Let's Be Thankful Swap

Hey! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.  I can't wait to share about how it was here in Oklahoma tomorrow.

But today, I am so happy to share about the Let's Be Thankful Swap that Meg at Borrowed Heaven and Alex at Radiating Sunshine actually hosted.  It was so fun!

Here is what I sent Alex:

She is from a much colder place than Oklahoma {when she is at school and home}, so I took this opportunity to send cold-weather items that would be more of a lucky treat than a necessity here.  I hope she likes it! If you haven't been over to her blog, here is her reveal and more details on what I sent her.  

So first, I was excited to get paired with Alex.  She is good friends with Meg, who I was paired with for September Foodie Pen Pals - which made this extra special to me.  I already knew she was great! Alex and I had some similar interests, with an obvious one being Target {I never come out empty handed!}

My catch from Alex!

How cute is that little card? I am a sucker for "geometric-not-so-geometric" prints {and yes, I just made that up}.  

First up: the hand cream.

This stuff is awesome.  Andrew thinks it kind of smells like sopapillas.  I kind of agree in a "smells so good you could eat this" kind of way.  It is so thick and creamy, and will hopefully help me with my Christmas-light-hanging hands and with my goal to stop biting my fingernails {don't say I never told you anything about my bag habits!}

She also sent me these fantastic coasters that we put out in the house immediately! Funny story about them: when I was shopping for Alex's gift, I actually spotted these {and bought them}.  I took them home and told Andrew that we could gift them {both of our origin family's last names are "E"} or we could keep them but I think we should keep them.  {Nothing like giving your husband the choice, ya know?} We actually kept them and I told him that meant we needed to go back and get a few more so we could have at least as many as we usually have guests {6 is typical regardless of which side of the family we are hosting}.  I got Alex's package a week or so later and I gasped, and giggled.  Not only did it save me a trip, BUT it shows just how well she got to know me in just a few e-mails!

Needless to say, I am in love.  

And great minds think alike. 

And I can't wait to do this again! 

And no family, I am no longer gifting these coasters - they are staying! {Too bad, so sad}

I am so blessed and honored to be a part of such a lovely blogging community.  Now I have two friends who I have met through this community and in such a short time.  It has been so fun getting to know both of them, learn about their experiences, and join up with them for swaps like these.  It has been an awesome experience!

Thanks for hosting the swap ladies!

Weekend Review - and Feel {Great} Monday

WOW! Last week flew by - so quickly I didn't even realize it was time to feel great.  I was technically feeling great, I just didn't write about it.  So here are some updates!

Feel {Great} Anyday - including Friday

This Last week, I felt really great about the to-do list.  We got a lot done.  Which was perfect timing.  In my mind, it was time to start fresh and turn a new leaf.  I sat down an caught up on my "In Everything Give Thanks" plan with She Reads Truth and the subject was giving thanks in stress.

The Big Kitchen Remodel {and reading the end of the book before the beginning}

Here is to reading the end of the book before the beginning...

Preface: We have tutorials coming on most of this kitchen {as we did about 85% of it ourselves in some way shape or form}.  However, I keep posting "sneak peeks" due to no other way about it and I can't wait to share with everyone anyway.  So without further ado...

Get ready for a LOT of pictures!

We bought the house because of this which proved to be a huge undertaking.

DIY House Remodel - Lay Your Own Wood {or bamboo} Floor - Tips and Tricks and General Instructions

If this is new to you and you want to see all of the other steps we took: prep work and supplies and Elastilon.   Hope you find them helpful as well!

This post may seem scattered, because we learned things as we went - and this post will probably look the same way.  However, we hope you can learn from other people's mistakes experiences. It will mix your general instructions with our tips - because ultimately we winged it {as much as a control freak can "wing" anything}.  Here goes nothin'! *Sorry for all of the words and less pictures, these are more brain tricks and tips and unfortunately, we couldn't snap pictures from inside there!

Patterns and Execution

Tip #1: Turn the last board in the row around so the groove is up next to the groove {length wise}, mark where the cut should go to make it shorter {should light up with the board you lay immediately prior to this step - make sure to leave room for the gap!}, and cut there.  Instead of measuring, marking, etc. we found this method to end up in an extremely low error rate and made the process go much faster.  The majority of the time, if there was a "miscut", we were usually making it too long instead of too short which meant we could correct the error. Yardsticks really help when you made an ut-oh cut. {If you would like pictures or further explanation of this, just let us know in the comments, after much searching for a picture, we couldn't find one.  But we could definitely stage the situation for you if you would like!}

Weekend Review

This weekend was pretty uneventful in the A+K terms.  So, unlike my usual weekend reviews, I am not going to break it out by day - it was all a blur anyway!

Weather
We did brave the cold {pre-snow} for the OSU game, which we unfortunately lost, but the temperature wasn't as bad as even we thought it would be! Mid-November in Oklahoma does NOT usually mean snow.  However, Sunday, we got a good {early for Oklahoma} dose of it.  Not too bad in our area, but it did make you want to cuddle in a blanket and do nothing {or in our case, finish a few house projects and THEN cuddle up and do nothing}.

This is November? Really?!