A Room that Gives You a Hug

After owning the Ozark Inn for nearly six months, two significant events finally happened. We painted and had our first guests! The nice thing was those went hand in hand. It certainly goes a lot faster when your guests pay their bill via painting.
We were thrilled to welcome Nate's parents and sister and bestow the honor of being the inaugural guests upon them. They were welcomed with Andes Mints on their pillows and towel animals on their beds. Ok, I made up the towel part, but they did get mints. We were pleased to offer Stan and Lisa our newest sleeping accommodations with a brand new air mattress bought on Black Friday. They slept in the Doctor Seuss Suite so they could dream of future grandchildren. Kaley was lucky enough to take her rest in the Dwight Shrute Chamber where she learned that "chamber" implies drafty, cold, but still lovely! (Don't let this deter you from visiting, we're working out the kinks as we hope to be booked frequently this year.)
We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas! We felt pretty spoiled and loved and were so grateful to be together for the holidays. Highlights of the holidays included making and eating delicious food, watching cheesy Christmas movies (ie. A Boyfriend for Christmas!), hitting all the Christmas sales, playing Just Dance on the wii (Yes, there are pictures and video; No, I will NOT be sharing these on my blog), playing Uno Roboto several nights in a row, and feasting on fondue for New Year's Eve, to name a few.
As I mentioned before, the Inn got a face lift too. We painted our family room and guest bathroom. Both look great which is surprising considering Mr. Grumpy at Lowe's didn't listen to me, treated me like I was stupid and was causing him such an inconvenience to mix my paint, and then proceeded to mix the wrong color! We didn't realize it was wrong until we got it on the wall and saw that it didn't match the sample we had already painted. While it wasn't the color we wanted, it actually turned out pretty nice. Good thing too, or I would have gone back and given Mr. Grumpy a piece of my mind! The new color in the family room is so warm it almost feels like you're getting a hug from a teddy bear! Much more inviting then boring white walls.

Here's the finished result. Sorry the clutter is detracting from the teddy bear hug feeling!

The bathroom was hard to photograph without a wide angle lens, but this gives you an idea of the color at least.

In other news, my organ playing is improving.....I think. At least if I base that on the bishopric's responses. The first month I played, I received a thumbs up sign as well as these encouraging words: "We're all rooting for you!" "Don't worry, you can't make any mistake that hasn't been made before." Then I was given a key to the church so I could come and practice. The second month: "That practicing sure is helping!" The third month: absolutely no comment. I take this as a sign that I didn't suck so bad that they felt the need to cheer me up but not good enough that they could justify a genuine compliment. That's the goal for next month.

How NOT To Make An Advent Calender

Last Saturday Nate was sick in bed. I woke up wondering what I was going to do to entertain myself for the day. All of the sudden the most foreign thought hit me: I should make a craft today. What!?!?!? Did I hear my thought correctly. Did I really want to make a craft? I'm not sure I've ever had that desire, but it was there and I decided to follow through with it. I've been in the holiday mood lately and decided to make an advent calender. My mom has one that we hang on the wall every year that I used as an inspiration. I spent half the day on the phone with my mom making sure I was doing things right. Nonetheless, I managed to not do things right! Here are the four most important things I learned not to do:

1. Don't get lazy and not iron or pin the seam before sewing! I attempted to fold the top of the fabric over and sew it so there would be a place for the wooden dowel to go through. My laziness caused it to be so ridiculously crooked and bunched up that I finally just decided to cut the top off! Fortunately, I had left enough room that I could sew it again, correctly this time.
2. Don't buy a wooden dowel and then leave it at Hobby Lobby at the checkout stand! I know it only cost me $0.59 but I refuse to go back and buy another one.
3. Don't attempt to alternate red and green writing if you're going to get distracted and do two greens in a row!
4. Most importantly, don't make 32 pockets when there are only 24 days to count down to Christmas! I sewed 4 rows of pockets with the intention of making 6 pockets in each row but somehow got confused and made 8 pockets instead. I didn't discover my mistake until I was writing the numbers on the pockets. Good thing I have a great pair of fabric scissors! I ended up cutting off the bottom row of pockets. My calender ended up being several inches shorter than I originally intend due to my hack job on the top and bottom!

Despite my rookie mistakes, I think my advent calender actually turned out alright- especially for a craft from me. It was pretty simple too. I cut out a Christmas tree shape of green felt and sewed it on some white sparkly felt. Then I sewed the rows of pockets. Next, I poked some jingle bell brads in the tree to hang the ornaments on. My mom's calender has homemade felt ornaments with velco on the back but I knew I would never make 24 hand-cut ornaments so I figured out a way to hang some store-bought ornaments instead. Finally I used glitter glue to write the numbers on the pockets. Everything I bought was half off at Hobby Lobby, so I was pretty happy about that. Here is a picture of the semi-finished product. I need to get another dowel (ugh) and some ribbon to hang it. I also wanted to write Merry Christmas or Countdown to Christmas on it, but I'm not sure if I'll have enough room now that I've shortened it...

On a similar note I finally finished an apron that I started a year ago for Brianne's Christmas present. Just a little late.

A WICKED time in Nashville

For our anniversary this year in June, Nate bought me tickets to go see Wicked in Nashville, Tennessee. Ok, I actually got online and bought them myself but he told me I could :) Nashville is about a nine hour drive from Bentonville, so we decided to make a weekend out of it. After months of anticipation, our Nashville weekend finally arrived! We took Friday off from work and spent the majority of the day driving. We drove the back roads which took us a little longer but we wanted to do an experiment to see how good of gas mileage we could get with our new car. We averaged almost 50 mpg!!! We were very excited about that and actually ended up loving the drive because we were exploring the back woods of Arkansas and Tennessee. We saw probably 45 different "flea markets" along the way which generally consisted of two or three tables in someone's yard covered with junk from their homes. Basically, people just have year-round garage sales and paint a sign that says "Flea Market."

After seeing so many flea markets along the way, we found ourselves lucky enough to be in town for Tennessee's largest flea market of the year! What an exciting coincidence! When we found out it was only a couple miles from our hotel, we of course could not pass up the opportunity to attend. We scrapped our original plans for the day and hit the fairgrounds. When else would we have the chance to be a part of one of the Top 10 Flea Markets in the Nation?  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the flea market but let me tell you, this thing was huge! We walked around for a couple hours and didn't even come close to seeing everything. I was very excited about our purchase of 1400 count sheets for $25! We continued our treasure hunting for the day at Antique Archaeology, the store front for one of our favorite shows on the History Channel, American Pickers. We didn't buy anything but we went more to say we'd been there.

Nate was thrilled to touch an actual Picker van!

 Because our temple is about four hours from us, we generally try to include a session at the temple anytime we are on a trip to a city where there is a temple nearby. There is a temple in Franklin which is just outside of Nashville. I remembered my church clothes, temple clothes and recommend. Sounds like I was prepared and good to go right? Wrong! I forgot my dress shoes! I was ready to throw in the towel and cancel our temple trip but Nate was insisted that we were going so I better find something to wear. This is a picture of the result.

I thought the bright purple tennis shoes weren't conspicuous at all........

It's fair to say I was grateful and surprised they let me in the door!

The night of the show, we decided to make it a real date night with dinner and show. We found this little hole in the wall type Italian restaurant that was actually sooooooo good! There was no parking lot so we had to park at the gas station next door, and the restaurant building looked pretty shady but Nate and I agreed that it was the best Italian food either of us had ever had. After dinner came the main event: WICKED! It was my second time seeing it and Nate's first time. We both loved it! I would jump at the chance to go again someday.

Yes I'm wearing my bright purple tennis shoes with this outfit as well. I can always be counted on for classiness!

Airplane Encounters

It seems I can never have an airplane ride without encountering some rather interesting characters. Whether it be the large man who fell asleep on me or the smelly man who released noxious gas throughout the plane ride, I somehow attract the least desirable seat companions. And so it was with our latest trip home for Brianne's wedding.

Our first flight required us to wake up at 3:00 AM (or in Nate's case, simply not go to bed at all) in order to make the 6:00 AM flight out of Tulsa. We nearly missed it and barely ran aboard as they were closing the door! Needless to say, it was a very stressful and tiring morning, but we anticipated being able to at least get a couple hours of sleep on the airplane. The flight attendant dimmed the cabin lights and we were ready to slip away into dreamland when Mr. Obnoxious behind us apparently missed the memo that every other passenger on the flight was sleeping! He proceeded to talk (or rather shout) to his seat companion (whom he didn't know, poor girl) for the entire flight. He was one of those big, jovial guys with a booming voice and an endless supply of absurd stories. It was all I could do to keep from turning around and saying. "Listen up buddy; Nobody cares about how free you felt running naked on the beach, how beautiful the Elton John concert in Vegas was, or how huge your wife has become since gaining 30 pounds! Now zip it so I can sleep!"

We had a short layover in Denver and then boarded the plane to Salt Lake City with high hopes once again that surely we would get some rest on this flight. But alas, rest was not in the cards that day. A sweet looking grandmother sat down beside me and immediately introduced herself and asked how I was doing. Normally, when someone responds to that question by saying, "Tired. I've been up since 3:00 AM" that is a hint that they plan on sleeping for the duration of the flight. However, sweet Ruth took that opportunity to tell me how tired she was as well and continue talking until we reached Salt Lake. She was on her way there to teach the Mormons about Christianity. Much to her delight, she was able to practice her skills right there on the plane when I revealed that I was in fact a Mormon! In all seriousness, it ended up being a great experience for me. There has been so much hype in the media lately concerning whether Mormons are Christians or not, and obviously this woman was of the belief that we are not. I took the opportunity to debunk that myth for her. I am a Mormon- a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I believe in Jesus Christ. He is my Savior and King. I believe in his Atonement and that He suffered and died for me. I testify that He lives and because of Him I can live again. I am a Mormon and I am a Christian!

2007 Honda Civic Hybrid (No we haven't gone green, we just like to save greens on gas!)

We chose to buy a car in Utah, cancel our flights, and drive 1338 miles home to Arkansas rather than risk another plane ride!

Did You Know????

I'm a big believer in lifelong learning and education. My quest for knowledge has led me to ten interesting discoveries lately.
1. Did you know Chuck Norris writes adult Christian fiction books? It's true: I saw them in the library the other day. You may ask, what does he write about? Naturally, God fearing Texas rangers from the 1800s. 
2. Did you know there is such a thing as golden raisins? This discovery was more of a duh moment for me. A couple of weeks ago we went for a strenuous eight mile hike, and as I was sitting on a rock munching away on my trail mix, I was startled to realize my raisins were golden! And then it hit me, of course they make raisins out of green grapes and not just the purple ones. 
3. Did you know that when you buy a house and the fridge comes with it, there is probably a reason it was left behind and that reason wasn't to be nice? When we bought our house we were thrilled that we could save some money by not having to buy a fridge. This thrill soon turned to bitter disappointment whenever I would attempt to crack an egg or pour a glass of milk only to discover they were frozen! Adjusting the temperature only resulted in melted ice cream in the freezer which is quite frankly unacceptable in my book. The good news is after combining several offers we saved 25% on our brand new fridge from Lowes! 
4. Did you know that after a year of marriage, you're considered a menace to society if you have not multiplied and replenished the earth? 
5. Did you know that they make shower handles that require you to be large, green, and named the Hulk to turn on? Yes, that's right; our shower handle demands brute strength to operate. At first, I feared I would be doomed to sponge bathing in the sink until we could buy a new handle. Upon checking the prices of such a project, I decide to lift some weights instead. I can now successfully turn on the shower. I tell you this because I don't want anyone to feel pathetic when they stay at my house and are unable to operate the shower. 
6. Did you know that when you try to buy a car with cash from a dealership, they will look at you like you are stupid and proceed to tell you about their "awesome finance plan"? What has our society come to when you are considered the dumb one for trying to stay out of debt? We haven't found the right car yet so keep your eyes open for us!
7. Did you know that the crowd will let out a cry of disappointment if you sprint to the finish line of a race and pass a 12 year old boy in the last second? Nate does. 
8. Did you know that football season can actually be a wonderful time in your marriage? I didn't last year but have discovered the secret this year: compromise! We now spend four hours on Saturday morning doing whatever I want and then, Nate spends four hours watching his game while I spend four hours still doing whatever I want! Win-win!
9. Did you know that you're mother was right? At least mine was when she told me all those years to practice the piano because someday I'd have to do it in church. Well, I guess she was only partially right because I'll be playing the organ. I really should have listened to her. I wonder what else I'll discover she was right about? 
10. Did you know that they call men to be nursery leaders at church? Yep, Nate will be in the nursery starting next Sunday as will I. I know what you're all thinking: how cute! A couple's calling in the nursery! But will this serve as encouragement to have kids or as a good form of birth control? Only time will tell..... 

Doing a little fist pumping on the morning of our Labor Day 5k. Nate was pretty proud of his victory over the child.

Protect the sick people!

You know your night at the county fair is going to be great when it starts off like this:

Activist with his clipboard in hand on his soap box, "Are you registered Arkansas voters? Will you help us legalize medical marijuana?"
Us, "No."
As we walked away cries of "You must protect the sick people!" followed after us.

As I said, fantastic way to start the evening!I haven't been to a county fair since my "glorious" pig showing days in Nebraska so we decided to check it out on Thursday with Bryson and Alyssa. Even though we ate dinner before we went, something about the disgustingly greasy, overpriced, fair food was tantalizing enough to convince us we had to eat a hand dipped, foot long corn dog and fresh squeezed lemonade that really just consisted of one lemon squeezed into a cup of ice. Not the best eight bucks we've ever spent. However, I was much more pleased with my next purchase: 15 Taste of Home magazines from the 90s! Many of the recipes actually look familiar as I'm sure my mom and grandma have the same magazines. They were five for a dollar and the proceeds benefited the local 4H chapter; who could say no to that? Not Nathan!

Since it was a weeknight, there weren't very many people there. It felt a little eerie walking around what felt like a deserted carnival. (Other than the scary carni people.) I felt like I was walking through a horror movie. But then we walked around the animal pens. Lambs aren't scary, just stinky.

As you can see, there weren't a lot of people there.

The one disappointment from the evening resulted from Nate crushing my lifelong, cliche dream of making out on the ferris wheel! He said it was too expensive! I guess he traded my dream for a piece of processed meat on a stick.

The crowning moment of the evening came as we were about to leave when Nate stepped in a pile of "green mud" wearing only his flip flops. Yuck for him, entertainment for Bryson and I watching him!

On a side note: I woke up with pink eye the next morning. It looks like Mr. Marijuana Activist didn't protect the sick people after all. 

Italian with a Southern Accent

What happens when Little Italy is smack dab in the middle of the South? The Tontitown Grape Festival of course! Tontitown was settled by Italians, but over the years the Southern influence has crept in resulting in an annual feast of homemade spaghetti noodles and sauce served with none other than your traditional Southern fried chicken. Who knew they could pair so well together?

Nate loved the fried chicken while I preferred the spaghetti. What a perfect marriage of flavors and two people!

The festival also featured grapes from the local vineyards. (Hence, the name Grape Festival).

We didn't buy any grapes but we did try the grape flavored ice cream. Normally, I avoid grape flavored things because I'm always reminded of dimetapp......Fortunately, this was yummy ice cream with no resemblance to the syrupy medication.