I am a shopaholic.

There, I said it.

Whew, that's a weight off the shoulders.

But seriously, I love to shop. I don't mean love in the way I love Starbucks or Francine Rivers books. I mean LOVE in the way that I want to do it all the time. I crave it. It excites me. Online, in stores, garage sales, flea markets, Ebay, and on and on and on! I could do it EVERY SINGLE DAY! And I'm not exaggerating. But I don't JUST like to shop. If I just liked to shop, we wouldn't have a problem. The problem is, I also like to BUY. In fact, I don't even like going shopping if I don't have something I'm looking for to buy.
Buying things, in and of itself, is not a problem. However, buying things you don't need, just because you feel the need to buy something, anything, is a big NO NO! And yet, I do it. Well, did it. No, do it. I've curbed the habit a LOT in the last few years. My self control has been forced to grow as I'm learning to budget for a whole household and not just a single college girl living in dorms. Despite that I still find myself waking up in the morning and thinking to myself, hmmm, it sure would be fun to go shopping today....what do I need..... and then I slap myself across the face (figuratively).
I found myself in Walgreen's yesterday, yes, Walgreen's, the lamest store on the planet, waiting for a prescription to be filled browsing the aisles to see what else I needed. And truth be told, if it weren't for the fact that I only took inside my flex insurance card, I probably would have ended up with 5 or 6 items. And I would have justified it by saying "ooh, this would look nice on my dining room buffet that I plan to have in the next 5-7 years, ohhh Benton would LOVE this for his 17th birthday, surely one of my friends will be getting married in the next few years that would love his and hers Snuggies" See what I mean? Its a sickness. His and hers Snuggies, really???? Come on, Andrea!
Okay, you caught me, I didn't really almost buy those, but I wouldn't put it past me.
So, I'm going in to start my own BA club (buyers anonymous. Although its not really anonymous because I just told you, I'm the buyer.) The only rule for my club is that members must keep track of all EXTRA things they buy (not groceries, underwear, shampoo, just extra things like bookends, snuggies, and that 68th bottle of nail polish we buy because we just don't have THAT shade of red.) Then, at the end of the month you have to look at your list of all the things you bought and ask yourself if you really needed them (just to give yourself a reality check). The next month, your goal is to cut the number of items down by two. Keep cutting and within...a lot of months...maybe your list will be 0!
So, who wants to join my club? It will be lots of fun...we can hold our meetings at the mall. Ahem, I mean at the library. LOL.
No, but really, I think I am going to give this a try, I'll let you know how it goes. Feel free to join me!

Love is in the air

I had an incredible revelation yesterday.
Yesterday was by far the best Valentine's day I've EVER had! And I've had some good ones! I remember the first Valentine's that Chris and I were dating, the year that we were engaged, our first one as a married couple (which, was probably one of the hardest ones), the year that we were expecting Benton, last year (rather uneventful with a baby, we MAYBE went out to eat). And of course there were many Valentine's days before Chris came into my world, but honestly, how good can that day be when you aren't with the love of your life??
Maybe it's because our love has grown so much over the last year, or maybe its because we are such different people than we have been in years past, but something about this year was extra special. I can't say it was the gifts or the cards, we didn't really exchange gifts. I can't say it was the fancy dinner: we had a combination of home cooked and take out Chinese. I think it was just having a whole entire day to spend as a family with no goal other than loving on each other.
The night before V-day I was asking all my co-workers if they were excited, and most of them rolled their eyes at me. One even made a comment along the lines of "How can I be excited about a holiday that requires me to give diamonds as a gift just to keep my girl happy."
So here it is, the revelation: Valentines is an amazing holiday, sans gifts, sans fancy restaurants, even (dun dun dun) sans chocolate (large gasp). Its a holiday to just be reminded and remind those around you that you are already giving (and getting) the greatest gift you have: LOVE. Don't say to me "Andrea you are being cliche". This is the first year I haven't gotten roses or chocolates or some sort of jewelry and it was, still, the best Valentines ever. EVER!
Thank you, God for reminding me what's real this year. And thank you even more for the amazing blessing you have given my, a heart full of love and a family to share it with.

So, since I took them, I guess I might as well go ahead and share a few photos from the day yesterday

Cookies I made for Benton's party at daycare

My little show-off, so proud of the crown he made at daycare!

Benton's classmates. How cute are they?

Dinner...yum! Crab rangoons, wonton egg drop soup, lo mein and general tsaos chicken. I made some of it, but have yet to master crab rangoons and lo mein, so we picked some of it up from our favorite takeout place too.

Chowin down on his crab rangoons...I think he likes them as much as Chris and I do!

Valentine's box tutorial

I don't know if you can really even call this post a "tutorial" since it was SO easy. Maybe more like a "step by step" guide? Or is that the same thing? Either way, I just fnished making Benton's valentine box for school and, I must say, I'm pretty sure he's going to have the CUTEST one there.  I was just going to buy one at Target but, have you seen those things? I was not about to pay $7 bucks for a tacky cardboard box plastered with pictures of Spongebob Squarepants, I'm just not. So, I made my own. I didn't make this one too Valentines-y so that after his party I can use it for something else, like cut a hole in the top for a piggy bank or just fill it with keepsakes. I haven't yet, but I'm going to use some of the extra red paint to put a handprint on the bottom and write "Valentines 2011" so that I'll remember what year I made it. Here's how I did it:

What you need:

Cardboard mailbox (available at your local Hobby Lobby for only $2.99)

Acrylic paint (I used silver and dark red)

Paintbrushes (at least 3 small cheapo ones)

Scrapbooking stickers (or any stickers I suppose, but the scrapbooking section has a huge selecton of really cute ones in just about any theme)

Small bottle Mod Podge (Get the one that dries glossy, not matte)

Paint the mailbox and flag with a few coats of acrylic paint, allowing 15 or so minutes to dry between each coat. I put a piece of paper between the flag and mailbox while painting the flag so I wouldn't get any red on the silver.

Next add your stickers. I used more 3-demensional stickers for the letters of Benton's name and the other stickers were in all in a single pack of sticker borders. (Of course, they had to be trains)

Finally, coat with a layer of Mod Podge. I put a little beneath some of the stickers that seemed like they wanted to come up, and made it extra thick around the letters as well...this gives it a nice shiny overcoat as well as cements everything in place. Put a layer on the flag too so that it has the same glossy appearance.

The finished product:

Side and back view

Front and other side view

Lastly, fill with customized Valentines cards and send to school! (Sorry they are a little blurry. I am no photographer and couldn't figure out how to get the front and inside in the same picture without something being blurry)

Ode to Chris

In honor of my wonderful husband's 26th birthday today, I've come up with 26 reasons I think he's the greatest man I've ever met...in my LIFE!

1. He makes me smile every single day.
2. He eats my cooking, even when it's not very good.
3. He has a beautiful smile (when he keeps his silly mustache shaven so I can see it :) )
4. He loves Benton as much as I do.
5. He likes my friends, and I like his.
6. When he looses bets, he keeps up his end of the bargin (Can we say 'no cleaning the bathroom or vacuuming for me for a while month,' LUUURVE IT!)
7. He works hard for the things he wants.
8. He teaches me things about myself.
9. He's a bit of a hopeless romantic, just like me.
10. He makes homemade bread (FROM SCRATCH!)...how many of you can say that about your husbands???
11. He loves God, a lot.
12. He makes sure things are done EXACTLY right when following directions, and as a result the things he builds for us are very sturdy.
13. He doesn't make me watch action movies (or any other lame boy movies)
14. He's (sometimes a little over-) protective of me.
15. He shovels other peoples driveways even when the weather is freezing and we want him to come inside and drink hot cocoa with us.
16. He LOVES to dance!
17. He has a pretty great family...which gives me an even bigger pretty great family.
18. He has never once forgotten to kiss me goodnight.
19. He puts up with my mood swings, my music, my chick flicks, and my shopping sprees.
20. He has a huge heart for every living thing.
21. He likes the JAYHAWKS!
22. He's actually a really good cook, when he wants to be!
23. He listens to me.
24. He likes jigsaw puzzles.
25. He's cute :)
26. He loves me for me, despite all my flaws and imperfections. And I love him for him.
Next time you see him, give him a "Happy Birthday" hug, cause I think he's pretty awesome and deserves it :)

Tax season

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE tax season. Every year I get that W..something in the mail and start planning what I'm going to buy with the big return that year. This year was no different. I filled out one of those tax estimators online and imagine my disappointment when the dumb thing told me I was going to OWE $800. Big bummer. I took all my tax docs to my wonderful mother, who made me promise I wouldn't let it ruin my weekend if we got bad news, and she worked them up for me right there on the spot. And guess what? We are once again getting close to $2000 back! So, in true form, I've already started planning all the things I want to do with that  $2000 (which I'm sure will go faster than I want it to.)
Here are a few things on my list:


Buy all the goodies I need for Benton's 2nd Birthday party, including some of these custom decorations from  WH Hostess. Also, buy the train tickets, cake, and put our deposit on the cabin in Branson for his birthday weekend.


Redecorate Bentons room with, you guessed it, trains! He is SO in love with Thomas and all things trains right now, I can't help myself! Also, its time for some  new furniture including a big bed since he keeps climbing out of his crib, oy vey!





And maybe set some money aside for a new one of these tables to put on those new floors we worked so hard on all summer!