Tammi Dryden is the one of the best photographers in Michigan!

 www.morethanwordsphotographybytammi.net

Check out her new blog!  She did our pregnant photos this winter and they were awesome!

Baby Girl is about to be here!!!

Charles and I are trying to prepare our apartment and our minds for our little girl who is scheduled to arrive in 11 days! We are soo excited and cannot wait to meet our new addition.  Praying like crazy for a healthy delivery and God's grace as we welcome her into the world.
I am so nervous to go through labor as I have never experienced this before.  Sunday's service at church yesterday was really encouraging.  Abide and Pray from John 15:1-8.  Even the praise songs we sang spoke to my heart and I realized I am not going through this alone. God has given me his comforter, the Holy Spirit, to bring peace and strength only from Him!
Also God has blessed me with a godly husband who is anchored in Christ, our rock in sinking sand.  Thank you Lord! I had been letting fear get the better of me as I contemplated labor and delivery, I was freaking out! So thankful God is faithful to comfort and bring peace through his word and his people.

Pregnancy: Week 31 1/2

    I spotted this dresser on craigslist and ended bargaining down to 20$ for it!  It was stained an ugly brown and after painting a primer I painted a creamy white color over that.  Took me a while to get the right knobs, even had to fill in the old holes and drill new ones! Poor Charles:)

    Someday our baby girl will have her own room were this dresser can stand out against darker painted walls.  But for now it will be in our room as well as all the other baby stuff! I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.

  I found these antique looking knobs at World Market, on sale! I painted the middle black so with would match the other handles.

This is us at a wedding in November.  I was trying to keep up with Charles on the dance floor but my feet hurt soo bad! People were laughing at me trying to have rhythm with a huge belly!

   Charles and I have been going to birthing classes at the hospital.  Tonight we went to a long one where they showed video of actual deliveries.  It was soo sweet, Charles was tearing up when the baby was born! I usually am the crying when I watch Baby Story on TLC but this time Charles was:) So fun to watch him become a Dad!

Days Inn and Suites

Ahh...Days Inn, my new arch-nemesis!  We drove out for the weekend for my cousin's wedding to Northeastern PA, which is an 11 hour trip from Louisville, KY.  We figured we would stop about half way in Girard, OH and stay at a Days Inn for the night.  BIG MISTAKE!!  

Before reading this post, I want you to check out this wonderful link that shows the promise of Days Inn...a promise as sure as the sun!

http://www.daysinn.com/DaysInn/control/sunsational_service_commitment?intcmp=about_days_in_promise&variant=

Now, you can tell me if they lived up to their promise!

We entered our room, after not even receiving a smile from the lady who checked us in, and found hairs all on the sheets by the pillows.  We then found cigarette burns on the top sheet and the in between sheet even though we were in a non-smoking room.  I pulled back the comforter and saw stains that honestly seemed as if a sweaty, naked man slept in that comforter for 4 days straight!!  NICE!  So I went down and asked the front desk worker for new sheets and pillow cases!  Upon changing the pillow cases, I saw what looked like spots of dried blood on the pillow.  That hint of a possibility ruled out any future use of our hotel pillows so I had to go to the car and get ours.  About 30 minutes passed at this point.  We went into the bathroom to find a nice muddy boot print between the toilet and the shower...not two of them...just one big muddy boot print.  Yummy!!  After getting ready for bed, I went to turn on the light by the bed...didn't work.  Checked the bulb and sure enough, it was burnt out.  Went to check the other bulbs and another one was burnt out by the desk.  Guess no one had been in this room for a while!  So for the record, thus far, we have bloody pillows; hairy, burnt holed sheets; naked, sweat comforter; boot print floor; 2 burnt out bulbs and a partridge in a pear tree...  

We tried to sleep but obviously, the disgusting nature of the comforter was stuck in my head.  I eventually went down to the front desk with the comforter and told her I wanted a refund.  I showed her the comforter and told her the list of other problems we had in the room as well.  She was understanding and believed we should have gotten a full refund!  Sadly, she wasn't authorized to give me one since I paid by credit card.  We ate breakfast and left ASAP.  Called back to get a refund...told my story...agreed we should get one...not authorized to give one...told to call back later.  Called again later in the day...same thing.  Told them to just have the manager call me when he is in.  

He finally called me and told me I would only get charged $25 for the room and would be given a 35% discount if I stayed there again.  Thanks, but no thanks.  I insisted we get a full refund and he would not budge.  I called customer service and complained to them...they said I had to wait 4 days till they put in the complaint.  

Finally, yesterday, November 19th, I spoke to customer service and they told me they could do nothing because the manager told me everything was sorted out.  I was not happy!  I called the manager again and told him that I still wanted a full refund for the night.  I began simply by stating the promise that was as sure as the sun! As our guest, you can expect warm hospitality and clean, comfortable rooms where everything works...  Once I got to the everything works, he interrupted me.  In fact, he rudely interrupted me many times as I tried to explain why I thought we should get a full refund.  I told him that any business should work hard to keep their customers happy.  That must have pushed his button cause he had it!!!  He told me to take the money and go to hell.  I told him it was only $25 and he should be ok with that.  He said that I was on their black list and I can take the money and I can go to hell with it.  And he hung up.  

I was a little shocked, but called the customer service department for Days Inn and told them one of their managers just told me to go to hell.  They were not happy about that.  They apologized for how rude he was, but I had already decided that I would never stay at a Days Inn and Suites again.  The Best Value Under the Sun is simply not true.  Neither is their supposed promise as sure as the sun.  Last time I checked, the sun came up that day, but the promise of Days Inn apparently was in hibernation for good!

Raspberry Freezer Jam!

I made strawberry jam last year and this year I decided to make raspberry jam when I found them on sale at Sam's Club.  The berries were easy to find compared to the fruit pectin! Good grief, I had to ask sales people at two different stores if they carried Fruit pectin and they all looked at me like I was crazy.  Apparently nobody makes jam anymore.  Word to the wise if you're going to attempt making jam, go to Walmart for your supplies and be sure to read the instructions through before starting!

I hated crushing such beautiful raspberries:(

My supplies.

Instant fruit pectin, easy freezer jam, if you read the instructions first!

My finished product, disappointed it only made 3 jars, I guess I needed more berries. Oh well, it tastes really good!

Ok, so I confess, I am totally an Idea Stealer!

      What is it the etiquette of seeing an idea on some else's blog, trying it your self and then blogging about it?
I don't even know this person but her blog is Little Big Nest and she always has easy, do-it-yourself, decorating ideas that I love! So I tried her idea for a fall wreath.  It was so simple and super cheap.
      So you soak coffee filters in a strong brew of tea, let them dry, twist them at the bottom, and then hot glue them to a piece of cardboard.

Fun to entertain myself with and it went so fast!

I did two rows and then filled in some sparse areas with the extras.  Then to finish it off I hot glued an orange ribbon to the back.  This wreath would stand out more on a fun colored door or combined with berry branches.  However I can't change my apartment door color and I couldn't figure out how to attach my berries:(  

I would love to try more crafts with coffee filters and dying them other colors, say in the baby's room someday?

Why would you ever shop at Pottery Barn when you can shop at Pottery Barn Outlet?

Charles and I visited our siblings in Ohio this weekend.  We enjoyed some cool fall weather, an attempt at apple-picking, and shopping at the Prime Outlets.  My sister, Brooke works at J.Crew outlet there.  Brooke and I left the men playing video games and enjoyed a couple of hours searching for deals.
I had a gift card to Pottery Barn left over from our wedding since I could never decide what to buy with it.  It was my first time in a Pottery Barn outlet and I was overwhelmed! I wanted everything:) I found a crib bumper in the kids section that was light pink, I swore I wasn't going to do pink in our baby's room.  However it was such a killer deal and the pattern was more modern that I couldn't resist.  Originally around 100$, I got it for 16$ and used my gift card! I was ecstatic!

I also painted a canvas for her future bedroom, we live in a one bedroom apartment now.  I decided that if the bumper was the only pink in the room then I could handle it.  I want to do grays and white with touches of color, I think the painting will set the tone for the room.

I am really struggling with the desire to nest! We probably won't be moving until May, when she is a couple months old.
Lord, help me to be patient!