Nursery curtains

I've been pretty busy this summer working on a few things for the baby's nursery before school starts again. I am pretty excited with how things are working out so far. We have chosen to decorate using sports as a theme. Originally, I wanted a Colts nursery, but I didn't think that was fair for hubby:) So, sports it is.

I'm sure I will share some more of my projects as I either finish them or get them hung up, but this first one was really fun and easy to do. I wanted to find curtains for the room that were dark blue, covered the window (not just a valance), and I wanted them to be cost effective. (That's code for cheap.) I started by looking in all of the usual places, Wal-mart, Target, Amazon, Big Lots, and finally ended up at Bed Bath and Beyond. I wish I would have gone there first! They have such a huge selection!

Curtains are super expensive. I decided to go with a less expensive (also code for cheaper) alternative. I really liked many of the curtains at BB&B, but they were about $20 per panel. I was going to need 4 panels. Crazy, right? Plus, I wanted cute curtain rods to go with the sports theme. Well, I found the curtain rods and they had the perfect ones!! Wait till you see them. SO PERFECT! If I wanted the cute curtain rods, I was going to have to cut costs to get them. I thought about getting some material and making my own. (Using stitch witchery or ultrabond, cause I don't sew.) But then, I remembered seeing something on Pinterest that I could use! Tablecloths! They are thick, durable, and made to be washed often. So, off to that section. I grabbed 2 tablecloths and checked the dimensions. After finding the perfect ones, I decided to get them, cut them in half and use them as my curtains. They were only $15 each, and since I was cutting them, I only needed 2. That alone saved me $50! Gotta love that.

Well, thankfully, my friend K was in town and she brought her sewing machine with her just in case of a sewing emergency. I cut the curtains the moment we got home and she sewed up the ragged edge and then folded and sewed the top down to make a place for the rod to slide through. Then when hubby came home, he hung them up.

This is what it looked like when we were finished. Very boyish! I liked them, but I thought they were missing something.

Here's a close up of the curtain rod ends. I LOVE THEM! 

So, I decided the curtains needed some red on them to jazz them up a bit. Too bad K and her sewing machine were gone. So Ultrabond to the rescue! I got some basic red ribbon and decided 2 stripes would be perfect across the top. 

Stripe one and a stripe of Ultrabond waiting for the second ribbon. 

Second stripe! It looks orange here, but it's red.

Well, I just finished them and I LOVE them even more now. The red is just what they needed. 

TA DA!! 

Project one: Completed. Only a hundred more to go! 

Happy Anniversary!

Goodness, I love this guy so much! 

Today, my husband and I are celebrating 3 years of wedded bliss. How, you ask? Well, he is working all day and I am home doing some stuff around the house. Romantic, right? In our defense, we are going away for the weekend to celebrate. 

Well, since it is our 3 year anniversary, allow me to give you some things in 3's:

3 reasons I love my husband more this year than last year:

1. We are having a baby!
2. He puts ice in all of my drinks, and refills the ice cube trays. (A really big deal, since this mama-to-be is always hot and in need of an icy drink.)
3. He doesn't get upset with me if he comes home and finds me sleeping on the couch instead of making him dinner. 

3 things we love to do together:

1. Watch shows. Right now we are loving Arrested Development, Psych, and Parks and Recreation. (look, I even put 3 shows! See a theme here today?) We love funny shows! 
2. Talk. We are so sappy. Even in our devotion last night, it suggested the importance of small talk with your spouse. We have made it a priority to have some time to just talk with each other before we go to sleep every night. It's my favorite time of the day. 
3. Work on projects together. Hubby and I make a really great team. I like to call myself the brains of the operation. I can come up with amazing ideas, but I struggle with the follow through. I can explain what I want to him, and he can somehow make them work. He is the muscle in our relationship. The heavy-lifter, the hard-worker, the power-tool-user. Currently our big project is baby boy's nursery. 

3 of our favorite dates:

1. Going out to a movie. He loves the movies. I love the popcorn. It's a match made in heaven. 
2. Going to dinner. Our current favorite place is Tokyo. They have yummy food. 
3. Beach dates. These don't happen often, but I love to go to the beach with my husband. He is so much fun to hang out with!

3 things my husband does that make him so perfect for me:

1. He fixes things around the house. Most recently, he fixed the toilet. Have you ever had a toilet that sounded like it was always running? SO ANNOYING. Yeah, he fixed that. He is a superhero. 
2. He lets me decorate. This one is such a big deal to me. I love things a certain way. Minimal and neat and organized and color coordinated. Is that too much to ask? Apparently not, since my husband lets me do all of those things in our place. Now, I am kind in my decorations. I try not to make him feel like he is living in a Barbie house that is all pink and flowery and I always tell him my ideas before I just run with them. 
3. He writes me sweet notes. Not everyday, but often enough to let me know that he is always thinking about me. He is very good about showing me that he loves me and there is nothing better than finding a note that he has thoughtfully written. I have a collection of them. I even keep a couple very dear ones in my wallet. 

3 things I have learned about marriage in 3 years:

1. Communication really IS key! Talking with my husband is the key to resolving conflict. Many times, when we fail to effectively communicate with each other, we have conflict. Also, once we have gotten upset with each other, it is seems easier to bottle all of that up until one of us explodes, but we have learned to just talk about it and get over it. Not only is that MUCH easier, but it saves us lots of time. I don't want to waste time being mad especially when I don't need to be. 
2. The love/respect thing is super important. The Bible talks about the wife's role of submitting to the husband. Is that always easy? Heck no! But by submitting to my husband, I am respecting him. His role is to love me. I always joke that his role is way harder than mine. Loving me is not always easy. We have learned that when I submit to him, or show him respect, it makes it easier for him to love me. When he shows me that he loves me, it is easier for me to submit to him. And the cycle just continues. 
3. Weddings are easy, but marriage is hard. I loved our wedding. Everything was beautiful and things went smoothly. Marriage however is something that must be worked at. I would love to tell you that we have had a perfect 3 years, but we haven't. We have been through financial difficulties, personal struggles, health scares, and more arguments than I care to admit to. But, the good far outweighs the bad. We are not willing to let our circumstances bully us out of a wonderful marriage. So we tackle the big stuff together, work hard to get past it, and focus on having more of the good stuff that marriage has to offer. 

Alright, alright, that's enough sappyness for one day. I will just end it here. Thanks for letting me ramble about my awesome husband.