Life In The Fast Lane

Clean!

2012-01-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

I'd be willing to bet that I'm not the only one that has places in our around their home that is either a place that easily collects clutter or gets dirty easily, and you quite frequently turn the blind eye. I consider myself to be a clean organization loving person but I to fall prey to ignoring certain messes. For me I have two places. The extra bedroom that is not utilized by Ben or I (we are very lucky to have 4 bedrooms for all our junk). The other place is our shed, which I love but the thing is also a thorn in my side.

The shed obviously gets dirty quite easily but also we have the tendency to put things away hastily. Thus we end up with a very dusty and fluttery shed that I deal with about once a year. Partially because its a bear to clean out and partially because if you clean it during summer you risk heat stroke. Well yesterday I did my Rocky dance and gave myself a pat on the back because that sucker is clean. There's so much more room in there! I even installed hooks and hung our bikes up which had previously been in the extra bedroom. Hopefully I can keep it somewhat organized now because, letsbe honest, dirt is just a fact of life out here.

9h the extra bedroom. I've been wanting to clean it out since......well since we moved in. And yes that will be three years ago this june. It became the room that we chuck anything that doesn't have a place/needs to go to goodwill. I've been seriously lacking in motivation and I got the kick in the pants I needed. Mom and Dad Fast were getting rid of a mattress and offered it to us. Free mattress, quite new, ummmm yes! This meant cleaning that room so we could put it in there. So my new car came in quite handy with the hauling power to take most of my goodwill bound stuff out and I removed the bikes to the shed. Viola! No the bed doesn't have sheets or really anything but that just details sheesh. The desk you se will also be going to goodwill. Its Bens Walmart special from college. The chair is going as well because it was my parents then mine and its in serious need of some reinforcing and reupholstering that I deemed not worth it to me. If anyone wants it they can have it! So I'm feeling quite good right now because to major problem areas are under control, if only momentarily.

Our front yard....

2012-01-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

...is slowing dissapearing thanks to one wicked dust storm today. Where's the rain weather man?

Blue

2012-01-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

Yes I know we move quick but the longer we wait to get a dog the longer Ben doesn't have a buddy. It just so happened there were Queensland pups in the paper. First we had to decide if we wanted one because we're suckers and if we go we aren't going to say no. These dogs can have the rep to be "heel nippers" and protective. We've known a few people who have absolutely loved them as family dogs and they have a reputation for being hardy dogs. Which obviously we are in need of around here, plus I couldn't get another dog that was just like our other ones, I needed something different. When we showed up mama and papa dog were there and were friendly and licked our hands even though their owner wasn't outside yet so we felt encouraged by that. And like I said, we came home with one, a girl, and named her Blue. She proceeded to get carsick and throw up 4 times on the way home which lead us to believe she just ate and it's quite a long way from Lamont to our house. She was little timid with Dezi at first but she spent the night outside with her with no whining and today she's wrestling and trying to bite her tail like any fiesta puppy. I might mention that Ben is smitten. He loves puppies but Blue really has him by the heart already. I think they'll be good buddies.

Christmas Tree Skirt

2012-01-20T16:58:00.000-08:00

Of course I'm not a month late on this I'm 11 months early! Thank you interest for the inspiration. I had some extra batting which I used for the backing. I then hot glued the burlap and white fabric in ruffles a viola! A lovely homemade tree skirt that makes me excited for Christmas all over again.

R.I.P. Tiller

2012-01-19T12:35:00.000-08:00

We have had the worst kind of luck with dogs this year. We think Tiller got into some squirrel bait last Thursday but she seemed normal until yesterday when the you know what hit the fan. She ended up having to be put down because of internal bleeding. It was pretty much an awful day, I tell you what. We feel like horrible dog owners but the vet gave us some good advice and now that I can take a deep breath I know we do our best but things just happen with farm dogs. We will probably get a new puppy really soon. If you're a farmer you know how lonely it can get out working all day by yourself without a buddy and Ben just needs a buddy. I admit its also hard to be sad with a new puppy around. So we will miss our Tiller and so will Dezi.

Eggs.....galore

2012-01-10T12:48:00.000-08:00

So after a 2 month hiatus from any egg laying our chickens have resumed with gusto. I need to find some things to make with egg. I just gave away a dozen last week! I've gotten a bakers dozen in the last 4-5 days. Quite a few eggs for just the two of us! Looks like friends and family will be getting some home grown Fast eggs now.

Oh, Hello blog....

2012-01-06T15:23:00.001-08:00

I see its been November 24th since I last wrote. If I think about it that pretty much sums up my holidays. They kind of caught me by surprise and bonked me upside the head. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. You think you're ready and well turns out you weren't. I had lots of fun none the less and now I'm trying to get my groove back. So what have I been up to? Sadly I don't have too many pictures but these will do.

We went to the family's condo in Morro Layover new years weekend. It was beautiful weather and a nice break, but we did get a flat on the way home.

Spent lots of time with the nephews, not as much as I would have liked with Levi but you get what yo can take and cherish it. And you know you want to just take Charlie and squeeze him!

I crafted a little but most of it was started way to late to be down by Christmas. These trees were inspired by interest and made for a friend. Okay yes I made myself some too, so cute!

Lots of walks and runs with these two.

I finally finished my desk. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Only took me three whole months. :) thank goodness I have a father-in-law who let it hang out in his shop until I got my act together and finished it. Thank you Royce!

Other than this stuff there were tons of Christmas parties. Now I'm reclaiming my house from the holidays and trying to do some needed purging and organizing. Who am I kidding? I'm always doing that. So hopefully it wont be so long before the next post. I'm looking forward to this year and can't wait to see where God takes us.

Thankful for....

2011-11-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

Lots of things because I guess I kind of let life catch up with me and I've been slacking.

-Thankful for friends that will go see total teeny bopper movies like Twilight with me. I can't remember the last time I went on an outing with anyone besides Ben and it was fun!

-Thankful for Dad's that have shops and let me do whatever projects I dream up in them. Growing up my Dad always let me build things in his shop. Even when I got older and dreamed up bigger projects he never said no and always helped and encouraged my attempts at creativity. Now I don't get to do that so much with him but Dad Fast also has a shop. I'm pretty sure I've been working on a desk for about 2months (secondary to a busy schedule and well you know, out of sight out of mind) He's volunteered advice and hasn't given me a hard time about it taking up space. I'm so blessed to have two Dad's that help me with my projects, whether they're great ideas or not so great!

-Thankful for willing teachers in my life. I've learned a lot of thins in life but some of my most valuable and memorable lessons have been from family. Whether it was how to shoot a basketball, how to hang a cabinet on the wall properly, sewing basics or more recently, the proper technique for making zweibach, they all take the time to teach me things.

-Thankful for Ben calling the heater repair man so I no longer have to dress like an eskimo in my own home.

-Thankful for sunny days in November. We've had some fog recently and it's so wonderful when there's none and the sun comes out. I admit it, I'm a California whimp and don't like cold weather. I love that it can be sunny on Thanksgiving and Christmas!

-Thankful for Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. What about Christmas you ask? Well call me a scrooge but Thanksgiving is better in my opinion. Family and friends get together to share a big wonderful meal and we remember what we are thankful for. None of the fuss with presents and having to attend a million different parties. Just good food, family and friends, and meditating on how richly God has blessed us. I think it's appropriate and a bit ironic that the Christmas season is started off by Thanksgiving. We often get wrapped up in the gift giving and hustle and bustle and forget that we should be remembering how Christ came to earth to be born in a manger for us. Thanksgiving gives me much needed perspective before Christmas comes. Don't get me wrong Christmas is fun, I just always need that moment to take a breath and remember my blessings before December hits.

Thankful for Fresh and Easy

2011-11-18T15:34:00.000-08:00

I love Fresh and Easy, its changed my grocery shopping life. Ok, yes I'm being dramatic but really that place suits me. Reasons why I like it:
- I save money! My grocery bill is half what it as at other places. This is partially due to good prices but also is due to their coupons and friends of fresh and easy program.
- I like how small it is. They have most everything I need without having to make my way through a large store. I'm in and out in 20 minutes most times.
- its pretty much one of the only grocery stores that is convenient as far as being on my way home.
- I really like their fresh and easy brand items. They carry a lot of organic and natural products that are healthy.

Things I would change:
- Their produce can be lacking.
- They don't have trader joes almond butter (yeah I don't know what is up with that :)

Thankful for prayer

2011-11-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

I don't know what people do without prayer. To be able to bring all my hurts and concerns and needs before God who I know hears and answers, what a wonderful thing. I admit, laying all my cares on him is difficult because I like being in control but I feel peace when I do and you know, things always turn out better in his hands. We may not always understand why we go through the things we do but he's promised he hears us and will provide all we need so we can persevere.

Thankful for farming and music

2011-11-16T16:21:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for farming, yes because farmers grow food and I love food but also because my husband farms. I'm going to be honest, it was hard to adjust at first. Farming isn't just a job, it's a way of life. It's not 8-5 and never will be. Busy season is summer to fall. Not only did I have to get used to Ben working Saturdays but also to the fact that you really don't get away during summer. When it's go time, you go until its done. I've gotten used to what if means to be a farmers wife and I'm thankful for it. Ben LOVES farming and having a husband who is doing exactly what he was meant to do is worth more to me than a hundred summer vacations.

Music. I grew up in a family that loves music and always were involved with it. My mom tried to teach me piano and I was a bad student, how I regret that as an adult! I learned to sing in church reading hymnals. I played flute in band and am now involved in RBC choir. I'm not a talented singer by any means but it does make me happy to be involved in music and I hope to be able to keep it that way for life!

Thankful for RBC and Football

2011-11-14T16:54:00.000-08:00

Rosedale Bible Church. Ben grew up in this church and when we moved here after getting married it seemed liked the natural choice. I'm not going to lie, at first we weren't sure. We don't have anyone else our age. There are some close but we are definitely the babies of the young couples. We tried a couple of other churches but God moved in our hearts and we knew we belonged at REC. We've gotten involved in a married couples bible study and me in choir and Ben with sound. It took a while but I think we've found our place and we have been so blessed by the people there.

Football. I know, a stark contrast but still I'm thankful. Ben and I always watch games together and I can't count how many times we've had people over to watch games and hang out. We've had so many fun, relaxing nights that are tied up with football. Funny I know but I love those nights.

Thankful for Costco

2011-11-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

Nothingmakes Ben happier than this sight:

A pantry full of snacks. He loves his snacks. He either stuffs his pockets when he can swing by the house or stuffs his lunch box in the morning. Thank goodness for Costco because otherwise all these snacks would really cost us since my husband still has the metabolism of a high schooler.

Thankful for craft dates and pumpkins

2011-11-11T16:08:00.000-08:00

And when I say craft dates that's definitely not with Ben but mostly my friend Lidy. We meet eachother at work and though she no longer works with me we share a love of crafts and get together to make things sometimes. Today we were attempting burlap banners. Let's just say we so did not plan ahead just kind of went for it and only got half of what we wanted to do done. It was just fun spending time together even though we totally got very little accomplished.

Pumpkins, when I say love pumpkins I mean in decor and in food. (Except pumpkin pie, I know I'm weird) They're so festive and tasty and when you see pumpkin patches that means thanksgiving is close!

Thankful for our home and nephews

2011-11-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

We may live a mile down a dirt road in the sticks but I do love it. It's peaceful. Our dogs don't even know what a leash is. And I don't know anyone else that jets skis in the canal in front of their house. Yes we may be hick but we love it. It isn't our forever home but its been great in this time of life.

I have 3 wonderful nephews. Being the oldest child I thought it would be a long time before I got to be Auntie Kelly. Marrying the youngest child has its perks. Levi, Charlie, and Henry all hold a special place in my heart and I'm so glad I get to be a part of their lives.

Uncle Ben was sneaking Henry some extra ice cream at one point if I'm not mistaken :)

Thankful for....

2011-11-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

..two things since I forgot yesterday.

First I'm thankful for my puppies. I know, oh, good grief she's one of those! I never thought I'd be a dog person as I didn't grow up with them. Then I met Ben and he loves dogs and let's just say I'm a convert. My walks would be so boring without them and what fun would hoeing weeds be without them laying right in the way. Or riding in Ben's jeep with them trying to crawl into my lap. Yup I'm a sucker and they are spoiled doggies.

Second I'm thankful for good friends. Specifically today I'm talking about my friend Ruth. We met in college and have gotten really lose over the years. I got to visit her today and meet her precious baby son Luke. She always has been there for me and knows how to call me out when I need it or just listen. We always have fun and our friendship has always come so naturally. We both hate that we live 2 hours away instead of 2 minutes like the old days but we take advantage of whatever we get. I know God put her in my life and I'm thankful to know her. And I'm so happy for her and her husband Justin. What a precious baby boy they have been blessed with!

Thankful for adventures in Ben's Jeep

2011-11-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

If you know Ben you know he loves his projects and I have to admit when he was excited about re-doing a mail jeep I laughed. I had no idea that it would end up so great. It's still a work in progress which means it missing the windshield. The first time I went for a ride that wasn't just a short one we actually had to go down a paved road which requires going faster than 20 mph. I got smacked in the face with so many bugs I swore I wouldn't ride in it until het got a windshield. Well I have gone for more rides, yesterday being even more memorable than the bugs. It was cold but I bundled up and agreed to ride with Ben to the gas station as we like to do once in a while. (Yes I know us country folk are terribly exciting). It wasn't too bad on the way there, just cold. Welllll on the way back it started raining! Not sprinkling, raining. We both look at each other and start laughing because yeah it wasn't one of our best ideas. We were frozen by the time we got back but I don't think I'll forget that ride anytime soon! It's the simple things in life really isn't it?

Thankful for rain...

2011-11-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

Today I am thankful for the rain. We need it so badly here and it just makes everything (including the air) look fresh and new. Even though the timing might not be convenient for cotton farmers like us I am still thankful for what we get. Plus I just love the way it smells!

Tis the season...

2011-11-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today I was in Target and had to waste some time so I was meandering. Holy cow the whole Christmas section is up and running! This set off a line of thought for me. Wow the holidays are dangerously close...and pretty much every panicky feeling that comes with that thought. So I had to stop myself from going down that dark road and decided that I should probably get a move on with certain things but that I should also do something to remind me of what the holidays are really about. Thanksgiving is a day for Family, friends and food but also remembering what you're thankful for. So this month I'm going to post something everyday I'm thankful for. Since I'm 3 days in, here are 3 things ( and I use the term "things" lovely because it might be people, memories or whatever):

1. That I have God serving parents who brought me up to know my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I wouldn't be who I am today without my beliefs and those who taught them to me.

2. Family: including my husband, parents, siblings, grandparents, in-laws, extend family. I'm so blessed to have great family, both my own and the one I married into. I can count on all of them and have some of my favorite memories from being with family. Family has always been important to me and always will be.

3. Work: I'm thankful for my job. Not only that I have one but for the people I work with and my bosses. I've learned so much and have grown so much there its crazy.

Yes today was a little serious and I warn you they might not all be so serious. So here goes a month of remembering what I'm thankful for.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

Re-do's

2011-10-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

Lately I'm loving to re-do things by painting them. I found some candlesticks at the peddlers fair this year and a vase last year and wanted to give them a face lift. I took out some spray paint and went to town.

Cool candlesticks but I wasn't feeling the gold.

Off-white crackle finish vase...over the crackle.

No one else will notice it I have a feeling but I like that it looks more crisp.

Our dresser as it has been decorated for a while...

Blue candlesticks! And a little rearranging. I felt the need for a pop of color because our bedroom is very neutral.

I put some faux candles on top. I've been loving these. I've put them all over my house. I have a few big ones which have timers so they turn on every night and add such nice ambiance.

I saw this idea on Thrifty Decor Chick and immediately loved it. So easy, just grab some mason jars, candy corn and faux candles and you have seasonal fun lighting.

Stockings

2011-10-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, man oh man life catches up with me sometimes. I finally finished one of my projects which was making homemade christmas stockings. I attempted counted cross stitch and well I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a needle. So then I started these. They are made out of off white flannel and accesorized according to our tastes. I'm very happy with how they turned out even though it took me until before our third christmas to get my act together.

Bunting

2011-09-21T16:27:00.001-07:00

Bunting is my latest craft/sewing kick. It's just fun!

A little banner for my home to add a little everyday festive.

Homemade cards, a great way to use up little scraps.

A banner for my sister away at college, hopefully to add a little fun to her dorm room.

Auntie times 3!

2011-09-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

I'm an auntie for a third time as of Sunday, to another beautiful baby boy named Levi James. Ben and I got to meet hi/ last night and he is so precious. I got one picture but if you want to see some really good ones check out his Dad's facebook. I can't wait to get to know this little guy, congratulations Denise and Andrew!

My first quilt

2011-09-11T14:27:00.001-07:00

I've done it! My first quilt is finished! It's probably the easiest one I could attempt in the smallest practical size but hey it's completed. You know what? I could see myself doing a bigger one. I didn't do this by myself though, I had help. Thank you so much Katie for all your help and tips and letting me use your machine. It was so fun working on this project with her and well I got to hang out with Charlie too :) So here are a few pictures of my new lap quilt for my couch. Its always cold in my house and will be used allllll the time.

Things

2011-08-28T08:36:00.001-07:00

What have I been up to lately? Well obviously not posting anything on here! So here's some catching up.

I've been getting to hang out with two of the coolest nephews in the world a lot.

I've been to 3 baby showers in the last 3 weeks. Two for my sister-in-law who is due very soon! Auntie times 3 booyah!
The other one was for my good friend Ruth.

Ben and I went to a 'Reckless Kelly and Randy Rogers Band" concert at the Crystal Palace which was so much fun.

I'm going to try my hand at my first quilt. It will just be a lap sized one so as not to dice in and drown on my first one. I'm pretty excited about it, I have a great many teachers in the family to help me along the way.

And of course, my puppies. Tiller is growing like crazy and gets to go with Ben more and more. She's already listening really well. As for Dezi, the weenie dog, she's a lost cause as far as obediance but she's just so cute!

The Chicken Saga....

2011-08-15T14:20:00.001-07:00

....continues! Well these chickens have been quite an interesting venture in my life. We've had them for a while and I've been patiently awaiting the arrival of eggs. After all my toiling and sweating to keep them feed and their coup clean I think I deserve some fresh eggs. Yeah about that, I think my chances have decreased. One of our "hens" is an impostor! It's a rooster if i've ever seen one. Big and noisy. He cockodoodledoos all day long. It's not loud enough to bother us in the house but he can be heard. Here's a picture of him with his ladies. He's the big black one. I must admit he is pretty. His tail feathers have an iridescent quality that show hints of purple, blue, and green.

My first eggs. All within two days. They are on the small side but that's because my hens are young. Since they are white I assume they came from our leghorns. No brown ones yet.

Sadly this afternoon I have come to the conclusion I won't be having a plethora of eggs in the immediate future. This part of the saga once again invokes Dezi our little killer. I was getting ready for work this morning and heard our rooster which is typical but he wasn't acting as usual. Typically it's a cookoodoodledoo here and a cockoodoodledoo there but this morning it was NON-STOP. Whatever I thought, he's crazy. I come home after Monday lunch and go outside to do a few things. I hear Dezi growling from behind the spa at Tiller. Typical but I checked out it. Yup, you guessed it, a dead white chicken. There's a skin gap at the roof of our coup that will now be closed off, just not in time for this one. So I have one white chicken that's good for some eggs hopefully otherwise these brown ones need to get their act together. Oh, and the rooster is ticked that's why he's so loud today. I can hear him right now. Believe me when I say there's never a dull moment around here :)

Date Night....

2011-07-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

...at home with Tahoe Joes and netlfix. Right up our alley!

P.S. We've been watching Band of Brothers, I highly recommend it. Really something that's entertaining and pretty historically accurate.

Morro Bay

2011-07-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

We are so thankful to have this getaway. It was just what we needed after such a hot humid week and before things really get busy for Ben. We are so blessed.

Petite scrap napkins

2011-07-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

One night we were at my sister-in-laws for dinner and Ben discovered her napkins. She had made them from scraps and they were smaller than usual. He proclaimed that these were the most perfect napkins. I've been wanting to make some myself and finally got around it it. What a fun and functional way to use some scraps!

Revamping (part 2)

2011-07-04T15:26:00.000-07:00

I took advantage of my long weekend to do a few more fun projects, and not to mention avoiding being outside in this heat.

I got 3 frames for 25 cents each, did sort or a transparent paint job to give them more of a glazed with color look for visual interest, and then put some pressed herbs in them since they are in my kitchen. Viola homemade art.

My shelves from dad got some rearranging with new felt flower additions. Have I mentioned I have an obsession with felt? Love it!

This corner in my bathroom looked nice with the curtains but needed a little extra.

These were plain fake flowers but not they are replaced by the felt fantastic ones!

A pair of thrifted gold owls. I also have an obsession with owls currently, and the color yellow, oh an Pioneer woman iced coffee recipe....

Pickles

2011-07-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

My first round of pickles is done! All the ingredients are grown by us except the chilies. It definitely makes for more work having to grow and pick everything but it's worth it.

My reward for my hard work....iced coffee thanks to Pioneer Woman's recipe. YUM.

Revamping

2011-06-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have been doing some general house revamping lately. I've been wanting to do these things for a while but had lacked motivation. Well I had my own little epiphany the other day that slapped me upside the head and got me going. I was running and just dog tired so I stop at the house. Then I realized I had only run one mile and I was toast. Wait what? Since when do I quit that easily, and then I realized I'd been doing it all week. My normal average is 2 1/2 to 3 miles per run. How had I gotten here? Now that I think of it I've been really tired and lack luster lately in general. I would do what was necessary and sack out on the couch. I had been eating really badly, and all of the sudden it hit me that this had become a culmination of a couple months of slowly slacking. So I freaked out a little then pulled myself together and decided enough is enough. So the last three weeks I've been pushing and made it back to 3 miles. I've also been trying to eat vegetarian for most meals. No I'm not thinking of becoming an animal rights activist or even feel meat is bad for you. Eating vegetarian makes me be more mindful of what I eat and it also helps deplete our never ending supply of produce from the garden. And guess what? My motivation and energy is back. I know, genius right? Amazing how much more you get done. So here's a few things I have done so far, they're just little but they make a big difference to me.

New curtains for the bathroom.

They add a sunny disposition don't you think?

Golf ball basket, repainted and repurposed. Love using things for something other than their original purpose.

"The jar corner" my attempt at being artsy-artsy.

A little homemade decor for my sewing room.

More to come soon!

Growing...

2011-06-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Things are really growing around here! Must be the summer heat.

What my sink is beginning to look like daily.

It's really taken off since the heat came around. The only things that I'm waiting on are tomatoes and corn, and there will be a lot when they're finally ready.

The chickens are all quite big now and sure do eat a lot. No eggs yet much to my dismay. I have to admit I'm getting a little impatient. I'm told I probably have another month but heat can affect them.....Maybe by October :)

Tiller is getting very leggy, I think she's going to be tall.

Taking a ride

2011-06-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

I went over to my in-laws house yesterday to swim and have dinner. Ben is gone this weekend and a swim and nephews sounded way more fun than being home by myself. I took my puppies and just had to share this picture. This is how they chose to ride all the way home :)

Making things

2011-06-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Well it finally started acting like summer around here so I've been hiding out inside during the late afternoons. I usually spend a lot of time outside and don't do quite as much sewing. Here are a couple of my most recent creations. Oh and I apologize for my absence, our internet on the computer hasn't been working so this is from my phone. Not going to lie, I'm quite proud of myself for figuring it out.

Tea Towels for a soon to be married friend.

A yarn wreath for myself.

Gifts for my new nephew/niece

2011-06-02T12:02:00.001-07:00

Someday very soon I will be an Auntie for the second time! I wanted to make a little something for this newest addition and found inspiration through this quilt he/she's mother made. It was so fun to make these becuase I love owls, and because I can't wait to meet this baby!

Funfetti Cake

2011-06-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

For Ben's birthday I decided I wanted to try to make him homemade funfetti cake. He loves funfetti cake so homemade is even better right? Welllllll, not so much. I had fun doing it and it looked great but it was way to rich. The frosting recipe did have 3 sticks of butter in it and I think that was the cause. The first two bites were great, then after that it was just a stomach ache. I think next time I make funfetti I'll use the store bought cake mix (it's much lighter, this homemade version was very coarse) and try making a regular vanilla frosting. I'm a big fan of homemade frosting and the homemade funfetti chips look so pretty! So it's semi-homemade for me on this one, but it was definitely worth trying out.

Rearranging

2011-06-02T11:11:00.001-07:00

I recently did some rearranging in our living area. I must say that it did come out of necessity not desire for change. My Grandma Sue had this great desk in the basement of her cabin up in Shaver. I asked her about it, to which she responded if you want it you can have it! I was super excited and had the perfect purpose for it, it would replace my cheapo sewing desk that was leftover from college. We get home and haul the beast all the way to the door of my sewing room and.....it's one inch too big to get through the door! The window is too small too! I was so frustrated the desk sat in our hall for a week becuase I didn't know what to do. Finally this last Saturday I jumped in to some shifting and I'm pretty happy with the results. The only downside is our big dinning table doesn't really fit well anywhere. We bought it for our someday home and not our current day and it's too big for our space. So as a result, it's a little cramped wherever we put it. It's new home in the kitchen isn't ideal but would be it's eventual spot becuase having kids someday eating over carpet is just risky.

Happy Anniversary to us!

2011-05-23T18:35:00.001-07:00

Two years ago I married the man of my dreams. Today I think I'm more in love with my amazing husband than ever. He's a good man I thank God for his providence in bringing us together. Ok, now that I'm done with the mush what did we do for our anniversary? Wellllll not much. May has been extremely busy and going to Morro Bay (what we really wanted to do) was pretty much not an option. Don't get me wrong, everything we have been up to has been fun and I've enjoyed every second, but you can only be gone so much. I had originally settled for going out for dinner. Hopefully getting a nice break from cooking and treating ourselves to a movie too. Well that couldn't quite happen today either. So what to do? I ended up cooking one of our favorite comfort food dishes and bought some apple cider. Watch out! We crazy!

Now on a tangent about what I made. Fancy Macaroni. Try it. It will change your life. Warning: you will never look at good old craft mac n' cheese the same. I for one will never go back. I just can't. It's that good. Who do I have to thank for this recipe? Pioneer Woman! Have I said how much I love this woman? It's just the epitomy of comfort food. I'm a firm believer in sitting around the table with home cooked food. Made from scratch, semi-homemade, doesn't matter. What matters is getting around the table, eating food made with love. Some of my favorite memories of my childhood come from sitting around the dinner table. It's worth the extra effort.

Green salad with feta, macaroni with 3 kinds of cheeses! Oh yes I love cheese.

Everytime I make this, I make it a little differently. This time I used heavy cream instead of half and half. I will forever use heavy cream, sooooo good. I added garlic with the onions. The cheese I used were guyere, jack, and parmesan. Guyere is quickly becoming a new favorite.

Eco Market Tote

2011-05-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to make a purse. My wonderful husband went all by himself to Strawberry Patches (a local fabric store) and the ladies in there directed him towards a couple of purse patterns. One was the Eco Market Tote by "Favorite Things." My problem with new projects is I get intimidated. Once I dive in I am totally fine and usually end up making something I really like. I finally decided to give this pattern a try and make two for my sisters (they were both graduating this year). I headed down to Strawberry Patches and the wonderful ladies there gave me some direction on the supplies I would need and encouraged me to call if I got stuck. I just love that place! Anyway I spent an afternoon sewing and am quite happy with the results. My only regret is not buying fabric to make one for myself!

The fabric for this tote was basicgrey/origins by moda and Dots and Daises bybPiece o' Cake.

Fabrics for this tote were both Damask by Joel Dewberry.

Tiller...

2011-05-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

...Is the newest addition to our family. Sadly, her addition comes because of the passing of Peachy. Peachy was our Border Collie/Austrailian Shepherd mix. She had been with us since the very first day we were home from our honeymoon. She was Ben's work buddy and just a really great dog. This last Wednesday her and Dezi got into some poison (still unknown to us how, when, or where this occured). They both dropped into fits with seizures but Peachy was much worse and unable to breathe. I have do admit it was one of the hardest things to watch your pet suffer and I wish that on nobody. Needless to say that day was pretty awful. Dezi came out alright and I'm very thankful we didn't lose both of them that day. At first Ben was adamant that he would not want another truck dog for a while. Peachy would be a hard act to follow. I told him I thought he would change his tune and besdies, who can be too sad when there's a puppy around? The next day he admitted I was right and we looked in the classifieds. Austrailian pups in the Fresno Bee caught our eye and it just so happens we would be passing through Saturday. We got there on Saturday and immediately fell in love with a brown pure bred Aussie pup. It was love at first sight I tell you! So Tiller has arrived and made our sad story a little bit sweeter and though we will miss our Peachy, miss Till has us wrapped around her paw already.

Giving Dezi some love, she's not all too sure about this new addition that's just her size. She's just so accustomed to every dog being bigger than her.
Dezi isn't the pup any more.

Up at Shaver. She liked the snow!

She should be a model for puppy chow. Just look at our fuzzy little Tiller bear!

Puppy Love <3

Books, Blogs, & Libraries

2011-05-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

These three items have to be some of the things I am enjoying most in my life right now. With my new found time because of the changes in my job I have been taking more time to do the things I enjoy. Go figure that you are happier when you take a little time for the things you love!

Books: Books and libraries kind of go together but I'll talk about libraries in a second. Becuase of the library I have been reading more. What have I been reading? Fiction, Non-fiction, Cook Books, Gardening, Chicken books, and Craft books. Anything and everything and I'm loving it. Two of my latest favorites are "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" by Ree Drummond and "Mad Hungry" by Lucinda Quinn. Black Heels is the love story of "The Pioneer Woman" who also happens to be one of my favorite bloggers. It's hilarious, sweet, just all around good fun to read. Mad Hungry is a great book about feeding men and boys. Her perspective on cooking (why and how she does what she does) is just amazing. Not to mention the food is down right delish! This one is going on the Christmas list.

Blogs: I have always loved books but blogs are relatively new in my life. I started this blog as a sort of journal to keep track of the events in my life but also to share with friends and family. Now I have a nice little list I keep up with on my reader. They consist of about half friends and family and half blogs of people I do not know personally. "The Pioneer Woman" has to be one of my favorites right now. Even more so now that I have read her book. Her confessions page is hilarious, the cooking is phenomenal, and the pictures are inspiring. She's a jack of all trades and I have been shamelessly stealing her recipes! (and getting rave reviews from the husband might I add) Besdies her blog "Raindrops on Roses" has to be one of the best, primarily because my nephew is awesome just like his mom!

Libraries: Can I just be a nerd and say I love the library. I'll shout it from the roof that's how strongly I feel about it! It's like Christmas every time I go in. I find the books I want online and put them on hold. I get an email once they are in and then viola! I go pick them up. ALL FOR FREE. What more could you want?

All these things have been inspiring me to be more creative and to try new things in every aspect of my life. Sewing, cooking, gardening, keeping chickens. What fun things! I can't say I ever thought I would enjoy these things and I think God for putting people in my life that offer constant inspiration to try new things and go for the gusto!

Gardens and weddings

2011-05-15T15:09:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again. More weddings and a big garden! I've been making what has become my standard wedding presents for friends...aprons. I'm in a rut I know, but no one is complaining so I think I'll hang out in it for a while longer. As for the garden, it has been planted and set up on drip tape for a while, I just haven't posted about it. Even though I managed to almost demolish it single-handedly. I, being the wonderfully bright woman I am, decided to put a "burn" pile a little too close to my beloved monstrosity of a garden. And then to top it off, I decide that Hey, I'll be a good little wife and light er' up. All of the sudden it's a very big fire, like within one minute and it's in the middle of dry weeds. I start running for the hose in the backyard and Ben's like whhaaattt are you doing?! I yell back "It's a little out of control!" He proceeds back to the fire only to yell back "ummm hurry." Well it didn't burn down our house but it did manage to singe my tomato plants and well, kind of melt the last 5 feet of drip tape. Yup did I mention how wonderfully bright I am? Thankfully I have a great husband who repaired the drip tape and with a little love my tomato plants have made a comeback.

Very early stages, it's much more green now!

Dezi....

2011-05-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

... our sweet little daschund. Yes she sure looks that way doesn't she? But what you don't know is that she has a dark side. She is always friendly with people and loves to make new friends. Our little sweetie is a cold blooded killer! When out with Ben running hay water she goes up and down the rows killing every gopher scared up out of their hole, while Peachy is content to just play with them. Friday night Dezi committed the ultimate crime.....she broke into our chicken coup and ate two chickens! She's crazy I tell you. She managed to pull back a lose fence slat and murder two medium sized chickens, not full grown, but not babies. I received the bad news while sleeping. Ben walks in and says in a very grave voice "Kell, Dezi ate two chickens last night." Then I hear him walk out and start securing the fence slats. Is it bad that I laughed? I mean, a little dezi, prying back a fence slat and nabbing two chickens. Maybe part of the humor was how mad Ben was, and maybe because Dezi's my favorite dog so I'm more prone to forgive her. Anyway, the fence is secured, we got some re chicks. (Yes 4 not 2 but 4, don't ask how it happened, ok we might be suckers). Hopefully these babies will get to grow up big and finally lay us some eggs!

So innocent....

NOT look at her!

Drooling for another crack at the chickens
New babies

They're just a little traumatized

Chickens!

2011-04-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

The next adventure for Ben and I is Chickens! Ben's always wanted to have chickens but hadn't acted on it. I saw a friend that had chickens and thought about the prospect of fresh eggs and trying my hand at something new and decided it could be fun. I think Ben was a little surprised when I said lets get chickens but he jumped right in. We decided to put the chicken coup outside our fence using the shed and fence as two walls, less walls to build right? I would have been fine with something small and easy but Ben dreamed up this beauty. No coyotes will be getting to our chickens very easily that's for sure. The wonderful before shot.

I know our weeds got a little out of control this year.

Laying out the walls using lattice we already had. Ben was pretty ingenious and designed the whole thing around the lattice we already had.

Supplies

We put the poles in on Saturday and decided to get at least one wall up Sunday afternoon. Since it was such a beautiful day we did carne asada tacos outside and had ourselves a little tailgate party.

Ever notice how well behaved your dogs are when there's food around?

One wall up. Ben putting up the roof supports.

A finished coup! The chickens! We got 5 total, 3 Leghorns, 1 New Hampshire Red and 1 Jersey Black. Their names are Big Red, Lafawnda, Moose, Duck, and Turkey, if you were wondering. They are living in the cage inside the coup right now because one is still small enough to potentially slip through the lattice. At they rate they are growing they will soon be allowed out of the cage.

We shall see how this adventure goes. So far it has been fun and interesting. The dogs are tortured by the fact that they aren't allowed inside the coup to chase chickens. We won't have eggs for a while either but so far so good!

My Nephew....

2011-04-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

...the coolest little man I know! Ben and I delived some compost to my Brother and Sister-in-law's house. While the boys worked hard unloading and distributing compost, Henry and I played in the truck. Oh what fun! He had just found the panic button on the keys :) Driving

Painting

Looking at our taxes....haha

Annnddddd this is the picture Henry took of me. Not my best, but at least he got half my face.

Farmer's Market

2011-04-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

Lately I have made a habit of going to the Farmer's Market on Brimhall on Saturdays. It's right down the road from the Fresh n' Easy I get groceries at. It is pretty small but they have exactly what I'm looking for. They always have fresh veggies which is what I went for in the first place but then.....I found the hummus guy. I happen to love hummus. I use it instead of mayo on my sandwiches, dip crackers, or veggies in it. When I saw the stand I knew I had to try it. I've been getting hummus, a veggie mix, dolmas and once in a while fresh pita bread there. This last week I got sundried tomato basil hummus, feta cheeese with sundried tomatoes and dolmas. I immediately went home sliced some of my freshly made bread and fell in love. It was a nice light lunch with so much flavor. Ben came home and loved it to. Go figure my meat and potatoes guy would dig the hummus and feta cheese! So needless to say the farmer's market is quickly becomming part of my routine. Soon they will have stone fruit and possibly homemade tortillas!

Living Room Makeover!

2011-03-27T14:32:00.001-07:00

My last post was about a table makeover and this one is about my living room and its transformation. As I said before I was feeling unhappy with how it looked. It was missing personality and rather blah. Not anymore! New table, new curtains, a little homemade art and picture rails (or shelves) and voila! A whole new look that makes me smile everytime I walk in. It's amazing what a few relatively easy changes can do to a room. I'm so happy I jumped in and went for it. I'm learning to trust my instincts and decisions when it comes to decorating. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but who cares! I love it :) The living room, after a redone end table before curtains.

I'm in love with my new curtains. I was planning on buying some because for the price of fabric you usually can buy them at the same price or cheaper but that plan was quickly changed. The only ones I could find that I really liked where oh about 35$ for one panel. I was not ready to pay that so I was still browsing. I happened to be at Marshall's looking for shoes (quite unsuccesfully) and decided to go into Joanne's on a whim. Red signs all over the fabric section, SALE SALE SALE. Oh yeah baby I was all over it, I had some fabrics in hand for other projects when I saw this fabric. It was mustard yellow with these sweet white berries all over it. I was smitten, it was all over! I grabbed it and dumped my others and promptly got 6 yeards for grand total of 28$! 4.79 per yard. The next day I immediately sewed them and hung them. They are perfect. They add color and let in a lot of light because I didn't line them.

Another day I was feeling quite creative and got an idea in my head. I'm pretty sure I've seen something like this somewhere but I'm not sure where. What do you get when you combine the following: a wine bottle, puff paint, spray paint, branches, felt, and a hot glue gun? Original homemade art obviously!

Fun, modern, felt, mustard yellow, what's not to love? (yes mustard yellow is slowly replacing green in the favorite color spot)

And last but not least the grandest part of the living room makeover. My picture rails that I have been dreaming about for a month. If you don't know, my father is a custom cabinet maker, and a darn good one at that! Whenever I have come to him with little projects here and there he's always been wonderful and never said no. Maybe we both share that love for creating things and it just makes it so fun! I proposed and idea, Daaddddd what if for my birthday you made me some picture rails ( or really narrow shelves) out of some nice rustic crown molding? He was up for it because he's great like that :) My description was rustic (wood with knots and imperfections in it) crown molding, 8ish feet long, medium stain, no preferrence on type of wood, and distress the wood a little bit. I could not have dreamed up anything more beautiful than what he brought over! They're perfect! Rustic alder with medium distressing, and a flat stain finish.

Obviously they aren't filled up yet. That will not take me very long though!

I feel like the pictures just can't do them justice. They are the crown jewel in my living room and I'm spilling over with how to fill them up. Thank you Dad for taking the time to make them and they are exactly what I wanted! It's crazy how making something your own just makes you feel so great. I think I'm liking all this home-maker stuff!

Mod Podge, Decoupage, Whatever You Please

2011-03-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

We have had this end table since the day we moved in. It's not very stable, the fake wood veneers were starting to get scratched and bubbly, yet the cheap dutch girl in me refused to let it go. After having this thing for almost 2 years I decided to take action. Why not try something fun with it? If it turned out to be a complete disaster then I would only be losing an ugly end table. I have seen different applications of "Mod Podge" or "Decoupage" or whatever you want to call it. After much contemplation this table pressented itself as the perfect opportunity to try my hand at this.

First I spray painted it white.

In the words of some old friends, "it was just ok"

TaDa! A whole new end table. It's got a couple coats on it so Ben can still set his lunch on it while he sits in the recliner playing video games during lunch (I know, its just what he does :)

Looking at it, it's kind of retro.....I love it.

Much better!

I feel like it has added a much needed pop of color in our living room. I have been looking around the living room lately and I have been putting off doing more decorating because I wasn't exactly sure what my style was. Now I'm discovering I really like dark and neutral furniture but I am desiring more color. I'm thinking new curtains for starters. Anyway, things I would do differently with this table? I would sew the pieces of fabric together for a cleaner look in the transition area between the fabrics. I would also pay much closer attention to the edges and making sure they were amply glued down. All in all I am very pleased with the result of my first attempt at Mod Podge and hope to find another project to utilize this on soon!

Projects

2011-03-11T16:15:00.001-08:00

I did a couple little sewing projects before we left on vacation. I sewed my mom little pouches for sunglasses, a camera, and whatever else she could think of putting in them. I lined them with some nice soft batting. I was inspired and made myself a make up bag. It came in quite handy on our trip.

Cancun!

2011-03-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

Ben and I decided a long time ago that we would take a big trip sometime. We didn't do a very big honeymoon and wanted to do something bigger after we had been married a while and all that. Well we finally found something we liked and a time that worked. Cancun was amazing. It was warm everyday. The hotel (we did all-inclusive) was great. It was a very relaxing fun in the sun trip. Side note: we booked our trip through Costco travel and loved it. It was a complete package with flight hotel and transfer to and from the hotel. Everything was seamless!

Our hotel room

Ben on the beach.

Me on the beach.

First walk down the beach.

Ben loved the shade (and no setting up needed :)

My book. We spent lots of time lounging in the sun reading books.

Our view at the beach.

The view from our balcony.

Happy to be on the beach.

On our way through the mangroves out to the ocean to fish.

Ben's big fish. A 40 lb. Amber Jack.

Me fighting my fish.

My 25 lb. tuna or "Bonita"

Riding back to the dock.

Last day on the beach.

e

Picture Screen

2011-02-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

For my wedding my dad made me these picture screens to display our pictures on. It came with me to Bakersfield and has been one of my favorite things in the house. I love pictures and people always come in a check out all my pictures. Lately the ribbons have been coming loose. I decided to nix the ribbon and go back to basics with the cork board underneath.

My dad, being the brilliant man he is, made these so that you could remove the panels if you ever wanted to change out the fabric.

I removed the panels and started to take off the fabric only to be reminded by all the remaining fuzz that we had used a little adhesive. So my plan to just do cork was foiled. I took off the ribbon and put the green fabric back on.

I pinned the pictures back on and it looks great!

Patio

2011-02-15T14:10:00.001-08:00

Those of you that have been to our house have seen what we have affectionately called our "smoke stacks." Behind our house we have a cement patio slab that had four poles coming out of it that were meant for a patio cover. Well they have been there a while because other more important things have been on our list of things to do. The day has finally come and we have a patio cover! The American Awning guys got here at 11 a.m. and left by 2 p.m. and we officially have shade in our backyard. This cover has been long awaited for mutliple reasons. When it rains, water would come seeping in under our back door and was starting to cause some rotting. Our poor puppies would have to howl and howl to wake us up so we could let them in the shed when it was raining. During summer it will be a lot cooler for us outside and the dogs with some shade since our trees are not very large yet. So this is a big thank you to our wonderful landlords (the farm) for making this happen. We promise to enjoy it all the time.

They are just so cute I couldn't resist.

More pictures to come when we get the poles and cross beam painted.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T13:49:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day...It's one of those days where people with significant others go out of their way to make sure their "other" knows how much they love them. To some this might be stressful because of the pressure to make their love happy. I've always enjoyed this holiday as long as I have been with Ben. We keep it low-key and just make sure to enjoy each others company. Yesterday was my first day part time which gave me an excellent opportunity to whip up something wonderful for dinner. Not that yummy dinner requires lots of time, just what I had in mind did :) So our night was spent at home which suits us just fine. We have been accused of being home-bodies, well I emphatically say Yes We Are! And we love it. Here's what our night looked like.

I made scalloped potatoes from scratch.

Beef short ribs, simmered and broiled.

Espauragus sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper.

Ben's favorite, funfetti cake for dessert.

A table for two, yes I was feeling like being a little cheesy romantic with candles.

Flowers from my honey.

Funfetti cake and a couple episodes of Parks & Recreation. What a relaxing wonderful night.

Ch Ch Ch Changes.......

2011-02-12T06:33:00.000-08:00

Yes I know, I've neglected this blog once again. Life really caught up to me the last couple months. Also, my camera was broken, or rather my memory card was and it took a couple tries to find the right one for it. Anyway, a lot has happened over January and February for Ben and I. The biggest change being my job.
I previously have handled insurance and patient account information at a Physical Therapy office in town. I've done that for the last year and a half. It took me a while but I finially realized that this wasn't the right job for me for multiple reasons. The problem was that I love where I work. My bosses and the people there are the kind of people I wouldn't find to many other places. It was my responsibilities there that was leading to my frustration. So once I finally admitted to myself that this job wasn't a fit for me, I told my boss. The way he reacted is a true testament to why I want to stay there. He wasn't suprised because he had seen how different things had affected me. Not only was he understanding, he thanked me for being honest with him! Then he proceeded to work out a plan with me so that I could keep working there doing something else that is way more suited to me and my strengths. God's providence is just amazing sometimes! It took them a while to find someone to fill my place but they found someone great who really will do a great job. So, as of Monday, I will be part time doing miscellaneous front office work and hopefully some other paperwork for the Therapists. The job is losely defined right now because we are going to try some different things and see how they work out. Being the structure loving person I am, it's taken a lot of faith in God's divine plan for my life to move forward. What better place to be than in the hands of my Savior? So I move forward, excited. Excited for all the possibilites and doors that have been opened!
Next big thing....We're going on vacation! Ben is taking me to Cancun for a week. Anyone who knows Ben knows this is huge. He's not a traveler by any means and him taking me there and being excited about it is crazy. But we are going! Our tickets are booked. Passports are ready (after much anxiety on my part after realizing my maiden name was still on mine, not to worry it has been changed and Ben won't have to take someone else). We are staying in an all-inclusive resort and plan on being beach bums most of the time :)
As I look back over this post, I realize I'm am so wonderfully blessed. It's easy to forget when you're a worry wart like me. Everything is working out with my job for the better. We get to go on an amazing vacation. Life is GOOD.

Perspective

2010-12-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here in bed perusing blogs and quite enjoying the fact that there are a bunch of boys sleeping in my living room and therefore keeping me from doing my chores. Ben has a few friends over for a fun filled weekend of hunting, BBQ and of course super smash bros. The rain has put a damper on the first two but definitely not the later. Anyway, as I'm sitting here relaxing for the first time in quite a while I was feeling thoughtful. My boss loves to say "It's all about Perspective" and you know what, he is SO RIGHT! Perspective influences everything in your life. I look back over the last month and I feel like I lost it a little bit. In this holiday season it is way too easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle. I now understand why my mom always kept it as simple as possible. It's a much better way to do things. So when you lose perspective, how do you get it back? How do you get your head back in line with reality? I feel like I'm back in a place of sanity but how did I get here? I realized it's not just one thing. It's a few different things. So here's a list of things I think helped me get my perspective back.

1. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: bringing my burdens to him is something I have to do constantly. I try to bear them myself and always fail. This do it yourself girl has to get it through her head that it's a lot better to pass them off. What freedom it gives you!

2. Movie nights with my husband: It's something we've done since we started dating. We rent a movie (now netflix) grab a simple dinner and just veg out on the couch. Sometimes it's just the ticket we both need. Just to be together doing nothing at all but enjoying each others company with a movie. (however good or bad it is)

3. Running: I know I'm just a nerd like that. This rain has been killing me but when I get to go out, it's like therapy. Just going out and running however fast I want, destresses me and helps me think about things with a clear head.

4. Making things: I guess I've always known that I like to create things but maybe I've just never said it in words. Maybe defining it has helped me realize how true it is. My dad builds custom cabinets and as a kid I loved getting scraps and trying to build things. Now that I'm older I still would love to be able to do that but I also have come to enjoy sewing and crafts. I guess I can thank my dad for the love of creating things and thank him for always letting me glue random stuff together in the shop.

5. Great family and friends: Thinking about my family and friends I was a little overwhelmed on how absolutely blessed I am. Not only do I love and have a great relationship with my own immediate family, I am lucky enough to have great in-laws that have welcomed me with open arms and treat me like their own daughter. I have made some great friends since moving here and they have been such and encouragement to me and in my new life. They've been there when it was hard and are a constant inspiration to try new things and live life to the fullest.

6. Now you might laugh at this one: My puppies. I love them very dearly but that's not why they're on here. They are always happy to see you and love you unconditionally. If only that kind of attitude came naturally to me! How much happier would we all be if we were always excited to see others and treated them with love? I know it's cheesy but it really struck a chord with me the other day.

As I look over the last week and how much more level-headed I feel, I realize all of these things had a major part in how I feel today. So I want to remember it, and hopefully remember all these wonderful things I've learned. So like Michael J. Fox says I'm going to "choose to be happy" and not forget the reason for the season. I bet if I am mindful of all these things it will be the best Christmas yet!

Neglect

2010-12-17T17:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have been neglecting my blog. This December crept up on me see fast and I got blindsided. I started wayyyyyy to late on all my Christmas crafts and had parties and weddings.....I got overwhelmed. So I'm catching up. Have no fear. I have been taking pictures of what I have been up to.

First another apron for another friend getting married....I know, the story of my life this year.

Christmas Tree!

We decided to try a new spot this year. Last year we had a smaller dining room table so putting it in the kitchen was easy. This year we have a much larger table that we thought would overwhelm our kitchen. So we decided to try to put our tree here. As you will see below, it was a bad call. It stuck halfway out into the living room!

So back to the old spot it was. The table is in the kitchen and all is well.

Ben was an extra good listener when I was naming off stocking stuffers. He got me some little bird ornaments which I am absolutely obsessed with. LOVE!

I tried doing a makeover on the plain ornament balls we had. I puff pained some and then spray painted them all.

I love the colors they are. They are white, dark red, and dark green, very vintagey. I'm not a fan of how they turned out though. I don't think I'll keep them. But I do want to try to find some in those colors. I'm glad I tried it though.

Bird on the tree!

Finished product! This little area of my house I like to call Cafe Christmas.

I always drool over all the Christmas decorations in the stores but this year I decided I didn't want to buy anything. I made a couple new Christmas decorations and I think I will keep this trend. It makes it more personal to me. I made some embroidery hoops just for the season.

And a wreath

That's all for now! Hopefully it won't be so long before my next post.

Weekend of family and friends

2010-10-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was full of events and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend all of them. My younger sister Kacie was elected as one of the senior class princesses for homecoming. I went to cheer her on, but spent most of my time being surprised by all the changes that have happened since I was there. 6 years can change a lot, believe me. The next day I had two showers to attend. One was for a cousin who is going to have a baby and the other for a dear friend who is getting married soon. Both were fun and it was so good to catch up with friends and family I don't get to see very often. I was relieved to make it home to my husband and my comfy bed. It's a long lonely drive from Fresno to our home all by yourself!

Miss bride-to-be Ruth (and the lovely practice boquet I made)

Bridesmaids with the bride!

Kacie, Tracie and I

Sisters

Fans in the stands

Saturday Morning

2010-10-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

My Saturday mornings are usually spent catching up on house chores like laundry, dusting and such things. Today I got a break from my routine with craft brunch. Well, actually, craft brunch was cancelled because all of the attendees besides the host and I had things come up. Not to be deterred my friend Lidy and I changed our plans a little. Her husband Joel was playing at the Village Grill from 10-12 and she was so kind as to invite me to hang out with her there. What a fantastic idea it was! We hung out, listened to great music, did a little crafting, drank to much coffee, and even made a quick trip to Beverly's. It was perfect weather and perfect company. I only regretted not taking pictures and that it had to end. The project of the month was embroidery hoop art. You can find all different ways to do this on Etsy.com. I chose to try my hand at felt flowers. I'm very happy with the fruits of my labor which are pictured below.

Three hoops hung on my bathroom wall, were just the finishing touches I wanted in there.

The vintage buttons I picked up at Beverly's really finished this set of classy white flowers off.

Yes I'm obsessed with this yellow/orange vintage color, it's bordering on taking over #1 Green!

These were tough to make stay in place but it was worth the effort!

Tea Towels

2010-10-16T19:00:00.001-07:00

This is the first time I have made tea towels. They are for a wedding gift (story of my life lately). Technically I cheated a little because the towels were already cut and hemmed. I still say "made" them because I added some applique's to them. They are to match a previously made apron. I really enjoyed making these and see more being made in the future.

Peddlers Faire

2010-10-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

Peddlers Faire you ask? The Peddlers Faire is a place for local vendors to show off and sell their wares, which can be anything from furniture to glassware. It took place at the Kern County Museum this year. I'm so glad I was told about this event because it was great. I got to hang out with my two sisters-in law, Katie and Denise and the cutest little nephew in the world! I'll be honest, when Henry was there I did more playing than browsing, but I like to think I gave his mother a chance to look through all the treasures :) Another friend showed up later right as Henry was about fed up with the whole thing so I got a chance to walk through again and check things out. There were a lot of things I loved and most of the things I did purchase came from my freind Lidy and her husband Joel's booth called Vintage Peach. I knew it would be trouble looking at her wares because I had a feeling we had the same taste. Boy was I right! I could have carted off a lot of things from them. I hope they did well because they had such wonderful things to offer all who came.

Below are all the items I purchased. Everything besides the vase was purchased from Vintage Peach.

The chair and mirror now have special places in my bedroom where they add just the little spice of unexpectedness I was going for.

And yes the fabric is a green zebra print, what more could a girl ask for?!

The vase holds no flowers yet, I will soon buy some to brighten our kitchen.

The green glass bowl and teacup holder have been repurposed to hold my jewelry, very stylishly I might add.

Not pictured above are the little yellow things hanging from my necklace holder in the first picture. Those are handmade wash cloths. They are the best! I have already put them to work and have decided that I need to make some of these myself!

More Gifts

2010-10-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

Lately I live in the world of gift sewing. So many weddings and birthdays, I've had to stay on top of it! Here are two more of my creations for some pretty special people.

A very pink apron for a very special co-worker affectionately called "Mama Terry"

Some more baby stuff!

Sunday Afternoon

2010-09-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

My family came down for a very quick vist and then I had much of the afternoon left. What to do? Football and sewing I say! Yes random combo but it was very relaxing indeed!

A Touch of Fall

2010-09-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

Even though it doesn't feel like fall, fall colors are my favorite!

Old Things New

2010-09-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

I took that day off today and vetured into downtown to see what I could see. Some friends had recommended some antique stores downtown for me to check out. I have never really been interested in antiques but have I ever had a change of heart! I went to American Antiques and fell in love. It was huge and so full of wonderful things I couldn't begein to take it in. Now I have begun to understand why people love it so much. There are treasures around every corner. Some are pricey but some are just right. I could have spent the day in just one store looking at everything.

I have been looking for sugar and flour canisters for quite some time now. Nothing caught my eye anywhere I looked. Until today! Originally I thought it would be fun to have a mis-matched set and I had found a couple canisters I liked in the store. Then I stumbled across these and fell in love. I think I'm becoming a big fan of this yellow color.

>

One of my favorite blogs to keep up with is Young House Love. She has an obsession with white ceramic animals. Well today I became a bit of a copy cat but only a little bit. I saw these wood ducks and fell in love again. (that could be a bad habit for me)

They are a little dingy looking here
.

After a little white high gloss paint.

Voila!

Shaver

2010-09-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

Well I am officially the last one in the family to post about Shaver but better late than never right? I have an excuse. We got a new laptop and it has taken Ben and I couple nights to get it where we want it to be! Anyway, Shaver was a great time for all who came. Here are a few of the shots I took.

What beautiful world we live in!

Katie's thrifty finds

Buddy decided to come with me

Ohhhhhh soooooo......

CUTE!

Little Owen

The pathway Ben and I had never seen, it was always covered with snow!

What a pretty picture they make

An apron for a friend

2010-09-12T12:57:00.001-07:00

Ideas

2010-09-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

Usually I find myself a relatively creative person and I have not had much trouble envisioning purposes for spaces. I guess every person meets their match at some point. Mine is the side of our house. My original intent was to make raised planters for a garden there. It was brought to my attention this would not work out as I had dreamed because I had overlooked the fact this area is not exposed to the sun very long. Continuing grass back into this corner would just be a pain to mow and require a little editing of our sprinkler system. So right now it has a few bushes and has an extra piece of bender board residing there. I hate this little space because the bushes get out of control so fast and it just isn't very nice. I'm very happy with the rest of the yard but this has been the thorn in my side. So I come to you (anyone who reads this) for advice. Any and I mean ANY ideas are welcome. Any direction would be appreciated, I need inspiration!

Gifts for a cousin

2010-09-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

A cousin of mine is having a baby any day now. Even though they live out of state she was thoughtful enough to invite me to the shower and so I seized the opportunity to try my hand at baby stuff. Up until this point my projects have been limited to aprons, curtains and of course some mending. This was the perfect opportunity to broaden my horizons. After consulting with some of my resident sewing veterans I decided to go with burp rags and onesies. Once again I procrastinated starting because it was new to me and I wasn't following any particular pattern. Now looking at my finished project I have decided this has to be one of my favorites. You are only limited by your scraps and imagination and it doesn't take a huge time investment.

My first attempt at embroidery. It leaves much to be desired but it's the thought that counts right?!

The whole set. Not quite matching but coordinating.

I did this whole flower with hand sticthing. I like the unpolished look of it. My embroidery much improved on this one after once again consulting my resident sewing veterans.

A little more hand stitching but much less which was nice.

Steppin' Stones

2010-08-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I was ecstatic when we finally got grass growing in our front lawn. Much less dirt in the shoes and the house! One thing was lacking in that there isn't a path to our front door. This last Saturday we went and purchased some pavers and made ourselves a path. We also got a few solar lights to illuminate our way and some sego palms to add a touch of class. The new additions really add character and liven up our house. Our mobile home is turning into a classy little place if I do say so myself.

A new table (to us)

2010-08-14T06:33:00.001-07:00

For a long time I have been wanting a bistro style table in our kitchen. Our kitchen is long and rectangular and definitely needed something at the lonely end. My sister-in-law so kindly mentioned she was willing to donate her cute bistro table to my cause. This was a few months ago and I decided to accept because I really like hers. The day has arrived when she is not in need of it anymore and I am so happy. It's perfect! Everything I dreamed of an more. Thank you thank you Katie! You have made my kitchen complete.

Kitchen Curtains

2010-08-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting new curtains in our kitchen for a while. I finally got up the nerve to start searching for some. My hope was to find some already made since I seem to be short on time these days. No such luck! Everything I thought was cute was way over priced. My brilliant sister-in-law suggested getting full panels and then cutting them up. It made for a few less seams and the fabric was high quality. I ordered them from World Market which I highly recommend because they have some great deals on very unique patterns. At first I sewed a plain valence, no frills, just straight lines and I hated it! I panicked for a minute thinking I had spent money on something I would not be happy with, the ultimate travesty for a thrifty minded person like me. A little frantic I wracked my brain for what could make me happy with my handiwork. Curtain ties to the rescue. The panels had come with tie-backs which I promptly used to give the curtains a scalloped appearance. Bingo! I hit the jackpot. It completely made our kitchen cheery and light with the fun pattern. So that is the saga of the curtains and I am glad I can close this chapter and enjoy them.

Straight boring curtains

My finished product!

New Decor

2010-08-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

I was feeling inspired the other day and in the mood for a couple of quick little projects that didn't take much effort. Luckily I had supplies on hand for just such an occasion. My main reason, besides wanting to add a little more spice to our house, for being inspired was from my friends blog. She always finds places for inspiration and she has succeeded in inspiring me. I got a vase from Mom F, a used wine bottle, some candles, a fake flower, and dried beans.....whatever could all of those create? It took me all of 5 minutes and this is what I came up with.

Now if only I could get the gumption to finish my curtains. The last part is always the hardest part to find the time to finish.

Mark & Kori's Wedding

2010-07-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

We had the honor of attending our friends wedding this weekend. It was a beautiful day in Santa Barbara on a rooftop of one of the downtown hotels. Everyone came so it was wonderful to see good friends. What a great night.

My babies

2010-07-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

They're just so cute!

Grass

2010-07-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

Yes the epic battle has begun again only this time in my front yard! Yes for those of you who have been out to my country house you would have noticed a lack of a front yard. Soon my dreams of walking to the car without getting dirt in my sandals will become reality. The Bermuda is growing very well but along with that comes weeds. Thus my battle with the weeds has commenced for the second summer in a row. I persevered last summer and have full confidence I will be victorious again.

Long Time, No Blog

2010-05-03T19:26:00.001-07:00

In the last couple months I have neglected my blog, but I am back and hopefully with a little more consistency! Life has been very busy. Full of weddings, birthdays, and other festivities leaving me with very little energy and time for the fun extra things I like to do. Things are slowing down a little bit or at least enough for me to get back on the train again. So I will catch up with what has been going on in my absence.

An Apron for a friend

This friend also happened to be the unfortunate victim of my first apron mistake, always check if the fabric has specific up and down directions. Look closely and you will see my folly!

We were also able to purchase a dinning room set. The chairs we got were latter back style with leather cushions.

The table top is plank style and has lots of distress marks which gives it that farmhouse style feel I love.

The whole set is made out of this beautiful Cherry. It looks very fancy in our mobile home!

First Dodger game of 2010!

Yes, you see it correctly. That's Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

I've had the pleasure of attending many wedding this spring and one of the most recent was for my cousin and best friend Teresa.
This is me and her sister Jill.

My cousins nieces but I can pretend they're mine too can't I?

My and the beautiful bride.

Me and Melanie (the groom's little sister)

Me and my little brother.

Tracie!

My groom.

My little sister.

The same weekend as Teresa's wedding we went to another one for our friends Jeremy and Genae.
Boys being boys!

The bride and groom

Old roomies.

Benjamin.

Me and Steph.

Trees!

2010-03-07T15:45:00.000-08:00

If you have seen pictures or been to our house you would know it is a little barren out here. Our house being relatively new and built out in the middle of no where would explain this. Well soon and very soon it won't look quite so barren any more. It already looks better out here. The guys just planted a bunch of persimmon tress around our house. Now you actually have to drive between the two poles that mark our driveway because they are bordered by trees. They are small now but they will quickly become a pleasing way to border our house. Here's a few pictures....

New Shed Cabinets

2010-02-28T16:16:00.000-08:00

Last summer we put up a shed at our house to help store all the outside things we have. We got a row of lower cabinets the Ben got from a church remodel. There's lot of room but that row of cabinets is our only storage space for the little things. My dad brought us some upper cabinets he had that were spares. Today we put them up and cleaned up the shed and oh my does it look better! You can actually walk around in there. So thank you dad for thinking of us when you had those spare cabinets, they really helped our storage needs!

The new cabinets up on the wall

All hung in a row

A cleanly swept floor

Dezi

2010-02-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

Dezi is the newest addition to our little family. Peachy our Australian shepherd, border collie mix has been well documented on this blog. We have been wanting to get a buddy for her for a while. Ben decided he didn't care to have two dogs riding around in the back of his truck all the time so we discussed different dogs that would be content to stay in the yard. Our final decision was a mini dachshund. We got her Wednesday night. She is six weeks old and was scared to first night we brought her home. She has gotten more accustomed to her new surroundings and is the sweetest little dog. Her and Peachy are great buddies and she loves to cuddle with me. She has already had a few little adventures around her with us and I think she's really going to like it here.

Ditch Boarding...

2010-02-21T19:16:00.002-08:00

in February. I was not a participant, it was Ben who thought it was a great way to spend part of the afternoon. It was raining and very dreary outside and that must have said ditch boarding to him. He came in soaked and cold but happy. More power to him. I'm happy to stay inside.

Apron #2

2010-02-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

Another successful attempt at an apron for another cousin who is getting married!

Valentine's Weekend

2010-02-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

This Valentine's weekend was great! My Dad, Mom, and youngest sister came down to hang out on Saturday afternoon. The boys shot guns while the girls went for a walk around the ponds that have water in them this year. It makes it feel like we live at a wildlife preserve because of all the birds.

The water in the ponds.

My parents had said they wanted to hang out and then take us out to dinner. They have never let me cook for them because they don't want to be a bother. I decided I would just get stuff ready so they could not say no. Below is my table for five.

Flowers for my mom.

Flowers for me! He got me two "because he loves me that much"

Sunday we decided to do a picnic lunch country style. We took the gator and drove over by a canal where water is flowing through. We sat and had our sandwiches overlooking our "river" and enjoying the beautiful sunny day.
Our chariot.

The cutest dog in the world!

Valentine's!

She adores him.

We proceeded to hunt gophers.

Then we moved on to our separate projects.

My finished apron for my cousin. (The first one by myself!)

Lastly, reeses pieces cookies for my valentine.

Can't beat the view....

2010-02-05T13:20:00.000-08:00

At Morro Bay!

We had a great time last weekend doing nothing and enjoying the beautiful weather. A much needed break.

My first sewing project

2010-01-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

After receiving many homemade gifts from my sister in law for our wedding and other events and absolutely loving them I decided to give sewing a try. I have always thought that it would be something I would enjoy but not wanting to jump in and end up in over my head I decided to try a smaller project. I went over to Katie's last Saturday and tried my hand at my first apron. This one was to be for my Mom since she has never had one. Katie walked me through all the steps on how to follow a pattern, how to finish a seam, and how crucial ironing is. It helped so much because I had played around on my mom's sewing machine when I was little with scraps but never really had any instruction. The finished project turned out great. I surprised my mom this weekend with it as a birthday/Christmas gift. (no its not her birthday or Christmas but Christmas has passed and I couldn't wait until her birthday) She absolutely loved it and was showing it off. I got such pleasure from making something homemade for someone else and the fact that this is a hobby that always yields a product really makes me think I could get in to this. My mom, not being to inclined to sew anything (its just not her thing) is letting me borrow her machine indefinitely. I think I will be making a few more aprons as I have 4 weddings coming up for friends. I'm really glad I know so many people who are very talented sewers (seamstresses?) that will be great resources for me.

"My" sewing machine for now

Mom's apron!

Organization

2010-01-17T18:08:00.001-08:00

I have talked about our back rooms and how they were disastrous before. Our new bookshelf in the front entry helped a little. Last weekend we went to Costco and got 2 sets of shelves. One for Ben's room and one for the "office." I have been dying to organize and finally had the time and tools I needed. Much of our stuff was spread out between two rooms. My goal was to put as much in one room as I could so someday if we are still here and have a baby we will have less work to do. My goal is accomplished. My room with everything is a kind of hodgepodge of storage but it suits me just fine at the moment. It may not be pretty but I can find everything and we have a nice good will pile ready to be taken away.

Before

After

Christmas present from Ben

2009-12-27T19:58:00.001-08:00

Ever since July on my first visit to Ikea I have been wanting a bookshelf I saw there. Me being my cheap self instead of indulging myself in this wonderful item immediately decided to wait until I got Christmas money. I'm glad I waited because Ben took me to go get it. It is now assembled and looks just a great as I had dreamed it would. I have not had time to fill it with things yet. It has been a crazy Christmas season to say the least. I think my problem will be narrowing down what belongs in it. Although our house is wonderful it lacks good storage spaces with shelves and such things. It's exciting to have a new place to put things! My house is one step closer to being organized in every room.

Ben piecing it together.

The finished product!

More Christmas

2009-12-27T19:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas day was spent at my Aunt and Uncle's house eating great food, watching the Lakers, and playing with some sweet remote control cars. We hung out with my cousins two little boys who were quite the entertainers. They got a real kick out of the cars and our makeshift jump we made in the living room out of a magazine and shoes. Christmas night we went bowling with my cousins and friends from church. Everyone had a blast.

The boys, showing me their new wallets with chains "so you don't lose it."

Ben snuck a nap in.

Korey being informed on how the chain on the wallet keeps you from losing it.

Our nifty ramp.

My brother and I. (no I don't know why my eyes are so wide)

My sisters.

Two parts of the unstoppable three!

Catching up

2009-12-25T07:11:00.000-08:00

I know I have been a slacker as of late on here. The month of December seemed to catch up with me and I now understand why my mom was always a little glad to see Christmas pass. We love seeing family and friends but with double the family now it is definitely a juggling act. Where to start? We got our first Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago and the grape ornaments I blogged about earlier look great on it. I am still on the hunt for a great tree topper. I wouldn't settle for a temporary junky one, not to mention Ben would not allow it.

Our wonderful tree, with no topper yet

This has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas but it was just too funny. Peachy dragged her bed out into the middle of the yard and was sleeping like this soaking up the sun.

The first Christmas to attend was Sorensen Christmas. We first attended the big extended family one and then that smaller more immediately family one afterward. The big one was a little odd for me because I knew absolutely no one. Our smaller one was definitely fun with Henry crawling around and Ben throwing balls around with the little boys. Here's a couple pictures of Henry eating lunch. How can you not love that face?

After Sorensen Christmas was my immediately family Christmas. It was great to be able to hang out with them for a while. I got some great "grown up" gifts as I call them. It just makes me laugh how much my Christmas list has changed since I got married.

Kari on her new bike.

On the way home from my immediate family Christmas Ben and I were getting anxious to see what each got the other. Then I suggested maybe we should just open them that night. So like a couple of kids we lost our patience and opened them. I justify this by the fact that we will not be home on Christmas and why not open them early. It turned out great because Ben got to play with his new toy, I got him an itouch. His big present to me was a bookshelf from Ikea I have been wanting forever. He is taking me to Ikea to go get it too. He's actually going with me, now that's a gift!
These are pictures of us with our respective gifts.

Christmas Eve morning was at the Fast's. It's a whole different Christmas with the new additions of me and Henry. Henry is mobile now and was having a grand time of wallowing around in wrapping paper. One of his gifts was a walker and he thought that was the best because he could be upright with no help at all. I got some more grown up gifts at this Christmas and I am really excited to start using all the wonderful things I got.

My beautiful sisters in law.

Henry playing in his walker.

Saturday Fun

2009-11-29T17:35:00.000-08:00

This last Saturday was a great day for Ben and I. Last weekend I was able to catch up on major cleaning so this Saturday I didn't have quite as many chores to do. Ben decided to take the day off so we both were excited for the day. We both started out taking care of a few things around the house and then as I moved on to Christmas decorations Ben moved to reloading. After this we decided to put the legs on our couch. For those of you who don't know the story we got a great u-shaped couch after we moved in. After much struggle and toil we finally got it in through the front door. When assembling the couch we could only find one set of legs (there should have been 3 because our couch is in 3 sections). Thinking they were just left out we left it on the floor and it looked good enough. A couple weeks later I was struggling with a cushion that never seemed to go down all the way when I reached underneath and discovered the missing legs. After this discovery I went on a hunt for the other set and found it under the other "funky" cushion. Needless to say we felt very smart and had a good laugh over our missing legs and have since failed to put them on. I'm glad we did, it looks much better. After this we put up Christmas lights on our house after a hunt in town for inexpensive hooks failed, we went for plain old nails. Peachy was a great helper and now our house is a little more festive :)

Couch with legs

Ben putting up lights

And more lights

My little helper Miss Peachy

Finished product

How do you cure a dish......

2009-11-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

when your sink isn't big enough?! Try the bath tub :)

6 months

2009-11-23T18:32:00.001-08:00

Today was our six month wedding anniversary. We didn't make a big deal because we have many anniversaries to come but it is still a milestone. Looking back it's quite crazy to me that me and Ben have made it this far. I'm amazed at God's handiwork in our lives by bringing us together and keeping us together. I couldn't imagine my life without Ben and I look forward to all the new and exciting things we will experience. Ben had the wonderful surprise of flowers waiting at home for me. An awesome husband and pretty flowers, I truly am blessed and loved.

Freezer!

2009-11-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

If you have been over to our house you might have noticed the small size of our freezer. The fridge is a decent size but it takes up all the room for freezer space. I can barely fit a frozen pizza in it. Since we live so far our I like to buy in bulk, especially meat to save me time and money but it's hard to plan ahead and such when you don't have the space. Ben and I have been planning to get a chest freezer. We hadn't gotten it yet but I've been wanting it more and more. My parents and grandparents came over and my mom brought us a turkey. It was great but we were going to have to store it at Ben's parents. Little did I know that Ben had gone out and gotten one to surprise me at Christmas. After I told him we got a turkey he gave in and told me so we wouldn't have to go through the hassle of storing it elsewhere. We brought it home today and it is perfect! It doesn't take up too much space but has enough storage for our needs. I'm sorry I ruined the surprise but glad we finally have one.

Fridge/Freezer

New one!

Flower beds

2009-11-17T06:53:00.000-08:00

The front flower beds are in! Next step....Sprinklers!

Christmas purchase

2009-11-17T06:50:00.000-08:00

Saturday I went shopping in Valencia with some girls from work. We went to home goods which had oodles of stuff for Christmas. Now I am the most avid Thanksgiving fan but it is exciting to get Christmas decor because I have none! I saw these ornaments and I had to get them. I've never seen anything like them and well they seem to suit me and Ben. I thought Ben would like them also, of course I didn't get the reaction I was hoping for and after he was done teasing me he admitted that he liked them. Hopefully they will make our tree look beautiful and unique.

Progress

2009-11-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

I have told the saga of a now thriving backyard that took much sweat to get it to the way it is now. I still have another wish, that I would have a front yard to match the back. Oh to not get dirt in my shoes every time I walk to my car, to not have a growing dirt pile by the front door. Its the simple things really. Well we are one step closer to my dream of a front yard. Ben put it one of our strips of bender board. One side of our front flower bed actually is contained and looks nice and neat. Ben really knows how to make me happy, coming home to see that brought joy to my heart. I have been giving him a hard time because he has been working on "fun" projects like his gun range and deep pit barbecue pits. Well watch out we are on our way to living in luxury.

A "before" picture

The product of Ben's labors

New Decor

2009-11-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

I think I could speak for most women when I say they want their home to feel like theirs and put special touches on it. When we moved in we had our work cut out for us. Two people with a lot more stuff than they thought they had plus a house that had been unoccupied for a few months prior equals a lot of work. Moving our stuff in plus wedding presents then de-weeding and getting grass growing, putting up a shed and maintaining a huge garden, all of this while working was making life busy. Luckily I was only part time at the moment and was able to invest a lot of my efforts into making our house livable. Once we got to a point where it was maintenance work instead of an uphill battle it was nice to be able to relax. We have three bedrooms besides ours one which is Ben's "gun room" and the other two just have random things thrown in. Out of sight out of mind and that was good enough for me. I started working full time and then I found it hard to even get in the basic cleaning and laundry much less the little extra projects that are waiting around. I was glad I could just close the doors of the back rooms. Lately I have gotten the urge to make more progress on our house. There are parts of it that are already how we want it and then there are parts that irk me a little. So instead of diving in to something huge and being totally overwhelmed I decided to start small. A new shower curtain and towels for the back bathroom seemed to fit that criteria. We had been using older towels that had seen better days and the shower curtain wasn't my favorite. So I ventured to one of my favorite places, Target, and got the items I had been wanting. I must say it has helped me feel a bit better about our house. I have bigger and better things on the brain though and I will be sure to post them when they become reality.

Ode to walks and pumpkin muffins

2009-10-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Not much has gone on around our parts lately but I do have a couple of things that I want to highlight. Ben and I frequently go for walks out around our rural country home. These walks always prove relaxing and fun. Peachy comes with us of course and she is a source of endless entertainment as she is curious about everything. I love these times that we can just get out and walk around with no destination in mind and the only goal being to walk until we don't want to anymore. I also saw a pumpkin muffin recipe on my sister-in-law's blog. I have been craving something festive and thought this would do the trick. They were great! The combination of pumpkin with cinnamon and other spices just warms the heart. I must admit I am a big Thanksgiving fan and these just bring all that is Thanksgiving to my mind. So there, I've said it. I love pumpkin muffins and walks. It's the little things that make life so wonderful!

Miss Peachy

2009-10-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

Soon after Ben and I moved to Bakersfield we acquired a beautiful little puppy whom we named Peachy. She is a border collie australian shepherd mix, loves to be with people, and has endless energy. As this is my first time owning a dog I could not be more happy with our little friend. She lives the wonderful life of a country dog, going on runs with me, going to work with Ben and not to mention our house is just surrounded by fun things for a dog to investigate. This country life has its hazards though. This last week our Peachy started acting very unlike herself. She was sluggish and lacking energy. Not very much like the Peachy we know and we attributed it to a long day with Ben. When she was barely excited about going to work the next day we knew something was wrong so Ben took her to the vet. They came to the conclusion that she had gotten into some poison. Peachy had to stay overnight and the next morning looked better but her blood platelets were very low. I did not even know they could do that for dogs and words like "transfusion" were being thrown around by the vet. All me and Ben could hear was the "cha-ching" of a cash register so we crossed our fingers Peachy would pull through for us. She did with flying colors and was able to come home yesterday to two very happy owners. She is getting babied right now with nice soft dog food and doggie pills. She is already like her old self again so hopefully she learned a lesson that squirrel bait is not good food!