Y'all... I'm out of control!

Y'all... I'm out of control and I am probably about to get into some trouble!  E is going to take away my debit and credit cards if I don't stop buying crap!!!  But I can't help it, I have a major addiction.  I absolutely CANNOT step into a Target Store, or go Target.com without dropping a substantial amount of money!!

Here are my most recent purchases, I totally think they're worth it!

Merona Seersucker Scoopneck Dress

Merona Faux Wrap Dress

Merona Ponte Faux Wrap Dress

Merona- Easy Care/Easy Wear Flounce Dress in Ebony/White 

Merona Doubleweave Skirt- Zebra Print

Do y'all have a place like that, that you just can't resist no matter what?

Becoming The Woman God Wants Me To Be

Happy Monday!!

Angela over at Short Southern Mama was sweet enough to set up a blog called More Hours In Our Day for us to start a little on-line book club featuring "Becoming The Woman God Wants Me To Be" by Donna Partow.  She did like because, like a lot of us, she has a smaller church that does not offer a woman's group or anything like that.

This is a 90 day journey over the course of reading the book that will open your heart to God's word and becoming the woman he wants you to be.  The online group starts on August 1st, but if you're like me, you waited until the last minute today to buy your book and will have to play a little catch up! I hope you will head over to More Hours In Our Day and participate with me!

The Tale of a Shower Curtain

I am very very picky when it comes to all things decor, actually just all things in general.  While redecorating my bathroom, I couldn't find a shower curtain that I felt was fab enough for the space.  My master bathroom is not very "master-like". It's about the size of a guest bath and without the traditional amenities of a master bathroom. So I felt like I needed to make EVERY inch count in order to make it more likeable to me.  Since I couldn't find a shower curtain that I felt was appropriate, I decided to make one.  My mama and I went to Hancock Fabric and picked out some fabric.  I decided I wanted to go with two fabrics, one for the main area, and then one for a ruffle effect on the bottom.  I'm going to take you through my journey!  

Let's start here since I'm assuming we all know how to buy and cut fabric.  I bought, I measured, I cut, and I ended up with this mess:

Yes, that is right, this task was accomplished on my bedroom floor.  I needed the room and I have ample space in my bedroom!  You will also notice there are two sewing machines on this mess of a floor.  This is what caused me the most grief... My mama's sewing machine broke so we were going to borrow my aunts.  Well... we went to my aunt's house and got to talkin and forgot the dang sewing machine.  My aunt lives a good 45 minutes away so I called my mother in law to borrow hers.  Well hers was in the attic for the past 10+ years so needless to say it needed cleaned and tuning.  I have a sense of urgency so I didn't have time to wait around for all that crap to be done, so I just went and bought my very own! I am so happy! Now I just want to sew everything!

After measuring and cutting came the ruffles part.  I tried to pin the ruffles where I wanted them, but then every time I would move the fabric the ruffles would come undone.  I do not recommend pinning ruffles... it took too much time..

So instead, I just sewed a bit and then folded over the fabric to overlap a bit, like this

 And then I would fold it over the other way to create a ruffle, or pleat, like this:

Helpful hint: When making ruffles, you will need to approximately double the length of your fabric if you like a medium - heavy amount of ruffles.

So once I had the ruffle section sewed, I attached the "good" sides of the fabric together and sewed the seam.  I sewed directly over the seam I used to create the ruffles.  If I went down an inch, it would take away from the ruffly effect, if I went up any, the original seam would show, so make sure you sew directly over the original seam if you try this:

Once that was done, I sewed a 1.5" hem at the top to allow for holes for the curtain hangers.  (No Photo)

Once that was done, I took off the vinyl curtain and lined it up with the pretty curtain so I would know where to make the holes for the curtain hangers:

You can either make holes and use the silver prongs to hold them together, or you can sew a button-type hole.  I chose to go with the prongs because it was easier for me just to cut a slit and then clip the prongs together.

Then I did a quarter inch seam around the remaining three sides.

This probably took about two hours start to finish (once i finally got a sewing machine that worked!).  I'm sure there are easier ways to do this, but I did not use a tutorial, I just did it according to my measurements.

Here is the finished product:

This wasn't necessarily cheaper than buying a shower curtain, the total cost was around $45, but I used high end fabric (and that's including 40% off).  It is definitely the way to go if you want a custom look, though.

I hope y'all have a great day!

I am linking this to: Met Monday, DIY Showoff

Awards Galore!!

I feel so loved y'all!! I have been given these new bloggy awards by some of my favorite bloggers and I feel the need to pass them along!

 This first award was given to me by Ashley at Polish and Pearls.  Thanks Ashley, it was so sweet of you to think of me! Y'all should check out Ashley's blog if you need fashion inspiration, or yummy recipes or recipe fails!  Don't worry girl, I've been there too!

For this award, I am supposed to write about where I think i will be in 10 years:  This is what a day in the life of Andrea should will look like in my dreams

In 10 years, I will be done having all four of my children.  I will have everything, including my mortgage, paid off due to the awesome plan laid out by our financial adviser, so that I will be able to be a stay at home Mama to my precious darlings (ha)! Our oldest will be 9, our youngest, hopefully 4 or so, so I will be active in all their little league games and school functions, as well as my church.  I will have a clean house all the time and fresh baked cookies out daily for all to enjoy.  My girlfriends will stop by during the day for an afternoon cocktail on the patio and we will catch up on all the gossip while the kids nap.  Sometimes we skip the cocktails and take our well behaved children for a walk around the neighborhood, because we are somewhat vain and need to maintain our figures.  Then I will start preparing a feast for supper that my husband will always say is the best meal he has ever had.  Before he gets home of course, I will need to freshen up my hair and makeup.  Again, this is due to being somewhat vain.  Then, he cleans the kitchen after supper because I have been so busy all day, so I can read a few chapters of my trashy novels while everyone is winding down for the day.  Then we go to tuck the children in to bed and while saying their prayers, they thank the Lord for their precious Mama that they just love so much.  My husband and I then go to bed where he gives me a back and foot massage and tells me how he thinks he is the luckiest man in the world.  We then fall asleep in eachother's arms dreaming about our perfect lives.

AND THEN I WAKE UP!

Well, that was sure fun while it lasted =)

I pass this along to :

 Charleston Girl

Chronicles of Neely 

 Daily Musings of a Small Towner Turned Dallasite

 Life on Dahlia Lane

These next two were given to me by Amy at Same Sweet Girl: Memoir of a Southern Belle

 If you haven't checked out her blog you need to right away! She is my favorite daily read and her topics range from Beauty and Fashion, Faith, Strengthening your Relationships, Vacations, and my favorite.... CUPCAKES!! She also has a great giveaway going on right now, so head over and tell her I sent you! 

 

Here are the rules -

1. Thank the blogger that gave you the award.

Thank you Amy!! :)

2. Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation and experience in five (5) words.

crafty, fashion, babies, family, friends

3. Pass it on to other blogs which you feel have real substance.

I tag:

Honey, Sugah, Dahlin
Cocktails and Cashmere

Diary of a Southern Belle

Team J 

My So Called Fairytale 

Here is what you have to do:

Choose five fictional crushes and blog about them: you can use characters from books, movies, TV shows, etc, etc. You then pass the award on to another five bloggers. 

1. Jacob Black, no explanation needed! He is definitely the hottest in the wolf pack.  I did like Edward better in the books, until they kept talking about how cold and hard he was.  I like to cuddle with warm and soft. So Jacob it is!

2. Jake Perry from Sweet Home Alabama.  I was so in love with his character after I saw this movie

3. Noah Calhoun from the Notebook.  Was anyone NOT in love with him?

4. Damon Salvatore:  The bad half of the Salvatore brothers on Vampire Diaries.  But don't let him fool you, he has a soft side that melts my heart =)

5.  John from Dear John.  I only had a mini crush on him until I read the book and now it's full fledged.  My heart just broke for him... and, he's hot!

I pass this one along to my fellow Oklahoma bloggers, I know y'all will have fun with this one!

Imes Insanity

Talking Walls: Glam Confessions of a Single Lady

Life with the Edwards

Eight Shades of Crazy

Our Happily Ever After

Whimsical, Whamsical, Whumsical

Miscellany Monday

I have a few vents.  Normally I like to keep my blog upbeat, but today I have a few rants for you! Please don't misunderstand me, I am very blessed to be pregnant and healthy, but somethings have left me a little less than thrilled.  And.. it's my blog and I can vent if I want to! =)

1. I now find that my main reason for choosing to go shopping at a particular store is whether or not they have accessible bathrooms.  My husband found it odd that I went to Target to get chemicals for our pool instead of a pool supply store.  Last time I checked, Leslie's Pool Supply did not have public bathrooms.  Hi, my name is Andrea, welcome to my world of  frequent urination

2. I am losing my ever-lovin' mind! Before I actually made it to Target to attempt to buy the pool stuff, I tried to buy it several other times, and totally forgot what I went there to get.  I once went to Target (because of the bathrooms of course) and got distracted by the cute clothes and forgot what I went there to get.  Then I get to my car and remember that I forgot it.  I went back in to get it and got ticked off (see #5 regarding my patience level) because the lines were too long.  Don't places have super short lanes for pregnant people who have to pee? Geez! So I hid the pool stuff in a bin of movies and left.  Don't Judge, I NEVER do that!

3. This is regarding the loss of my mind as well, I just thought #2 was getting a little too wordy.  Because I never got the pool stuff in #1 and #2 (and my pool is looking a bit questionable at this point) I try to go to Walmart to get  it (because of the accessible bathrooms). Well, I got distracted by the clothes in the Miley Cyrus Line.  I don't particularly like her, but she has some pretty cute, and cheap, weekend wear! Anyway, I leave Walmart chemical free and don't even realize it until I get home.

4. My poor husband just went and got the pool chemicals himself.  I'm a slacker.

which leads me to #5

5. This is what he said to me "Andrea.... you coming home and sitting on your a** has nothing to do with you being pregnant" My impatience level with that kind of attitude is none existent at this point.  I let him know in so many words that I'm also going to be too tired for a while to do something else (use your imagination) and that sure caught his attention! In his defense, he has been doing all the cooking, cleaning, and laundry for the past few weeks.  I'm totally using this pregnancy as an excuse and I really need to snap out of it.  He says he doesn't mind and does it happily, but I feel bad (sometimes)

6.  I went around for almost a month gloating about how great I feel and how I had no sickness.  Apparently, the powers that be got ticked off at me and decided that I needed to know how it feels. No. Fun. Whatsoever!

7. I am already sick of people being judgy about what I should and should do and eat.  This is what I hear "Oh my gosh!!! You're going to drink that tea instead of water? Are you sure???" YES. I am sure people.  I think that the Lord has a plan for this little baby and my ONE glass of sweet tea a week is probably not going to throw that plan off track! And NO, I do not think that the JR. cheeseburger I ate last week is going to make my baby be born with high cholesterol, but thanks for asking!

8.  I am terrified that I will gain like... an obscene amount of weight.  I am hungry all. the. time! It's ridiculous.

**This doesn't have anything to do with pregnancy, I just thought I would through a couple more rants at you**

9.  Is anyone else tired of the humidity?? My least favorite time the humidity chooses to makes itself known is when I am driving along in my air conditioned car and then I step out of my car, and my sunglasses fog up so bad that I can't even see anything! GRR... E says that's what I get for buying cheap sunglasses...

That's all I have for now.  If I think of anything else I might come back and edit this post =)

Have a great day!

Looks I'm Loving

I'm super bummed that soon I will have put a stop to shopping for regular clothes (Please Lord, let there be maternity clothes that aren't atrocious!).  I have major fashion envy for these lovely ladies.  

Enjoy!

Yes, I am as obsessed with Carrie Underwood as I seem to be!  I totally think we would be BFFs

Love Reese

I usually don't like Taylor Swifts day to day style that much, but I think this is cute and comfy!

I always love Giuliana Rancic's dresses that she wears on E!

Kate Beckensale always looks put together

Jessica Simpson: Granted, sometimes the things she wears are questionable, but most of the time she looks cute and stylish!

Latest Obsession: Boyfriend Jeans

What are your favorite styles?

A baby is on the way!!!

And we couldn't be more excited!

Favorite Summer Recipes

I love Summer food! The reason I love it is because it seems so light so you can eat throughout the day rather than three large meals.  And... it always seems easier to make and healthier to eat.  I'm sure it's really not healthier, but I tell myself that often so I can have seconds! I pretty much live on seafood during the summertime.  No, I don't actually live by the sea, but I do have a pool and like to pretend that I do!

Here are my Favorite Summer Recipes, Seafood Style:

#1 Paula Deen's Shore is Good Seafood Dip:

Ingredients:

1 6-ounce can crabmeat, picked free of any broken shells, drained

1/2 lb freshly grated Parmesan

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 of a 10 3/4-ounce can cream of shrimp soup (discard top half and use bottom

2 stalks celery, diced

1 medium onion diced

1 medium green bell pepper, diced

2 tablespoons butter

6 ounce shrimp, fresh or canned, drained

1/2 teaspoons white pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the bell pepper, onion, and celery, and saute for 2 minutes. In a bowl, combine the soup, mayonnaise, Parmesan, crabmeat, shrimp, and pepper. Stir the sauteed vegetables into the seafood mixture and spoon this mixture into a lightly greased 8 x 11-inch casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with toast points or crackers.

Recipe Courtesy of Paula Deen

Servings: 4 cups

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 35 min

Difficulty: Easy

#2:  Seafood Enchiladas

Ingredients:

* 1 onion, chopped

* 1 tablespoon butter

* 1/2 pound fresh crabmeat

* 1/4 pound shrimp - peeled, deveined and coarsely chopped

* 8 ounces Colby cheese

* 6 (10 inch) flour tortillas

* 1 cup half-and-half cream

* 1/2 cup sour cream

* 1/4 cup butter, melted

* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley

* 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large skillet, saute onions in 1 tablespoon butter until transparent. Remove the skillet from heat and stir in crabmeat and shrimp. Shred the cheese and mix half of it into the seafood. Place a large spoonful of the mixture into each tortilla. Roll the tortillas up around the mixture and arrange the rolled tortillas in a 9x13 inch baking dish.

3. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine half-and-half, sour cream, 1/4 cup butter, parsley and garlic salt. Stir until the mixture is lukewarm and blended. Pour sauce over the enchiladas, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

I am linking this to: