Our Future Soccer Player

Twas the night before Christmas and all through my belly, a little baby was stirring and kicking all day! For the first time, you have been more active and all day long too :) I have loved feeling you move and wiggle and stretch, it reminds me that you are getting bigger and growing so fast. Grandma and Grandpa Yunge felt you move, so did Aunt Patty and your cousin Luka! Your cousins Grace and Libby tried to feel you but every time they tried to feel you kick you would stop kicking. Hopefully they will be able to feel you next time! 

A Major Kick!

Well it's official, last night while watching tv, Kent felt Squirt kick for the first time. She was kicking up a storm and I could feel her from the outside. When Kent laid his hands on my belly she kicked him right away. His eyes got big and he looked at me and asked if that was you. Yes, she is quite the kicker and we have a future soccer star already :) 

For me it is truly wonderful to feel you moving each day. It was an amazing feeling to be able to share that joy with Kent. We are getting so excited for April. Only 120 days until your due date. We love you little squirt! 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving. Kent and I decided to host this year in our new house. We had Kent's parents and my parents over. Even Uncle Joe came to celebrate. We told everyone that we would announce if you were a boy or a girl by having gender revealing cupcakes for them to bite into. Needless to say they didn't turn out, you could see the bright pink cupcake below the mounds of frosting I tried to use to cover it up :) We decided instead to do a family picture and share the news instead of saying "Say Cheese". Your dad did the talking, because I was too excited. He set up the camera and we all gathered around the fireplace. Once the timer began ticking, dad shouted "Oh, by the way... it's a GIRL!". I was beaming, and my mom got a quick look of shock for the photo. After the picture was taken, we all celebrated and were excited that you are going to be a little girl! We couldn't be happier. 

Our amazing little one!

Today Kent and I got the chance to see our little one for the first time. We had our 20 week ultrasound. Squirt was wiggling up a storm :) It was absolutely amazing seeing Squirt on the screen. We saw the head, and arms, and cute little toes. We also found out that you are a beautiful little girl. I can't tell you how happy I am. To have a daughter of my own, it's an amazing feeling and I can't wait to meet you in a few months. 

We also learned today that I wasn't quite 20 weeks. You were measuring too small for 20 weeks, so they pushed us back from March 28 to April 8. This is a wonderful thing. I want you to take all the time you need to grow big and strong. We are so excited to meet you that it is hard to add another two weeks, but I am so very happy that you are healthy and growing up so fast! 

The Best Day Ever!

Squirt you rock! I was driving this morning to Three Rivers, Michigan for MEAP tests. I was bummed about staying in a crappy hotel and hadn't even gotten there yet. On the way there, I felt a stirring in my belly. At first I thought something was wrong. Then it happened a few more times. It didn't hurt, it just felt strange. It was like a tickle feeling on the inside of my belly! It felt like a quick little cramp, but it fluttered back and forth and I could only feel it on my left side of my belly. I was so excited to feel you today! You were moving and kicking the entire trip! It was awesome! It was so surreal to feel you! I love you so much and can't wait for Kent to be able to feel you too! 

16 weeks!

Squirt, it has been a wonderful journey so far! You are really starting to grow, and I am finally starting to show. No more looking like I just ate a big meal! It's wonderful! I can't wait to feel more movement! I love singing to my belly (sorry for the terrible singing!) and reading too! It's hard to believe that it has already been 16 weeks! We are almost half way there! In four weeks, we will find out if you are a boy or a girl. To me it doesn't matter, I just want you to be a healthy baby! Yesterday, I ran to Babies R Us, while Kent was on a boys weekend with (soon to be) Uncle Dan and Uncle Joseph. I spent two hours going up and down the isles registering for all of the fun things for you in a few months. It was amazing how many choices there are, from which type of bottle, to which type of fabric, there are so many choices. I tried to find the safest of all the items and go with that. I showed Kent the registry when he came home and he's excited too. It's a little overwhelming how much stuff will soon fill our house, but it is truly wonderful to be expanding :) We love you lots! 

Was that a kick?

Today, we had a field trip for school to Uncle John's Cider Mill. It was a cold and windy day and we were outside for about 3 hours. It was great to see a lot of my students and visit with the different families. After the trip, I was getting into my car, and as I sat down I felt a distinct movement in my belly! I sat there for a minute, and it happened again! Could it be? Could I already be feeling squirt move? After that, I didn't feel anything again. It was exciting and wonderful to think that was our little one already. I haven't felt squirt again, but I am looking forward to feeling more kicks :) Love you so much!

A Fast Little Heart Beat

Today, Kent and I went to the doctors to hear our little one's heartbeat. I was so excited and nervous. The appointment wasn't until 3 pm, so I had to wait all day at work. It was a very long day. Finally, I got to leave. When we got to the doctors office we were so excited. It's great to have Kent with me every step of the way! He is so excited too! Once the nurse began, she found your heartbeat immediately. We couldn't hear it and she lost it right away. She tried for a few minutes to find your heartbeat again, but boy were you stubborn! Finally, it came in clear. The fast little heartbeat and my much slower heartbeat together. It was the most amazing sound I've ever heard. To hear our little one's heartbeat, and know that they are growing healthy and strong is all that matters to me. The heartbeat was 160 bpm, of course! The old wives tale is that faster than 160 is a girl, and slower is a boy. We came in right in the middle so no hints yet. I'm so excited to find out and celebrate it doesn't matter at all if it's a boy or a girl. As long as they are healthy. I think hearing the heartbeat made it more real for Kent. I had all the wonderful morning sickness and other wonderful symptoms. Kent didn't have anything change. After hearing the heartbeat, it finally sunk in more and made it more real to him. He's going to be a great father! We love you so much squirt! 

So excited for the first day of school!

I'm so excited for the first day of school it's crazy! I keep thinking about what grades (hopefully only 1 - fingers crossed!) and what the schedule will look like for this fall. I'm excited for finding out the students in my class, and the teachers that will be new, and the role I will play as a mentor teacher. I'm excited to be training and technology reps, pre-assess my students, plan our lessons. It's really hard to believe that it all begins in two weeks!

I will miss spending the day with my wonderful puppy, she has enjoyed me being home all day with her. It's almost like she knows I'm going back soon and she is extra attached to me and follows me around with this look like "really why would you ever leave me!" Crazy pup.

It's been fun this summer working on projects around the house, but it will be nice to get back on a schedule. I am always more productive when I'm busy. Somehow, when there is way too much to do, I find the time and make sure it gets done. Instead of like now, I have all the time in the world over the summer, so I'm not really motivated to get things done. Maybe next summer I'll have something to keep me on a stricter schedule ;)

Aunt Jaclyn's Visit

Aunt Jaclyn was so excited, that she called into work and came up to visit on Friday. It is wonderful to have her support. She can be crazy and wild, but I love her so much because you can always see her passion and love in all she does. She took me to Babies R Us, and it was rather overwhelming, who knew babies needed so much stuff! It's really crazy! She walked me through the store and gave her opinion on just about everything and anything under the sun. It's great to have her experience. I walked around the store, still shocked that we were really expecting! Jaclyn and I had a blast shopping together. She bought us our wonderful diaper bag, tons of cute outfits (especially all the owl and I love my aunt ones).  Before long, it was time for her to head home. It was a wonderful trip and a great afternoon spent with Aunt Jaclyn. 

It's a baby!

After moving to DeWitt, Kent and I decided it was time to try and expand our family. I couldn't be happier and was excited and nervous to start our family. We were blessed on our first month of trying, but the pregnancy test at 3 and 5 weeks still said negative. It wasn't until August 4 that I found out we were pregnant. I couldn't contain my emotions. I had to double check the test just to make sure. It was the best feeling in the world knowing that I was pregnant! I tried to call Kent right away, but he was in a meeting and couldn't answer the phone. I decided it was best not to tell him on the phone, so I ran to Meijer and grabbed baby back ribs, baby corn, baby carrots, and a Baby Ruth bar for dessert. When Kent finally got home that evening, dinner was ready and I could hardly contain my excitement. He had rode his bike to work, and had to shower first. I thought I was going to explode from waiting so long to tell him. Finally, we sat down to dinner and all I could do was smile! Kent dug right in and looked up at me and I said "You are so oblivious!" He looked down at his plate again, back up at my huge smile and said "Really!" All I could do was smile and nod because we were both so happy. We gave each other a hug and celebrated the wonderful news together! After we had some time to let the good news sink in, we called everyone in our families! We announced the news by saying hello to their new title like Grandma and Grandpa! I couldn't wait to tell my parents that they'd be grandparents. It was wonderful telling everyone. Aunt Jaclyn didn't believe me, and thought we were kidding. Uncle Joe was so excited for us too! Uncle Chad and Aunt Patty are so happy that Luka will have a cousin his age! It's just such a wonderful time and we are so happy. Our little squirt will make a wonderful addition to our family. 

More things to do than time to do it...

Now that it is August, the quickly approaching deadline of going back to school is looming over my head. The summer always goes by too quickly! It always seems that my summer to do list isn't that long at the beginning of the summer, then almost through the summer, it seems to double (maybe triple) in size. So much to do, so little time.

I love the summer, there are always a billion fun things to do and I love it. Kent and I just got back from our first camping trip. It was a blast. We camped for two nights by Heuron National Park on the AuSable River. The first night was great in our tent, we have a 2.5 person tent, just big enough for the two of us and the dog. It was great until Petoskey (our 80 pound Golden) decided that it would be great if she slept on top of me. Plus Kent forgot his pillow - which I set out for him to pack with some of his clothes and he still forgot it - so we shared a pillow. All of this led to a not so restful night's sleep. On Saturday we got inner tubes and enjoyed being on the river for several hours. We ate really well too, from tacos, omelets, pancakes, and of course pudgy pies! We ate like kings. The second night was much better and Petoskey was exhausted from swimming laps around our tubes for 3+ hours so she crashed at the bottom of the tent. Plus Kent used an extra blanket as a pillow. It was tons of fun. Sunday morning we even caught some of the canoes from the race that went from Grayling to Oscoda. Tons of fun!

This week, I am working hard on getting ready for school. I am also working on painting the chairs. With only three weeks left until I go back to school, I would like to finish these tasks:

1. Chairs - paint and reupholster the 5 chairs

2. Master closet - must organize (sobs in the background!)

3. Organize for school - there is so much to do

Maybe some other tasks, but we'll see. I'm mostly focused on school we'll see what else gets done. Hopefully we'll have some more exciting weekend adventures coming up soon too!

Procrastination

It's that time of the summer when I see that summer is coming to an end and the school year is quickly approaching... what's the one thing I want to do right now to prepare... Nothing! I get really motivated in the beginning of the summer when I'm still in the "work" mode, but as summer wears on I slowly start to relax and enjoy my time off. It is hard to believe that I'll be back at work in 3.5 weeks! So much to do!

Today I worked on 6+1 Traits for school. I didn't really know much more than the basics so I grabbed a book and got down to work. I'm trying hard to focus on one task at a time, but I get fidgety and am off doing something else before I realize what I'm doing :) I organized the stuff that will go back to school, cleaned up my desk - trying to get organized to actually be able to work in the office, and got some reading done on the writing traits. I even made a to do list of the things in order that I need to focus on to keep me working in the next few weeks. It's a rainy day here for the first time in a while and all I feel like doing is curling up with a book and taking a nap! I think I need to set a schedule for myself so that I can get some of these things done and still enjoy the last part of summer vacation.

I also made a yummy tea, pineapple, banana smoothie this morning and love the recipe! Thanks Lipton! Take one cup of tea (1-2 bags steeped) and let cool, add 1 cup crushed pineapple, a bit of honey, a banana, and a few ice cubes and you have a yummy smoothie. It made three servings so I froze the other two for yummy snacks later! Delicious!

Now back to work...

Newest Addition to Our Family!

That's right, we have an addition! Actually two new additions! Kent and I are officially proud to announce... our new bikes! What were you thinking :) Kent has been on a road bike kick for a while and has a 30 year old hand me down road bike. I have a basic Huffy style crossover and couldn't keep up with Kent on the basic rides around the neighborhood. So after two days of trying several bikes, stores, and companies, we both went with Specialized.

I got the 2012 Dolce Compact, a beautiful new release in brushed black and blue! It's awesome. I tried the Giant, and the Trek bikes and they didn't compare. The Giant was a very comfortable bike but the grips for me were uncomfortable. The Trek bike on the other hand had great

grips but was more uncomfortable than the Giant. Finally I tried the Specialized bike and didn't look back. It was an all around good feeling and comfort while riding.

Kent got the 2011 Secteur Sport Compact in the gray and black. Kent was really torn between the Allez and the Secteur, but it came down to comfort on the Secteur. He also tried the Giant and Trek brands. We were originally both set on the Trek brand because of their Big Sale this weekend, but after several rides were both very pleased with the Specialized brand.

For our first ride, we toured around the neighborhood as it is rainy today. Hopefully it will clear up so we can test ride the awesomeness that is our bikes!

My first new house list!

So I'm kinda a list person - I love to make them and pretend that I am organized (if only!). Here is our first official list of projects/to do list for our house: (note they are in no particular order)

1. Master Closet - organize

2. Master Bedroom - find a bed set including night stand tables, and a dresser

3. Kitchen - organize pantry and rethink some locations of kitchen tools etc

4. Living Room - find a coffee table and maybe a cute table for behind the couch? add some cute decorations for above the mantle, add a picture on the large wall

5. Mud Room - find cute baskets for the top shelf, find placemat/trays for dirty shoes below, organize the two closets

6. 1/2 Bath - Find a mirror that fits above the sink, maybe add a picture on the other wall?

7. Front Hall - Find a rug for the area, find an entrance table add some pictures

8. Office - find a desk? add bookshelves? add some filing cabinets? really not sure yet

9. Bedroom 1 - move dresser from master closet to bedroom?

10. Bedroom 2 - find a duvet that matches the room

11. Bedroom 3/teacher room - organize stuff, get closet organizers to help with clutter

12. Upstairs bathroom - get a rug for below the sinks, add some cute decorations

13. Upstairs hallway - add some pictures to the wall

14. Upstairs closet - organize with all linens

15. Basement finished side - no plans yet, more to come

16. Basement unfinished side - add laundry organization and place to fold laundry, organize storage

17. Garage - organize with workbench, tool storage, tall lockable cabinet for chemicals, maybe bike storage, recycling storage and set up

So it's a daunting list, but you have to start somewhere! It will be fun to begin to cross these things off the list as we go (the master closet is again being avoided! we'll save that for last!)

Feeling Hot Hot Hot!

Please tell me that I'm not the only one singing that song (all day long) today! It is hot! Just taking the dog outside (or opening the door to let her go out) it brutal! At least there is a wonderful breeze.

Today I kinda relaxed most of the day - it is summer vacation after all :) Yesterday was the first day I hosted book club, and we had 8 girls over for wine and appetizers. I made a wonderful summer drink by combining sparkling Riesling, lemonade, and a raspberry for a very refreshing drink. We also had the usual red and white wines available, but the lemonade was the biggest hit! For food I made a fruit pizza, some wonderful bacon cheesy dip with crackers, and the good ol' stand by veggie tray. The cheese dip and fruit pizza were a big hit. And of course after all of that hard work - I forgot to take pictures (D'oh!)

I did get some more work on the upstairs "library/teacher" room. Still not sure how it is going to turn out, as I'm really not sure what I want it to be yet, but currently I have three bookshelves set up with most of my books. (They really don't all fit on the three - I have a book problem!) I need to get a shelf for the closet, there is a place for one above the hanger bar, but no shelf. I think that will help with organization. Then I can add some cute storage containers, some baskets, etc and get that room in tip top shape. Sometimes I think about selling/donating the teacher stuff as it is taking up so much room, but I just can't seem to give it up just yet. I do love online teaching, so maybe after a few years, I'll be ready to move on :) For now, I will find some space for it and finally get another room done!

Avoiding the Closet

So it's official, I have tried to do just about anything in this house, except work on our master closet. There is just something about it that makes my skin crawl. Don't get me wrong it's a great closet, and there is lots of space, it's just an overwhelming project and I don't really know how to get started.

One of the problems in the closet are the shelves. It sounds great to have three book case like shelves in the closet, however they are narrow and don't really fit clothes really well. I made one just for shoes - which is awesome, but it really takes up a lot of clothes space. Hmmm... I think I am going to try some of the things like tank tops and other small accessories and clothing on the shelves, but then where to move the clothes that are currently on the shelves? There really isn't that much hanging room in the closet, because we currently have a dresser in there too, until we find a bedroom set that we like (and that matches) :). So today I worked around the house doing anything but the closet!

I picked up the kitchen, took the plants outside for some wonderful sunshine, did some laundry, hung a picture frame, hung an organizer by the garage door, set up the office, more laundry, aired out the chairs - they are enjoying the sunshine too and some fresh air will do them good before I add fabric... I did a billion little projects all to avoid that crazy closet! Well at least it is making me be productive in some of the other projects around the house :) I'm off to set up our recycling boxes in the garage!

Sanding Chairs!

On Friday, I began collecting supplies to upgrade our new dining chairs. I got awesome fabric, some sand paper, primer, paint, and a polyurethane stain to go over all of it. We love the fabric, so I spent all of Friday removing the old fabric and letting the cushions air out. (Which they are still doing, they were really smelly from being in a barn). I also went over the chairs with the 120 grit sand paper that I bought. It went really well on the first chair, and then got progressively worse. Mind you I haven't sanded anything since middle school shop class so I didn't really know what I was doing or what "sanded" chairs should look like. I knew that I had to remove the varnish that was on the chairs to be able to paint them again.

It didn't really work. The sand paper was shot after one chair and didn't do much for the other 4. I bought more sand paper, and a great hand tool that fits the sand paper and was back to sanding today. It's a terrible job! It was pushing 90 degrees outside and I was in the garage sanding away. Each chair really needed it's own piece of sand paper, and I think I finally got it to the point where they are ready for the primer! Finally! Painting is actually something I'm good at and very familiar with (thanks Dad!). Unfortunately, it's 90+ degrees and unbelievably humid outside, so that means no painting. Hoping for some cool weather so that I can paint these chairs.

I can do this!

My day began with the "what was I thinking! I can't reupholster chairs!". I quickly searched how to do it, and review wonderful instructions from YHL, I was back to the I can do it feeling and thought about that silly story "I think I can I think I can..."

So, my adventure with our new chairs begins. I took off to Hobby Lobby today to find some awesome fabric for our chairs. Success! I found this wonderful blue pattern that will look great on the chairs! Score! Plus they were on sale - still expensive but they were on sale!

Then I was off to Lowes for some primer, paint, a sander, and some painting tools. Again success! I found a great paint color that matched our kitchen and the new fabric. Man! I'm was on a roll!

Once back home, I decided to see what I had with these chairs. I grabbed a screwdriver and took of the seat. Wow! Easy again! Four screws later I had the top off and was looking at the cushion. YHL recommends reupholstering right over the old stuff, but our chairs had this band along the side that we didn't want to keep, plus they had a smell so I figured out with the old :) I began to pull out the staples. It was a long and tedious job, but I removed the five old fabric covers and was ready to try the new ones.

I centered the fabric, and put one staple one the four sides to even it all out. Then I stapled like a mad woman. It took two attempts with the corners. But it was really just like wrapping a present! I did it! The cushion looks great! I did one and stopped because the smell was still getting through the fabric, so I will let the others air our uncovered for a day (or two). Next project... the chairs themselves...

I'm off to a wedding tomorrow, and then the Harry Potter movie on Sunday! (I solemnly swear I am up to no good... and I can't wait!) More chair projects next week.

Crazy Cooking!

Today, three of my co-workers and great friends came over to prepare the main course for 22 dishes each! Yeah, it's as crazy as it sounds! We spent 9 hours prepping, cooking, assembling, and cleaning up the kitchen for the meals! There are some places that you can go to make the freezer meals, but we decided to try it at home with the four of us.

Yesterday, Dana and I went shopping for all of the groceries. After spending $150 for all of the shared supplies and about $150 each on meat, we had spent almost 2 hours at Meijer. I'm a shopper, but that was a long time at Meijer! Luckily the supplies were split between the four of us, so it ended up being less that $200 dollars for al 22 meals. Plus they made 4 servings, so for Kent and I we broke up many of the meal and have more meals (I stopped counting after a few hours).

It was a very long day, and my feet and back hurt. However, my freezer is stocked with tons of great main dishes that I will only have to add sides too. It's great for when I go back to work in about a month. Awesome! Now the real question, would I do it again? I think so, it was tons of fun with the girls and I did make tons of great recipes that I wouldn't have tried otherwise, like lamb in the crock-pot! Hopefully they will all be delicious! This is the messy kitchen, I'm a little neurotic when it comes to cleaning, so it drove me nuts all day to have my kitchen looking like this! It's finally better now. I still need to mop the floors and then I am going to clean the granite and seal it tomorrow. Not bad for 9 hours!

New Chairs!

We found dining chairs! My sister (and almost everyone we know) has been looking out for chairs for us. She found a set of 8 chairs in great condition in Ohio... bummer. However my sister, now lives in Ohio, so she offered to pick them up! Yes! After talking with the buyer, we set on a great price of $250 considering I will have to reupholster them. Then we found out it was about an hour from my sister's house, and she can't fit 8 chairs in her car. Boo! So I agreed to meet her yesterday in Ohio to pick them up. Thank you Craigslist!

We met this wonderful older lady at her house (my sister swore we were going to be murdered by the 'craigslist killer'). The table and chairs were in great condition and we quickly loaded the chairs into our two cars. There was a quick panic because the chairs looked really short because of how tall the backs are. I worried that they wouldn't work, but after driving almost 3 hours, I wasn't going home empty handed.

After we picked them up, my sis and I had dinner and stopped at a local Good Will for some more shopping :) We found a cute little pitcher with strips! After dinner at Applebees, I headed home for another 2.5 hours with 5 of the chairs in my car (my sis had the other 3, which means another trip to Ohio this summer). I finally got home at 9:30 and was exhausted. Luckily, the chairs fit the table perfectly and look great in the dining room! Thanks again sis!

Storage Garage Woes

So we were really excited to be done with our storage garage once we moved into Blue. However, once we had moved in, we didn't really want to continue moving our stuff, so we temporarily forgot about it and figured we had paid for this month of July anyways, we should get our stuff out, but no rush. Then today, we remembered that it is an automatic payment that comes out on the 15th for the next month. Ahh! That means we have until Friday to clean out the garage and be done with it. So Kent and I made a mad dash after dinner to the garage. I had made several trips already and more than half of the stuff was already at home. We still had my desk, our patio table and a few more boxes in the back that I couldn't reach.

We got a good load in and then were too tired to make another trip. I'll go again tomorrow to finish all the boxes, and then Kent and I will go on Thursday to get the last bit of the desk (which is too heavy for one person). Then we will officially be all moved into Blue and not be paying for more unnecessary storage.

Once home, Kent and I decided we had time to assemble the patio furniture and set it up on the deck. A quick job turned into a nightmare. At first we couldn't find the zip lock bag of nuts and bolts that goes with the table. I knew I saw it when we were moving, but couldn't remember where. After a quick search, we found it and started to piece it together. After a failed attempt at tightening the bolts without any wrenches, we found the allen wrench and were well on our way to finish. By the time the table was all set up we were to tired to even put the chairs out. Oh well more tomorrow.

Dinner Party!

So with no dining room chairs, we are hosting our first dinner party in the new house! Our two good friends are coming over tonight for dinner. (Something we try to do each month and alternate houses!) I can't seem to find the cloth napkins that match our place mats, but other than that, the table is set!

We will start off with an appetizer of bread and olive oil dipping sauces. Yum Yum! I do love carbs :) After that our main course will be chicken halves with rosemary and juniper berries - which give the chicken a wonderful earthy taste - we will also have potatoes and asparagus as sides. For dessert, I am trying a blueberry buckle. Mine looked a little thicker than the wonderful pictures in the recipe book, but here's hoping it turns out yummy. If you add enough sugar, blueberries, and cinnamon it can't be bad. Right?

So no major work on the house today, I had to run to Meijer twice - I always forget something and today it was the list! Go figure. So after two trips, baking a buckle, and a quick clean up of the house for the dinner tonight, I'm exhausted. Oh I did start Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 days - really I'm laughing, ripped in 30 sounds a bit optimistic for me :) But it was fun for the first day, and I can do anything for 30 days. Not like that failed go at P90X... seriously who has that much time in the day to work out and then to maintain that after you have lost the weight and gotten into shape. Not me! At least it's something!

Wonderful Weekend

It is so nice to be (almost) moved in. Kent and I spent our weekend enjoying our new house and being in awe over it actually being ours! Friday was great, we had our first overnight guests. My BFF and her family stayed over. It was great to catch up and wonderful to host people over to our house and not feel cramped. At the old house we had three bedrooms, but only one bathroom, so getting ready was a mad dash. Now with the two full bathrooms, it's not a problem. We also had a large brunch on Saturday and it was great to have people in the kitchen and not feel so cramped. Having an island is great. It separates the people from where I am cooking, without having to trip over people to get anything done. Plus we have gotten out all of our wonderful gifts from our wedding and it has really helped in entertaining!

After our friends left, we enjoyed taking a nap! They have a 10 month old and I was so worn out I slept for almost another 3 hours! Then Kent and I ran to the store to pick up some food for this week. We enjoyed cooking out on the deck for the first time and had some shish kabobs with corn on the cob. We then relaxed and ignored the boxes in the garage and still in the storage garage and watched a movie. It was wonderful to spend the weekend enjoying our house for really the first time since we've moved in!

Today, Kent has to run into work. I am enjoying this not working thing, and sticking to a full weekend at home without unpacking anything! Catching up on some Scrubs episode reruns! More this week!

Close Call

Phew! Well the rental was no big deal. Apparently, all it needs is a splash guard. The water from the tub was following the wall and down onto the floor where it was slowly seeping into the basement. Add one splash guard and presto chango! No problem anymore! Hurray for cheap fixes!

Today I am getting ready for our first overnight guests in the house! Hurray! My BFF (no I'm not too old to have a BFF) is coming over with her husband and daughter and I can't wait! They are heading back to DC tomorrow and get to stay the night here! In other words... quick hide the stuff that is still laying on the table - did you know how much mail you get in the few weeks that you move... it's crazy! and it's all over the house! Quick finish the laundry so the linen closet is actually filled with linens not "to be washed" items :) Quick use the Swiffer - thank goodness for the Swiffer mop! and then quick mop - thank goodness for the Shark! I wouldn't know what to do without these wonderful products on the crazy floors. Not to mention having a golden retriever makes the dust bunnies appear faster. Today I seriously found a dog hair ball the size of a small cat! Love you Petoskey! But seriously she is beautiful:

Making Progress

Slowly but surely, I am making progress... and wow! It feels great! It has been so nice being able to have the summer off - one of the many perks of being a teacher! Today I worked on another coat on the painting for our bedroom - I am really not creative, but I got a great idea from YoungHouseLove about creating a simple painting. I love it! It needs a few more coats, so I am slowly adding to it.

I also cleaned the upstairs bathroom in prep for our first overnight guests tomorrow! My best friend from DC is coming with her 10 month old daughter and husband! I can't wait! I haven't seen them in months! The bathroom was a bit scary - the previous owners had three boys and it showed! Not that it was that bad, but it needed a lot of work. I also discovered a retched smell coming from the thrown... YUCK! After some careful inspection with rubber gloves (wish I had a ten foot pole!) I found that it was the toilet bowl cleaner that you put in the tank. It was a dark blue gel like substance at the bottom of the tank. So I figured some flushing would do the trick and reduce the smell (thinking the smell builds up when the water just sits there). No luck. I had to reach into the toilet tank and scrub the blue gunk to get it to go away. Finally - Success! No more blue gunk and with a few air fresheners up there the smell is finally going away! GROSS! Who would put something so stinky into the toilet!

Finally, I am already working on a repair for the rental. The tenets called to say that the bathroom shower was leaking into the basement. GREAT! So we contacted our wonderful real estate agent (who has several rentals too) and asked for a recommendation. So in an hour I am off to hear the news (cross your fingers it's cheap!). Never a dull day when moving and renting!

Weeds, weeds, and more weeds

I spent the morning avoiding the task at hand today... weeding! I hate it! I don't mind being outside, but there is just something about pulling weeds in the dirt on your hands and knees that is just not appealing to me. Instead I ran around town running errands. I picked up some cards for upcoming birthdays, I went to Home Goods... and didn't find one thing I had to have! I don't think that has ever happened - I must be in rare form today! Those weeds just seem to throw everything off. I even took Kent out for lunch! The lawn guys came to turn on the sprinklers, which was a very big surprise to Kent and I, we left for the weekend with beautiful green grass, and came home to very yellow dried grass. We quickly realized in the summer sun, we needed to turn on the sprinklers and get that going this year. They were quick, but the system is very loud and the meter is in the basement below our bedroom - which means no more "sleeping in" this summer for me. 8 am those puppies go off and I will definitely be awake once they start. So after all the procrastinating I could do, I finally attended to the weeds.

I seriously had a thistle plant that was as tall as me! I couldn't believe it. I'm slowly making progress, but after one hour of weeding, it was really all I could take. I will try again later after some more fun activities... like arranging my books. More on that later!

Relax.. don't do it...

Yeah I'm singing in my head again :) It was a wonderful day of relaxation today! I went to visit a friend from work with our dogs. It was great! We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine, and I didn't think about the boxes laying around the house all day long! It was a much needed break. Plus the puppy had tons of fun too.

Off on vacation this weekend. Can't wait! Kent took of Thursday, Friday and Tuesday next week so we can have a wonderful weekend with all of my crazy family up north! Drummond Island here we come! I'll think about the boxes when we get back next week! Hurray for vacations!

Rental Ready... Check!

Finally, the last load of stuff from the old house is out... perfect timing as the renters are coming over tonight to get their keys! We had to last minute paint a bedroom - I tried to fix a few holes from nails, and we didn't have the paint to touch up the color. One quick trip to Home Depot proved that we could paint a bedroom in under 2 hours. Sheesh! One last road bump in this process... the washer and dryer hose are MIA. I think they got moved to the new house when the movers took the washer. However they can't be found. Here's to an afternoon of looking around the house for them (and most likely running back to Home Depot for some new one!) Other than that, the stuff is out of the house and it is clean and ready to rent! *Sigh! What a crazy week. At least tonight we get some relief. We are off to meet some friends for dinner :) Margarita here I come! Then tomorrow it's back to the good life of unpacking boxes. Almost done with the boxes... but after all of the old house trips yesterday and today, stuff seems to be multiplying again! Will it ever end?!?

Busy in the kitchen!

Well it is official. After one weekend, we have no boxes on the first floor to unpack! (no I didn't move them to another floor!) It's amazing. I spent all weekend organizing the kitchen, living room, and bedroom - okay there are still boxes in the office, but to be fair we don't have furniture in there yet to put anything away! I have no idea where anything is in the kitchen but it is all put away in cupboards and drawers. Plus with the new table in the dinning area the kitchen looks great - and almost finished. I have a few things I need to find a place for, like the beautiful blue bird platter my mom got us for a wedding shower. But other than a few misplaced items - and probably a reorganization once I get used to the kitchen, it's done! Now for the dinning area. I need chairs. The table is a white oak with a honey stain to it... I think I want white chairs but can't seem to find the chairs that I like. I really like the Pier1 Torrey Chairs, but they are a dark brown. Do I get them, sand them down and repaint? That seems like a lot of work for the chairs. Plus they are expensive and I hate to buy something that nice to just sand down and repaint. I like the simple look of the chairs and don't want anything too modern so it is hard to find something that both Kent and I like. We also like the Vintner White Chairs from Crate and Barrel, but the reviews we have seen say they scratch easily. I'm not opposed to wood chairs, but they seem harder to match than the white. Not to mention we need 6-8 chairs and then 3-4 bar stools... More shopping to come. Hopefully we'll decide on something so that when we have book club here next month, we will have something to sit on :) Oh and don't worry, the stools at the island right now are only temporary, we had them in the basement at the old house and needed something to sit on for now.

My First Weekend

Now that our stuff is all here... Kent is off again. He had a golf weekend scheduled for months and left me for the weekend. Boo! It was strange sleeping in our new house for the second night all by myself. I enjoyed running to the local Meijer last night and picking up things for the house. I grabbed more hangers - can one ever have enough? I also picked up two small trash cans for under our sinks in the bathroom. I also bought tons of yummy food for this weekend. Ice cream, popcorn, chips and salsa, cereal, and even some lunch meat for something heathy :) It feels good to enjoy a glass of wine in my new whirlpool tub!

Today was wonderful. I woke up to a beautiful blue house. The sun was shinning. Life is great! I organized our kitchen today, because my parents are stopping by with our new dinning room table. I can't wait to see it. We had it built by a great father/son duo in Saint Joseph, MI. Still haven't found chairs to go with it, but hopefully I'll be inspired once the table is here.

The table looks great, it's unbelievably heavy and will never be moved! Still not sure on the chairs. I'm thinking white or off white but now need to find the chairs that we have in mind. Somehow I can picture them in my head, but can't find them in the stores... darn!

I ran back to the old house to do our first round of cleaning. I freaked myself out when I got there because there was a window that was unlocked and had two very dirty hand prints on the window and the screen was up. I quickly ran around the house looking for the "intruder" it was not a good feeling. Finding no one I began to relax. I cleaned the upstairs and first floor for ever! The fridge was disgusting! How did I even keep food in there! YUCK! I did a quick clean up of the basement, but was losing steam and figured I'd come back for the basement and the garage. We also still need to get our canoe that is in the backyard.

Back at the blue house, I did some weeding while working with Petoskey on finding the boundary of our new electric dog fence. The collar doesn't fit her, so while we order a new one, we have it hanging off her normal collar so that at least she can hear the beep. It's a little makeshift but at least it works. While weeding, I dropped the leash to see what happens. She stayed with me and within the boundaries. This may go better than I thought. I was really scared and nervous for her because while she is young and should be able to pick up the new trick, I was afraid of the horror stories I'd heard about dogs not wanting to go outside anymore after being shocked. Plus I really don't want to shock my dog. Anyways, she was great while I started weeding. It's a slow process, there are weeds everywhere. There is even one in the back yard that is as tall as our deck! It's going to be a long summer of wonderful weeding outside. I get to enjoy the sun and work with the dog... life doesn't get much better!

Moving Day

Moving day started really early. I woke up at 6 - I am really looking forward to sleeping in soon! I took apart our beds and made sure everything was ready for the movers at 8:30. The movers showed up and we were busy packing the truck for hours. The massive Two Men and a Truck truck looked like we would never fill it up, but somehow after 4 hours we filled it to the brim and were off to the new house.

Unpacking was busy, it sprinkled on and off all day and we seemed to miss the storms - thank goodness! The movers helped set up the beds, washer and dryer, treadmill, and furniture as my mom and I rushed around cleaning and removing dog hair from all of our furniture. It's amazing, we are pretty clean people, but there was so much dog hair everywhere. It was gross! I was really embarrassed as the movers moved things around at the old house and we discovered the tumble weeds of hair that Petoskey left behind. At the end of the day, our old house was almost empty and our new house was full of boxes and sorta set up. What a day!

Kent came home and was happy to see that everything had made it safely. We enjoyed our evening and went out to dinner and ran some errands for some pillows (that we couldn't find). It's going to be a lot of fun shopping in the next few weeks!

One more day

Wednesday was long. Work went by really slow, and we only had a half day. We celebrated our last day and a very successful first year. Teaching online has been great, but I was ready for my house. My mind was elsewhere. We all went out for pie after work and said our summer good-byes. We have such a great staff and I am already looking forward to next year.

My mom came up to help us with the move. Kent couldn't take off work on Thursday for the movers, so she came up to help! Thanks Mom! We took a few trips over to the house and really got ready for the movers. It was a quiet night but we were busy until about 11. I was pooped and happy for one last night in our happy Cape Cod house. We'll miss you...

Wonderful Week

It was a busy week this week. Monday - Wednesday were my last days at work and seemed to drag on as I was so excited to be moving things to the new house each evening. Everything was going great... until...

Tuesday morning, I ran to the allergist for my weekly shots - I hate shots, but it's a necessary evil. Never having any problems, I left the office after only a few minutes (you are suppose to stay for 30-45 minutes). I only work a few minutes away from the office and figured like always everything would be great. Wow was I wrong. Within a few minutes of leaving the office I could tell my arm was having a local reaction - it was swelling up. This has happened before, so no big deal. I got to my office and was really aware of the swelling in my arm... it kept getting bigger. It was about the size of a golf ball and very red too. Then the itching started. At first I didn't relate it to the shot, but within another fifteen minutes I was so itchy all over my body I couldn't sit still and was twitching while sitting at my desk. I had never felt so itchy. I asked my co-worker and best bud to look at my arm, and when she gasped I knew I should go back to the docs. I let the front desk know that I was going to go back to the doctor they said sure and one person even asked if they could drive me. I was thinking "Drive me! No! I'm fine... just really itchy!" I drove the couple of miles down the road and ran into the office. I went right back into the back room and said that I was itchy. Without any hesitation they rushed me into the back room, had two doctors and two nurses at my side and had stuck me with epinephrin. I went from being uncomfortable and itchy to feeling like I was having the worst panic attack ever. My heart was racing and I was very twitchy from the adrenaline. They had a nurse stay with me and take my vitals for thirty minutes and then every ten minutes for an hour. I finally started feeling better, and thank goodness the itching had stopped. I was finally on my was back to work after a crazy morning.

The rest of the day went well considering the morning. I felt like I had a really crazy caffeine high and then I totally crashed in the afternoon. By the time I got home, I fell asleep on the couch and didn't want to move. Kent wanted to install the TV with a friend so we ran to the blue house, but I was of no use. I laid down on the carpet - no furniture yet - and waited for the boys to finish. What a day!

Playing Catch Up

So this past week was a week for the record books. It was unbelievable! First it was 90+ degrees and crazy humid - perfect for packing and getting ready to move. It was gross! Thanks Michigan weather. Last weekend for Father's Day I ran home to my parents to celebrate and go sailing with my dad. Little bit of a headache considering we were getting the house on Sunday, but I made it home and had a blast with my fam on Friday and Saturday. It's only a two hour drive but I just kept thinking about the blue house and all of the packing I still needed to do. Seriously stuff seemed to multiply each time I would close a closet!

Getting the keys on Sunday was wild. Kent and I woke up early to head over to the new house. (okay, I woke up early and stared at Kent until he finally opened his eyes too!) I was so excited I hardly slept that night. We grabbed a quick bite to eat on our way over to OUR HOUSE! We got the new keys in the mailbox and walked into our new house. It was surreal. The house was in great condition. It needed the basic cleaning, but it really was an easy walk through. We were disappointed they took the bathroom mirror - it's that a fixture in the house? Oh well, it's the small half bath off the kitchen and we can grab a new mirror to fill the blank spot above the sink. Everything else looked great!

Kent and I unpacked a few car loads and just really enjoyed seeing our new house. We were still in the giddy "I can't believe it" phase! Sunday went by very quickly and we couldn't wait until Thursday for the movers to come so that we could really spend the night at the new house.

Let the rental begin

Today we were approved for our house to be a rental - Hurray! It was a little nerve-racking but fortunately we are good to go! Our tenants will be moving in at the end of the month - things are really starting to fall into place! We are on track to move on Sunday! We have to change the location of a few smoke detectors, add a plug to our garbage disposal - still not sure what that means, and move a hose for our dishwasher a little higher. Not too bad considering we worked our tails off to replace some carpet and re-grout the bathroom this weekend. Things fell into place and we finally got things done. It only took us three months to finish the carpet. Our dog, Petoskey got very sick as close to the door as possible while we were at work. Poor thing... she really tried to get outside. Unfortunately for us that was the one place in our house with carpet. Needless to say it had to be replaced. So a few last minute fixes and we were on track for the inspection today. Now we have to have the tenants sign and we are one step closer to making this crazy move. I just hope this week goes fast because I'm super excited for Sunday. I am ready with my cleaning list and supplies and can't wait!

Hard to say good bye

We currently own our home that we are in. Like so many others right now we are stuck with it and can’t sell because we owe too much. So on top of moving to a new house we will be trying out the renting adventures. After many horror stories and many fears, we found tenants and they are moving in July 1. It’s crazy to have two mortgages and be up to our ears in debt, something I had never done before. I had the amazing good fortune of wonderful parents who helped me through college – not a free ride, but an amazing help! I married into our house and my first experience with “real” debt. It wasn’t a big deal, but somehow two houses seems like a big difference. It’s a little scary but we are excited to take it all on!

Kent had lived in this house for 6 years and we have been dating for almost 5! It’s been a great starter and sometimes it is hard to think about leaving. We have 3 bedrooms and one bath in a cape cod style house. We’ve had tons of fun and done many projects throughout the years. BC (before Carrie) Kent finished half of the basement. He made a total man cave complete with a bar and movie theater. The bar is a recycled bowling alley lane and is really cool. Kent and I tackled projects like redoing our bathroom – six months later we finally finished the project – like I said earlier thank goodness we didn’t get the fixer upper on the lake! We put in a patio in the back. Thanks to my wonderful in-laws, without whom we’d have never finished (or started) any of the projects. It’s our first home as a married couple and we trained our first puppy together here. It’s our home. Now we are on the move to make another house our home.

Out with the old

It’s been a crazy year looking for our house, we put an offer on a house in March and it fell through. My heart broke because I had mentally moved in and it was a great lakefront property – unheard of in our area! I saw myself buying a pontoon and living happily ever after fixing up a ranch style house. It needed some work, but that’s what young couples do, right? Thank goodness it fell through. Kent and I enjoy the basics but are terrible at the DIY projects around the house. It’s not that we don’t want to be creative, it’s just that it’s a lot of work and we are really not that creative or handy. When the house fell through I thought we’d never find something in comparison. Every house we looked at couldn’t compare. I was crushed. Plus the Michigan weather this spring sucked! There was rain and snow, then craziness that was April and May showers – has it ever rained like that! On one of our Sunday drives, Kent and I checked out a little neighborhood in the greater Lansing area. We found a ranch house that was built by the builder we love and the price was right. It was in the new part of the neighborhood and was one of the few houses build at that end. We lucked out when we drove by and saw that it had an open house. We walked in and really liked the house. It was a ranch with two bedrooms and the potential for two more in the basement. A house we could grow into. But life has it’s way of laughing in your face and holding out for something better. As we talked to one of the architects we learned that the house one street over was also just listed and was a killer price. We had to check it out. We did and it was nice, but we didn’t fall in love. We were pretty set on the ranch. One week later, we went back to the ranch for a second look. We weren’t convinced, the honeymoon had worn off and we really didn’t like that it only had two bedrooms and that it was expensive for a two bedroom house that had been on the market for almost 5 years! Crazy right! We decided to take another look at the second house and fell in love. For me, I realized that we had an amazing house in the neighbor hood we wanted to be in for a killer deal. For Kent, it was the built in speakers both inside and out that were playing when we walked in that sealed the deal. We made an offer, after one day we heard back with a counter, we accepted and that was that! We had signed in less than 24 hours! We scheduled our inspection and were well on our way to owning our new house.

The inspection went well, only one qualm, the radon was high and we needed a mitigation system put in to take care of it. One quick addendum and the sellers were going to put it in. Only one more thing, we now had to wait for their kids to finish school before we could move. It was a long wait but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. What a crazy few months. I can’t imagine getting the house on the lake now, it seems like such a blessing to be moving into our dream house.

Moving on up...

Hi! I’m Carrie and this is our crazy life story of moving in to a new house. I got married in September to the most wonderful man; Kent (I know it’s cheesy!) and we have a goofy golden, Petoskey that keeps us all entertained! I am an online teacher for the fourth and fifth grade. This year was my first year online, it’s totally different than a classroom but I love it! I started this past fall – while I was getting married – it was a busy year. We figured I started the year with a bang; we should end the school year that way too… we are moving into our dream house on Thursday and I can’t wait! After searching, and driving, and open house after open house… we finally found the right one! We get the keys on Sunday and I am already dreaming about my plans to clean and organize … I have a bit of an obsessive personality – really want to be organized and I buy into the latest trends for organization but it always falls through J I somehow fall back into my old ways and leave the mail on the counter and the laundry on the floor. We have high hopes for this next house, so fingers crossed!