Life Insurance

Nathan and I recently got signed up for life insurance. It was pretty easy signing up for it since my mother works for Mass Mutual Co.

I'm all for us being covered in the event of an unlikely tragedy. That Nathan won't be left with my ungodly amount of student loans I acquired after 5 years of college (Thanks, Dental Hygiene school) if I unfortunately kick the bucket in my 20's. Nor will I be left with a mortgage, car payment, and other small debts to take care of on my own if Nathan bites the bullet too soon.

So that being said, I don't know which would've been worse. Me living in a big house, alone, paying for everything... or having to get my blood drawn for their sinister medical tests.

I almost would prefer the first option. That way, my innocent veins and arteries stay nicely intact with out any perforations and no blood being sucked out of them like Dracula after a 30 day fast.

I knew Nurse Ratchet was coming to our house on Friday to conduct the exam. I was dreading it ALL week. One of the worst parts was that we couldn't eat or drink anything besides water for 8 hours prior to the procedure! She walks in to our house like the witch from Hansel and Gretel whispering "come here my pretties".

She sets down a black bag like Mary Poppins, pulling out a weight scale - I broke triple digits people - 100.4 and Nathan weighing in a whopping 90 pounds more than me. After the weighing session, she kept pulling items out of her diabolical duffle-bag.

After going over health history and such, she starts to retrieve some empty viles from her heinous handbag. Exit stage right. 

I was shortly summoned back into the room and I knew what was about to happen. A tight band is going to be wrapped around my arm. She's going to ask me to squeeze a ball. An enormous needle with a gallon sized container at the end is going to be drawing the life giving fluid out of my body. Dear. God. 

Naturally, I started crying. And hyperventilating. Although I knew it had to be done, it didn't help me get through it. It was HORRIFIC. Epic tragedy. Traumatizing nightmare. I sat there, with one arm being sawed in half, while the other was covering my eyes and catching a river of tears.

Nathan held me until the operation was over. I barely survived.

Well, I have now fully recovered after a day or so of random out bursts of tears and rolling around on the floor with my arm in the air. I know, you're thinking, how can I give people shots in the mouth on a weekly basis. Its the whole blood removing part that freaks me out.

So glad I made it through to share my story with you. It was a close call.
Do you hate getting your blood drawn too?

XOXO
Bekah Boo

The Liebster Award

Fun post today! I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Fanny at Pinstriped Penguin blog! 

Here is a little bit of info about the award:
Rules This award is given to new or up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers...the award is then passed along to other bloggers in the same category to help spread the word and support one another.
1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
3. Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.
4. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.

5. No tag backs.

Questions from Fanny:

1. Read any good books lately? Tell us about them.

I recently finished the Hunger Games series... I enjoyed the first two books. Other than that I read my Bible!! I wish I read more, but its all or nothing for me when it comes to books. 

2. Do you have any pets?

Yes!! I have a toy poodle named Harvey. We have a love/hate relationship lol. He's such a sweet boy, but when he's winey and has an accident in the house... I want to ship him off to Timbuktu! 

3. Where was your last vacation?

The BAHAMAS! For our honeymoon we cruised to the Bahamas. It was SO beautiful, and we got to 

swim with dolphins.  

4. What's your favorite number and why?

Ummm I would have to go with 17 - because it was the day I was born. April 17th.

5. If you could be any animal what would you be?

A dolphin. Play all day and be able to see so much of the ocean! 

6. What is your favorite show of all time?

Of all time?! I've never really been addicted long term to TV shows... but I have a feeling its going to be Downton Abbey!! Finished with season 1 woo!

7. If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?

LA. I love love love the high fashion city. And I'm obsessed with the beach. If I keel over in Oklahoma, just drag my body to LA! 

8. Favorite guilty pleasure show?

Oh.... Keeping up with the Kardashians for sure. Really any show on E! 

9. How long have you been blogging for? 

Almost 2 years, I believe! 

10. What's something you've learned recently?

To do what's right in every situation, even if you've been wronged.

11. What's your favorite season?

Summer! Rawr! I'm a sun lovin babe all the way.

Questions for those tagged:

1. Share one of your most embarrassing moments

2. How many brothers and/or sisters do you have?

3. What is your favorite physical feature?

4. What is your favorite Bible verse?

5. What was your favorite vacation?

6. If  you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

7. Who do you respect/look up to?

8. If you won the lottery tomorrow, what are the top 3 things you would splurge on?

9. Do you have any pets?

10. Can you play any musical instruments?

11. What are you passionate about?

Well, hope you enjoyed getting to know some random facts about me! 

XOXO

Bekah

The small things in life.

So this post is totally random, and just for fun. But I'm inspired to post and that doesn't happen often so here it goes!

My sweet brother and sister-in-law Harry and Tiff are always helping us out. They've helped us paint our house (enough times to be part owners), helped us hang christmas lights, rearranged our rooms/given lots of decor advice, and the list goes on. One thing that's been super fun to have the Copes so close is that we share things. A LOT of things. Dogs, decorations, vehicles, food, cleaning utensils, you name it - we share it (apart from spouses).

One thing we've been permanently borrowing is their old vacuum since they have a super fancy irobot roomba. Clearly they won't be needing their manual 20 lb Eureka any longer. So we were kind enough to take it off their hands.  As I was using it last week, I noticed a piece of fuzz kept circulating around me. The vacuum was just blowing the dust behind it! Yikes!

Most of our house is hard wood floors, so I would sweep the dirt into piles and then shop-vac the mounds. This was SUPER time consuming, but effective. I would use their vacuum for the rugs and sunroom.  Once I saw that their vacuum was no longer working, I saw my golden ticket to a new machine. Sure we could probably fix it, but I am SO over the pain staking method of floor cleaning I've been doing for 6 months.

We did a little research and ended up at target to play with the models. We ended up purchasing this beauty!!

Its pretty freaking cool. The handle comes off and is the extender to clean up high/stairs/etc. Or you can use it as a gun as Nathan is doing.

Im SUPER pumped! You know you're a housewife when.......

Of course, I vacuumed the whole downstairs when we got it home. HOLY MOTHER OF DUST! It looks like we cremated a small village! GUH-ROSS! Don't judge us.

Anyway, super pumped to have the new vacuum, even if its just a small thing in life. And now we will find more things to share with Harry and Tiff. :) I'm sure they'll be borrowing our new Hoover!

XOXO
Mrs. Phelps

The Kempt Kitchen

   This post is long awaited. My kitchen is finally to a point to where I am unashamed to share it with the rest of the world. :-P It's been a long, constant changing process, but I love where it's ended (for now). And I can't wait to see how it will look in another 6 months.  Here is a preview of the finished product. 

Red is a great color for a kitchen. The red that was in our kitchen, was not. It was just way too harsh of a color for such a big room.  

BEFORE 

My sweet cousin Pam came over to help me tape everything and paint. It was a looonng project! Full day of work for sure. After about 3 hours my kindergarten bestie Rachel came to join the party and helped too! 

I went with a very light "Ice Blue" by Valspar Signiture. I brought in one of my Anthropologie oven mits to match the color to, and also to match my Kitchen Aid. 

So excited to be painting, painting, painting...

Okay.. here is the AFTER

                             

Hooray! 

I just love the way it turned out. It looks sooo much better! And it flows with the rest of the house. Fits the 1930's (the year the house was built) much better than the previous. 

Here are some Details....

  

And last but not least, the Nook

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the progress my kempt kitchen has made much as I do. And it really is the most kempt room in the house, surprisingly! There's nothing better than having a clean kitchen. :) 

XOXO
Mrs. Phelps

Chevron Curtain Tutorial

 After painting our living room grey, I wanted to add some mustard to its life. And preferable chevron. I looked and looked for some cute fabric, and couldn't find anything. So I started looking at fabric online, thinking I could make them if I had to. I found the CUTEST pattern at fabric.com.

 I got 12 yards of this darling fabric for only $100! That equaled 4 - 84" panels and some fabric left over to make throw pillows as well!

 (Lighting not so great in this pic)

And I couldn't be happier with how they turned out! Thanks to my mother, of course. She came down to stay the night and showed me how to make some fancy curtains. :-P  It actually was pretty easy! I busted out my old sewing skills from high school and she used her years of knowledge from working in a sewing factory. haha. 

I'll walk you through the steps in case you want to know how to make some for your home!! 

Step 1: Take in the sides.
You want the width to be equal on both sides, but this can be done by "eye balling" it. Fold the sides in about .5 inch and press it down with an iron the entire length of the fabric.

Fold the folded/pressed section over on top of itself and press with iron again to ensure no unraveling. 

 Then sew along the inner seam all the way down, staying in a straight line. I used a heavy duty polyester thread. Be sure you adjust your tension setting before starting.

Once you finish all of the sides, all you have left is the top hem and bottom hem. These are done the same way. 

Step 2: Top hem.
You want to make sure your pocket will be large enough for your curtain rod. Fold the edge of the fabric down and adjust the length to the right size pocket.

You can use your finger to measure!

Again, once you have the correct amount of fabric for the pocket, iron down to make a crease. Use a tape measurer to ensure a perfectly straight line. We measured each tip the same length and then ironed it down.  I used just the metal tip of the tape measurer for each mustard peak in pic below.

Cut excess fabric and then iron the edge down .5" - only this time you won't fold it again. Just fold it once and you're ready to sew.

 Sew again along inner edge - you will need to reverse stitch at the beginning and end for a secure hold.

 Step 3: Bottom hem
This is done the exact same way as the top hem, but you will want to hang your curtains in the rod to see where they hit the ground. Use safety pins/pins to measure where you want them to hit along the floor.
(If you are doing two panels side by side, I recommend laying each curtain on top of each other once one is finished and the right length - then you can measure them to be the exact length much easier.)

This hem will be MUCH shorter than the top hem, because you won't be placing a rod through it. 

After you finish, iron the wrinkles out, hang up your beautiful master piece, and enjoy!!

XOXO
Mrs. Phelps

The Windy City

Chicago. What comes to my mind when I think of that city is gangs, some sort of sports team, and people with accents who eat a lot of pizza.

This is no longer the mental connection. Now what I think of is fabulous shopping, gorgeous scenery, and tons of history.

Nathan and I spent last weekend in Chicago. My dad bought a car there and needed someone to pick it up, and we eagerly volunteered. We used his frequent flyer miles and flew for free! We drove to Tulsa Thursday night and stopped to visit some old friends, Steven and Amanda Fisher. It was SO good to see them and catch up - Its been way too long. We stopped at a cool place downtown broken arrow for some fries and wine. Classy combination, I know.

Then we stayed the night at Kathryn and Marks, and got up 3 hours later to head to the airport for our 6am flight. And we saw this man at the airport who apparently needed all 7 cowboy hats for where ever he was going... 

After a long taxi ride and very emotional visit with the family we picked the car from, we were ready to take CHICAGO! 

Headed to our hotel - view of downtown!

After we got settled, we had a list of great suggestions/places to visit from our friend Molly. With her guidelines and our own desires we had an awesome trip. We had a VERY late lunch at Giordano's deep dish pizza. We weren't really impressed. I did feel really cute and fashionable there bc I knew it was such a big city, and that was super fun to dress up everywhere! 

It got REALLY cold, so we went back and put our coats on and were ready to really see the city.  It was so so gorgeous. Ill just post tons of pics for you to see. :)

Ghirardelli chocolate milkshake. :) 

We shopped till we dropped. The forever 21 there was INCREDIBLE. After we had taken in as much of the city as our little, tired bodies would let us, we decided to go back to our hotel and crash. The next morning we set our to the John Handcock observatory, but it was too foggy to get a good view of the city.

Fog. Boo. 

So then we got in the car and headed to St. Louis to visit Nathan's Aunt Suzi, Uncle Mike, and Cousin Maci! It was a great fun time.

Im so legit driving a Mercedes... haha.

We had a lovely dinner with great convo, and Maci showed us all of her American Girl dolls. So cool! The next morning we got up and drove another 6 hours back home.

Wow. Talk about an eventful weekend! I seriously can't wait to go back to Chicago.. it was really incredible. We didn't even get to walk down Navy Pier, look at the art museum, zoo, or any of the other amazing stuff she offered. We saw almost everything though, and it was really gorgeous. It was a big city with a small town feel.

The Windy City - Check off the ole bucket list. :)

XOXO
~Mrs. Phelps