Ch..ch..ch...changes!

Oh my poor neglected blog.  I have taken a much longer than anticipated hiatus.  Hopefully no more though.  I'm really going to try to update more than once every two months :)

These past few months have brought many changes to our household, and the coming year is promising to bring even BIGGER changes!

Carl has finally made it back to the Midwest from a long two months training in Virginia.  I don't know how we ever survived living apart for the better part of three years- two months apart was plenty for this chick.  I flew out and met him in mid-February which was a nice little get away.  We spent about five days in Virginia doing a little sightseeing, visiting friends, and just spending time together.

(Taken at Mt. Vernon in Virginia)

Since Carl drove his truck out to Virginia, we drove back to Minnesota.  We did take two detours on our way though.  We were able to drive up to New York state to spend a few nights with Carl's oldest sister Rachel, her husband, and our two nieces.  It was so nice to get to spend even a small amount of time with them.  We then headed down to Ohio to stop in and see Carl's grandma and a few aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Our time spent in Ohio is always enjoyable, and this short stop was no different. 

When we finally made it back Minnesota, Charlie was so excited to see us (I think Carl especially).  It's always fun seeing how he reacts when Carl walks in the door after being gone for an extended amount of time.  Charlie couldn't get enough of him!

Change number two comes from Mother Nature herself.  Goodbye winter (hopefully...), hello spring and beautiful weather!  We have no snow on the ground anymore which is unheard of in March for the upper-Midwest.  I can remember years when we still had snow on the ground in May.  Besides the snow being gone, we have had some of the most beautiful weather.  I'm talking long, sunny days with temperatures in the 60s and 70s, and it's supposed to continue at least into next week according to the forecast.  It's been wonderful to open the windows!

The last change has been a few months in the making and  is maybe the biggest and most exciting!  If you haven't heard already, our family is going to get a bit bigger in August!  Little Baby S is growing happily in my belly and we are over the moon excited!

I'm almost halfway done, and I'm hoping the last half goes as smoothly as the first has.  I've sewn a few things for the baby already, but I'm excited to kick it into high gear to prepare for this little one!  The hard part is going to be not knowing whether I should be making things with ruffles and bows, or stripes and plaid (Have you seen Carl's wardrobe?  Pretty much plaid and flannel!) because we are keeping the gender a surprise until Baby S is born!

Keep a watch out for more baby updates, projects I have been working on, maybe a tutorial, and a few recipes thrown in there in the coming weeks!  I promise to stay up to date!

-B

Oh January...

I'm alive!!  Sorry for the lengthy break!  My life was taken over by Christmas shopping, the holidays, and Carl packing and leaving for Virginia.  I do have some fun stuff in store for the next coming weeks though including recipes, Friday favorites, and a few sewing tutorials.

January to me is always kind of slow, long, and cold.  The excitement and busyness of the holidays are over, all the pretty decorations come down, and I have to get back to real life.  Real life for me this January is a bit different with Carl being gone again (he is just lucky our association shovels and plows the snow for us) and in the limbo between college and a grown-up job.  I try to get out of the house at least once a day to have some sort of human interaction because there is only so many one-way conversations you can have with your dog before you start to feel crazy.

Speaking of that crazy dog.  I think he totally has it made.  This is how I found him this afternoon.

Snoozing on top of all the pillows because you know, the couch itself just isn't comfortable enough.  He is very much a cuddlier though.  He does not know how much he weighs or how pointy his elbows are.  He gives me a very odd look when I elbow him back though- I'm all about giving and receiving buddy.

I hope your first week of January has been a little more exciting and productive than mine!

-B

Favorites on Friday

Okay, I have seen this on other blogs, so I am going to try to do a weekly post like this.  I'm going to warn you that it may not always get done on Friday because I have this disease called procrastinitis (my fellow nursing friends might be familiar with that one!).  Anyways, here is may list of favorites from the week.

1.  My number one favorite is actually two things that both kind of equal the same thing.  I am officially a college graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing!  The top photos is from my nursing pinning ceremony (you can learn what a pinning ceremony is here), and the second is from my graduation ceremony.  I cannot tell you how excited I am to be done!  It has been a long three years (year round), but well worth it.  I have learned so much about myself, what I want to do with my career, and have made some of the most amazing friends along the way!

2.  Enough of tooting my own horn.  Another one of my favorite things this week is buckeye balls.  What is a buckeye ball you ask?  Well it pure peanut butter, chocolate goodness rolled into a bite-sized ball.  You can make them with or without rice crispies, I prefer them without- more peanut butter.  My mom brought us about two dozen this past weekend, and they were gone by Wednesday night.  I do want to add that Carl did try to hide the buckeye balls from me in the freezer and ended up eating about 2/3 of them.  He is quite sneaky.

3.  My third favorite is also food- I love to eat.  If you are ever at a Sam's Club (like a Costco) pick up a tub of their Artisan Fresh Spinach Artichoke Dip and a bag of Stacy's simply naked Pita Chips- you will thank me, or curse me for eating the whole thing yourself, I don't know.  I'm not a huge spinach artichoke dip gal, but this stuff is sooo good.  I will probably serve this at every get together just so I can eat the crap out of it and people won't judge me for it.

4.  Number four is my Keurig, single-cup brew system, or what I like to call my simply amazing coffee maker.  Carl and I bought this bad boy over the summer, and it was worth every dollar spent.  I use this thing daily.  It brews the exact same cup of coffee every-single-time.  This would make a great Christmas or Hanukkah present for any coffee or tea lover (it makes tea and hot chocolate too).

5.  Last on my list is a staple in my winter wardrobe.  I absolutely love Mossimo Supply Co. long sleeve shirts from Target.  I have both v-neck and crew in multiple colors.  They are just the right heaviness for a long sleeved shirt, they fit super, and they don't stretch out weird like other shirts.  Every time they are on sale (which happens pretty much once a month), I buy two or three new colors.

There is my list.  Stay tuned for another round next week!

-B

Old Door Re-do

Carl and I found this old door kind of by accident.  We were looking through my father-in-law's garage and workroom for something entirely different when we came across a multitude of old doors.  I was pretty stoked!  One phone call and the door was ours!  The door we picked was covered in about 10 layers of paint and shellac, but definitely had potential. 

Of course I forgot to get a picture before Carl started to strip and sand it, but this photo isn't too far off from the original condition.  It was basically covered in the dark brown shellac- including the hardware which was stripped down.

Next, the door was primed and painted with a white semi-gloss we had left over from other projects.

I then hand painted our last name and the year we were married with a black acrylic paint.  I'm pretty sure a vinyl decal would work just as well- I just haven't invested in an electronic vinyl cutter yet.

I used an electric hand sander to distress the door, taking the paint off mostly on the edges and a bit on the flat surfaces.  I started using just a piece of sand paper, but I realized it was going to take me forever-and-a-day to get anywhere, so I upgraded my tool!  

The last thing we did was put wood stain on to age it a bit.  We painted on Minwax Polyshades in Antique Walnut Gloss with a foam brush, let it set for about 2 minutes, then wiped the stain off with a rag.  We also tried to let the satin soak in a little more on the parts were wood was exposed.

 

  To hang it on the wall we, or maybe just Carl, hung a 2x2 on the studs that was about 6 inches shorter than the width of the door.  

We then placed the hinges of the door on top of the 2x2 and placed a screw on either side of the hinge into the 2x2 to hold the door in place.  Screws were also put in the hinges straight into the wall, but that was more for looks.  (Please excuse my flash-photography, it is quite a dreary day in Minnesota- so natural light is pretty terrible.)

-B

The First of Many...Hopefully

I have finally made it to blogland!  I am excited to finally post my projects, some tutorials, life happenings, and anything else that I come up with!

-B