It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well, no, I guess it really isn't here in the Midwest, but inside our house it is since we put up the tree on Monday. Yes, I know that today is Thanksgiving and I have a post about what I am thankful for in the works too, don't worry. Just a bit out of order. I love Christmas and I don't care for turkey, so deal with it. :)

Our tree is a hodgepodge of decorations from both before and since we have been together. It's definitely a random assortment of items, but it works. Here are some of my favorites:

This is an ornament with a picture of our first cat and from our first Christmas together. We actually got a kitten in late August, who I thought I had written about but I guess not. So now I need to work on a blog post about her in addition to getting her an ornament for the tree.This is a new ornament for this year and was a gift from my mom. Nothing can put me in the Christmas mood faster than watching the claymation Rudolph. Of course, this can also make me a tad homesick, as it reminds me of the long hours spent watching Christmas movie after Christmas movie with my mom pretty much every December that I can remember.
I couldn't resist purchasing this adorable cow angel ornament that I found at Target when Doug and I stopped by to pick up ornament hangers. I am considering it a tribute to my Aunt Sharon who married a dairy farmer.
Doug made a set of two Ninja Turtles when he was a kid and they have always found a place on our tree as a reminder of how one of the first things we bonded over when we met was our mutual admiration for the Turtles when we were younger. What can I say? - Barbie just didn't interest me. We also bonded over going to and disliking the same orthodontist but that hasn't warranted an ornament.
This ornament was a gift from Doug's mom from the Christmas we got engaged.
This sparkly pear is from the wedding of my sister Audra and brother-in-law Derrick. I'm not actually sure if it is in fact an ornament but I love sparkly things.
I majorly heart snowmen. When we move (hopefully before next Christmas) and have more room I fully intend to have two trees. One will be our hodgepodge tree. The other I hope to decorate in snowmen, silver garland and ribbon, and white lights. These are two of my snowmen from past years...

... and this is a new snowman for this year, also a gift from my mom.
And to top it off, our version of an angel- the angel bear! This is actually a small Boyds bear that was a gift from my mom's good friend forever ago. I have always loved it and when we were putting up the tree together for the first time and I discovered that Doug had no tree topper, I knew just the perfect one!
Anyone else have such a motley crew of ornaments on their tree?

My boy is so handy

I big puffy heart having a fiance who is wickedly mechanically inclined. I never have to worry about car maintenance or house maintenance. He has now single-handedly saved my various family members from spending many many dollars to fix things that need not cost so much to fix if he does it himself. Just yesterday my car got new rotors and a few weeks ago he saved my dad from spending the money both to tow a car and fix it.

While in many aspects the fact that Doug got laid off in April has been an inconvenience, there is one area it hasn't: finishing all of the random house projects we had talked about. Since he has been off we have gotten: a new back porch (and soon to be front too), new steel entry doors, "revised" landscaping, new siding, a redone bathroom, and a redone dining room.

So, speaking of that dining room. It used to be purple. I kid you not, it was a lavender-faux finished delight that could only come from the previous owners using it as a little girl's bedroom and not a dining room. I am so sorry to say that the before pictures looked gray when uploaded to blogger, for I know you all would revel in getting to see the lavender amazing-ness. We (sort of) use it as an office, so we decided to paint it gray.And then one night we were talking about how we needed more storage and the next day I came home from work to this masterpiece:Seriously, how lucky am I? Doug's handiness and work ethic are only two of the many reasons that I love him as much as I do. I am actually a little sad that I will have to leave it when Doug gets another job and we are able to move.

Wall hanging and diploma fail.

According to the level, the picture hangers on this wall are in a completely straight line.Crooked early 1900's wall fail.

Oh, and those two frames on the bottom you ask? Yep those are the inserts that came in the frame. They will eventually hold my two diplomas. But you graduated in May, right? Yes, I did, but I still do not have my diplomas! Talk about efficiency.