Amazon boycott called off

Long story short: Amazon was bad but now they're good.

Treadmill #2 (hopefully this time a non-broken one) should be in Seattle on Tuesday. It's only been like 2 months. No worries. It's not like I've been waiting for a while or anything.

We learned that contacting the BBB actually does do something!!
And ended saving over $700 from what we would have paid if we bought it here in town.

This would only take a few hours

if you knew what you were doing. For me, it took all day. Yes, it is just 2 pieces of flannel, with a diamond sewn in the middle and binding. But, I ran into a few problems, made a trip to Wal-Mart, changed my mind on the edge, changed my mind on the decorative stitching, and OH YEAH.. I am a slow sewer.
Janell came over and helped me fix a few mistakes but all in all, I thought it turned out cute. I made it for a friend, Cortney, who's having a little girl in January. I hope she is one of those people who finds imperfections endearing!

These are a few of my favorite things...

If I had a tri-pod..some of these pics would not be as fuzzy as they are. I could use the flash but it just ruins the colors and the warm glow of the tree.
The stocking holders I got in Seattle (My boss took me there last weekend as a bonus and I did some serious SHOPPING) They came in a 3 pack. I LOVE how there is a Dad, Mom and baby deer. I don't know what we'll do when we have another little one, as additional small chrome deer stocking holders are hard to come by I would imagine.
I did the tree in my favorite Department 56 ornaments. They are designed by a very talented artist, Patience Brewster. I love them because they are so whimsical and they just make me smile.
The tree topper is the Sugar Plum Fairy. She's my favorite part of the tree.
I got the "H" at Restoration hardware. I think it looks so pretty with the garland.
Jeremy doesn't understand why I get into this kind of stuff, he could do without all of it. I think to him Christmas=Work. Bringing up the tree, the ornaments, the christmas decorations, stringing lights on the house in the cold, etc. etc.
I get to do the fun stuff...another reason I'm so glad to be a woman!

P-A-R-T-Y

If you were to drive by our house on the night of November 24th, you would think to yourself that THOSE people MUST be having a party. You probably would not guess, however, that said party was for a 1 year old.
We had around 30 guests here, family and close friends, to celebrate! We had hors de vors, pizza, Elmo cake (thrown together at the very last minute by myself, even decorated it myself as that is required in the Mother's handbook), ice cream, and goody bags for the kiddos. Jack got 2 duplicate presents but all in all, made a haul! I told Jeremy our next house will have a play room, or at least a room large enough to hold about 35,000 tons worth of toys.

Thanksgiving '06

This is Holly expressing her excitement for this wonderful Holiday (what could be better? You don't have to buy any gifts, you don't have to go to any carnivals, and you don't have to send any cards)
It was so nice to have a "real" Thanksgiving again..since last year my Thanksgiving meal consisted of some sort of frozen meal that was possibly meant to resemble turkey if you live in such a place where you've never tasted real turkey. BUT- I did receive the greatest gift of my life- little Jack. Every Thanksgiving from now on, I know I will think of what a wonderful day that was to have a healthy baby boy placed in my arms. Our day THIS year consisted of course with lots of food, our annual tradition of "Bunco" (of which I always come in close to dead last--how is that possible??) an extremely loud game of "Pit", Buzzword, and more eating.

The big UNO

I spent this evening making these invites for Jack's Birthday. I canNOT belive he is going to be 1 YEARS OLD next week!!

Before and After

Just when you least expect it, you hear a splash, splash, splash. And giggles. While there's nothing cuter than baby giggles, having your baby covered to his elbow in toilet water sort of takes the nostalgia off.
Most important thing I learned tonight:
Close the bathroom door.

As If I didn't have enough going on..

I have started sewing! No, not like REAL sewing...not the kind where you actually have to match up all your seams perfectly and pin and fit, then pin some more and fit. No, I'm making a rag quilt. An Oh-So-Forgiving rag quilt. Val (my boss) so NICELY let me borrow her Bernina so with a lot of help from Jeremy (yes, my husband knows more about sewing than I do..SAD?!?) he set the machine up and look!! 3 rows done! The quilt is only going to be 36"x36" so it's definately a BABY quilt.
Also, I 've been practicing my crocheting more, I have been doing an adorable trim around burp cloths (I was trying to think of a cuter name for them..one that didn't involve the word "burp", "spit" or "rag" but gave up instantly) After those, I will tackle the blankets.

Cutest Frog in the World!

Jacks first Halloween was so fun! I don't know that HE thought it was that great..I mean, the kid can't eat candy yet nor can he truly enjoy the thrill of wearing something that Mom normally would not dress you in. I thought our ward was ONLY doing a Trunk or Treat so I didn't take him (Yeah..it was like 8 degrees outside. Literally.) BUT, they did a carnival INSIDE and of course I didnt find that out until later. And now, I wish I had taken him and loaded up on some candy for "Jack" because we're all out and it's sounding kind of good right now;)
It's been a while since I've posted, I hereby promise to do better.
What we've been up to:
-Jack is "walking" with his push-along dump truck
-I have been teaching myself to crochet (with help from Vicky, my MIL)
-I am working on a rag quilt for future baby boy (not mine..next friend to have a boy)
-I am working on something for sister Heidi (I drew her name for christmas, she brought me her crib quilt per my request) Heidi is adopting so she is preparing a gender nuetral nursery since we have no idea who she'll be blessed with yet. (Will post pic after christmas)
- Did some pumpkin carving at my Mom's house
-We just sold a closet job in Homer(Yay!!)
- We are getting ready for Christmas already..not decorating but SHOPPING!
- I am starting the process of preparing for Jack's birthday
-I have continued to work on the Lehnhausen Family Cookbook (at one time was a surpirse but not anymore)

Huston Publishers Inc.

I have been thinking a lot about making gifts this year. I am currently working on the Lehnhausen Family Cookbook, for my mom and sisters, but thats not enough. I really wish I could sew or crochet, BUT dont really want to learn. Isnt that horrible? Cant I just..KNOW?? Anyways..I have been looking for some ideas for my cookbook cover. These are one of the options I've found... I want something more modern and fun.
I had my family draw names for Chritmas presents (as is custom in my house, at least since us older girls have gotten married) and I got Heidi, my older sister. Yayy! I totally wanted her! She will be easy and fun to make or do something for.
Today was conference, we don't get the BYU channel so we had to listen to it on the internet. One of the speakers talked about my favorite nutrition rule: The 80/20 rule. The idea is that if you eat healthy 80% of the time, you can eat virtually whatever you want the other 20%. (Needless to say he tied this in to the gospel) However, I'm currently living the 10/90 rule. I've thought about giving up sugar for the month of October, but I just dont know if I can tear myself away. We have become pretty attached.
Jeremy and I FINALLY sat down and worked on our website today, www.customclosetworks.com. Our AMAZING web designer and friend (incredible rates too!!;)) is working on it for us and has been bugging us to type up some blurbs about our company, ourselves, and our product. Anyways, I'm excited to see what he comes up with! I hope he can make us look like..oh, I don't know..a REAL company. We still feel like we're pretending.

Fall Madness

One of my favorite movies is Youve Got Mail. I love the music. I love the whole idea of New York in the fall. Wearing sweaters and scarves but not freezing yourself to death. There is a line in that movie about Fall making you want to buy a bunch of sharpened pencils. I feel that way every year at this time. A time for learning and cleaning and organizing. I dont know it is about Fall but to me it always signifies a new year... Not the traditional January 1st. I guess I am still on "school time". I love looking at Fall decorations and prepping for Christmas. I dont know why I am a freak like this. I am married to a scrooge, so I guess he is what keeps me somewhat grounded.
We are taking family pictures on Friday with Jeremy's family. Girls are wearing blue and boys are wearing black. Wait, other way around. Anyways, I need to go get Jack a blue shirt. I think while we're there I will have them take a picture of "our" family, for Christmas cards. Maybe. I am not a big Sears fan, or JCPenney or any of those other cheap places (I know..I'm a total SNOB!!) ..but I just dont know when we'll have time to do it unless we do it Friday.
I found a site, www.heatherhalesdesigns.com, that does really cute Christmas cards so I think I'll go that route. I didn't do anything last year, what a loser!
Plus, I'm so dissapointed in the LAME announcements I did for Jack! What was I thinking?? I wasn't. Never have a kid right before Christmas and then go back to work after only 2 weeks off!! (Although I was going a little crazy at home too, can't win!)
I got a ModBod order today, yaay! I got some long sleeved shirts which I'm excited about AND I just found out that they have 3 new fall items with long sleeves! And ones a hoodie!
Jeremy sold his snowmachine after much nagging from me (poor guy!) in order to pay off his 4 wheeler. SOO thats one less payment going out every month! Now if we could just pay off his student loans and the pathfinder and Jacks medical bills, etc. etc. Oh the joys of being poor young married folk!

By The Way..

Am I the ONLY person who has trouble with this darn blogger over the last couple of weeks? EVERYTIME I tried to post something, it would tell me "cannot connect to blogger" UGH!! Glad its working now!

Frustrated!!!!!!!!

I have tried to post the events of our Labor Day weekend but it wouldnt let me for some reason so I have been boycotting my own blog in protest. A lot of good that does, I know, as if there was some sort of imaginary person that lives in this blog who's feelings I've hurt. I showed you!! Anyways, we have been busy, like always! We have a BIG closet job that hopefully can WRAP UP in the next week or so. I am getting excited for that, because we will make enough money to pay off our Business credit card and buy a computer for the Company.
There are a lot of exciting things going on in the family, particurily Jeremy's side- but Im not at liberty to say now. (OK maybe you can guess-but since I dont know anyone from Alaska who has this link yet, I think Im safe)
Jack is getting SO BIG and he is crawling like a mad man.. He LOVES to pull himself up onto anything and everything. He doesnt know what to do once he is "up" but he loves to be there. He can also crawl up about 3 stairs (OK maybe more but this is usually how far he gets before we stop him considering the only way down he currently knows is the free-fall-break-open-your-head tumble. Not good.

Welcome to the 80s

So, Jeremy decided that our house was missing something. Something bright. Something flourescent. Something that gets gross and stinky and poopy (no, not another baby) A fish tank! I have been fighting him on this for a few weeks now, but after taking Jack to the Pet Store recently and his description of how enchanted Jack was with the fish (read: lights in the tanks) he finally talked me into it.
$85 dollars later, we have a fish tank. Yes, it does look like something from the 80s but it does add a nice glow to the usually dark living room. We are leaving in a minute to get pick out some fishies, which I expect to have all of 3-4 days given the average lifespan of a fish. Ugh.

Motivated by Envy

In an effort to keep up with the Joneses (and by Joneses, I mean all those mothers out there who I envy because they find the time to post about their families), I am starting a blog!! YAYYY! I also need practice in the stream-of-consciousness kind of writing (I have NEVER been good at this) so maybe I can teach myself to loosen up as I get better! We'll See!
Jeremy has been going through a fruit-drying stage. (Yes, you read that right..Who does That?? My husband.) We have tried Apples (DE-liscious), Nectarines (also VERY good), Bananas (Ours turned out gross but apparently we cut them too thick and waited until they were too ripe. Apparently, I dont like them even if they're done right because I bought some at the store and they tasted like the banana flavored Runts which I abhor), and Kiwis (MUCH better fresh). We dried a whole dryer full of apples last night. They are such a better snack than the chips I am usually snacking on so this can only be a good thing!
Jack has been a little sick but can't blame him as he's had a mom coughing all over him (not intentional of course!!) for over a week. Poor Kid. He doesnt really want to eat or even sleep for that matter, but he certainly has the energy to fuss and cry. I don't know if he has more teeth cutting or what.
We got our pictures back from the photographer yesterday (like 5 months after we had them taken--so frustrating between our two schedules!) They only set us back $540 (UGH!!!! There was sarcasism there if you didn't catch that) BUT we did get a really cute black album that has already been scrapbooked for me, PLUS grandmas chipped in about $240 of that so it ended up not being too bad. I made an appt. for his one-year pics on Nov. 21. She told me to bring a cake for him to ravish! He will be so cute covered in cake and with his appetite--He will be one HAPPY boy!