Catch Up

Yes, I realize it's been awhile since I've last written a post for my blog.

No, I did not fall off the face of the planet. :)

So I guess it's time to catch up:


Easter
We celebrated Easter with Jason's family and a few friends. Jason's mom made a wonderful spread of roast, ham, candied sweet potatoes, broccoli cheese and rice casserole (luckily, cheese is a big hit in the LeMaster family), and crescent rolls (always a favorite). My contribution was a salad and a birthday cake for dessert. We celebrated our good friend Tim's birthday too.

Every year, the day before Easter, we dye Easter eggs with Jason's family. We usually all try to grab as many eggs as we can, let them soak in the dye for a long time, or see who can make the ugliest eggs. This year was different. Jason got the idea to dye all the eggs in less than two minutes. So Jason's brother and sister, and Jason and I sat in our usual spots at the table and waited for Jason's dad to start the video camera. We dyed the eggs so fast, they were barely colored. The eggs were pretty much just pastel colors. We had a really fun (and quick) time dying eggs!

Of course, why dye Easter eggs if there's no Easter egg hunt? Oh, don't worry, there's an Easter egg hunt every year! This year we did it in the front yard – for all to see! Haha. Jason's parents also had a new addition: Mexican confetti eggs. Those were a hit...literally! Unfortunately, we couldn't find one of the dyed Easter eggs. There's always one each year that's hidden so well no one can find it! I'm sure it'll turn up – or start smelling up the yard – soon.


Floors
Remember when our house looked like this?


Now it looks like this:

We've made a few decorative changes, but the main thing is the flooring. Yes, our flooring was ripped up again. The planks were starting to curl again. So now we have tile rather than the vinyl flooring. It looks pretty much the exact same, doesn't it? Instead of putting the tile in the living room, we decided to go with carpet. It lightens up the room and looks really nice.


First Client
We got our first client for our letterpress! We are going to do some business cards for a friend who owns an art photography business. I'm hoping to do the business cards this weekend and post pictures soon!


I think we're about caught up now! Until next time...

Still Learning...

I've been waiting to post about this, so I thought now is as good a time as any...

I love designing and making cards, invitations, wedding programs...pretty much any sort of paper product. Jason is creative and can design anything.

We've talked for awhile about making cards and invitations on the side. Jason has been interested in letterpress for several years. We finally started looking online for a letterpress and found a bunch. However, most of them were in California or somewhere up north and the owner wanted someone to come pick it up rather than ship it.

In early January, Jason found a listing for a letterpress–of all places!–in Post, a tiny town about 30-45 minutes away. The owner's father used to have a local print shop, so he also had a ton of accessories. We went to Post, made a bid, and are now blessed with a letterpress!

This past weekend, we bought a workbench and organized the letterpress room.

We've played around with the letterpress, but this week was our first time to try it with ink.

When we bought the letterpress, the owner gave us all of the type and spacers he had. There are probably about 15 packages of unopened type dated from the 70s and 80s.






We bought black ink a few weeks ago.




Our first time with ink...




The letterpress...




We're still learning about the letterpress and figuring out the best ways to do things, but we're having a lot of fun in the meantime!

Two Days Late...

On this post, that is.

I probably should've posted about what we did for Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day, but I didn't. So I'm doing it now.

I'm not a huge advocate of Valentine's Day where I have to have flowers, gifts and an expensive dinner. I think it's because I'm kind of cheap. And because we are trying to pay off student loans and stuff. Ok, and because I'm cheap (did I already mention that?).

However, I still want plans to be made for Valentine's Day. I guess it's the hype of the holiday instilled in my head.

So Jason–very sweetly–decided to make dinner for us. He had it all planned to make tostadas. But after church we ended up eating lunch at Rosa's, so neither of us really wanted Mexican food for dinner. So Jason changed his plans. He made the equivalent of the Bowtie Festival at Johnny Carino's. I think Jason's was by far better, but I might be a little biased.

He slaved in the kitchen to prepare his wonderful meal while I relaxed and watched TV. I'm not completely useless, though. I did make the salads and set the table!

My contribution to Valentine's Day was a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and red sprinkles on top. I made cupcakes the day before for my friend's engagement party (Congratulations, Kailee!), and saved some of the batter to make a small cake for Jason.

We had a very nice Valentine's Day. Thanks, Jason, for making such a delicious Bowtie Festival!

Numbers

1. I'm excited about watching the Super Bowl commercials on Sunday. I love Super Bowl commercials.

2. Unfortunately, we have standing water underneath our floor in the master bathroom. We just had our floors replaced in November, and now a new–or the same–problem is coming up.

3. I love our conversations with our good friends Jordan and Jessica. They have the cutest kids and are such a fun couple to hang out with. I always feel so encouraged and blessed after being with them.

4. I'm kind of obsessed with Words With Friends on my iPhone.

5. This is one of the craziest things ever. I kind of want one.

6. I'm planning a kitchen-themed bridal shower for my good friend, Abie, in a few weeks.

7. I love, love, love Modern Family. It's such a funny show! If you don't watch it, you're totally missing out!

8. Jason is reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover right now. I'm reading The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. (Side note: I just Googled the book because I couldn't remember the author's name, and I read that it's supposed to be made into a movie in 2011. How exciting!) My next book to read is The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks.

9. That's about all I've got for now. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Good/Ok

Good book...


Ok movie...


Since I really liked the book, I thought the movie would be pretty good. It turned out to be ok. I should've known it wasn't going to be the best when I read that it was a made-for-tv movie.

Oh well, hopefully this movie will be better since the book was so good!

No Matter What

This morning as I was driving to work, Jeremy Camp's There Will Be A Day came on the radio.

Part of the song is:
There will be a day with no more tears,
No more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place,
Will be no more, we’ll see Jesus face to face
But until that day, we’ll hold on to you always

This made me think of the people in Haiti and all the destruction they're going through. One day, we won't have tears or pain.

I thought about my life and how I feel really blessed. I have a wonderful husband, my family is healthy, we have food and a place to live and so many luxuries we take for granted every day. Then I thought, if I think my life is good right now, imagine how it'll be when we get to Heaven. Imagine what it'll be like to finally see Jesus. The things we'll hear. The colors we'll see. It'll be amazing.

But until that day, I will continue to seek God's will and follow Him. I will use what he has given me and blessed me with to bring glory back to him–no matter what. No matter if it's through tears, pain and destruction. No matter if it's through happiness and health.

Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice! -Philippians 4:4

"It's Not Your Fault"

Happy New Year! I know, it's a little late, but it's my first post for 2010 so I thought I'd say it.

This weekend my family came to visit us. We ordered a new bedroom suit at Thanksgiving while we were in Dallas, and the nightstands were set to be delivered to one of the malls nearby. So my parents kindly picked them up and brought them to us this weekend.

We had a lot of fun with my family. It seems we kind of have a tradition every time they visit us. The girls go shopping all day on Saturday to all the local boutiques, and the guys stay in and watch sports or go to sporting goods stores. The girls also go to the bakery of the lady who made my wedding cake and pick up some cupcakes for our guys. Then we all meet up for dinner.

This time the girls went to a few boutiques we've never been to, so we'll add those to our rounds next time! And the guys went to an antique store and came back with a really funny story about some interesting lady who stopped to talk to them about how kids aren't learning the real stories of history in school anymore, and it's not their fault. She asked Jason how old he was and she responded, "It's not your fault."

We took my family out to eat at Abuelo's and then went back to our house. The girls lounged on the bed, did some online shopping and watched Bride Wars (really cute movie, by the way), while the guys watched a football game in the living room.

It was so fun having my family come visit. Jason and I are going to visit them this weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday. I love spending time with my family, so I can't wait to see them again!