Sewing Triumph!

Well, I've been working on this blanket for several months now, and I'm finally finished. I meant the embroidery to be practice only, but they turned out so well that I decided to make them part of a blanket. Looks pretty good, I'd say. Now, if I only knew what to do with it!

Surprise, surprise, surprise

Well, it's no secret that I married a good man. :-)
Recently, I had the opportunity to try some homemade ice cream- yep, 32 and I had never had homemade ice cream. Sad. So last night, Ken surprised me with my own ice cream maker - so I could make my own.

Let me tell you the story......

After work and a dinner date at Trudy's, we were on our way to Best Buy to look at some CDs that Ken wanted to buy. On the way, we saw the Crate & Barrel store; many of you know how much I love that store above any other. Ken decided that he wanted to go there instead. I looked at him funny, and even checked to see if he had a temperature. Willingly going to C&B instead of Best Buy? What had gotten into my man? So that was surprise #1.
We wandered around and I was in heaven. I pointed out the ice cream maker that I had seen there and wanted, figuring that I'd give him a little hint about a Christmas gift it wouldn't hurt my feelings to receive.
I was having such a good time checking out all the furniture, that I didn't even notice when Ken disappeared. Well, I did notice, but I thought he'd gone to the bathroom. He found me a little while later and said he'd been looking for me everywhere and then that he had to find the bathroom. Confused, because I thought that's where he had been, I pointed it out to him and wandered off to look at a chair I now just have to have. Guess he just got bored, I thought, trying not to linger too long. So we checked out and Ken bought the little tea accessories I just had to have (surprise #2).
It would have been the perfect night and the perfect date, if we'd ended it there, but it got better.
We started talking about RV's and camping. Ken mentioned camping in the truck so I turned around to assess the space and there, like a shining beacon of love, sat a gigantic C&B bag (how I missed it before, I'll never know). What's that? I asked. I'll give you 3 guesses and if you don't get it right, I'll take it back, he replied. It was my ice cream maker (I got it on the first try!) - surprise #3!!!
Apparently, he had concocted the whole scheme at dinner. He hadn't even planned to go to Best Buy, he just wanted an excuse to be near C&B. Also, he had planned an entirely different scenario to surprise me with my new toy. But as our family motto says, "no good story starts out with 'everything went according to plan.'"
I really do have the perfect man!! (no surprise there!)

I just can't help it

Ken took these pictures of Thor this week and I just have to share. I like to think that he's sad because he's missing me. My boy is so cute.

Woodworking is best left to professionals

Krista and I decided that it would be fun to try and turn an old bookcase into an entertainment center. And honestly, if I had known what we were getting ourselves into, we would not have started the project. (I think that's why they say that ignorance is bliss!)

Despite initial appearances, the bookcase doesn't have any right angles on it. It DOES however have six coats of paint, which it turns out lend it all of its strength! Also, we had to replace the backing since after we carefully removed the back and removed each and every nail individually, the backing snapped in two. A 2x6 to provide center support for the TV, some trim and molding, and 137 coats of paint later... it actually turned out pretty good.

See what you think: