Tricks or Treats

Well, I cannot believe that it is the last day of October.  These last few months have flown by.  I have been very busy this last week, which is why I haven’t been able to write a new blog post.  But, better late than never.

I can hardly remember what I did this week.  I know I have already had two migraines, so hopefully that will be all for the week.

Tonight Adam and I are going to be continuing our Halloween Movie Tradition and will be watching Night of the Living Dead.  I am looking forward to it, there will be a review of the movie posted in the next couple days.  We will also be going to walmart to get some items to finish off our Halloween costumes, which we won’t be wearing today, but to a party on Saturday.  No, I can’t tell you what we are going as, it’s a surprise.  I’ll make sure to get a picture for you.  And another exciting thing we are doing tonight, someone wants to look at our car, so pray that he wants to buy it, because that would be amazing!

Tomorrow kicks off my first day of the National Novel Writers Month.  I am super excited about this, and I hope that I finish my novel!

Tomorrow also means that I have only 2 more months to meet my goal of 200 books read this year.  Only 30 more to go!  Think I can do it??

I hope you all have a fun Halloween.  And a good rest of the week.  It’s almost the weekend.  And just to put it in perspective, it’s also:

5 days until my family gets here for my sister’s Junior recital, I’m so excited to see them!
22 days until Catching Fire comes out in theaters
28 days until Thanksgiving
55 days until Christmas!

Can you believe it?!

Hollywood Halloween

Downton Roller Coaster

These people have people have become some of my best friends.  I laugh with them, I cry with them, and now I wait for their return.  Two weeks ago today I started on my end of the bargain with my mother.  My mother and father agreed to watch the Harry Potter movies if I would watch Downton Abbey.  Two weeks ago tonight I watched the first two episodes and there was no turning back.  Before putting in the first disc, I was determined that I would find the show boring and that I would not like it.  This could be because my mother likes it so much, and I was bound and determined not to.  But, I’m a sucker for drama and that is exactly what this show is full of.  Tonight I finished the last two episodes of season 3.  Yes, I have watched 3 seasons, a total of 25 episodes in the last two weeks.  I have been on an emotional roller coaster.  Last weekend Amanda and I sat together and watched an episode and I bawled my eyes out.  When I watch this show I experience the full range of my emotions.  I love this show, and now I am eagerly awaiting its return in January.  It can’t get here soon enough.  If you have not yet watched this show, please do.  I highly recommend it.
Thank you mother for making a deal with me to watch this show, but you must know, you have created a monster.

we could be stranded

Yesterday I took the car to a wonderful mechanic–Ponder’s Auto in Johnson City.  If you ever need your car looked at or work done on it, I highly recommend them.  They are very nice, kind, professional, and the tell you the truth, even if it is hard to hear, like it was for me yesterday.

We had a turn signal out and our back windows would not stay up, so our backseat kept getting rained on.  So I took the car in and asked them to fix those two things but to also look over the car and see if there are any safety concerns or things I needed to be aware of.  Our car is pretty old and we knew it was probably running out of steam.  It is a 2000 Buick Regal with over 230,000 miles on it.  We knew it could start getting bad, but we were not ready for the bad news.

We have a radiator leak, which means the radiator needs to be replaced and the thermostat.  Our power steering needs to be replaced, and we have a bad oxygen sensor that needs to be replaced.  All of those repairs are about $1000.  And we also need 4 new tires, which is another 4-500 dollars.  The blue book value of our car is $1500.  So if we made all those necessary changes we would be paying the value of the car.  So we knew then that we would probably have to look at selling it.

When I picked up the car I asked the question I really didn’t want the answer to.  How important/necessary are these changes, and in what timeframe.  Basically, if we are going to keep this car for even 3 months the radiator needs to be replaced.  And when I asked about driving it for Christmas traveling they told me that it wouldn’t be safe to even drive it to Kentucky.

Now, we are in a hard place.  We need to sell our car and buy something new.  We have not been bad with money but we haven’t been able to put aside very much for a car.  So needless to say, after that news, my evening was full of stress.  I was thinking of everything I could possibly sell, and every scenario I could think of.  So please pray for us as we try to sell this car and figure out what to do.  It is a stressful time, but I am trying to remind myself every minute that God will take care of us and he will provide.  So keep me in mind if you know of someone selling a good car, relatively cheap, because we could sure use it.

Migraine Update

I think there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.

I have been dealing with frequent migraines for almost 2 months now, and I am definitely tired of it.  I have been looking for answers everywhere.  My most recent try was the chiropractor, and I finally received some good news.

The chiropractor says that there are things wrong with my back, that can be fixed, that could be contributing to migraines.  Of course he can’t guarantee that it’s the only thing making me have migraines, but it’s at least something.  I am very hopeful that I will start getting some relief soon!

Crafts!

Here is the craft post that I have been promising.  Hopefully you will not be disappointed.  These are the projects that I have finished recently.

Just some canvas art to brighten up a lonely wall

I love making art for the walls, but I am quickly running out of room!  This canvas poster is on one of the last blank walls in our apartment!

Things I Love poster.

I saw this idea on Pinterest and loved it!  It was so fun to think of all the things I loved and to make this canvas poster.

And just in time for Halloween:

Monster Wreath!

This wreath is probably one of my favorite things that I have made recently.  I just love it!  It turned out exactly how I was hoping!

 

Some of my friends and I will be having a craft night next week and I’m so excited to work on another project!  I’m going to be looking for inspiration all this week.  I cannot wait!

I hope you enjoyed a long overdue look at my crafts 🙂

 

By the Numbers

I know that I haven’t written a post in a while, but it is not because I’m lazy.  It’s because I am busy and plagued with migraines.  Here’s my life update, in some numbers.

3 the number of crafts I have done that I can’t wait to show you–planning to take pictures and post tomorrow, or late tonight.
4 the number of books sitting at home waiting to be read
6 the number of movies sitting at home waiting to be watched
1/2 I am halfway through Downton Abbey Season 3
22 the number of items on my grocery list for today
2 the number of migraines I had this weekend
4:30 the time of my chiropractor appointment today (hoping to get some answers)
10 the number of oreos I want to eat right now!

My Favorite Color

My favorite color is blue.  It always has been it probably always will.  I like to wear blue because I think it looks good on me.  I have only had a blue room once.  And that is when I got to pick my own color.  It was blue, with pink polka dots.  Yeah, it was pretty awesome.  To me, blue is happy and calm.  This is my favorite shade of blue:

Isn’t it beautiful?  And it just works out that my favorite basketball team is blue (The Kentucky Wildcats).  I just love the color blue.  It is my favorite.
What is your favorite color?

7 on the shelf

I currently have 7 movies from my new list to watch, along with Season 2 of Downton Abbey, and Pretty Little Liars on Netflix.  How is one to choose?  I think tonight I’m going to watch a movie because I have been watching Downton the past two nights.  Which on should I start with?

Wild Weekend

Friday
I was looking forward to a peaceful evening of work at the Thompson Center, and that’s what I got.  There was an event happening, so I did some helping with that, but otherwise it was a nice, quiet evening.  I balanced the checkbook and watched some Downton Abbey and some Pretty Little Liars.  I convinced my parents to watch the Harry Potter movies because I really thought they would enjoy them.  My mother agreed to watch them, only if I would watch Downton Abbey.  I didn’t think I would like it, but after one episode I was hooked.  I only have half an episode left until I’m done with the first season.  After work, I went home, watched the new episode of What Not to Wear (I can’t believe that this Friday is the last episode ever!!) and then Adam, Tommy, Amanda and I went to Applebees to redeem an after midnight coupon and get a late night snack.  Yum!

Saturday
Saturday morning I slept in, until 8:30, and started watching a movie from my list, Quiz Show.  It is about a quiz show scandal.  Contestants were getting the answers to the questions ahead of time so the station could keep the ratings up.  This movie was directed by Robert Redford, whom I love, and has some very talented actors in it.  Then, I got ready and went to lunch with some ladies from my church.  It was a fun time 🙂  After lunch, I came home and finished my movie.  Then Adam and I went to the library and each came home with stacks of books.  His for a paper, and mine for fun.  (I decided to increase my goal to 200, so now I’ve got to get a move on).  Amanda came over for pizza, because we fed her over fall break, and then Adam went to a bible study while I watched Downton Abbey.  When Adam got home we watched Shutter Island, and it was amazing!  We definitely did not see the end coming.  It was great.  And then we went to bed.

Sunday
In the morning, we went to church, got lunch at Cookout, and then went home and took a nap.  Then Amanda and I went and got some pumpkins to carve.  It’s kind of a tradition for us now.  We had a lot of fun!  Then we went to night church, and hung out the rest of the evening and watched Halloween Wars, our favorite October show!

Amanda found dirt on her pumpkin

Yuck!

What my pumpkin was supposed to look like.

Amanda’s pumpkin to promote her recital

How my pumpkin turned out: I had big chunks come off so it turned out pretty bad.

As you can see, it was a pretty great weekend!