Catch up and Wanna Make it Wednesday

My apologies for neglecting my blog lately! This is my last week of work and they are working me like a dog! I had no one to watch Sawyer today so I am home with my little man. I am really excited to be almost done with my job...excited and nervous! We have been very blessed to be pretty unaffected by the economy and have remained fairly financially comfortable with 2 incomes...we will now be budget people. It will definitely be an adjustment for us all, but one I think will be worth it. Sawyer is going to start crawling any day now and I am hoping it's today or that he holds off until Saturday so I don't miss it.

Karly had open house for her new middle school next year last night. It was crazy to see how old some of the kids look that are just a year or two older than Kar. I can't believe how fast my sweet little girl has grown up! She says she wants to do cheer and play an instrument, not sure how scheduling will work out with dance too but as usual we will figure it all out.

Now that I have caught you all up....

Wanna Make it Wednesday!

I saw these linked on Dollar Store Crafts this morning (perfect timing) and love them!  You can find lots of cheap ideas here! I think they would look so cute in Karly's room; in fact she has requested them in blue, green, and black!

3rd tooth!

Sawyer's top left tooth popped through today (Thursday Jan 21)!  He was up and miserable most of last night...daddy got him this time!  I am so happy it is finally through!

Thought for Thursday

If it is bad to microwave food in plastic containers why do they sell baby food in containers?
Do people put the food in glass to microwave?
hmmmm….

Wanna Make it Wednesday 01/20

If you blog stalk at all I am sure you have stumbled across Ana at Knock Off Wood. I am OBSESSED with her blog now and think that I need to become a carpenter ASAP! She creates plans to recreate high end furniture that is FAR out of my budget. Think Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Land of Nod and similar for a fraction of the cost.  All you need for most projects is a drill, some wood glue...and the wood of course.  She gives you the layout to cut the wood so you get as much wood from a piece as possible.  Oh and did you know Home Depot will cut it for you...for FREE!?!?! 

I obviously can't link you to every single project I want off her site but I am going to link you to my very most favorites...well todays favorites. Go check her blog out, you won't be disappointed.

First up; this Pottery Barn bed!  Lucky for me we actually need a bed so this would be a great first project!  (hint, hint Chris)

I love this bookshelf/organizer from Land of Nod. 

last but not least for today

This entryway bench from Pottery Barn

Pretty amazing right?  Oh and she has an amazing bod...if that is a side effect of carpentry sign me up ;)

Not Me Monday with an extra 01/18

I am not quitting my job. I couldn't possibly be that lucky could I?!?!

I did not order a margarita at lunch immediately after church. I would never! Not only would I never do something like that but I really wouldn't have spent the last 20 minutes in church thinking about how wonderful said margarita would taste. If I did have one I am sure it would have been delicious!

I did not wear my fat girl jeans 3 days this week.  If I did, I definitely would have at least washed them.  I would be a dirty girl!  (better than maternity jeans?)

My sweet little boy did not fuss and fight me throughout church this morning only to finally quiet down and then let out the loudest burp when it was complete silence! 

Not my little man!

Sick Blog

My blog is sick and needs help! 

All of my sidebar stuff is at the bottom???  It was perfectly fine this morning and now it is this!  Help!!!!  Anyone else ever experience this?

Big News!

Big news in the Oxford house. I turned in my 2 week notice!

January 29 will be my last day of work. I have stressed, debated, discussed, dreamt of, and went back and forth on this decision since I went back from maternity leave. Until Sawyer was about 6 months he was able to come to work with me. As he got older, slept less and found his voice it was too hard to keep him quiet and happy and much more difficult to get work done. For the last 3 weeks he has stayed home with my mom. If I had to have someone else watch my children she is great, but I would much prefer to be with them myself. When I had Karly I didn't have the opportunity to stay home with her. I have the chance to be home with my kids now and I am jumping on it. Of course we will have to change our spending habits some. Paying half of my paycheck for other people to raise my baby just isn't worth it to me. I am hoping Inner Hooker will continue to pull its weight allowing me to stay home full time. I am looking forward to having a little more time to create more patterns. Of course I am looking most forward to being able to spend more time with my kids. I am away from the house about 10 hours a day and hate every second of it. Now the daunting task of learning how to stay on somewhat of a schedule, be productive and keep my house in better shape than I have!

Recommendations welcome!

Sawyer's 2nd tooth

Sawyer has another tooth! His top right one popped through on Wednesday January 13. It looks like it will be a big pearly white! My little redneck boy...one tooth on bottom and one on top! As soon as they are a little more visible I will get a few pictures.

Wanna Make It Wednesday

I stumbled across a new blog this week and I am in love with it! Living with Lindsay , lots of cute ideas of her own and she has great taste in other blogs! Plus, she seems like someone I would like! Does anyone else do that? Read blogs and swear if you knew each other you would be best buddies?!? I do all the time! If only they lived nearby ;)

Back to the task at hand! Hand... ha ha, ok that was pretty bad

first up

"High Five" Garden from JesseKate Designs . We have wanted a garden since we moved to Texas 2 years ago. I half attempted to tend a few plants in pots but pretty much let them die and then the dogs finished them off. Our new house has a little raised bed area and I am newly motivated. Love these!

I thought this button artwork from Living with Lindsay was pretty cute too! I can see it as a monogram!!! Also love the book wreaths and the monogrammed table...and the silhouettes on the table! She has about a million other great ideas and links to other people's great ideas.

And last but not least...a wanna make it on a huge would love to do it someday scale; Brittany from Superwoman's kitchen makeover...on $175!!!

Before

and AFTER!!! Can you believe it?!?!

She has inspired me! I hate my kitchen but am scared of making it worse attempting to do it myself! Maybe just maybe someday I'll get the courage to try a few of her ideas!

Post It Tuesday

Another "themed" blog...love these!  Short and to the point post its...I think yes!  To learn more or link up to others click on the post it above.

Who You Are When No One Is Looking

Ok, so I realize wanting people to read my blog and then sending them to someone else's probably isn't the smartest plan but I'll just have to trust that you will come back and see me. I promise I'll be waiting right here for you. Again I am sending you to MckMama's amazing blog. Yes, I know I just sent you there, but this woman is one of my favorites! The title was, "Who You Are When No One Is Looking" which instantly caught my eye. It's a funny story that goes back to this book by the same name. This really made me start to think...Who am I when no one is looking? Am I what my blog portrays? Yes, for the most part. Am I the picture perfect wife that never nags my husband? Hardly. Am I the most patient and involved mom that never nags my children? Again...nope. After reading that blog post it really made me start to look at myself. For the most part I am what you see...but I will admit the behind the computer me could use a little polishing.

I am not a person of faith or religion in any form. I did order the book for myself and my mom and am looking forward to getting it. It is a Christian based book which is usually, ok never, my thing, but I am optimistic that I can still take something positive from the book. The religion topic will come up again here soon when I have the time and eloquence to put it into words. This is something that I have strong feelings about and at a time when I am feeling a little lost MckMama just happened to post another blog that really spoke to me.

Who are you when no one is looking?

The Winners!!!

First let me start by saying THANK YOU!  Thank you to Kari at U Create for everything!  Thank you to everyone for checking out my stuff, fanning, following, tweeting, blogging and shopping!  I had hopes that I would get a handful of people participating.  This blew me away!  I never would have guessed so many people would play! 

I hope those of you that now follow my blog will continue to do so and be a part of my world!  I can’t wait to start checking out your blogs as well. 

Now to announce the winners!  I simply used the comment list as numbered entries and let random.org pick the numbers! 

Drumroll please…..and the winners are….

Kelly O. said...

I love the baby bear hats and the scalloped beanie.
i've recently decided to brush up on my crochet skills to make hats for the babies at our local hospital. It seems the older ladies that do it are getting too old and are having trouble with vision. Someone has to make them because when I have a baby I so love receiving them as a gift :)

Sare said...

I seriously love them all (I found your through UCreate). I think the ear flap and the monkey are some favorites though. If I have a girl this time around I'd love one of the patterns with flowers though (so indecisive). I really love all of them!
thanks for the giveaway!

 Mama Lusco said...

Facebook fan! Angie Kropf Lusco

Jewel said...

I love the scallop beanie with flower and sweet dog one too!!! Love it!

doll_fins said...

I am now a follower of your blog! Thanks!

Please email me at innerhooker@yahoo.com with your prize choice!  I don’t want to assume the one you listed is still your favorite; I know I change my mind frequently!

As a thank you to everyone that participated I would like to offer a special deal as well.

Any one that purchase the ‘Buy 2, Get 1 Free’ patterns will actually get 2 free.  Leave me your 2 choices in the ‘notes to seller’ area along with ‘blog01’and I’ll send them your way! 

4 patterns for $10?!?!  Sounds great to me! 

Again…thank you all so much for your participation and kind words;

for helping me get one step closer to my dreams!

Inner Hooker

Not Me! 01/11

Another wonderful morning for “Not Me” Monday. If you have no idea what I am talking about please visit MckMama’s blog for the details.

Now for my confessions…err list of things I would never ever do!

I did not neglect my extra messy house so that I could work on a new pattern this weekend. I am a much better housekeeper than that!

I still do not have earlier mentioned 5 or 6 Christmas gifts sitting in my dining room BEGGING to be mailed. My husband is not doing his families today out of sheer frustration stemming from my procrastination. I am much more efficient than that. I mean really they are Christmas presents!

I did not say something fairly heartless to a friend needing support and comfort. If I had said something as such I would have immediately apologized for such an awful out of line slip. I would never; I have much better tact than that. I mean really…I would never even think such things!

I did not wear maternity pants today because they are more comfortable than my pre-pregnancy pants. My baby is 7 months old I for sure fit perfectly in my old pants…I mean they might even be a little loose! Who loses most of their baby weight only to gain 10 of it back? Not ME!

My baby has a tooth

If you are looking for the giveaway click HERE or scroll down.

I was trying not to blog until Sunday night when the contest ends...
but BIG NEWS happened!

My baby has a tooth! His first tooth! His lower left tooth just barely broke through on Thursday (01/07/10). I was at work when he woke up and my mom text me "S has a tooth"...I would be telling a lie if I didn't admit that my heart sunk a little. I was so sad to not be there that moment to feel it. I rushed home after work and sure enough in the mouth of slobber there was a tiny sharp corner. What a little man he is! How have 7 months flown by so quickly?

UCreate feature and a giveaway!

Hi and welcome to the Oxford Family! I am so excited to have you here! This is my little corner of blog world where I like to share my personal stuff (most of which is fairly random), crafty goodness, and other fun things along the way.

Now for the good stuff

FREE STUFF!

I will be giving away 5 free pdf patterns. To enter (click on hyperlinks):

1. go to Inner Hooker come back here and leave a comment sharing your favorite item

2. become a follower of this blog

3. fan us on facebook

4. follow us on twitter

5. write a quick blog about this contest, leave a link back please

Please enter a separate comment for each entry.

Please include an email address you can be reached at.

Contest closes Sunday January 10 at midnight central time. Winners will be posted in a blog Monday morning.

Now go play!

PS Scroll down to the next post for a few new amazing product pics courtesy of Ciara Hammonds Photography and she has a blog. Thanks again Ciara! They are beautiful. If anyone in East Texas is looking for a photographer...click on her!

Love the new pictures!

Once again I am in love with Ciara's amazing work! I can't wait to get these uploaded to Etsy! Are they not some of the cutest things you have ever seen!

I want to give both of these babies some squeezin!

"Not Me" Monday 01/04

It's time for another "Not Me" Monday... if you haven't read this before or don't know what I am talking about head over to MckMama's blog for all of the info and to link up your own "Not Me" Monday.

Like so many others the holidays snuck right up on me and bit me in the butt!
I do NOT still have 4...ok 6 Christmas presents sitting in my dining room that need to be mailed!! Procrastinating like that would never be ok.

I did not spend more of my 3.5 days off (for the New Year) bra less and in jams than I did presentable. That would be trashy!

I did not go to bed at 10p on New Years Eve night! That would really make me seem like an old boring lady. In my defense were I to ever do something so lame my husband would definitely have been at work...not that this happened or anything.

I did not get sidetracked and forget that Sawyer had an explosive situation in his car seat only to put him in it 2 days later...then be reminded by my mom of the explosive situation previously mentioned. I would never! That would be so nasty!

What didn't you do last week?

PS

No babies were harmed in the explosive situation. Baby was removed and placed in non tainted car seat. Tainted car seat has since been washed.

Christmas 09

!!! WARNING: the following blog will be HEAVY on the pictures and video clips !!!!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....and we sort of got it! We had some snow flurries come through Christmas Eve and it was lovely! I wish it would have stuck but no luck! Karly twirled around in it, Sawyer had no clue what was going on and mom and JohnWayne attempted not to freeze! Now for the actual Christmas stuff!

We did Christmas at Aunt Gay's house a week early. It was really nice to see everyone.

Unfortunately Chris had to work Christmas day so we did most of our celebrating on Christmas Eve. Some of the Oxfords came over and we had Mexican Christmas. I made my first homemade tamales and they turned out delicious! Lots of good food, family and friends. We let the kids do sparklers and after everyone left Karly and Sawyer opened their gifts.

It felt a little odd to be doing Christmas at night but we wanted daddy to be a part of it.