Spring in Kansas

I feel like Spring has officially sprung here in good old Kansas. The temps are no longer in the frigid range and my flowers have begun to pop up and bloom.

I like to think that I have jumped head first into Spring cleaning of my house but let's be completely honest I haven't. A few things have managed to get removed from my closet and some wallpaper has been destroyed but other than that I have nothing but a list of to-dos to show for my efforts.

The most likely culprit of my lack of cleaning has been my garden. I managed to convince my dear husband to do the heavy lifting for me and till up the garden after I raked out as many dead weeds as possible.

Probably because I picked up all this fertilizer for "his" yard...

Surprisingly it didn't take too much to convince him to build me a couple raised beds for my strawberries either. I managed to get those painted and then we got them settled in the ground. We threw some regular soil into the bottom part of the beds and then I bought a couple bags of good top soil from Home Depot. Last night I finally got my strawberries transplanted just in time for the rain showers today.

Still have lots to plant.

Let's take a moment now to appreciate some of Spring's beauty…

The new table and chairs I snagged at IKEA for my back deck…

Dinner on the grill...

Browsing the local greenhouses…

And the start of baseball season… Go Royals!

That one time I was almost murdered

Okay, maybe the title is a bit dramatic but I bet you're curious. Let's just say the experience taught me a little something about myself. Turns out, I'm the girl that runs up the stairs instead of out the door when there is a serial killer in her house. With that said…on with the story.

A week ago Seth had to go out of town for a week, which I hate but it's occasionally a necessary evil (since his paychecks are mildly beneficial in making the mortgage payment). Anywho…Not 20 minutes after he leaves a black truck stops in front of my house. Not in my driveway but out on the gravel. Weird (creepy) right? 

I look out the window and see Gunnar sitting in the ditch just looking at the truck with his head cocked to the side wondering the same thing I was. Why isn't this truck moving? Thinking that maybe my crazy dog was chasing the truck and the driver stopped because they didn't want to hit him I figured I should call him. I yell for him a few times and being the obedient (hence the sarcasm) dog that he is he darts off in the opposite direction. (Quite the guard dog we have, be jealous.)

After my dog scampers off, a guy gets out of the truck and starts walking slowly toward my house. Thinking it was more than a little odd I just stood there stuck in place wondering what the eff he was doing, especially since there were at least two others in the vehicle. As he gets closer he yells to me, "you wouldn't happen to have a jack, would you?" I'm married to a man with every tool under the sun and for some reason felt like this stranger probably knew it so I felt obligated to say, "yes, I think so, hang on."

I went back inside to put on tennis shoes, in case I needed to make a run for it, because that's how my mind works. I tried to call Seth and of course he didn't answer. My brain is yelling at me "You're getting ready to be murdered and he can't answer his damn phone." 

I head back outside and creepy guy is now standing up closer to my house smoking a cigarette and creeping me out just a little more. When I walk out he asks if there's any chance I also have a 4-way tire iron. Since I'm a terrible liar I say yes and go back in to the garage and bring it back out to hand to the guy. (Great, I just handed a murderer the weapon he is going to use to bash my head in.)

Stranger Danger follows me down to my husbands (secluded) shop where I make sure to keep out of arms reach of him. I walk inside and immediately start to head to the other side of the building farther away from the creepster and closer to another door should I need to dart out it. Luckily, the guy spots the jack right inside the door we entered and tells me as much. I turn around sheepishly and see it as he picks it up to carry to his truck. 

I follow him out the door and he heads straight out to the truck where the two other guys jump out to help him change the tire. On our way across the yard I mention to him to just leave the jack in the driveway when he's done and thanks for not bashing my head in and leaving me in a hot metal building while the blood drains from my skull. Okay, I didn't say the last part but I'm pretty sure he knew I was thinking it. 

Anyway, I went back inside and locked my doors and turned on my alarm system and thanked God for another day on Earth. 

Maybe I'm a bit dramatic, or maybe I just watch too much Dateline, but I hope no one else ever stops to borrow a jack while Seth is gone or I will be like Kevin McAllister hiding under the bed. 

Have a great 4th of July weekend and don't forget to celebrate the people that make our freedom possible!

I'm a big fat liar.

Obviously, when I said "I'm back" I lied. Not sure why it's so hard to find the time to write now but it is. Maybe I'm afraid of boring you because I like my job and what's going on in my life (for the most part) so it might be a little dull to read. Or maybe it's because I really am busy and I really don't have the time. Maybe I forgot how to be entertaining. Yeah, right.

Guess I'll give all of you a short list of what's happened in my life in the last several months.

• I lost my job due to a layoff and was unemployed over the holidays. Not fun.
• I found a new job through Linked In and have currently been here for about 3 1/2 months. 
• I love my new job and my boss and the people I work with and the whole shebang. It's fantastic.
• My dog was chasing was chasing something and somehow managed to dislocate his front elbow (Is that what it's called on a dog??). He recovered just fine.
• My dog felt the need to chase a car and got hit (at 9:30pm), we took him to the Animal Hospital at K-State (at 2am) after visiting another clinic and they kept him overnight. He has since recovered.
• I got my garden planted.
• I have tried and successfully added a few new homemade recipes (that Seth also enjoys) to the rotation. 
• Seth built me some awesome shelves in my craft closet that are yet to be filled because I'm pathetic. 
• I made some new friends at my new job that are pretty great.
• I have finally been working out again and trying to eat healthy which is way easier said than done. 
• I joined Weight Watchers to help my drop a few extra winter lbs and to make myself focus on making better food decisions. Let's say overall it's gone well but this week I sort of fell off the wagon and it backed up and ran over me again.
• I have seen a million different movies over the past months and would be happy to give you a review if you are interested. 
• I got my hair done with ombre highlights which was the first time I have ever had color added so that was fun and I love it. 

I suppose all that stuff catches you up to date on what's happened in my world in the last few months. Boring, right? Maybe I will just write a few boring posts to try and get back into the swing of things. Or maybe I will suck again and not write for months. Feel free to send me suggestions, or leave comments, about what you think I should write about so maybe you will want to read it :)

The Poor-Me's are here for a visit

September said goodbye in a blazing sunset of glory last night. 

And here we are again in sweet October. I seriously love this month. Everything about it. Okay, everything except knowing it's the last month until it gets freezing, in good ole Kansas. 

October is the month we got married and when we will celebrate our 2nd anniversary on the 15th. Yay!

And that's about as positive as it's going to get today. So if you don't want to read on about Debbie Downer and Sour Sally you should probably just skip on outta here. 

I've got lots of good post ideas in mind for October but nothing ready to share at the moment (and Negative Nancy is visiting) so here's a quick rundown of life right now. 

I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed with a bunch of random "life" things and may have had a slight emotional breakdown last night which has left me with puffy eyes and a headache this morning. I look beautiful. Not. 

I have poison ivy/oak on no less than 5 different locations on my body and want to scratch at them all, but am doing my best not to be the itchy girl at work. Disgusting.

My to-do list is forever long and by the time I leave work I have enough motivation to get approximately zero things accomplished. I'm sure I'm the only one that this ever happens to. 

Seth just had to leave to go back to Texas for a couple days (after last nights meltdown I'm sure he doesn't mind). 

Can I just win the damn lottery? I could solve a lot of mine, as well as a lot of other people's, problems if that could just happen. I hate wasting money on those stupid tickets.

Okay, as you can tell I have a serious case of the "poor me's" today so I will shut my trap and try to focus on the good in life which I know I am blessed with a lot of (which just makes me feel worse for being such a little whiny brat). 

If that doesn't work I think I'll get a chocolate chip cookie at lunch. That should turn this day around. 

The sun'll come out tomorrow...bet-cher bottom dollar that tomorrow....there'll be sun! 

(somebody punch me)

Happy Birthday Seth!

Happy Birthday to the boy that swept me off my feet when I was only 15 and to the man that he has become.

The one that works hard to give me everything I've ever wanted and more. 

The one that makes me laugh everyday with his silly faces and random sayings.

The one who can do just about anything and everything.

The one who will someday be a father to our children.

The one who is always respectful.

The one that is slow to argue and quick to end it. 

The one that said "I Do" almost two years ago and never makes me doubt that he meant it. 

The one that makes every day of my life better, because he's in it. 

I love you Seth and can't wait to celebrate many many more birthdays with you!

7 Quick Takes {15}

1. Well it's Friday and in a small town that means Friday Night Football! We rarely go to the football games because let's face it, it's kinda weird to be in your 20's with no kids and go cheer on the high school football team, but tonight we're going to make an exception. My Aunt is having a party after the game so we figured we should probably go for a little while. Plus, I'm sure they will have some yummy concessions stand food at the game. 

Plastic cheese? Yes, please!

2. Pretty sure I have been an emotional disaster this week, so to my dear husband, I apologize. A few extra hours of sleep tomorrow morning and I should be good to go:)

via

3. It's free lunch day at the bank today! Just another perk of living in a small town. Free dogs and burgers to all!

4. My house is the disaster of all disasters right now and it's seriously wearing my out! I just want everything to be put away and sparkly clean. I don't think we have caught up yet from vacation and it's kinda depressing to know that I'll be cleaning my whole weekend. Bleh. 

5. Earlier this week I found an amazing debt snowball calculator online and it currently has me motivated to spend zero unnecessary dollars. According to the calculator, if we keep paying what we are paying every month (on all debts) and roll it using the snowball method (the hard part), we could be completely debt free, including the house, in 7 years! Holy bananas that would make my life! Unfortunately that doesn't factor in lots of extras, like vacations or kids so we will see how long it really takes. 

6. It's been almost two weeks that my husband has lived in the same house as me and I must say I'm enjoying it. It's nice to have someone there when I get home and that helps with the dishes or cleans the pain in the butt wood floors for me. Or maybe he just knows that the floors would never get dusted if he didn't do it. Either way, I'm glad he's home. Plus he's pretty cute:)

7. Thinking the rest of my day will be spent making lists. Since I'm stuck at work and can't actually accomplish anything on my lists at least I will have a plan of attack for the weekend. 

Happy Weekend Blogiverse!

Linking up over at Conversion Diary.

Something 'bout a truck

Well, it's official. My husband has a new truck. Not just any truck either. A fancy one!

After spending countless (literally) hours of looking online and driving to every dealership within 50 miles and stopping at every dealership, from home to Texas and back, he has finally found one that he loved. And I should think so. 

Bad photo, I realize, but I only see it when it's dark
so those photos would be worse. 

I'm pretty sure there is nothing that this fancy schmancy piece of metal on wheels doesn't have. Including but not limited to a sunroof, mini coolers in the back seat, usb  plugins, sd card plugins, an actual plugin (now I can straighten my hair on the road???), navigation, two glove boxes and five million and one other random things you never knew you HAD TO HAVE in a vehicle. 

With over 230k miles on his old truck it was time for a new one but holy smokes I'm not looking forward to paying for that darn thing. 

Update: As I write this post for tomorrow (Wednesday) we have owned the truck for less than 24 hours. I just received this text from Seth. 

not a joke btw

Fortunately it was a flat tire due to his job, so his work will pay for it. But, seriously? Let's recap some of Seth's past vehicles and their adventures.

The red Saturn he drove in high school - the driver seat would constantly recline if you leaned back at all. The door leaked and you would get rained on whether you were inside or outside the car. Hit a deer. 

The silver Saturn he bought brand spankin' new in college. If I remember correctly he owned it for approximately 7 days before he was in a multi-car accident and the whole front end was crushed. 

The silver Ford he bought after the saturn. Something really huge and expensive broke not long after buying it. (don't remember what it's called....)

The white Ford F150 that has been his truck for the past couple years. 3 new windshields and multiple other issues that are probably actually pretty minor considering the 230k miles. 

Now, let's knock on wood, and go over my driving record. 

1990 Honda Accord I drove from high school, all through college until September of last year. It was old, ugly, paid for and I loved it. It may have killed a bunny every now and then but other than that it was a champ.

I now drive a 2009 Honda Accord and so far so good:)

The End.

Maybe I should have got the brand new vehicle, huh?!

Married Life in a Nutshell

I swear yesterday was Monday. 

Whatevs. 

I'm pretty sure I lead one of the most boring blog lives ever. I mean seriously, lets recap.

I left work a little early Friday and went home to help the husband finish building a tool bench in his shop. Turns out I'm not too terrible with a screw gun...is that what it's called? I asked him to take a picture of me, for blog purposes obviously, and a got a look that basically said "you are a weirdo". So, you will just have to take my word with no visual evidence that I can screw screws. (That's what she said.)

Since I didn't whine too much Seth suggested we go out to eat. Obviously, I never say no to eating out (or food in general) so we hit up the fanciest place we could think of... Buffalo Wild Wings. I gorged myself on fried food and boneless wings while watching the Royals game. Then we hit up the Home Depot for more screws. Damn the excitingness of this post is over the top. Buckle your seat belts people this is what married life is all about!

Saturday was a fun filled day of meeting with our tax guy, yay IRS audit! Signing paperwork, mailing paperwork. Drop off at the Salvation Army and consignment store. Groceries, prescription pickup and visit to the bank. Is it possible to fit more un-fun errands in one day?? But wait, there's more! I got to follow that up with cleaning out the garage while Seth built more shelves. Better keep that green-eyed monster in check people. Jealousy is vicious!

Garages look so much cleaner when you carry
everything out of them and set it in the driveway.

It was only 9pm when we decided to grill out since we were both starving. Cheeseburgers, potatoes and onions, and corn on the cob. Not gonna lie, it was pretty darn good. Followed up our food with a trip to Sonic for ice cream. Nevermind that my hair was like a lion and I had dirt smudged all over me. I think we made it about 20 minutes into the movie I rented before we both fell asleep. 

Best Friends ForEvah!

Good thing the photos blurry so you can't see how muddy I am. 

Spoiled puppy with his ice cream.

After church Sunday we headed to the city to hit up Nebraska Furniture Mart to buy a mattress! Wow, it's depressing to think that we are excited about buying a mattress. In my book, mattress shopping ranks right up there with tires and trash bags. BORING. I managed to drive Seth completely crazy when I found bad reviews online about the mattress we picked out. So, we spent an hour and a half driving to another store to check out their mattresses only to return and buy the same one we had previously picked out. Time will tell I guess. 

That exciting adventure was followed up with a nap, another late dinner and the movie we failed to finish the night before. 

And that my friends is what married life is all about! 

Act like our dog child isn't pretty. 

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans. 

4th of July Crafting

It's FRIDAY!! Okay, so it's not really Friday but it's my last work day of the week which essentially means, it's Friday. If it's not your Friday, please excuse my exuberance in this post.

I'm ready for 4 beautiful days of nothing but fun times on fun times on fun times. Hubs will be on his way home from Texas in a few short hours and then we are heading over to a 3rd of July party to get the weekend started right.

We've got a great weekend planned in Kansas City, Kansas City here we come (feel free to sing along.) Look forward to that update next week. 

Well, on to business. 

As I think I have already explained. I love the 4th. A lot. So, I've been doing a few crafts to help me celebrate. 

A lovely little banner wreath on our front door. 

Then I painted a few colorful blocks. 

Mod Podged and freehanded a couple letters...

And BOOM! A patriotic bathroom. (nevermind the fuzzy-ness)
Find the patriotic printable here. 

Looking forward to an amazing weekend. Remember, don't shoot your eye out!

Flooding Basements

I was exhausted yesterday. I blame my allergies, the heat, a tough workout and lack of sleep. Since I was falling asleep in the shower I decided to go to bed early. 10pm actually. Usually I don't get to bed until closer to 11:30 so 10 is amazing. I was all snuggled up and was in a dreamland by 10:15. For the second time in a month I was jolted from bed to the sound of my security system going off. I tripped down the stairs knowing already that the torrential downpour outside was the source of my problem. 

My sump pump was overflowing into my basement. 

With all the rain it couldn't keep up and now it was slowly spilling over. Between the incessantly annoying beeps of the pump, and the water sloshing in, I called my husband (two states away) to say, "what do I do?" 

Our basement is finished except for the little back room that houses the sump pump, water heater and furnace. And like all other basement rooms that house those things, it's creepy. Spider webs, open ceiling beams, and lots of dust. Not to mention the fear that I will see a mouse which causes me sheer terror. I obviously couldn't let the water continue to flood into the finished part of the basement so I did what my husband suggested. Hating it the whole time. 

I climbed the stairs out of my basement and headed out to the garage to grab the little pump that my husband so conveniently happened to have. Seriously, lifesaver. Traipsed out into the rain to unhook the muddy hose from the side of the house and drag both it and the pump down into the basement. I hooked the hose up to the pump and dropped it into the sump pump hole. I stuck the other end of the hose out the window. Then I had to drag my happy ass back outside into the downpour to pull the end of the hose away from the house and re-hook up a pipe that my loving puppy so thoughtfully knocked down which created extra water into the basement. Keep in mind that this whole time I'm in a pajama shirt, boots and mud smeared across my arms from the stupid hose. I'm sure if the neighbors had looked outside they would have called the cops on the creeper stealing things from my basement. 

Fortunately the rain started to subside and the sump pump was able to keep up on it's own so I could finally go back to bed. Furious and fuming that my precious sleep had been interrupted.

I'm so over being the man of the house.

Dear Husband, Please finish up your out of town job so you can come home! 

Growing a Garden

Remember when my garden looked like this? All sweet and innocent in nice pretty rows?

Barely sprouting out of the ground?

Well, it's been a month and we have had lots of rain. Which means, my garden grows right along with the weeds. So, it turned into a jungle. 

Literally, a jungle. 

Monday, I busted out the tiller, my garden gloves and an empty wheelbarrow and went to work. After about two hours I had a pile of weeds, muddy knees and some satisfaction.

This picture doesn't even do the amount of weeds justice. It was A LOT.

My jungle is starting to resemble a garden again.

Thank goodness. I was about to spray it all with roundup and say, "let's try again next year."

So far, I have been able to pick, and eat, some lettuce, spinach, onions and my husband had a few Serrano peppers. It's coming along slowly but surely. Not that slow really but it sure seems like it.

We have lots of tomatoes that are waiting to turn red and I'm pretty sure I planted too many green beans. Oh well, I guess I will have some to share since Seth doesn't seem too excited about them. 

Fresh food from your own garden is by far the best. I guarantee it!

Weekend Recap and Lobsters

It's the most dreaded day of the week again, Monday! Actually my Monday's aren't too terrible. The work load is usually pretty light which is convenient since I'm always sleepy. Today is no exception. 

Seth was home for the weekend so I knew I was in for some type of manual labor. I'm pretty sure he has forgotten what it means to take it easy or relax on the weekends since that is the only time he is home to get anything done. Luckily, he didn't have anything too crazy in mind. 

I managed to sleep in until 9:30 Saturday which hardly ever happens anymore, so that was pretty nice. I woke up just in time to throw on some old clothes and ride into town, with Seth, to get some diesel for the skid loader and a cookie for breakfast. I know, healthy choices people! 

We came home and I decided, with a friendly nudge from my adorable husband, to finally stain our beck deck. It has only been two years-ish since we power-washed and bought the stain so I don't see what the big rush is, but it was a sunny day so I happily obliged. Happily only because I knew I could get my tan on at the same time. Plus I could jam out to Pandora. 

About an hour in to the staining, I decided that sunblock would probably be a good idea. Apparently an hour was a little too long to wait or else year old sunblock is not a good idea. Either way, my back is a lobster. A bright red, freshly boiled, lobster. 

See, I look like a lobster. 

But doesn't my deck look great?!

Quite the upgrade, if I may say so.

My husband decided to reward all my hard work/tan burn time with dinner and a movie. Steak and potatoes. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in The Internship, good stuff I tell ya. (I should probably note that my husband did yard work will I stained the deck. Don't want anyone to freak that my husband makes me do work while he does nothing.)

Sunday was uneventful and included a nap, my husband staying home an extra night and some buttery popcorn. A good day in my books. 

Heading home after work to take an apple cider vinegar bath. Supposedly it helps keeps your sunburn from peeling?? Not too optimistic over here. 

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans.