It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Black Friday shopping was very intense this year. The only thing I really needed was a bunch of fleece jackets for all of Rip's younger cousins. I lucked out because Old Navy had them for $5. The only problem was that they opened at midnight. So mom and I decided to just stay up and head there around 12. We figured we'd go to Old Navy and then Belk. Then we'd head home and rest for an hour or two and go back out around 4....Um that is not what happened.

When we got to Old Navy at around 12:05, there was a line around the outside of the store, a bouncer letting people in, and the line inside was already to the back of the store. My sweet mom went and got in line immediately, while I searched the store. There were soooo many people and the store was such a mess from people just dropping the stuff they didn't want. We finally left the store after 2 hours of waiting in line, but I did save almost $200! :) My poor mom ended up only getting one pair of pajamas for herself. PLUS she got stuck in the slowest line ever! Because we tried different lines to see which one was faster and she got stuck in her line! Yuck!

After Old Navy, we walked around the outlet for a short line and then headed to the mall. These were my favorite mall find, and I really hope Santa remembers them! 

Adult footed pajamas...love the fox and shark feet

I'm sure my mom is laughing at this because after I took pictures and laughed about them, I bet she went back to the store and bought a pair. Haha! 

Overall, it was a great shopping day. We got just about everything that we planned to get. We returned home at 11 the next morning, and I slept for a few hours before getting back up. 

We started putting our Christmas decorations up the next day. Of course, most people were watching a little football game that day...but Stacy and Jay were visiting so we decided it was the perfect time to decorate. The two of us got a fresh tree, tied it to the car, and made several trips to Walmart for more lights and decorations. You will not believe how short the lines are during the Carolina-Clemson game! Hahaha! The husbands laughed at us but it kept us busy and out of their way throughout the game.

We found this at Walmart, and I wondered if we're expected to use this type of wrapping paper now that we've moved to Oburg....Yes, you're correct. That is camo wrapping paper in natural and pink. It also comes with green bows to match as well as the orange safety color. 

Seriously?!

Anyways, we got the tree up, and Stacy spread some Christmas cheer around the house as well.

The yard is definitely in need of a little tlc...

I like the doorway, but this is definitely not the picture I had in my mind. Next year, I'll definitely be beefing it up with actual garland and lights. Plus half of it fell off after a strong rain. So I ended up taking down the red and white and leaving just the trees. I also added several bright red poinsettias on the steps and that color really helps it pop more. Our tree does look really pretty through the front window!

These hung from my curtains on either side of the fireplace last year, but they looked great on the french doors in our dining room.

Yes, it's true...

Definitely the worst blogger ever!!
Ok, I really will try to get a little better at this!
Things have been super busy with school and with monogramming...Here's a peak at some of what I have been up to that's keeping me away as well as some things that I forgot to post last time!

So proud of the hubby and his friends! They finished their first Mud Run in October. So much fun to watch them...I'm not so sure that I'll be joining them next year though!

 Pre-race...getting pumped up in the car

Swimming through the mud/quicksand!

Way to go guys!

The next day, we drove to Sumter and rescued this precious baby!!! Her name is Charlie...we had to go with another confusing name...everyone thinks Sidney is a girl (until they see the other side of him of course!), so we figured we'd continue to confuse people with Charlie! We think she is a boxer-mix, so we'll see what she turns out like! :) When we got her, she was about 5-6 weeks old and only weighed 3 pounds! She was full of worms and walked around like a zombie. 

Here she is with her sisters.

The first night, she whined and cried the ENTIRE night. For the next month or so, she whined repeatedly throughout the night for an hour or so at a time. Be proud of us though! We stood our ground and kept her in the crate. She is finally sleeping through the night!!!! YAY!

Sorry it's a stolen instagram picture, BUT I love that you can see the size difference! At this point, he was very curious about her but had no idea what was coming! :)

Whew! Sharp teeth!

The last time we weighed her, she was up to 11 pounds. So our new baby is growing quickly and loves to play with her brother Sid. Sid is finally getting used to her, and now that she's gotten a little bigger, they're having fun playing together.

I love this picture of them sleeping together! This is one of Sid's first beds! It is torn to bits and looks awful! But they love to snuggle in it while I'm sewing 

She won't be sleeping in my lap much longer :(

Big girl!!

Mom and I visited another tea room. This is the one in Ridgeway, SC called Laura's Tea Room. I took my mom here last year for a BIG BIRTHDAY! :) Then we saw there was a groupon and decided to go back.

Why not be a little ridiculous sometimes?! :)

Sooo good! Pumpkin coffee soup and raspberry white chocolate scone

And our tray of sandwiches and desserts

And of course we had to have a picture with the queen...haha! Why not?

It's been a great month or two of junking! And some of this stuff is not even junk!!

I finally finished my upcycled chalkboard. This started as an off-white plastic mirror at Goodwill. I saw the shape and was sooo thrilled with it! I hoped for something a little nicer than plastic, but it is a thick plastic with some great details. Now, I love it! It's the perfect pop of pink in my yellow sewing room!

 This wicker chair came from Habitat Restore. I'll be redoing it to add an extra seat to my sewing room. I got a great funky hot pink fabric to make a cushion out of. Plus it was on sale!!!!

These also came from the Restore. An ugly basket and frames. Total cost about $2.

I'll be spray painting the basket for my kitchen counter. The frames will be spray painted and will stay mirrors or become picture frames. What a cute little cluster!

This piece came from the thrift store down the street. It started a super shiny black, so I've been working to sand some of the paint off. I think this will be perfect next to Rip's side of the couch in a funky color for our living room. I hope it's solve the problem of what to do with all of his magazines and will provide a better spot than spread across the coffee table.

This awesome funky chair came from Rip's late great aunt's home. We were invited to come over and take anything that we thought we could use.  I'll be redoing this and adding it to my mismatched dining room set. I LOVE the back of this. How unique! (And free!)

This old sewing machine also came free. I want to clean it up and display it in my sewing room. Right now, my sewing room is a super pretty yellow, but I want to incorporate more hot pink and black. So this will help, along with my pink chalk board and my mini frames.

We also found this at his great aunt's...not really my style, but it's a ton of pieces of my mom's everyday china! She's broken several pieces over the years, so I was glad to find this and share it with her.

The last thing we discovered at the house was a stack of old windows in the barn. I brought several home and will be fixing them up as Christmas gifts for friends or to sell. :)

We've also gotten 3 new beds! 2 bed frames and a few small pieces of furniture came from Rip's aunt and cousin as they moved into a new place. We had been thinking about buying a bed to add a guest room in our room upstairs I also wanted to fix up the bed in our current guest room downstairs. After getting the 2 new beds, I found a great headboard at Goodwill for a steal. The shape of all 3 headboards is great! I cannot wait to add a fresh coat of paint and set up our 2 guest rooms for all our friends! I'm trying to decide what to do with the leftover headboard...maybe a bench for our side porch?...

Plus 2 fun picture frames to redo. One for $5 and one for free!

Whew!!! It's going to be a very busy spring with all of these redo projects as well as a few rooms that I'm ready to paint in the house! I can't wait! 

Finally, I've also had a bunch of sewing to do! It's great to stay busy :) Here's a peak at some of my recent projects.

Baby gifts for some of my favorite little ones! 

I love how these cushions turned out! I made them from start to finish and am pretty proud of the final product! The covers have a zipper so you can remove them and wash them.

A great tree skirt monogram!

And I am loving this nursery set. I made some seersucker curtains and a matching quilt for baby Mattis. I can't wait to see how his beautiful nursery turns out.

A sweet angel for a sweet little angel :)

These lovies are always a great gift.

And a cutesy blanket as a gift.

Whew! I've got to stop now and actually be productive! We took Christmas pictures and I have got to go ahead and order my cards. I'll post my Christmas pictures, decorations, and all the Christmas projects that I've worked on recently later this week.

Love you all! Thank you for sticking with me even if I'm not always on here!