Category Archives: house stuff

Every weekend should be three days!

We ended up having both a relaxing and productive holiday weekend, and really the only thing that could be better would be if every weekend was 3 days long. After a crazy windy storm on Friday night, we got up Saturday morning to drive to IKEA to pick up a buffet/sideboard/whatever you wish to call it. As much as I hate how busy IKEA always is, I love it so. Josh and I walk around and pick out the styles we like and plan our next house out.  I like a decent mix of modern and traditional, whereas Josh is usually more traditional. Anyway, we managed to get a buffet and a new coffee table to boot (no more banged knees)! We also got a couple of pans and some mice for the cats… because why not?

And an awesome rug that may or may not be for small children… hey, we’re having kids one of these days, and now our hot wheels have a place to race. :p

Catnip coma…

Sunday we decided to start the day off right with breakfast! I have never made biscuits and gravy from scratch, and it’s so easy! Plus, we got to break in our new table outside! Exclamation points!!

After that it was movie time, and we decided our theme would be movies that we hadn’t seen in a really long time or not at all, and so it went: Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Akira, Caddy Shack and Penn & Teller Get Killed. We also watched some X-Files and Game of Thrones – how can there be so few likeable characters? Ugh.

Monday was more of the same, starting with breakfast – you can never go wrong with Eggs in a Basket.

We hung pictures from our honeymoon road trip and then it was time for kebabs and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, because what better way to finish up a long weekend?

At least it’s a short work week, right? Then it’s just counting down the days for the next 3-day weekend. 😉

Our little piece of quiet

I’d say our back deck is finally complete – we have a table and chairs that is big enough for two and still leaves ample room for my experimental container garden, our grill, and sunning space for the cats.

Granted, it’s been so hot the past few days we haven’t really used it yet. Let’s hope for good weekend weather so we can actually break it in! I’m looking forward to drinking my morning coffee out there this weekend while watching the corn field.

Things I’ve learned about container gardening: I need bigger containers!  I am thrilled at the first sighting of peas, though, and our carrots are getting bigger by the day it seems, as well as the tomatoes and onions.

Now, I just have to wait patiently for the jalapenos and straweberries. We had one berry, but nothing since, though the strawberry plants are growing like crazy. We also discovered that if you let brocolli flower it’s really quite pretty, which was a nice surprise and lessened the blow that we missed harvesting time.

I also didn’t realize that spinach would flower… I thought it would be a bit more like lettuce, so for next year I’m going to do more research and actually learn a bit more about everything we’re growing. It’s been a lot of fun eating our own lettuce, though, and all of my flowers are really taking off, so I’d say our garden so far has been a success and next year it shall be even more glorious!

Happy Hump Day!

How can it be Wednesday already?

It was a very busy weekend once we decided to completely rearrange house – well, 3 rooms anyway. Why, you ask? Maybe it was the need of a new project… it just seemed like the right thing to do. We’re still in a bit of disarray, but we’re both happy we decided to take both our office and guest room/game room and combine them into one, in what used to be our very large master bedroom. Sure, we lose some closet space, but it’s a move that makes sense. So, now we have a semi-empty second bedroom to work with once we actually finish moving closets around and purging ourselves of some stuff.

We also got the oil changed in my car on Saturday, which will happen after driving 4500 miles in less than two weeks. While that was being taken care of, we decided to finally visit Cabela’s and pick up a few things to make our camping this summer a little easier, and to get Josh a new fishing rod. I’m really looking forward to camping this year, and so far we have June and July covered, so we’ll have to plan something for August as well, and hopefully more than that. We’ve decided to go camping for our first anniversary, and we’re both looking forward to relaxing for a weekend. We have a boat rented and a site reserved on Lake… something or other, and it shall be glorious.

Otherwise, we also picked up some pretties for our front porch and deck! I should have taken pictures when it wasn’t still gloomy from the rain, but you get the idea for now. 😉 Marigolds galore (my favorite) and a few other bright and cheery flowers that make the front door a tad more inviting and add even more color to our back deck. We are greatly enjoying our fresh lettuce, only there’s almost too much of it!  I think we’re going to need to eat two salads a day! :p

(Insert sigh of relief here)

Slowly, but surely we’re getting unpacked and moved-in. I think the hardest part is deciding where to put everything, so I’m sure I’ll be doing some shuffling. I’m still trying to figure out how to better utilize the space in our “pantry.” We turned the hall closet into a pantry with a shelving unit from IKEA for $30, but it doesn’t quite hold all that we need it to, so I need to make some adjustments and find some containers that better organize that space. I’m determined to finish unpacking the kitchen first. If I can get that one area clean and pretty, I’ll feel much more accomplished and more importantly, able to make meals. We have so many new things that I want to use!

I think we’re going to try and set up the grill this weekend too and hopefully have our first barbeque and then watch the sunset. It’s our new routine – we stop everything and go sit outside and watch the sun go down with a nice glass of something. It’s so nice and peaceful and a wonderful way to wind down for the night.

We’re already getting some fun wildlife as well – mostly birds. There was a family of pheasants yesterday that were tiptoeing around the edge of the lawn (pictures to come*), and our first night, we were both awoken by an owl, and wouldn’t you know, it was perched on our garage! Josh got up and looked out the window and startled what was an apparently very large owl – possibly a great horned owl? We’re hoping it comes back for a photo shoot. 😉 Now I just need to get the birdfeeders outside and hope that some of the other pretties that I’ve been seeing/hearing stop by!

*Now that I can crawl to my desk, I think I’ll be able to take the time to actually post pictures and stories from our wedding/mini-moon. :p

Almost There

I admit, the drive to our new home yesterday, felt really long, and I questioned whether choosing a place so far away from everything was a good idea. However, once I stepped out onto our new back deck and felt the breeze and listened to the crickets and birds and saw the sun set – all doubt vanished. I’m even looking forward to washing dishes in our new place because I have a window to look out of and it’s a peaceful view. Of course I forgot my camera, so pictures will come next week, but you’ll have to take my word for now. We also caught a glimpse of who will be in the otherside of our twin home and it looks like an older woman, so hooray for no more rowdy neighbors!  If anything, we’ll be the noisy ones, and we really aren’t that noisy. Hooray for peace and quiet!!