here and there too. Can you tell I have a hard time making decisions lol?!

3.If you could live in one city for the rest of your life, where would you live?

London. It's magical.

4.When you go out of town, what one material thing do you ALWAYS take?

My favorite sweater. It could be 3,000 degrees and I'd still have it. It's a comfort thing too.

5.Using no more than 10 nouns, and ONLY nouns, describe yourself.

Loud, silly, ecclectic, funny, emotional, stubborn, strong, happy, goofy, clumsy. I don't think they were all nouns, sorry. That's me! 



TIckle me Tuesday

What has been tickling my fancy lately you may ask? Well, I'll tell ya, it's headbands. I honestly don't know how or when I suddenly became obsessed with them, but I did.

I don't own many headbands. I think the most is three. And they are those hard plastic ones that make you have a headache after 10 minutes. However, I will find headbands on Etsy or other places and daydream about wearing them. It's not that I can't wear them, it's just that my hair is the size of another human. I worry they will get lost, look silly, or alas, I'll get a headache.

That was, until I found these headbands!



Maie Dai

If someone wants to buy me this one, I totally won't object, m'kay?! Thanks.

Just Lovely Things

Just Lovely Things

(I love this shop, in case you haven't noticed)

Hush Blush

LOVE!

I ain't afraid of no ghost!

I'm really not scared of much. I am terrified of slugs, elephants, clowns, the dark, and someone attacking me while I'm home alone in the shower. Other than that, I'm fine! Although C does say it's weird to be scared of slugs, but apparently he has never seen Slugs: The Movie. Anyway, elephants I have addressed, clowns are just terrifying in general, the dark is creepy, and the last one scares the beegeezus out of me a great deal.

C and I live in the middle of nowhere. I'm serious. While I love where we live, I also get super scared sometimes. It's really dark and that clearly frightens me, but my cat Spaz loses his s*^* if he hears anything, so that is a comforting fact as well. Anyway, the other morning I heard a noise that startled me, but didn't think too much of it. I woke up, put on my glasses, and proceeded to walk into the bathroom. Now, I normally turn the water on and let it heat up before I get in, but I had a weird feeling so I pulled back the shower curtain.....

Raven being Raven. He is so bad.

When I pulled back the shower curtain, I don't know what I was expecting to find. And, had it been a bad guy, what I would have done. I realized after the fact that the bad guy would have just been more pissed, but at least I would have seen that bama ahead of time. Also, luckily for me, it was not a bad guy. Just a bad kitten who was bound and determined to get my loofah!

I removed Raven from the shower, since obviously cats do not belong in showers. As I'm taking a shower though, he proceeded to run into the shower curtain, and make it seem like there was someone on the other side waiting to kill me like in Psycho. Of course I was scared as hell getting out of the shower, but I'm here, so no one got me. Phew.

Now a few days have passed and I have reluctantly showered, but with my eyes open for shower intruders. However, I have wised up. Rather than leaving my shower curtain pulled all the way shut during the day, I leave it open. That way the bad guys can't hide.

Except for this guy....



What's in your wallet, I mean bag?

My husband got me this bag for two reasons. One, my old green one was falling apart. For real. I had that bad boy since I was 16. And B. It was our engagement anniversary and he felt giving hehe. Anyway, it's my very first professional, grown-up purse and I love love love it. Thanks honey bunny!

Now, on to the fun stuff. I know you all are dying to see what's in my bag, right? Well, just like Ilene did yesterday I will show you what lies in the abyss. First, I have to say thanks to Ashley from A Hasty Life for putting this blog crawl together. Thanks girl!

Ok, here's what's in my bag....I am at work (if the boss asks, I didn't do this on company time!) so please excuse the ugly grey chair...And my desk is way too cluttered to spread stuff out on, but I digress.

1. Poppie Jones coin purse. This little sucker has been through a lot. It's tough and cute, like moi! :)

2. Stamps. I still to this day write handwritten letters and cards. So I need a lot of stamps. Plus the water bill was due, sigh.

3. Goody hair ties. Please note that some are missing. This isn't my fault. I have a kitten named Raven who is OBESSED with hair ties. I find at least three a day in his water bowl. So I need a 20 pack for he and I to share.

4. Wallet- holds my military ID, credit cards, debit card, work ID and what little cash I have left after the Lia Sophia jewelry party I went to last night.

5. Gum. We all know what gum is I imagine. I deal with folks on the daily so this helps.

6. Business card holder. Holds my business cards for work and for my husband's job. If you all are looking for a mechanic, I know a hot one! :)

7. A seashell. No clue. I blame the kitten....

8. Burt's Bees. This stuff is magic.

9. Dot's sunglasses. Not saying they are cheap, but they were $5. I lose sunglasses every week, so I refuse to spend a lot for them. These are big, purple, and fabulous. All three of my favorite qualities!

10. Starbucks giftcard. I teach small children. I need coffee. And lots of it.

11. More Burt's Bees. I love that stuff! This is lotion. Apparently if you like them on facebook you get a free sample. Sweet!

12. Lollipop. For when I get hungry.

This morning I had a kitten in my bag, but was unable to capture the picture, as he is quick. Also, I'm missing my keyfob for work. I think I know why he was in my bag....

Do you have any randomness in your bag? Please share! And be sure to check out what is in Christa's bag tomorrow!

This year I plan to.....

1. Learn how to cook.

I really really mean it this year. C leaves for deployment on February 7 and gets back in August. I want to be able to cook a nice meal for him without his help. All by myself. Now I usually start, get frustrated/confused/unsure what to do and either ask for help or give up. Not this year. I plan to cook him one meal a week. I'm afraid if I say month I'll slack. Oh, and the kicker? He eats meat. I don't. This is going to be interesting....

2. Pay off debt.

I hate being poor. I hate being broke. I hate bills. So, if I actively pay off my cards and not use them (gah!) I hope to make a dent with this. I am off to a good start, as I took my credit cards out of my wallet and hid them, so I will be less likely to use them for everday purchases.

3. Limit myself to a budget.

This ties in with number 2. I hope by giving myself something like $50 or so a week and only using cash I will be more likely to not spend and buy whatever the hell I feel like. I honestly think this is going to be the hardest one of all. I am a giant inconsiderate ass when it comes to money. I spend on stupid shit and I have realized that more and more lately. I looked at my receipts the other day and noticed that I buy breakfast and lunch everyday. Really Megan? So I'm going to try to eat at home and make my lunches. This will help me stay on budget and focus.

4. Do more for charity.

I give $10 a month to the ASPCA. I donate clothes, etc. to Goodwill on a monthly basis. However, this year I want to volunteer more. It's hard because I have two jobs and am in the process of obtaining a third. Even something I can do once a month I hope will make a difference.

5. Be more independent.

I love my husband. So much so that I get sad and lonely during the day when he isn't with me. I need to stop being so dependent on him. I appreciate everything he does for me and am so unbelievably grateful, but I need to be able to make decisions on my own sometimes and realize, if it's the wrong decision, it's ok. He will still love me and not be mad. I always call and say, "should I do this or this?" I need to be a big girl and pick one damn it.

My goal is to accomplish all five. Eek! I hope by focusing, buckling down, and really really trying I can do it. Wish me luck!

Miscellany Monday

1. I am scared of heights. I have jumped out of a plane, climbed to the top of the Eifell Tower, and zip lined, all in an effort to get over my fear. I have heard people say, "conquer your fear", well folks, it hasn't worked. I'm still scared. And I think I will be for the rest of my life.

2. I am scared of elephants. Terrified of them. I don't know why frankly. Well, I remember when I was little (I think 3ish) and my Grandad let me ride an elephant at the circus. I remember sobbing and, in my young age, thinking "this is a horrible idea." I think that has stuck with me. Oh, and when you are on an elephant it is HIGH. So I should add that to my list on number one as well.

3. I am scared of slugs. They give me the ibby jeebies. When I was about 6 I had to go to the hospital. Everyone left me alone, so my little 6 year self said, "woohoo, I can watch whatever TV I want, yipee!" Well, I watched Attack of the Killer Slugs. You ever see it? No? Don't. That was 23 years ago and I'm still not over it. However, I refuse to throw salt on them. I just run in fear and make the hubby move them from my path.