Door Decor

Well I have been trying to clean and tidy up most of today in addition to make one of my favorite dishes, chicken pie! YUMM! However, on my last Friday before I start work I did manage to squeeze in a quick project to dress up our drab and boring door to the apartment. My mom sent me a wooden "R" so that is was I started with. Here are all my supplies:

A wooden R spray painted white, black paint, and donut holes used on  paper.

First place as many donut holes on letter as you wish, then paint over.

Let the paint dry for a few minutes and then peel up the donut holes, I used a toothpick to carefully get underneath.

Add a little string, hand, and add a pumpkin for good measure!

A few tips:
-Be sure the stickers on the outside that are sticking off are secure, some of mine could have been better.
-Using a toothpick to get the stickers up is definitely the easiest way that I found to get them up with as little destruction as possible.

I was glad to make our door a little more home like. I will probably be doing something with the pumpkin soon- just haven't quite decided what yet!

Marvelous Monday!

Well I know it is not thankful Thursday but I am thankful for some great news today so decided it would be "Marvelous Monday" instead! I received a phone call at 7:50 this morning informing me that I was being offered the position I interviewed for on Friday. I know so many people were thinking, I didn't know anything about this! Well truth is, it all happened pretty quickly for me as well. Thursday in the midst of my painting project I got a phone call from the secretary at the elementary school here on base asking if I could come in for an interview the next day. We talked a little while and she seemed very excited for me to come in and we set up a time. I couldn't wait for Jonathan to get home from his PT test to share the wonderful news with him! Friday afternoon I met with the principal and the teacher I will be working with for a little while. She said I should hear by Monday. Little did I know, they actually tried to call Friday, about a half hour after my interview. I was a little sleepy/groggy this morning to truly appreciate it in the moment but I am truly excited for the opportunity. I will not have my very own classroom but I honestly am just so blessed to have the opportunity to get back in the school and back to doing what I love to do!!! I am just so thankful that the Lord brought this opportunity my way!

Speaking of getting back to the school I find it delightful that today is "Johnny Appleseed Day." It takes me back to the days when Mrs. Grant's wonderful hubby, I mean 'Johnny Appleseed', would come to school and tell the kids about who he was and give them each an apple and we would make homemade applesauce!! YUMMMM!! It makes me wish I had my crock pot here with me so I could make some tomorrow. If you have never made homemade applesauce- it is a MUST!! The most delicious thing and smells delightful as well!!! Happy Marvelous Monday!!!

Busy Bee

Sorry I have been away most of the week. I began my dining room wall project and was committed to finishing it. There were times when I wondered if I should be committed for even starting it! I thought I would never get done and asked myself on several occasions whether or not I was crazy and what was I thinking. I finished it last night after the Georgia bulldawgs beat the rebels!! Whoo hoo!! Anyhow, my goal was to add a little bit of creativity to the little area. About a month ago I had grabbed the container of white paint we had left from a while ago and added the little bit of brown tint we had left to it in hopes it would be dark enough to make a little bit of difference. I painted two coats on the wall and quickly concluded I had just wasted my time because only I could really tell. So I ventured back to the discount store, Poco, and grabbed two more bottles of brown paint. Then I came across an idea of using a stencil and I was hooked and knew I wanted to try it! So I darkened the paint I originally used and got to work. My first mission was to paint half the way the solid darker color:

The next step was to take my stencil and trace it with a pencil over and over and over again, all the way across the wall. After tracing that stencil numerous times I had to then paint along each of those lines that I had traced, this way the part that tries your patience (and your sanity).

Sorry it is turned, I am uploading right off the memory card!

All done!

Then I also did a couple of small fall decor projects with more to come hopefully!

This table is going to be a project soon as well!!

Tissue Anyone?

This army wife has been a little under the weather recently. The past two days I have had the sniffles and coughs. I guess I can attribute it to the change of weather. Yesterday was probably the worst because all the congestion in my sinuses was giving me a rough headache that brought back bad memories. I popped an Excedrin PM and went to bed early. I typically wait up for Jonathan to get home from work which is around 11ish. I, sadly, passed out long before that so Jonathan felt bad and let me sleep! I love that man. Not only did he not bug me last night, he wrote me a note that I read upon getting up this morning that said I could wake him up when I got up if I wanted. He knows how much I love spending time with him and usually that happens if I stay up with him after work because he sleeps late. He was thoughtful enough to tell me I could wake him if I wished. How cute is he?

Anyhow, I am feeling a little bit better upon waking up this morning. I still have a dry throat and a little lingering sniffles but I think I am on the downhill track! So here's to hoping that I continue to feel better. After all, I really want to get to using my awesome cookie cutters I got the other day in the mail!

That's right, 101 cookie cutters!!

The Sparrow's Nest

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go on a river cruise with people in our company courtesy of FRG, family readiness group. We met in Heidelberg to board the river boat, we were on the boat for a little over an hour and then arrived in a little village for lunch and some sight seeing. We grabbed lunch and gelato, yum!! Afterwards we headed towards the castles. One of the castles we passed we could not check out because it is a private residence! YES! People live in the castle, no big deal! CRAZY!

Anyhow, we ventured further to find the remained ruins of the oldest castle of the group, built in the 12th century.  There was a tower you could climb to get a better view of the river and village below. After exploring this castle Jonathan and I headed further down to the last castle while most of the group headed back towards town. The last castle was called "The Sparrow's Nest." I assume it was called this because it was the highest of them all. The steep stairs to climb to the top took me back to the old days in our apartment in Georgia where the stairs were crazy steep.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and getting to spend time with friends and meeting some new people along the way. It was definitely an enjoyable afternoon with a pretty good workout! Here are a few pictures from the day, you can find the rest in the albums if you would like to look at more.

12th century castle

This is the one people lived in.

The "Sparrow's Nest" is in the background of this picture.

On top of the world!

Beautiful!

Rocking his TOMS!

Exploring the "Sparrow's Nest"

Kisses in the castle!

A GREAT DAY!

Favorite Mexican Food?

Today is Mexican Independence Day. Contrary to what most people believe Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence day, but rather a celebration of a battle won in the fight for independence! In fact in doing a little research this past May I discovered more people in America celebrate Cinco de Mayo than people in Mexico. I found that quite entertaining. Anyhow, my family will be enjoying tacos tonight in celebration of Mexican independence.

I made my trip to the grocery store earlier today which means I am not in the mood for cooking a high-maintenance dinner. If you are feeling more adventurous or just do not want to be boring with your dinner tonight you can try this recipe for Mexican pasta I made a few weeks ago that was a hit in our house.

Creamy Mexican Chicken Pasta
-3 cups of bow-tie pasta
-1 1/2 chicken, cut into strips
-8 oz velveeta
-1 can crm of mushroom
-1 cup salsa
-1/4 cup milk
~Cook pasta. Spray large skillet with nonstick spray. Add chicken; cook and stir 4 to 5 minutes or until cooked through.
~Add pasta in saucepan along with remaining ingredients; cook on low heat until velveeta in completely melted and mixture is well blended.
~Lastly, ENJOY!!

Happy birthday also to my father-in-law, Tim!!

Hey- Where's the Cream Filling?

If you grew up anywhere close to my generation you will remember the Little Debbie commercials that reference to the title. Today is "Cream-Filled Donut" Day. Now I am not a huge fan of donuts with cream in the middle. I know, I know- I must be crazy! My hubby is a huge fan however,  so I might just walk down to the commissary and pick him up one today as a treat for when he gets home!

I figured I should probably give an update of what is going on here with the Rupard's. We have been celebrating so many birthdays lately! My father-in-law's entire family celebrates their birthdays in September. Abby and Karen have already celebrated theirs, Kaity and Pops (Tim) are this week. Kaity's is actually today! YAY! My dad's birthday is next week and we celebrated a friend's birthday here last week. It has just been birthday madness. I am hoping to get up to the post office today or tomorrow to send off our goodies to our family.

Jonathan and I out to celebrate Christina's birthday last week.

We are also keeping an ear out to hear what the plans are for us to move. We have heard we are going to be moved to Heidelberg but we are not sure when. I find this part the most frustrating of all. All the job opportunities that I will have a chance to get are in Heidelberg, so I would rather go ahead and move if that is what we are going to be doing. Unfortunately, I do not have a clue when this is going to happen which puts a huge hold on my home decorating because I do not want to decorate anymore if we are just going to be moving soon. Knowing my luck, it will be a long time though. Who knows with our blessed army!! Well that is all for now!

Goodness me, too many choices!!

Wow! When I looked up what interesting holiday I might embark on sharing with you today there were so many to choose from! First of all, today is my old college roomie, Bray's, birthday!! I am so excited for her to have her first birthday as a hot mama of a sweet lil baby boy!! I can't wait to meet that lil bundle of joy the next chance I get to come home. So if all else fails- celebrate Bray List Day!! :) I love ya roomie!!

However, if you are not acquainted with my lovely Bray, then perhaps you would like to celebrate one of the many other choices you have for this day!

Today is "Defy Superstition Day." My family jokes about this kind of thing but I know there are people out there that take it crazy serious. So walk the fence and do something you never would do otherwise if you didn't believe in superstition. I think us avid sports fans are probably the worst at this. Those of you bulldawg fans who have been disappointed thus far in the season and think you can never wear the same outfit on another game day, defy that notion- do it anyway. If we lose again, beware, the masses of fans may place the blame on you because of your defying acts; so proceed at your own risk! ;)

Today is also "Fortune Cookie Day." Now, who doesn't love a fortune cookie? I know plenty of people who do not enjoy eating the fortune cookie but I am thoroughly convinced that there is none who does not enjoy cracking the cookie open to see what message awaits them inside. I am not a believer in fortune telling, astronomy, etc by any means but this is just plain old fun! It is especially fun when your fortune is exceptionally generic: "Something good will happen to you next week." DUH!! :)

ACHOO!! Sorry the first thing I thought about with the next one was allergies! Today is "National Peanut Day." I, personally, claim no allergies to peanuts- thank goodness! I know many people are, however. I worked at a summer camp for three summers where peanut products were not allowed in lunches due to the large amount of campers allergic. As counselors, we were charged with searching their lunches for peanut products. Let me tell you, it was such a burden taking those Reese's off their hands! :) I mean of course, all of those things got thrown in the trash!!

The last one I will touch on is "Think Positive Day." I have to admit this is something that is rare in my marriage. Do not get me wrong, my husband and I are very happy and generally have a positive outlook on life. The army, however, does not subscribe to this method. We both have learned in the almost 3 years the army has been in our lives to think realistically and never get your hopes up. We try to keep our expectations low so that when something does go the way we would want it to- we can be extra thrilled!! It is an extremely twisted way of thinking, I know, but trust me it is a means of survival in this world of camouflage. I still think positive of all things NOT pertaining to the army, which is why I am choosing not to dwell on the fact that it is also happens to be "Uncle Sam Day" today- how ironic is that?!?!

Read, read, read!!

If you stopped by here yesterday you will remember I mentioned today is "Read a Book Day." This is one of those days where I REALLY wish I was a teacher and could share in this day with a class of students! Then I would have all of these out for "my kids" to read:

A tub of books in our storage room.

I love reading and that is something I thank my dad for! My dad was one of those dads that no matter what was going on would always do his best to read a book to me before bed every night. Alice in Wonderland was a favorite of ours as was Where the Sidewalk Ends. It was a night ritual I very much intend to share with my own children someday. One of my favorite things as a kindergarten teacher was all the fun books I got to read to my kids everyday! I love reading, little kid and big kid books alike! I thought I might share with you some of my all-time favorite little kid books to share with your own cuddle bugs when you get a chance!

Most of these books can be found on this website of a list of top 100 books, feel free to take a look if you would like and see if your own favorites made the list. However, here are my top ten- for now, there are bound to be books I could not think of!.

10. This Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales
    This was always a favorite of mine because it just has a bunch of silly twist of the fairy tales you here growing up. I used to love reading these to my kindergarten students when we did our unit on fairy tales. This book kind of pokes and makes fun at the fairy tales and usually gives those little darling kids a good laugh! If you have never read any of these, I hope you are able to find a copy soon!

9. Madeline
    I was always a big fan of Madeline. I even loved the cartoon tv show that used to come on. I was so enchanted by the littlest girl in the group and how she always got to such fun and neat things. I was quite a small girl, the second smallest in my grade most of elementary school, so there was a slightly empowering message in these stories. I thought if Madeline can do it, then so can I. Plus, it is really cool because she lives in Paris! :)

8. Miss Nelson is Missing
    I loved this book so much as a kid and even more so as a teacher. I love all the Nelson books! They are just fun stories to read to the students. It is fun to watch as some of the kids figure out what happened in the story with the mysterious sub who made the students BEG to have their Miss Nelson back! It might even give your own students a little push to behave better! :)

7. Pinkalicious
    This is a recent book and therefore a recent favorite. I ordered this book from Scholastic my first year of teaching. I mainly ordered this book because we do colors at the beginning of the year in kindergarten and I thought this looked like a cute book to read for pink day. This book is very cute and an instant favorite with both classes I taught. I literally had to periodically pull this book out of the kids library in our room for fear it would get torn up. Just in case you were wondering- even the boys liked this story all about things pink. By the way there is also now a Purplicious!

6. The Kissing Hand
    This is another one of those books I was not familiar with until I started teaching. This is a book we read on the first day of school. For you mothers out there with babies going away to school for the first time- this book is a must. This story is all about a little raccoon who is scared to go to school and his mother has a very special way of reminding her little one how much she loves him. Be careful, you might need to have tissues near by.

5. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
    This was another favorite as a kid and as a teacher. I always enjoyed reading this book during our fairytale studies and having the students talk about what they think really happened and which version of the story the liked better. It was always a lot of fun to act out the original story as well as this one. The kids also enjoyed reading along with this book. The parts that happened over and over again, we would read together and they would get really into it.

4. Love You Forever
    This is another book that had stood the test of time and I think a lot of people would consider to be on their top book list. It is such a sweet story of a mother's love and how that love is returned as the child grows up. This is another one I think everyone should read and possibly have tissues for- just in case! ;)

3. Oh, the Places You'll Go
    This book is a favorite because it can be so meaningful. I would read this to my students at the end of the year. I love that this book encourages you to be whoever you want to be. I saw on pinterest where someone bought this book for their child and had every teacher they ever had kindergarten-twelfth grade sign it for them  and gave it to them as a graduation gift. I thought that was so sweet!

2. Amazing Grace
    This book has always been a favorite. It is a powerful story that no matter who you, one can achieve anything that they put their mind to. This is a wonderful story of a little girl who desires to be Peter Pan in her class play and people keep telling her she can't because she's not a boy or because she's not white. The only person who believes in Grace is her sweet grandmother who reminds her she can be anything and anyone she wants to be.

 1. The Giving Tree
     This is my all time favorite kids book. I love how this story shows love and its ultimate gift, sacrifice. The tree has such a great amount of love for this boy that he will give and give and give until he can give nothing more. It always saddens me that he had such a great love and the boy left him. I am reminded how great is the love of my Father in heaven and how often does He show me that only to find I am paying Him no attention. This book always gives me a wake up call.

Well, there you go- those are my top ten. So find one of these, or one of your own favorites and curl up with your favorite cuddle buddy. My cuddle buddy, my sweet little Cash, and I will be reading in bed before night waiting on daddy to get home! Hope you have a wonderful day of reading!

Oh the Joy!

Labor Day was always one of those ironic holidays to me. Labor means to work the last time I checked and Labor Day is a day most of us have off from work. Hmm? Interesting! I think we should change it to Rest Day! :) Anyhow, Jonathan unfortunately is not one of the many who could celebrate rest day, he actually is laboring! Lucky for him today also happens to be "Be late for something day." I think this work outs perfectly. He can just be late for celebrating it!! Great right!!

I have been faithfully slacking on my blog, but that is not really new news. New news would be if I updated more than one or two times a week! Well, thankfully I have been busy with little projects around the house. I am slowly making our house feel more and more like home and coming into my own a homemaker! I really enjoy finding new and great ideas and being able to shape and form in my head how I would like things to be. The vast majority of these ideas have come from this lovely website! I promised my sister that I would blog about my little projects!

These are the frames I did.

An old shelf I found on the curb, repainted!

Quick and easy dry erase boards!

Wooden letters wrapped in yarn...took forever!

Finished product to go over our bed.

I have been having a lot of fun beautifying our home! I am not through, just have to go slowly (not made of money). Some projects are looking like they are going to be harder than originally thought, since I can't find the materials to do them here in Germany. I have heard there is a larger craft store on a base about 45 minutes away that I hope to check out soon. My friend and I have vowed to have DIY days at least once a month to get together and work on a project together. In the meantime I am just enjoying my daily life with my hubby. I hope to update again soon.

By the way tomorrow is "Read a book day." So pick a favorite and read it with your kids and tell them why it is a favorite. Maybe if I am not too lazy I will share some of my favorites with you tomorrow!

~Emily