Some Options

So I know all of you are DYING to buy some Scentsy, but maybe don't really know what it is.  Here are a few of my favorite warmers.  You put the wax bars in the top, and a small bulb gently warms the fragrance, filling your house with a yummy scent.  The wax melts, but is cool enough to touch and not get burned.  A great bonus for those with children or pets, and those who like to keep their fingers intact ;)

"Cupcake" Mid-Size Warmer.  So adorable!

"Shale" Full-Size Warmer.  Contemporary and AWESOME!

"Twinkle" Mid-Size Warmer AND "Mollie the Monkey" Scentsy Buddy, another great alternative for a kid's room!  Put a Scent Pack in the back!

Also available:  Scentsy circles for the car, Scent Packs for drawers, closets, etc., Travel Tins for, well, travel, and Scentsy Solid Perfume!

Now I bet you can't WAIT to order!  So just go to https://amandastandridge.scentsy.us and place your order by Friday.  And call/email me if you have any questions!
Amanda

My New Business Venture

I'm selling Scentsy now!  They have hundreds of scents that are sure to please any person's olfactory receptors (Doug made me say that!).  I really love the Scentsy system because it is a safe, wickless alternative to candles.  The warmers use a 15-25 watt bulb to warm the fragrances.  The wax never gets hot enough to burn you, and can be left on for hours without fear of house fire.  They are even allowed in dorm rooms!

With the Fall season upon us, many people start spending more time indoors and looking for those "comfort scents"--warm, welcoming fragrances such as "Home Sweet Home", "Autumn Sunset", "Sentimental Cider", and our scent of the month, "Pumpkin Marshmallow", which is 10% off this month!

I am putting in my first order on September 16th.  To place an order, go to my webpage https://amandastandridge.scentsy.us and click on "Buy from Party" under my picture.  You can order warmers, fragrances, travel tins, room spray, car scent circles, and even perfume!  They even have "Scenty Buddies", which are stuffed animals.  "Sasha" is a Scentsy Buddy for which 100% of net proceeds go toward the Ronald McDonald House Charities. 

To make it easy, if you don't live in town, you can have it delivered right to your house for minimal shipping cost.  Otherwise, I will just bring you your order when it comes in.  Call me or email me if you have any questions.

"Scent" from Amanda Standridge

Frances

Our family has a new addition.  She stays exclusively in the yard and is tethered to the ground by 3 yellow ropes.  She's the tallest in the family, at about 15 feet.  She's also the thinnest. 

Yup, you guessed it!  She's a tree.  A Patmore Ash tree, to be exact.  We bought her from our local nursery, Alameda Greenhouse.  They were having a HALF OFF ALL TREES sale!  Crazy!  So we of course had to give her a loving home.  The people there were so helpful and knowledgeable.  We will definitely go back for any gardening needs.

We have always wanted a tree, but I didn't want to plant one because our neighbors have 3--that's right, 3--Navajo Willow Trees.  Have you ever seen one of those?  They are fast-growing, self-pruning trees that grow to be MUCH too large for our measly 20' by 48' (give or take) back yards.  I didn't want my tree competing for water with those giants.

Well, one fateful day, the tree that shared our corner was blown over in the wind--root and all.  In my heart the desire to have our very own tree in our very own yard was renewed.  We decided we would get one for our 7 year anniversary.

See how empty our little corner was?

Have you ever planted a tree before?  Neither have we.  Or maybe Doug has.  But I haven't.

It was a treacherous ride home, with the tender tree hanging out the back of Doug's ol' Ranger.  But we made it.  We had purchased it on Saturday morn', and picked it up on Sunday after church.  Good idea?

Frances' first (and only) road trip.

No.  It was close to 100 degrees outside.  No problem!  We just put our metal table and chairs around it to bolster it from any wind that might come along and waited till evening to plant it.

Timber!!!

Boom.  That was the sound of the tree falling over and BREAKING my lovely cafe chair.  Made of metal.  Dang, our tree is a toughie.  Needless to say, we got our shovels and got to work.  The hole had to be 27 in. deep and 18 in. wide.  Yowsas.  Really, Doug did all the digging, but I cheered him on.  Go Doug!  Then we had to fill the hole with a mixture of half potting soil and have sand from the hole. We are still deciding what to do with the leftover sand.  Anyone want?

Digging to China

Just as we suspected!  This was a root from that darn tree that fell down.  It was going all the way to the grass! 

After hours of toil in the soil, it was time to plant the tree.  But wait, what was this black plastic casing around the roots?  Oh, the pot that it grew in.  We had to cut that off, which was a chore, but finally, we set it into the soil and filled the rest of the hole with our soil mixture.  Then we made a burm (is that the right word?) and filled it with water.

We have to water it every day until it is established.  Whenever that is.  We also decided to anchor the tree, due to the chair-breaking windstorm experience.

All in all, we are very pleased with our anniversary gift.  It is a good-looking tree for a great price, and it is already providing some shade for Charlie.  I imagine sipping lemonade under it someday, maybe on a new cafe set.  Until then, it spruces up our yard, and every time I look at it I think of the years of joy that our marriage has brought.  And that's the best part.  :)

Frances without the anchors.  Charlie approves!

Our Vacation to Punta Cana, DR

Hello all.  How do we do this whole blogging thing again?  It's been a while. 

We took a trip at the beginning of June to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.  It was ah-mazing!  The reason for our trip was to attend my friend's destination wedding.  But it was also our vacation.  We were able to stay for a week, and it was pure bliss.

 We stayed at the Hard Rock Casino Resort, which was beautiful.  

When we arrived, they gave us cool towels and a flower.  Classy!

 They had a couple of clubs, and 14 restaurants!  All inclusive, of course.  :)  The food was good, but not excellent.  It was nice not to have to pay at the end of a meal.  It was funny; we found ourselves sitting around for a while after we ate, just waiting.  I think we're just used to waiting for a check.  Now we have to get used to paying again!  Hopefully we don't "dine and dash" anytime soon!

 It was so romantic to be in a tropical location with no worries or responsibilities. 

 There were also 14 pools.  So relaxing.  They were all shallow, I guess because they don't want all the drunk people to drown. 

 The beaches were absolutely amazing; the sand was like powdered sugar!

Aren't we such a cute couple!

 Our friend, Sheree, on her big day.  What a beautiful bride!

 Played some beach baseball and volleyball.  Great fun!

 We took a free painting class on the beach.  I thought those were the coolest souvenirs! 

 More night life.  We salsa danced, did karaoke, and played pool while we were there.  LOVE salsa dancing!

 The water was crystal clear and so warm.  If you have not experienced a Caribbean beach you should try it some time!

 Oh yes the flight home... Started at 3:30 am, had to be on the shuttle at 4:20 am.  Our flight left at 7:45am and we didn't get home until 1:50 am the next day DR time.  Horrible day of travel!

 Sad to leave face and this is way tooooo early.

Yes, Amanda slept in the airport.  23 hours of travel?  No thank you.  It COULD have been a 10 hour trip, but that would have been too easy. 

All in all, a great time was had.  Getting back to reality has been the hardest part ;) 


Love,
Doug and Amanda

I Did It!

As many of you know, I am finishing up my 3rd year of teaching.  I can't believe it's already been 3 years!  In New Mexico, between your 3rd and 5th years of teaching, you have to complete what's called the Professional Development Dossier.  It is basically a giant paper that "proves" that you are a good teacher.  Mine was 54 pages and included a snapshot of instruction, evidence of professional development, and a collection of student work.  It was a major undertaking, much more than I had anticipated.  Well, I found out yesterday that I passed!  This means I will continue teaching, and hopefully won't ever have to do something like this again.  And it also means I get a raise, which is definitely a plus!  Thanks to all of you who have prayed for and encouraged me throughout this process.  And give all the teachers in your life a hug :)

Amanda

Keep Voting for Charlie!

Ok, ok, so I know people have better things to do than vote for a dog contest.  But if that was you, would you be wasting time checking your blogs?  Nah.  So while you are procrastinating on the internet, why don't you go to http://contest.kob.com/engine/Details.aspx?contestid=24573&pagetype=VOTING&SubmissionID=6574023 and vote for our pup. 

Charlie is really excited about this, and it means a lot to him.  And all votes got wiped out a couple of days ago because people were cheating.  So let's make him a winner!  You can vote once a day every day until February 4th!  And P.S., it's my birthday week, so consider it a gift to me. ;)
Thanks,
Amanda

Kitchen Lighting Remodel

Ok, so Doug and I are weird about weird things.  The other day, we were talking with our friends about how we don't like the fluorescent light in the kitchen.  Minutes later, we heard a loud "pop", and the light went out.  We went to buy a ballast, and then discovered that the ballast in that particular fixture could not be removed, and we would have to buy a whole new fixture.  (Insert frowny-face.) 

Before=Blah.

So, we decided we would just buy a regular light fixture, rather than the commercial-looking fluorescent light.  That just looked wayyy too dim, even for a temporary solution.  It reminded me of the kitchen in "A Christmas Story"--too dim.  So we decided to go for it--recessed lighting! 

The temporary solution...and racing stripes!  Can you spy Doug's finger?

Recessed lighting was the plan all along, but we were thinking we would do it later on.  We weren't even sure if we could get in the attic above the kitchen.  Well, Doug crawled right on up there, no problem!  He did a lot of research, and figured out how to do it himself.  I did my best to help. 
      

Up in the Attic

The hardest part was mapping it out.  We drew it all out on graph paper.  Then we cut out dots to make sure we liked the layout on the ceiling. 

Dots

Then we put coat hangers into the ceiling where they would go, so that he could see the location of the lights from in the attic.

Coathangers come in handy!

That's when he discovered that a gas line goes right through where we wanted to put our middle lights.  So we had to adjust. 

We got our plans finalized.  Then came the scary part--cutting! 

Peek-a-Boo!

But it worked out ok, and all the lights are now in their new homes.  It turned out quite lovely.  What do you think?

AFTER!

Classy?  I say yes!