Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Mod Podge greatness and an almost completed project.

So, remeber when I posted about these paper tubes? Well, I have partially finished the project, I just need to secure the tubes together better. I have been in love with this project ever since it came to me as a tiny idea. I love how this turned out. With a little (ok, ALOT of) Mod Podge and some twine and some glittery letters and a belt sander and a husband who cuts things, and some scrapbook paper and the willpower to withstand a cardboard chewing dog, you can get this amazing project. I'm glad my last name isn't too long, it might have been awful if I had a long last name like Angie's got, but I would still be willing to help her out and make one!



I love anything to do with my last name, I am so glad to have a new one!! I love who it means I am, and who it makes me. I am also so very happy at who it means I belong to!! I love him so very much, and am so very happy to be a part of our family and his family!


I'm pretty excited to have this project done. Which means, I have another one in the works, of course! It's a friend's birthday this weekend. We'll see what I can scrounge together! :) Pics will be ensuing, you can be sure! Enjoy your day!


Love, bry and mark

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Fruit of our labors!!

I picked a cantaloupe from our garden today. It was delicious! I was kind of worried that the cantaloupe was not ready or too ready. So I picked it anyways, cut it open, and it was amazing! Even Bandit liked it! Which is good cuz he stole that other one and ate it right in front of me about a month ago (I really don't know when it was, it feels like we have lived the past month twice.) I'm keeping an eye on my watermelons, they are doing so good, at least I think. They just need a little more time... :)


Anyways, Mark and I are really glad to finally have our nights together! We usually had our evenings, and we were still together when we did the paper, but now we have all our nights together, and we get to spend all night sleeping and snuggling and it really is amazing and wonderful!! I am so glad we're getting back to a normal schedule!! Yay!!

Love - Bry and Mark

Fantasy football Week 3

Mark : 57 (1-2) - Team : The Good Guys

Bry 86 (1-2) - Team : What it is Ho



Week 3, Mark and I won't play each other again this season, but I'm still going to post both our scores anyway. So I realized that as awesome as my team name is (raised eyebrows!!) that my team sucks big time, and that, yes, I really have NO idea what I am doing. However, I did good this week, not great, but good. I won!! I beat Ramsey's team, 86-81. It was so close, I'm amazed I won. He had Romo and the Dallas kicker, so if they hadn't gone for the 2 point at the end, and Romo had thrown it for a TD and then kicked a FG, I so would have lost!! But, seeing how Dallas was ahead by 18 points, they decided not to murder the Panthers, just beat them.



However, Mark had no time to change his line-up this week. (I tried to help him out and remind him, but MarioKart Wii got him all distracted and he missed out.) He had the same guys on the field that he had last week, well, some of the guys had started last week got injured and didn't play this week. So, he lost to Reid, 66-57. Not too bad of a score, at least it wasn't 113-60, or 144-73, or something horrible like that. Now that we don't have this paper route, we'll be able to find the time to change our line-ups and all that.



Thanks again to Angie and Gerrit for letting us come over to watch the games, it's so fun to watch football, I love it. But, our plans for Sunday fell thru, we were going to get family pictures taken, and we couldn't find that lady at the park we went to, so the pics never happened. Hopefully, we've got something else in the works for getting those done, before Christmas!! Woot woot!! We'll just have to see. :)



Love to all - Bry and Mark

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Would you porch that for me? NOW!?

So, this project that Mark and I have been losing sleep over is not really a project at all. It was a paper route. And we were thinking it was an early morning, nothing overly exerting, just a paper route. HA! It was nothing like that, it was not easy, it was not early morning, it was middle of the dang night and it sucked!! It was not me or Mark on a bike with those double shoulder bags with loads of papers rolled up with rubber bands. No musical or singing people working with us, wearing newsboy caps, they weren't even friendly. I was at least hoping for Christian Bale, but nope, my Newsie dreams were shot down when I realized the only music we would hear would be AC/DC or Journey from the radio or from the guy who raps to music in his head on Sundays. Yeah that was about it. But wait, there is really more!! Not only was it not early morning, we were thinking it would be at 4 or something that it, and they would drop the papers off at our house, heck, we just thought they would count the papers first! NOPE! We had to get up at 1:30 AM-2:00 AM, and go to the warehouse (here in Brighton) and then fold the papers, and then go throw the papers. We had to be done throwing our papers by 5:30 AM weekdays, and by 7:00 AM weekends. Paper count? M-W : 143, TH-F : 215, SAT : 270, SUN : 343. Now, really that's not too bad, but we had the 2nd largest route in the district, and we covered 3 large neighborhoods. So, it's not like every house got a paper, some places only have one house on a street that gets one. Usually, Monday-Wednesday we can throw the route in an hour, or an hour and a half or so. Sundays, it takes 4 hours, 1.5 to fold and the rest we throw. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the dang porch requests. (Mark has sworn to me, that even if he is hobbled up so bad he can hardly walk to the garage, he will still hobble his old bones out to the driveway to get his paper, if we get one.) Because for most the porches, we have to stop the truck, get out, throw the paper on the porch and then get going. And then there are the occaisional roof throws, Mark climbed up there and got the paper down, we only had 2 of these.

Then there was the crazy stuff we saw. In the past weeek, we've seen 2 vehicles that were destroyed. Not just totalled but destroyed!! It seriously looked like a T-Rex had done thru the neighborhood and torn into 2 cars.

We did get a bunch of free stuff which was pretty cool. We got a cooler, some frames for my crafting, some end tables with magazine racks, a world map that's huge, and a washer for some friends. It was pretty awesome that we got first pick of the FREE stuff.

We started the route on the 17th of August, and tried it out for 2 weeks, but Mark had already signed the contract, so in order to get out of it, we had to hand in a 30 days notice, so that 30 days is today! Yayay! But it sucked so bad. Mark and I have been losing sleep, losing friends (we need all the ones we can get!) and getting sick! It's been awful! And at least 3 times, the managers have been like, We're trying to get someone in here to take over your route. It always falls thru, and this last time, we showed up on Monday and Tuesday to throw the route, and one manager said, "I wasn't expecting you two to show up, I thought you assumed the route got covered, I was going to throw the route for the rest of the time." Now, really? Why would we assume the route had gotten covered, nothing was said to us, we were told it fell thru and no one was able to take the route this week, so we figured we'd just come in until the date on our 3o day notice. UNLESS - You wanted to charge us the $250 early termination fee as stated in the contract! UGH! Really?!

I talked Mark into signing the contract and taking the route, however, I only had to say that I wanted to quit ONCE and he was on board! I figured we'd take the route, get the $450 every 2 weeks (that's SO not what we got paid!) and pay off the debt we've got. Pretty much, all the pay from the route took care of was the gas to throw the route, Bandit's puppy class, and our family pictures. Which really is not too bad.

We're very excited to be done with the route, it means we get our friends back, and we can stay up and watch late night football, without having to worry about going to bed at 8 so we can wake up at 2am. I think it was a good learning expireince, it taught us to be grateful for what we have, and that things could always be worse. I'm very grateful that we don't NEED that job, and that it was just for extra money. It also taught us that budgeting is so very needed and it finally pushed me into budgeting everything, which is what I have been wanting so bad! We're also glad because we can spend more time with the puppy, which means he won't be starved for attention and won't tear up the house like he did on Wednesday. :) Thank you to everyone who put up with all of this paper route nonsense. We didn't tell everyone, I wasn't sure how my work would take it, so I decided to tell them after I had quit. Better to be safe than sorry. :) IT'S FINALLY OVER!! Woot woot!

Love to all - Bry and Mark

Friday, September 25, 2009

The Bandit, pretty awful

So, Mark and I got bandanas from my company picnic, mine was pink, Mark's was red, and then I got a blue one with the prize I got. Today, I decided to find out if Bandit would allow something to be around his neck (possiblity for Halloween...) Well, I put the bandana on him and he was ok with it, he didn't have too much of a problem with it. And he looked pretty cute too. That's our little Bandit!!

Well, the Bandit has been pretty awful lately. So awful that we (well, I) have decided to lock him out of the house when we are gone, any time we are gone, no matter how long we are gone. (We went to the softball game on Wednesday, for about an hour, and we came back, the trash was all over the kitchen, the living room was torn apart, Mark's fishing bag was spread all over the place, we had a bag of grass feed that he threw all over the place, and he finally destroyed the nylong adjustable straps on my way expensive laptop backpack.... Yeah.) So, now, the puppy is locked out of the house all times we are gone, not matter how warm or cold it is, he is staying outside. Well, after the first day of him being locked out, we came back and saw this on the door. His muddy horrible pawprints all over the door and the siding around the door. Yeah, stinking dog!! Oh well, he's still cute, and he's still my little guy! With his crazy beard!!

Oh, and I have to tell about this because I told about the last one. Mark got stung by yellow jackets yesterday. He tells teh story really good, I'll just give the short version. He was spraying a YJ nest on a 2nd story balcony at an apartment complex, and he started to spray, and a YJ got in the back of his bee suit, and stung him on the neck. He swatted it, and went back into the apartment, then went back out to finish spraying it. He went back out, and put his arms above his head to spray the nest, and more YJ's got in under his bee suit veil, and started stinging him on the neck, right under his chin. Well, he got stung 15-20 times on the neck and on him arms. So-he went home early from work, and just slept. He took some Benadryl, I got him an ice pack (I came home early from work, I wasn't sure how much he would swell up, because last time he got stung on the ankle 3 times and he was so swollen and hurting so bad he could barely walk. So I wanted to make sure nothing happened!!) and he just slept all day and all night!! He was feeling alot better (well alot better means not freaking awesome, but good) and he was able to go to work today and he did good, he said. He was still a little fevery, warm to the touch on his arm and neck. So yeah, this has been the latest adventure. He says he's doing alot better today. Which is way good. :)


Love, Bry and Mark

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Crafting in a cinch and Pizza

So, I saw on a craft blog a while back about a bracelet made from strips of fabric wrapped around some cording. I liked this idea a lot, so I decided to try it out. There's no tutorial for the bracelet, but there is a tutorial for an easter basket, so I decided to wing it. I really like how this bracelet turned out. I was excited when I found this because it looked pretty easy (and it was!!) and I needed some cheap and easy accesories. And making things is always better (and funner) than buying all kinds of bracelets and necklaces. I love this bracelet!! I cut 4 strips (12 inches long, 1 inch wide) of the red, and then I cute 2 strips (9 inches long, 1 inch wide), I sewed them together (the reds together length wise) and then sewed the patterned on wonky so they didn't line up. I then spun and twisted and made the fabric cute and scrunched around the cording. Anyways, I have more plans to make more and more of these, so get ready to see a bunch of these around my wrists!!

Ok, and now for the PIZZA!! In our first years of marriage, we've agreed that we will be poor (we've tried not to be, but, nothing works, so we're ok with being poor.) and in being poor, we need to be frugal. That means buying the cheapest pizza. CHEAPEST, not smallest or grossest. Tostinos or Tony's pizzas are just too small and too crappy to eat, so we go for the cheapest pizza always, some weeks its Red Baron, other weeks it's Tombstone, but either way, cheap!! (I usually buy at $3.33.) Well, in order for these cheap pizzas to satisfy my pallet, they need more than cardboard crust and paper cheese. So, we have made it tradition to add 1 small can of mushrooms, and add some cheese sprinkles (shredded cheese, usually the 3 blend mix) onto the pizza. These simple additions make this pizza so AMAZING! I love the pizza we have created!! So, here is a picture of our creation. (Seriously, I was trying to figure out how to make the pizza more enjoyable, and delicious BAM! Amazingness achieved!! Woot!



Tonight was bunko, it was pretty awesome! I love just hanging out with the girls! Sorry we missed some of you there tonight! It really was a good time!! PS: The time is 11:21 PM, early EARLY morning!! Ugh!

Love to all - Bry and Mark

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Garden and Free stuff!!

So I love it when our facility manager at work cleans out stuff. It means I get free stuff (that's how we scored our 4-tall metal filing cabinet and our 7-foot long conference/kitchen table) but, I am very happy about what I got this time! I totally scored some old school wooden file cabinets. Now, I know what you're thinking : What is that little Bry going to do with all of those filing cabinets? Well, now, I have been posting all my crafts and projects. Well, when I saw these filing cabinets sitting on the production floor, the ideas just started flowing into my brain. All the things I could do and make and create with these wooden filing cabinets. So, of course, I took tons of them. Oh, and I also got these awesome frames for FREE! They were sitting on the side of the road one morning, next to sign that said FREE. So I took them! They are (2) 3x3 frames with a picture of seagulls. (I'm pretty sure the only place these pictures could be truly appreciated is in Utah...) But I have a special mission for these guys, I am so happy I found these frames, they are exactly what I have been looking for, and I am so excited that I got them for FREE and I can finally start working on one project I have been DYING to do!!


Picasa. I have discovered the ease that is Picasa! All of my pictures are instantly on this program, and I can make cute little collages and fancy things! It's amazing! Plus, Picasa and Blogger are both a Google program, so - DING - they work so well together!! Thank you so much Ang for getting hooked into Picasa.



Garden. Lately, I have been ignoring my garden. It's not because I don't love it, trust me, I do. Mark eats the tomatoes out of it all the time. But with Mark and I's new project (I promise I will post about this next week!! I really do promise!) I have been so dang tired lately, that the garden just got pushed back. (I know, I have been crafting, but all the crafts I've done are so simple and easy, they really only take me 10 minutes - 1 hour!) But, I walk out and around the garden from time to time, and I went out a while ago, and found a few melons out there! I was so excited! I went out there today and found a bunch of little watermelons!! Yay! I am so very excited about those!! I took some pictures of our cute little watermelons!! Yay!!


One last project. It seriously took me 30 minutes. I had Mark drill the holes. I have tons of ribbon, ok not TONS, but lots. And I just have it all in a paper bag, but the spools keep getting unrolled. So, I saw on one blog a ribbon dispenser (she made hers out of an old MacDonald's sundae cup, well, I took it a step up and made mine out of a peanut bottle. One of the big'uns. I asked my loving and amazing husband to drill 16 holes in it (4 on each side) and now it holds my ribbons!! It is so easy too!! And, now I have ONE place where all my ribbon is, and it's so easy to get the color I want!
Well, Mark won his softball game tonight!! Woot Woot!! It was pretty awesome! And then we came home to find the ENTIRE house trashed, the Bandit discovered the trash can falls down and things come out of it, oh and that just about everything in the living room comes apart. So ya for that. NOT! Ugh!! Oh well, looks like we're just going ot have to lock him out from now on, which is too bad for him, cuz now it's getting cold. Oh well, he needs to be a good dog. We're working really hard to get him to be a good dog, we love him lots, we've got a long ways to go...
Lots of love - Bry and Mark

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Fantasy Football Week 2

Mark : 89 (1-1) - Team : The Good Guys
Bry 58 (0-2) - Team : What it is Ho

Week 2, Mark and I didn't play each other, but I decided to post both our scores anyways. My team sucks!! Ugh! I tried really hard to put the good guys on the field and bench the ones who didn't have a good projected point score, well, lots of good that did me! I lost again! (I lost 58-82, Reid totally killed me!) Well, Mark lost too, 107-89, Ramsey beat him. We didn't watch the games like we did last week. I can't remember what we had going on, but for some reason we didn't go over to Angie's and Gerrit's. We did go over there for the Monday night game, I clicked back and forth between the game and Dancing with the Stars. (I don't really watch DWTS, but it was the premier episode, and it's a pretty neat show.) Well, here's hoping next week goes good.

This week, however, we have plans for Sunday afternoon. I'll post about that once it happens... Oh, and the facility manager at my work is always cleaning things out, and he had an awesome find this week, I'm talking to him for the hook-up on the goods. I've got big plans for what he found, I will post pictures as soon I get them!! :)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Discovery of a water hole.

So, the Bandit found out there is water in the bathroom, and it's right at his mouth level too! Yes, that is correct, I caught Bandit drinking out of the toilet today. I was sitting in the computer room, checking my fantasy football stats (I lost HORRIBLY this week, ugh!) and I heard this slurping of water coming from the hallway. I went up to go check, cuz I was pretty sure his water dish is outside, and sure enough, there he was, sitting with his head in the toliet, just drinking away! So I hollered at him to get out, and he ran strait for Mark, I blocked him and ran him outside! That little monster just tries to get into trouble, I think! This morning, Mark and I were enjoying being able to sleep in, church isn't until 1 pm, and all morning, Bandit just sat at the foot of our bed and whined and huffed, and barked at us. I finally shut him outside. And once we were up, he quit whinning, he didn't want us to play with him, he just wanted us to be up and awake. Rat dog!!

We went to his 2nd week of puppy class on Thursday, and we learned some new tricks. We learned DOWN and STAND and loose-leash walking. He picked up on DOWN almost right away and he does it on voice command and hand signals now. He's pretty awesome at it. He wasn't real quick on the STAND, but Mark and I don't mind, we figure we're never going to take him to a groomer, and why have him stand when you can have him sit? But the loose-leash walking is real good at. He always used to pull on the leash when we walk him , but the way the training is set up, he knows not to pull. He's been a good pup in the classes, although when other dogs are being noisy and getting attention, he starts to whine and huff. (I don't think the trainer is really fair, she pays more attention to the noisy dogs than to the dogs that are doing good, well, not really more, just not the same amount of attention. She finally learned Bandit's name last week, he hardly makes any noise until he notices the others dogs get attention when they bark.)

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Denver tepmple!!

So Mark and I went to the temple on Friday! It was so good to go, and it was alot of fun. I realized I have never taken pictures of the Denver Temple. So I took some pictures of Mark and I when we got there and then one when we came out, when we were by the fountain. The Denver Temple is really gorgerous, it's not very tall but it is amazing and pretty! There are cut stain glass windows, and the whole inside is just amazing. It was nice to take a break from everyday life and to just relax and take some time for us. We love having a temple that close to us, when I lived in Wisconsin, the closest temple was Chicago, and that temple is 4 hours away.

Oh, and my sister got engaged! I'm so very excited for her! I'm planning on heading down to Texas in a while to help her go dress shopping. Woot woot! We're all excited, I am so happy for her! I'm excited to help her out! Yayay!!

All the love, Mark & Bry

Thursday, September 17, 2009

atta kid!!

Wednesday nights is now the fall softball league. Mark's on a team with our church, and he really likes it, and it's pretty fun to watch. All the team members get along and all the wives get along. Last night we played a team that were pretty outspoken about the ump's calls. One guy even shouted at the ump big time when the ump called him out, he yelled something along the lines of "Aw come on! That was a tie and you know it! That's twice now!" with mixed swears in there a bit. Mark then went on to explain to his team that there is no "Tie goes to the runner" rule as popular vote suggests, and that really close calls like that are instantly judgement calls on the ump's part. So this guy stormed back to his dugout, throwing stuff and shouting. he stood the rest of the game with his arms folded or hands on his hips. Sorry Ladies, this is MEN's slow-pitch softball! And non-competetive, I might add! Simmer down!! You were behind by too much for that OUT on 2nd base to make a difference. The Riv (that's us) won 22-10. Oh, and last night was COLD!! But it was still fun. Mark tried to "dance" to home base (he thought the had called the 3rd out, not the 2nd out, so he thought he would touch the base before side change, thinking he was the 4th out. Oh well. AND, Mark did not come home unscathed. He (almost) always injures or cuts himself. Last night it was his left knee, he went to tag a base, the guy ran passed and Mark tired to slow down his run and crouch, he tried to use his knees for brakes. Yup, his knee was "gushing" blood. (It really just looks like a rug burn that went deeper than most rug burns. He's ok, and he will be playing again next week. :) He scored a home run too, yeah for softball!

We also found out about our cub scout Pancake Breakfast on October 24th, $7.00 for all you can eat pancakes!! $7 for 1 ticket, $10 for 2! Yeah for pancakes!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Week 1 of Fantasy Football

Mark : 86 (1-0) - Team : The Good Guys
Bry : 72 (0-1) - Team : What it is Ho

It's week 1 of Fantasy football league, and I was hoping to kick major butt (I was also hoping to pick up Aaron Rodgers in the draft, but I got too cocky, thinking no one else would want him...). I played Mark's team and totally owned me! Although, I must say Greg Jennings had an awesome game, he's on my team, and also, what was with the Chargers last night? Seriously! Everyone was telling me how the Chargers would whup the Raiders, that's why I was favored for a 15 point win over the boy, but NOPE! The Chargers ate it! Man, things just did not go my way last week. I'm hoping this next week is better, now I just have to rememeber my login name and password so I can change up my team... Here's hoping that I kick butt this week, and Mark is vs someone else, so I can now root for him. :)

For both the Sunday and Monday football games, we went over to the Gerrit and Angie's. I love football, Mark has played it before but watching football every Sunday wasn't a big ritutal at his house like it was at mine. I am so glad we have friends that enjoy our company enough to invite us over for the games. Thanks you guys!!

I think each week, I'll put our scores up here, even though we aren't playing against each other again. I think it's still fun to be competetive between the two of us. Who knows, maybe we'll even put a bet on it... I've gotta talk to the boy about that... I'll keep you updated.

Love - Bry and Mark

Monday, September 14, 2009

we got ourselves a BIRD DOG

So, today we're getting ready to head to the new library and I went into the house, and then Mark hollered for me to come outside to look at my pup. So I came outside and this is what Mark had to show me: a scruffy faced pup-a-lup with feathers in his beard. Apparently, Mark shot a dove and it fluttered down to the yard and the Bandit got it and made sure it stopped flopping around. He eventually brought it to Mark, but he made sure it had the least amount of feathers on it when he gave it to Mark. It was pretty exciting and it was really fun to watch Bandit run and jump and get so excited for this bird. He was so cute jumping around. He's been really good when Mark takes him killing things, he's been listening quite a bit better. (Of course Mark did bring treats last time he went shooting.) It's been pretty fun having the puppy around, having him finally grow up :)

Oh, and my craft projects might be put on hold for a while, we're going to be making our Halloween costumes, you can bet your last pair of flip flops that I'll taking pictures thru the whole process, and if these costumes turn out in ANY way how I have them pictured in my head, I think they'll be pretty dang awesome!! Woot!!

Lots of love - Bry and Mark

Sunday, September 13, 2009

big picture holder means pictures problems....

So, I have these picture holders that hold pictures for about 14 hours, and then the thin little picture slips out. Well, I decided to fix that problem right there. With the help of the miracle that is the Podge, and some carboard I "got" from work. Oh and using some random scrapbook paper (I have tons!!) and so I made these pieces of cardboard pretty dang cute. AND I decied to NOT use the wedding colors on all of them, some change up is pretty good for decor purposes. So, muy cute is what I came up with. I really like how these turned out, and I like how the pictures stay put now, and I don't have to go pick up or look for the pictures every other day or so. This was such a quick and easy project, I seriously started and finished this project in 1/2 hour, and that was after 5 minutes of thinking it up and picking out which paper I was going to use. I had these pictures sitting up on the way high top shelf, and so these aren't really in the "line of sight" but I like having tons of pictures around and able to look at. I like looking anywhere in my house and see a picture of the happiest day of my life. I like seeing those pictures and thinking back to that amazing day. So, THAT is why I have TONS of pictures around the house, and be prepared to see lots of pics of me and Mark. :)



Ooh - and I have been working on a *new* project using these cardboard paper rolls!! I cut up a bunch of scrapbook paper, all colors that coordinate with our wedding colors (what else?!), whipped out the Podge, and now I just need to finish this project, it's so close to being done. I'll hopefully have it finished this weekend. We'll have a bunch of time open up this week, so we're pretty excited about all that. (I said before that I will post about that news as soon as it happens, but we're not sure yet.) Oh, and the pup appears to be camera shy lately, but I got a few pics of him. He's so shaggy and so cute. :)



Oh, we started puppy school with him, and he has been responding to the "Clicker" so we're excited about the training, and we don't think this is a waste of money for the pooch. :) Ooh - here's another picture of the monster.

Lots of love - Bry and Mark

Friday, September 11, 2009

new stuff!!

So, among all my blog-browsing - I came across this amazing blog that had FREE fonts!! Some of the fonts are doodles, which are GREAT for scrabooking and Mod Podge-ing things. Well, in looking at this blog further, I discovered BLOG DESIGN TUTORIALS! The lady running this blog is named Amanda and she's got some really great tips on how to add breaks in your blog, how to add a signature to each post, and also how to change the font of your blog posts and dates! I was so excited!! So, seeing how I was at work (ssshhh!) I printed this tutorial off, and took it home for later. Well, it worked and I am stoked to see that it worked! Next I'm going to put a signature for me and Mark, and I am bursting to try that now! (Mark just got home, so I'm going to catch him before he goes off to sleep....) But I don't have PhotoShop, so, it looks like I'm going to be stopping by to see Ang this weekend for some help... I'm pretty sure she has PhotoShop.... Well, it's off to clean the house... yayyyy...........

Love, Bry and Mark

8 years since the world stopped turning...

I cannot belieive it has been 8 years since 9/11 became more than any other day. Has it really been that long? We were living in a small town in Wisconsin, a town of 2600 people, and I remember where I was. I was sitting in the old cafateria in the high school, I was a freshman, and I think it was my 2nd class of the day (I don't remember the time, but I remember what happened that day.) I was talking to Aaron and Josh in our no-talking study hall, and Mr. Kinziger was the study hall instructor. One of the office ladies came in or something, and then the tiny TV in the corner got turned on, and the 2nd plane hit. All we did the rest of the day was watch the news in (almost) every class... I say almost because we didn't have the TV on in Math class, we didn't even talk about it, and I don't think we had the TV on in wood shop either, but I we talked about what happened. Now, I don't know anyone who was in the Towers or used to work in the Towers, I didn't know a single one of the 2,974 people that died that day, or anyone in New York even, but I felt the ripple of emotion flow thru me as if someone I love very much was there. I get pretty emotional when this subject is brought up, not only because I am very Partiotic, but because I have not forgotten the looks on the people's faces around town when the news was broken, the looks on the faces of the soldiers that remember what it's like to be over there, the news reporters, my mom crying, the whole school going silent, and people crying as the announcement was made. I am a visual person, and I remember so alarmingly well, all of these pictures, it's as if they are burned into mind, and they will never fade.

Our town has a high military turn out, always has and I think it always will. Alot of my friends went into the military, and quite a few of them have served in Iraq since 9-11-01. My best friend of all time served over there as a Marine, I missed her tons and tons while she was there. I have such a great and deep respect and love for the friends of ours who serve/d overseas. And I am grateful for all of the soldiers over there and over here. The Army Reserve unit that (most) the soldiers from our town go to, have a symbol, a logo, and while I dated a boy from that unit, and while he was over there, I put that logo on my car, and I still have that logo on my truck today. (I used to have one of the yellow "Support our Troops" magnets, but someone stole it, I'm not worried, maybe needed the pride more than I do.)


We have since moved to Colorado, and even though it is a HIGHLY democratic state, with a heavy push with the "Bring home the troops" campaign, there are signs that, even though the citizens want the soldiers home, they still respect and love them. There are yellow ribbons around every light pole in the neighborhood our church is in. I didn't know this until yesterday actually : Every friday, the company I work for, has Red-Shirt day. We are to wear Red in support of the troops that have served, are serving, will serve. I had NO idea!! I've heard people sound shocked when 2 people wore the same shirt, but I didn't know they all wore red for reason! Today is the first friday that I (intentionally) wore red! :)


We are so very blessed that there are men and women out there putting their lives on the line every minute of every day, so that we may be safe here at home. I love each and every one of them for doing what they do, and not expecting any form of Thanks in return. I wish we would never forget why they are giving their lives, why they are over seas, why they come back injured, or not come back at all. I wish everyday we would honor them as we do on the 4th of July, on Memorial Day, on 9-11, on Veteran's day. I wish the citizens of this country would love one another and be respectful no matter what. I wish every soldier would know just how much I appreciate them, how much my town appreciates them, how much we all appreciate them. I wish this nation was as United as it was in the months following 9-11, we were so hurt and pained over the attacks, that everyone was on the boat to go over and apply justice, so Patriotic. And now, children are growing up not knowing why the flags are at half-mast today, not knowing that 9-11 is a very important and special day to alot of people, not knowing why our troops, our loved ones, are overseas fighitng and dying. If only we could be United again as we once were, there would alot more love, and respect and alot less hatred. I wish they would know just how endebted I (we) feel to them, how much we owe them. I know in my heart that our troops are over there doing what's right for us and our country, and I also know that if we were to pull every single US soldier out, and bring them all back home, that fighting and attacking would happen all over again, but this time, it would be OUR women and children dying, the fighting and the war would be here, in our towns, in our home, on our soil. For that, we owe them ours lives, and our respect.


I support our troops 100%, all day every day! And I plan to for the rest of my life! I love the soldiers! You are my Heroes!! Take care, and God Bless you all!!


Love, Bry and Mark

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Puppy school and my longing for a camera.....

The Bandit starts puppy school tonight at 7:00 pm. We're excited to finally get him into the class, cuz lately he has NOT been listening good/at all. He knows SIT but only because he usually gets treats. But that's about it. And that shock collar we bought off eBay, doesn't work too well. He completely ignores it. He's been digging everywhere and making holes, and chewing up all kinds of things from off the counters, and under the cabinets, and taking laundry off the hangers, and chewing up my crafts. I'd like to reprimand him rather than beat him.... He has those sad sad eyes... He was pretty good in the puppy class, he was well-behaved through most of it, towards the end he started whining and howl-barking at the little 3 mo. old pit bull next to us. But, he was probably the best behaved pup there. :) I think as long as we do the homework, he'll do pretty good in the class. It'll be nice to know what to do and how to train him, he's been a pretty good pup from the start (being house trained and all...) but lately he has taken to causing trouble while we're gone (for ANY amount of time...)

I have been really missing my camera lately. I guess with all the new posts, and crafts I've been doing, I miss it more than I thought I would. Oh how I wish I could say "Reparo"and BAM have my camera fixed. If only the Harry Potter spells worked here....*sigh* That's what we'll be trying to get fixed soon, I'm hoping soon... Like I said, I really miss it. And as much as I appreciate Mark letting me steal his work camera when I want to, I'd still like to have my awesome nice sweet camera back...

Ooh - we went out on a date today. I have been dying for some Buffalo Wild Wings, and we decided if we went to BW3 we'd have to go on Boneless Thursday! So we got some wings right after word, we sat there and played the Trivia game for a while (I beat Mark at the first game, then he came back and totally whooped me in the last game.) It was pretty fun! :) Tonight is also the NFL kickoff, first game of the season (Steelers vs Titans) so we also watched the pre-game show. We have it planned to go on "dates" each week, we rent movies all the time thru Blockbuster (lately we have been watching movies in 20 minute increments,we've been so tired!! But soon, we will be getting back to normal!!) and we have it planned to go OUT once a month, we've budgeted that date in. :) It'll be nice to get back to a "normal" schedule. I'll fill you in on ALL the details a little later this month. :) Anyways, things are going good so far. We're happy and smiling, and feel we're doing what we're supposed to be doing.

All the love - Mark and Bry

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

GUNS!!

MARK GOT HIS GUNS BACK!! YAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYY!!!
-ahh yes, I clearly forgot to clearly state which guns he got back! He finally got the guns back from the gunsmith!! Yayayay! It seriously has been almost a year, he took the guns to this dude last October.... It is now Septmeber, and he can shoot animals now!! yayayay! (Trust me, I was to the point of offering my PowerNag, graciously learned from my mother..., to this effort, Mark declined, he wanted to handle this himself! And he did!! Yayay for guns and the 2nd amendment!! Woot woot!

The craft blogs of the moment

OH MY GOODNESS!! I have found so many MANY MANY awesome craft blogs! I am so much in love with each and everyone of them! There are so many new things I want to try! My brain is in overload because of all these ideas!! Even ones for little kids (and I don't even kids!!) Here are the ones that I LOVE!!



Love to all- bry and mark

Now - with MUSIC!!

So I found this cute and cool new blog and on her blog she had music! So I scopped around and found the music player, and went to http://www.mixpod.com/ and created my own!! Yay!! It was so easy and FREE! Woot! (On her blog, she's got pictures, and she had THE cutest wedding dress ever!! It is absolutely gorgeous!!) yeah for music, and yay for the player - it's totally a Nintento paddle!! LOL!

Love., bry and mark


**The music player will eventually start, the quality and speed of the start will depend on the internet connection. (i.e : at work, I have excellent internet, and it connects right away, and I can hear my wonderful songs perfectly, at home, the internet is kinda shotty, so the songs start late and break often. Thank goodness for iTunes!!) This has been bugging me at home, sorry if it's bugging you too. :P

Monday, September 7, 2009

New craft completed!! AND a flood of new ideas!!


Hello for today! I have been crafting all weekend! I found this blog about Mod Podge!! And on this site, they create tons of things using Mod Podge, which I have recently fallen in love with. I found this recycled weave box, which I think is just about THE best idea ever!! (I bought some of the 3x3 shelves from Target, and you can buy these 12"x12" cloth boxes/drawers that go in them. Well, I have TONS of magazines around the house, about a year ago, I got duped into this National Magazine Exchange thing (chance of winning $1.2 million!) yeah, so I signed up for 12 magazines each month for the next 4 years or something... SO.. yeah, TONS of magazines aroung the house! And rather than just keep throwing them out and breaking our trash man's back and killing tons and tons of trees for no good reason - I decided to recycle those magazines into a 12"x12" weave box!! I've got some in-progress pictures, and even though at the time of the start of this post, it is not yet complete, I plan to go home and finish it up before bed! (We're at Gerrit and Angie's.... yes, again!) So, we'll just have to see how this turns out... I can't really wait until this is finished so I can see how easy it is, and how well this recycle box fits into my shelves... I have tons of these shelves, so if these boxes fit, I can totally make more!! Woot woot!!



Ok, so here are the steps I took to complete this Weave Box : I ripped apart one of my millions of magazines (I pick Glamour cuz I had 2 lying around and cuz it's the biggest), then after I ripped the pages out of both magazines, I started folding each page, into little strips. Then, stuck about 10 to little strip of paper, and then started weaving more little strips perpindicular to to 10. So, I ended up with 5 squares of weaved magazine (just like those placemats you made in kindergarten!!) And then put a handle on one of the sides (not the bottom!!) and then taped it all together. I was pretty proud of myself, until I tried to put the drawer into my awesome 3x3 shelves. Yeah, it don't FIT!! Dang it! I promise I measured it... maybe... I think I just held up one square and guessed that it would fit. Now this just goes to show, if it's my trial run of a project, I usually just run with it, and everything goes to pieces, sometimes the pieces come together, more often, the pieces just don't add up.... SO - I've got this awesome weave drawer made out of Glamour magazines, and it's just going to sit on top of my even awesome-er 3x3 shelves!! Maybe, I shall try again, but this time I will : 1: Measure measure MEASURE!! 2: not use such a BIG magazine.. and 3: make sure each square is the same!!



Ooooh!! But I DID finish something way cool! Rememeber those gum wrappers I've been saving?! Well, I went to Wal-Mart today and bought a $1 vase (I know, I have a TON of vases around the house, but I really really wanted a cylinder one, and it was cheap, and it's a first try!!) And I MP'd those wrappers to the vase! It looks so cool! (Sorry, no before pictures, I was too excited to just go ahead and start this one!) I love how this turned out!




So Angie, you're going to have to show me how to upload using Picasa!! This single-pic-load thing is killing me!!
Love always, Bry and Mark

Friday, September 4, 2009

Status report for today :

My Status Report for August :

Sitting . . . at Ang's house, we just got done with the Fantasy Football draft. I think I've got a pretty good team, for my rookie year.
Drinking . . . Mountain Dew - Hey! It was the draft tonight! I had to stay awake!!
Moving . . . really sluggishly, we have to "wake up" in 3 hours to throw papers. ugh
Reflecting . . . On the past week of work, how much I got done, and the crafts I have completed and the ones I have concocted....muahahhaha
Planning . . . This Labor Day weekend, looks like tons of sleep and some crafting.
Looking Forward To . . . Tomorrow around noon when I'll wake up next to the best man in the world and snuggle with him, and the last migraine (whenever that will be...)
Wanting . . . to finish the craft that Bandit chewed and start the new ones... :)
Hoping . . . That the finaces work out, the migraines go away, and Bandit decides to be a good pup.
Regretting . . . signing that contract for this stupid paper route...
Stressing . . . bills, bills, bills, bills!! Oh and how the paycheck for the route was $15!! WHAT?!
Surprised . . . That I'm not as tired as I should be, I should be so so so tired, but I am wide awake, I don't get it?!
Studying . . . My CAD manual, and how to complete all my desired crafts....
Frustrated . . . with just about everything having to do with $$$$
Eager . . . to get debt paid off!!!
Enjoying . . . spending time with my husband, and being able to snuggle and both of us enjoy it!! yay for love and finding someone to share my life with!
Missing . . . the Office and LOST, but coping because we've discovered Burn Notice

This list was borrowed from here at Bits of Sunshine, she says she copied it from someone else, who got it from someone else, so it's gone around and around. I like these Minute Posts, quick and easy. I think I'll do these Status reports at the end of each month. Plus there are some Quick Question posts I think i am going to try, but I think I'll try those at the end of regular posts, we'll see what happens. Also, it's a point to note this is Bryana's status reports, not Mark's. I'll talk it over with him and see if he wants to do this with me. :)

Love always, Bry and Mark

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Today's adventure

I left the house at 6:30 am, well, traffic sucked horribly! Apparently there was an accident on or around the exit I needed to take. And I'm guessing it was pretty bad because it involved a firetruck and 8 cop cars, at least that's what the radio said. So my appointment was at 8:00 am but I was supposed to be there at 7:30, I rolled in around 8:15, not really that late but still, I was late. I did use the free valet parking they have at the hospital, I felt kinda of guilty because I am fully funtional in both my legs, but I was late! Oh, and then the lady at the front desk sent me to the wrong floor! She thought I said Urology, when I really said Neurology, come on! They don't even look or sound alike!! J/K, I should learn not to mumble.... My headache today is at a 5. Well, I didn't sit for very long, then my name was called. I got my vitals taken care of, and sat in a room. The doc came in and started asking me questions right off the bat, I then handed her my newly cute'd Migraine Journal, and even though she didn't comment on how darn awesome it looks, she said it was very useful information (Yay!), and she took it to get copied. We went thru the neurology tests with pins and cold things, "does this feel different on the left or right?" "Does this change temp as it moves up your arm?" "How many times did you feel the pin?" and then we walked. She checked my balance and my strength in my arms, legs, hands and feet. (Yes she touched my feet! I don't even let Mark touch my feet!!) She told me there are 3 groups of medications they can give me that won't effect my heart : Seizure meds, blood pressure meds, and anti-depressant meds. Then she went on to tell me 3 things of what could be causing my migraines. 1: Lack of oxygen when I sleep. She's going to schedule a Sleep study where they watch me sleep in a totally non-stalker kind of way, and take all these tests and stuff. 2: Lack of seratonin in the brain. They would put me on a "mild" anti-depressant. 3: Slight blood clotting due to a hole in my heart (yes, that would mean a different hole than the ones they fixed back in February.) They put me on asprin daily to see if that has any effect on the migraines, if it does, that means it's #3. If no, then we go onto something else. Then I told her that I moved here from Utah last April, and she did this "Oh" like that was causing my migraines. She then said that the oxygen concentration is lower out here, and if I had an OSAT of 96 in Utah, I might have an OSAT of 91 here, not much difference, but when it comes to oxygen in the blood it really does make a difference. Understandable, but doesn't adjustment to the altitude take about a month or so? None of this year business! But I feel like this was a much needed step in the right direction, and that progress is being made, now it's time for action. We're in the trial process of some new medication, so we'll see in 3-4 weeks how that's treating the migraines. Things are good though, and things could always be alot worse (knock on wood). I just really really want to get this migraines taken care of. Maybe it could be something not related to anything physical, maybe it's an emotional or spiritual thing? The thing is, I am so worn out from fighting this migraines, I've just learned to deal with them, work thru them and get past them. I'm at my rope's end of things to try, and I don't want to stop trying. Last time I tried to figure out what was wrong resulted in discovering a 2 inch gap in my heart and open heart surgery. Things are good here though, we just keep looking up and praying for things to get better. We know that, in time, things will get better. That's just it though, it takes TIME! :) Love to all who have been there for us, and helped us out, love to you all!!

Love, bry and mark

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The glory that is Mod Podge!!

So I had a rough day today... Well work wasn't the rough part, it was when I got home to find the gate knocked down and the house completely terrorized. So, in order to release some anger, I decided to get creative with the Mod Podge. I had a few ideas that I wanted to try with out leftover wedding napkins. I have a ton of vases (1 year of marriage + a surgery/hospital stay = vases coming out my ears!) So I combined the two! (I still have at least one vase I want to try something with...) I like how this turned out, even though I probably won't be putting real flowers in it. Now I've got more ideas brewing... so we'll jut have to see... :)









Next, I have a whole bunch of Steno books that I write things down in. I have one for my Migraine Journal (exactly what it sounds like), one for my Crafty-ness-all my ideas are in this book, and one for the bank account-cuz I worry all the time and feel that writing it down will somehow make it all better.... And, even though I have written on them and doodled on them in permanent marker, I seem to keep grabbing the craft book when I'm reaching for my migraine log. (is that a sign?!) So I decided that, since I have tons of scrapbook paper around (never seems to get used....) and the wonderous bottle of Mod Podge, I would create an amazing book that is now attractive to the eyes.... :) The ugly no-color eye sore on the right, is the BEFORE picture. (Sorry for those of you who like how Steno books look, I look at them all day at work... ugh!!) And the glory that is on the left are the finished books!! (Mark came in and asked where I got the orange one and the green one. Silly boy should know I don't buy anything that looks like this anymore! I can make it!! Muaahahahha!) The orange one is my Migraine Journal, the green on is for the Money, and the napkin scrap one is for my Crafty-ness!!! Yay! I'm excited that these books turned out so cute! I'm glad all of this only took me a 1/2 hour! I'm excited for the little things in life that can change your day from bad to good!



Oh, one last thing. Mark had a softball game tonight. I went and wasn't all that excited about it, but about 1/2 way thru Mark came and sat by me and asked if I could start heckling the other team when they didn't swing at the pitch. I said Sure (I love to heckle and usually do when I'm feeling good.) So I started hollering at the opposite team "This isn't Co-Ed! You gotta swing at the pitches!" and "Don't break a nail now!!" and "Alright, sister, keep your eye on the ball." - now to most, these are rude and mean things to say, but these guys were not swinging at all! And it is common knowledge and practice to swing at pitches you can't hit and strike out, than to do the walk of shame to first base, come on, this is Men's Slow-pitch, it's not like it's baseball, or even competetive, might as wel put all of it out there! Well, the game was winding down, and the spectators for the next game started showing up. All the wives from the team have babies/kids, and most bring their kids when they come to watch their man. Well, there was this small group of people standing right behind the wives/moms and smoking. I can't stand the smell, and from the looks of nausea on the moms, neither can they. So I asked the moms if it was that bad for them too, they said yes. So I turned to this group and said "Excuse me, can you please move? It's the smoke, and there are babies." This lady shot back, "It's not hitting them, it's not hitting them, we can smoke if we want." I was real nice, and I was in a bad mood and everything! But the group moved, and they weren't quiet while they talked trash on how I asked them to move. Oh well, we can't all be friends, right? Two things I will never understand: Why do they allow smoking at parks that have a playground?!?!?!? And why do they allow smoking but I can't bring my dog?! If I ever have a pull in the government, I'm putting my money down to make that a law! NO SMOKING IN PARKS THAT HAVE A PLAYGROUND!! If you smoke, please be considerate and think of those around you. Imagine if I had my dog pee on your leg, you wouldn't like me sharing that with you, would you? Didn't think so. Ok, that's my rant for the week...



Doctor appointment in the morning... Oh joy! I'll be bringing my newly awesome'd Migraine journal!! Woot woot!



Love, bry and mark

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Cheetos, a FREE pie & doctors

I love cheetos, the crunchy kind. I live for those! They are always so dang delicious. I could eat them all day long, the only drawback is then my fingers would be orange forever! I got the orange dust all over my keyboard today at work... And it's not coming off very easy. Oh well, the things we do for love.... :)


Buy one MARIE CALENDAR pie get one for FREE!! Meaning, Mark and I bought 2 Marie Calendar's Razzleberry Pies for $4.25!! Freaking awesome! We went shopping, and we have a ton of ads (and newspapers!!) around the house, so I glanced thru a bunch of them, and saw that the MC pies were B1G1 at King Soopers. Well, instead of making 2 trips, we went to Wal-Mart and did the price match, and TA DA!! Free pie!! Mark loves me even more now! We only went to 1 store AND he got pie out of the deal!! (Note: Mark HATES shopping, he pouts, so he usually goes over to the hunting counter and picks up those season books, we have tons.!)

Late nights or Early days... or something like that. Lately our days have spread out, I can't remember if it's been 4 days or 2 days... It feels like the weeks are so long lately. Mark and I decided to try out a paper route. After 2 weeks of waking up at 2 AM to roll papers, toss 140 M-W, 240 TH-F, and 370 SA-SU, we called it quits. Hey we tried at least. Oh, and to quit we have to put in our 30 days, so it's not like we could just drop it cold turkey, we're still going at it until the 29th of September. It has been horrible for our beauty sleep. I deal ok, cuz I just sit at work, but Mark (who is perpetually tired, has it rough, he's walking around all day in 90 degree weather, ugh, it's horrible!) So, yeah.... we're done with that.

Neurologist....Hmm, so about these darn headaches... Yes, I still have bad headaches. Yes, I have tried taking all kinds of things (Excedrine Migraine, Advil Migraine, Excedrine Tension Headache, Tylenol Extra Strenght....) and nothing has worked. I went to my (new) PCP and he said to write down all my headaches in a little book so later we would be able to see if there is a pattern. So far, no pattern besides headaches being a constant. I write down what time it hits, what I take for it, how much I hurt, where I hurt, what the hurt feels like, what makes me hurt more, what I eat/drink, what time I wake up, and if it gets worse. BUT- I have an appointment with a Neurologist on Thursday, so we'll have to wait and see what's going on... I'm kinda nervous, they haven't told me what they are going to do yet, test and stuff. So I really have no idea. I have tried everything: dentist, eye doc, new glasses, change my diet, change my excercise, change my work habits, even listening to/not to certain types of music, optimism, prayer, medications, baths, chiropractor, heart surgery(!!!), and so far, nothing has worked. So i am at a loss until Thursday (I hope!!). I'll keep you posted.

Love- mark & bry