Calming new hobby

Well, this might be my longest lapse from posting anything.  There just hasn’t been much to say really.  How many times can I complain about work stressing me out, or weight that just won’t drop off of me, or waiting to see if I’m pregnant, or how I’m not in school over the summer so there’s nothing exciting to report?  LOL!

So in the meantime there is my new hobby to document.  I guess it was a necessity that sort of turned into a hobby.  And while it’s a lot of hard work . . .

5+ yards of annoyance

 

The end result is worth it.

We spent most of this weekend putting down mulch in our beds.  The side beds were newly put in and since we had extra mulch, we added some fresh, new mulch to the front beds. 

This side bed has a long way to go but we’ve got a start at least.  In the front is a smokebush and behind it we planted 3 limelight hydrangeas.  A little further down we planted 3 lime rickey coral bells.  We had no idea where to put them since the next few things we want to plant have the potential to get huge so we need to account for the extra space. 

The other thing we are considering is extending the bed outward, making it deeper.  Since we will eventually be a corner lot, we want that side to look really nice to the street and passersby.   Plus, what else are we going to do over there?  It’s a side lot that will eventually have a sidewalk.  But that’s a project for another day. 

The other side bed, well, that needs a lot of help. LOL!  Not a thing planted yet.  We are going to hold out for some late season sales but needed to mulch it to cut down on weeds while it waits for plants.  Seemed like so much work for nothing, but it will pay off when the time comes. 

Now for a tour of some of our flowers.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.  It’s becoming something I look forward to seeing when I get home from a long, crazy day at work.  I like to just sit on the porch and enjoy the view.

Day 29

Or shall I say Day 1?

On to the next cycle.  And, I’m actually ok with it.  Better than I thought I’d be.

It was pretty nervewracking and exciting though to think it might have been my turn.  I didn’t know what to expect.  After 2 back-to-back months with short cycles, I had such a mix of emotions come over me once we crossed day 24 of this particular month.  Then day 25, 26, 27, and even day 28.  I was feeling really antsy.  So I took a test yesterday evening.

Negative.  The toughest part was seeing hopes dashed in my husband’s eyes while he snooped at the test.  I can’t imagine being in his shoes.  He has no clue what I’m feeling, what’s going on with my body.  I can pretty much notice every little feeling I have – - or don’t have, but wished I’d have.  He doesn’t know anything unless I tell him and even then, he wouldn’t understand.  So for him, it comes down to the test. 

I wasn’t going to give up.  I was going to test again this morning, but immediately discovered that I didn’t have to waste a test.  Aunt Flo, with cramps to match, greeted me before I even had my morning coffee.  The nerve!  She should know by now, I’m not a morning person!   LOL!

But we’re ok today, the hubs and I.  I’ve already begun to look at the bright side.  This is hopefully a good sign that my body is back to normal after going off the pill this past January.  Maybe now my cycles will be easier to track and we can get this whole baby-making routine down pat.  I can continue with my quest to lose a few more pounds.  I’m about 6 away from my first goal.  I can enjoy myself at my cousin’s wedding next weekend.  I can continue living my life without restrictions.  Wine and sushi, and any other no-no’s, I like to call it. 

This will be a nice weekend, despite the monthly interruption.  We have a bowling birthday party for our niece’s birthday to go to and the rest of the time we will continue working on our flower beds between rain showers.  We’ve been trying to get more accomplished outside but it’s been nothing but rain, rain, rain!!! 

How timely.  When it rains, it pours, on me. 

Time to live it up!

Sacrificing the big things for the little things

I’ve been doing a lot of reassessing lately.   When we built our house it was like a clean slate.  So much to do, to buy, to paint, to furnish, to plant, to prioritize.  It can really consume you. 

Our budget is not always all that fantastic.  It seems like if we have an extra-splurgy weekend, we can forget the next item on our ever-growing list of things we need for the house or yard.  

But I’ve come to realize this isn’t always a bad thing.  I was really pushing to finish furnishing the downstairs of our house and felt like so many things needed to be put on hold until things were “just right.”   The more I thought about it, when is anything ever just right?  You’ll be waiting around forever and missing out on so many other opportunities. 

So we didn’t get that big chair that we’ve been eyeing forever to put in the corner of our great room to finally round out the seating arrangement.  (It even went on a great sale too!)   And so we also didn’t take our little day trip to Ikea to finish furnishing my husband’s office.  We passed on these big items for now and settled for the little things. 

Like how I found the perfect art piece for above our fireplace that went on a super sale. 

So maybe we passed on furniture, but we created a nice focal point instead. 

In passing on the big things, we also decided to host a neighborhood party.  I know, parties are not cheap, but they are cheaper than furniture. 

And here I was all worried about not having enough furniture for them to sit on, and it didn’t even matter!  Not a single person sat in there!  They all stood in, you guessed it, the kitchen. 

It turned out to be a great time.  We love to host and entertain and if we weren’t quite finished with the lower level of the house, who cares?  It still looked nice and it was still a fun evening.  When we get more seating, we’ll host another doing. 

The other big thing we’ve been really torn with is building a deck.  We don’t want to rush, but man, when you get nice weather which is so hard to come by in NE Ohio, you want to sit outside.  Rather than stress about it, we can sit on our porch.  It’s ok, because we can look at our new plants. 

With our wavering budget we can only put in a few things at a time, but it’s worth it.  It’s like having something new every few months and since we aren’t rushing, we can take our time and really research what we want.

We planted those tall alliums (purple and white) as bulbs in the fall.  What a surprise when they popped up and I had completely forgotten about them!  Worth the wait.  The front row are caramel Coral Bells that we also planted late last summer.  The row behind are new from the weekend, Azaleas, and I love how they pop against our gray house.  At the very end is also new.  It’s a Rheingold Arborvitae.  We love that it’s partly green and partly coppery.  We picked up three to place around the beds.  Yes, plants add up, but again, it’s more of a little bit at at time thing.  Much easier to budget for than a deck right now.  

Then to top it all off, we decided there was something much more important than our deck right now anyway.   With the idea of getting pregnant and having kids, eventually keeping us from doing a whole lot in the future, we decided to take a little trip.  I’ve been considering going to Chicago to check out NEOCON, which is like the mecca for designers.  It happens every June in Chicago and I hear it’s amazing. 

So why not?  My husband and I have only gone on two trips together.  Our honeymoon and then for a long weekend this past fall.  How lame is that? 

Chicago?  Isn’t that a big thing?  Well, it is and it isn’t.  We are going to be the budget travelers and I think that in itself is even more exciting.  We bought tickets for the Megabus.  The round trip cost for the two of us will be $40!  Who knew it would be that cheap?  No flight would be that cheap.  We can’t even fill our gas tank for that cheap, or even park the car once we got there for that cheap!   We plan to leave at 1am on a Sunday, which I think adds to the fun.  These buses apparently have free wi-fi, tables, comfy seating.  $40?!

Then thru AAA, we found a really nice hotel for only $322 for the two nights.  Are you kidding me?  Most hotels in the city will run $250 a night.  So far, so good.   Our transportation and lodging are less than $400!  The rest can be at our leisure.  There are plenty of free things to do, including the conference that I want to see.  Many things we can even get to on foot.  You can’t beat that. 

So, Chicago, a big thing?  Yes.  But then again so was our deck idea.  And I can’t think of a better reason to put off building it than this right now.  A fun time with my hubby in a new city that he hasn’t seen yet, at weird ungodly hours, and before kids. 

It’s a sacrifice worth making.

Setting the scene, and the table

Dinner was served a little after 9:00 p.m.  A little late for a weeknight, but sometimes typical for this couple.

He wore beat up jeans, a t-shirt with the scent of the great outdoors, and a warm, red neck from working in the yard all day. 

She wore black sweatpants, after a long day of work and class, slipper socks, along with one of his old long-sleeve t-shirts. 

Dinner was an exquisite serving of Hamburger Helper.  Beef Stroganoff – - his favorite variety.  She had a glass of wine for the occasion.  Not necessarily to compliment the Hamburger Helper, but because they ate dinner here!

And they felt like such grown-ups.  LOL!

The table is FINALLY here!  Of course we had to eat dinner at it last night!  It was a super long day for me waiting to get home to see it.  Figures it was a class night, but that’s ok.   Hubby makes a mean HH when he has to cook sometimes. 

Here’s some more pics.

Close up glam shot

 

An aerial view, why not?

 

This thing is SOLID!

 

Quite possibly my favorite feature

 

We are so excited!  Now we can start planning dinner parties with slightly better attire and a more impressive menu.  LOL!

Countdown to neighbors

There is a huge hole forming next to our house!   But that’s ok, we’ve been waiting for this day with open arms! 

We’ve had to look at the ugly construction trailer parked in the lot next to our house for about a year and a half.  Yeah we knew what we were getting into, or I guess next to, when we chose our lot.  But we didn’t think it would take this long for it to move. 

We were becoming the joke of the neighborhood.  We’d meet neighbors on the street and when they’d ask which house was ours, other neighbors would chime in and say “the one next to the trailer and the concrete washout pit!”   Yep.  That’s us. 

It did come in handy sometimes when we had to direct service people or deliveries to our house, since we are a new development and for a while there, we were not GPS-able.  Is that a word?  LOL!   We’d just tell them to look for the construction trailer and we were next to it. 

I can’t believe it took this long . . . well, I sorta can.  When I heard rumors that the sales reps might have been deterring buyers from choosing that lot, I marched right up there to talk to them.  Of course they denied it.  I know it’s because it costs them money to move the darn thing and they’ve already moved it once or twice before.  It was equipped with electrical, etc.  But c’mon already!  We were so tired of looking at it out our window.  And it wasn’t just the trailer, but also all the excess crap.  Pieces of siding, extra shutters or trim, pieces of wood, oh yeah, and a port-o-pot.

A port-o-pot?  Fantastic!  For a while there, it was ridiculous.  One day, some prankster took spray paint to the pot and wrote “Take Dump Here!” on it.  That was a lovely day.  I pulled in after a long day at work and sighed to myself, “Home Sweet Home!”  The builders quickly blacked it out but, we all knew what it said. 

But I will say, whatever the new neighbors decide to plant on their treelawn will probably do REALLY well!   LOL!   Lots of nutrients over there. 

I just hope they’re nice.  Because while our former neighbors were construction guys popping in and out, they didn’t give us any trouble.  The occasional cigarette butt or two near our yard, but they were alright.   Now it’s the real deal.  We kinda chose a corner lot to reduce our chances of having crappy neighbors on BOTH sides of us, so it’s 50/50.

We’ll see . . .

So exciting!!!! 

I’m like a ten year old boy, I swear!  LOL!

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We’re ready

It’s been about a year and a half, dining room table.  But we’re ready for you.

We’ve saved up.  We had a lot of friends and family pitch in with gift cards.  We picked you out, even though you were a little more expensive than we were comfortable with.  We couldn’t find any other table like you. 

And the wait is almost over. . .

We painted the walls, and hung some cool art.

 

We installed a new light fixture that compliments you nicely. 

 

 We hung some shelving to hold our wine glasses for celebrations.

These mirrors have been patiently waiting for about a year to be properly displayed.  I was so happy when I found these – - on sale!

We were thrilled to see that the curtains from our old house can be used again perfectly in the new house.  They’ve been hanging there waiting.

We went ahead without you to get these guys.  A little bit of a risk, but sales wait for no one.  I think they’ll work out just fine. 

I know people comment about dining rooms, that they don’t get much use.  But I cherish the times spent around the dining table growing up.  It was the place were announcements were made.  Where toasts were clinked.  Where the lights were dimmed and candles were lit.  Where special dinners for happy occasions were served.  Where birthday candles were blown out and cakes cut.  Holidays and anniversaries.  The smells of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with the table beautifully set.  The table of choice when children wanted to surprise their parents with a meal they prepared all by themselves.   And most importantly, where those closest to you, family and friends, will gather and new memories are made.

That’s what I want.  It’s what we’ve been waiting for. 

We’re ready for you, table.  Will you be ready for us?

(Wouldn’t you know, I missed the darn call from Pottery Barn to schedule delivery!  Ugh!  Oh well.  Won’t be long now.)

The game of life

We never owned the Parker Brothers version of the game of “Life”.  We were more the “Monopoly” - ”Clue” – “Sorry!” kind of people.  I remember seeing it or playing it at other people’s homes and thought how interactive and fun! 

Just had a baby?!  Put a blue or pink peg into the back seat of your plastic car gamepiece and move along!!  Yay!

I don’t know if not owning that game makes much difference because the REAL DEAL stinks sometimes. 

My husband and I have been working on our finances now that we have more wiggle room after getting rid of our second mortgage and paying off those who helped us get through the tough time.   Paying more than the minimum on cards and even paying off 3 cards so far.  It’s been going pretty good, I’d say.  I’ve even been able to schedule in some fun purchases involving travel or home projects. 

Until now.  Life hits. 

My husband and I were all set to make a fun little day trip to Pittsburgh to hit up IKEA and get the last piece that we didn’t purchase for his office last fall.  Getting that room in order pretty much revolves around this one large shelf. 

I just don’t think we can do it now.  When we built our new house, the taxes were screwy.  My husband can explain it better, but you start off with estimates, and your mortgage bounces around a few hundred bucks and then settles down.  But don’t get too comfy because you were only really paying taxes on the land, not the house.  So now we have an escrow shortage. 

Either way our mortgage will go up whether we decide to pay the shortage upfront or not.   We can see it go up by $300 or so, or $200 or so.  It kinda stinks that to have it only go up by $200 means we need to come up with $1100 for the shortage. 

Really?  A lump of over $1,000 just to save $100 a month?  I get it, but it stinks.  So we’re gonna go for it and pay it.  Any penny we can save on our mortgage that is slated to go up is worth the agony, I suppose. 

So there goes our little trip.  And it wasn’t even about the shelf entirely, but also about the time spent together, just the two of us. 

While it’s still “just the two of us.”

It’s the unexpected things like this that happen that make me worry about putting that “blue or pink peg” into the back seat of our car. 

Know what I mean?

The little things

I’ve been a lot happier lately.  I was telling my husband this the other day and it’s true.   Maybe not 100% of the time during the hours of 9 to 5, but I’m getting there.  Ha!

I think it’s the little things.  First of all, spring is in the air.  I know all too well in NE Ohio, it won’t last this early, but it’s coming.  That makes a huge difference in my mood. 

I also think it’s the determination I’ve found in myself to accomplish little goals.  I think all these goals keep adding up, forming big goals and accomplishments.  

It can be silly things like just getting to the gym consistently.   Which I might add, I’ve been doing some sort of workout on the average, 4-5 times a week.  Until last week, I did the impossible.  I worked out all seven days.  And it hasn’t stopped there.  Today marks the ninth day in a row!  So we can officially call this a streak, folks. 

And it feels good.  And it’s got to be working, right?  Although I wouldn’t know because my other little silly goal has been to stop weighing myself daily.  The wellness coach at work that has been working with me decided to try a little experiment.  He said since a lot of weight issues have to do with stress, stop stressing.  Every time I get on the scale, while I think of it as a means to maintain my weight, it’s not helping me.  He thinks that even though I may not always go up, it’s the stress of not seeing the needle go down that is holding me up. 

Maybe he’s right. 

So I am only allowed to weigh myself twice before my next appt. with him.  Once every two weeks.

This. Is. Difficult.

But it’s a goal that I’ve been doing and I’m feeling pretty good about it.  It’s pushing me to new lengths to be healthy since I have no idea what I weigh right now. 

Another thing that’s difficult…growing my nails.  Again, it might seem silly, but it’s a little thing that’s bothered me for YEARS.  If I’m going to be giving presentations in class or down the road to a future client, I can’t keep tucking my torn off, stubby nails into my palms. 

This has been about as hard as giving up smoking was for me.  But, I have white on every nail right now!  Not enough to paint yet, but just another one of the “little things” that is making me feel better about myself.

School’s going great, finances are improving, the exciting house projects are coming along.  I’m giving all sorts of design advice to a lot of people lately.  They are asking my advice?  Wow.  It feels good.  It feels good to make others feel good, too. 

What little things are making your day?  Or your life?

Nesting with design

Ok, I’m not pregnant yet or anything but I feel like we are treating the dining room like a nursery.  Just waiting for the delivery of our pride and joy . . . our backordered dining table.  Ha! 

This project has been a long time coming.  Lots of decision making and then sitting on ideas to see if we still like them before making an investment.  Because let’s face it, this is not a room we want to be redoing any time soon.  Furnishing a dining room can be expensive and not something you want to rush. 

So after a year and a half of walking in the front door and seeing an empty space greeting us, we are starting to pull things together while we anxiously await our table. 

Um yeah, our dining room won’t be like this.  Although this is beautiful.  But just imagine the table for now. 

We already had curtains from our other house that we loved and were able to reuse perfectly. 

Kinda hard to see them with all the backlighting, but we got these at Target a few years ago and still love them. 

Then the dilemma of what to do with the super long, windowless wall.

Originally we were thinking a hutch and art or mirrors on each side of it.  But the more I sat on the idea, the more I talked myself out of it.  I was afraid to make the wall look broken up and I just wasn’t seeing what I wanted as far as a hutch.  Then I thought, “do I even want a hutch?” I kinda prefer buffets but we have the issue of storing our wine glasses.  Right now they are crammed in an inconvenient cabinet above our stove in the kitchen.  I’d rather they be displayed. 

So then I found these . . .

 Just the shelf thingys, not the buffet.  They take up less space and are much cheaper than a hutch. 

So that solves the wine glass problem, but what about that long wall?  It will still need something and since we’ve nixed the hutch, maybe back to a buffet?

Bingo!

I swore I wouldn’t buy another large piece from Pottery Barn other than the table.  People have asked if there were matching pieces to our table and the answer is “OF COURSE THERE IS!”  Ugh.  So since we are not doing a hutch, we will eventually go for this piece to match the table and put along that wall. 

The other reason we switched ideas for furnishing that wall?  Yeah, well, we  found this. 

And fell in love with it.

And it dropped in price by $100. 

And it’s huge.  Like 5 ft. long.

Question is, would it look ok in our dining room?  It was a big risk.

See for yourself.

We freakin’ LOVE it!  I’ve never seen my husband so excited to hang something before.  I didn’t even have to ask him to. 

So I think we may have resolved the wall issue.  Buffet under painting, table under light, so I can stop walking into it.  LOL!  And wine shelvies in the corner (not shown in these pics). 

 Here’s another shot from further away.   The shelves would go on the wall that is to the right of that door leading to our kitchen. 

What about chairs?*  It never ends.  Still need chairs and still looking.  But we have time.  Our table delivery date isn’t until mid-April. 

I hope it likes its new home when it arrives.  We’ll be ready for it.  LOL! 

*And no we are not getting the orange chairs shown in the picture.  Could you imagine?  Orange wall w/orange chairs?