We’re Back!

Here’s a sneak peek at this year’s Christmas card.

So… I’m breaking the several month hiatus because I think I’m ready to start writing again! The last few months have been busy to say the least. Here is a quick recap of the events of August through December:

1. Hyvee Triathlon



Mike biked and his brother ran and his cousin swam. It was a fun time and the pup got to come with us and have some fun at the grandparents’ house.

2. Back to School


This is probably my primary reason for the blogging hiatus. I started back to school full time at University of Northern Iowa. I’m giving it my all in attempts to graduate in 5.5 semesters. December 2015 can’t come soon enough.

Since we don’t live in Cedar Falls, Iowa, I have been dividing my time between our house in Dubuque and my parents’ place near the university. This semester it worked out that I could be home Friday through Monday and go to school Tuesday through Thursday. Next semester I won’t be so lucky, but I’ll touch on that later.

3. Chicken Prep

Mike worked hard on getting the chickens ready for winter and also for being lower maintenance. He created a heated watering system and a food tube that can theoretically keep them fed and watered for a week without us having to do anything. They are amazingly still laying 2-3 eggs a day so we are still checking on them daily, but it is nice to know that if we are gone for a weekend or something that they will be fine on their own for a couple of days.

4. We’re adding to our family.

I know, again, right? A dog in 2012, chickens in 2013, and now we’re actually adding a human to the mix. The baby is due at the end of May, which will be perfect for school. I plan on taking the summer off completely and in the fall, we will commute daily to Cedar Falls with my mom hopefully watching the baby while I go to school. As we’re learning, things happen and we just have to go with the flow, so obviously these are just plans.

You can probably expect this to turn into a baby blog, since that is pretty much consuming our lives at this point

5. Side Projects

These include:

The kitchen that will never be finished

Michael’s quest to find thousands of Mountain Dew bottle caps to win Xbox Ones for him and everyone he knows. Digging through recycling bins, peddling candy bars for bags of caps at the redemption center, hounding relatives and friends to text us their codes, we really have no shame. It was probably worth it because he successfully won three!

Planning a nursery – the Fantastic Mr. Fox theme is full go. Expect adorable foxes everywhere along with their forest friends, way too many stuffed animals and no painting because I am way too lazy for that nonsense. We painted the room gray back in 2012 and I think that will work just fine for our gender-neutral nursery.

So that is basically what we've been up to! Stay tuned for pregnancy talk, kitchen work, and most likely adorable pictures of our furbabies.

It’s Happening

I tore apart the kitchen last week. Took all of the doors off of the cabinet bases, removed the drawer fronts, started painting.



I’m a glutton for punishment. I haven't finished the garden, I started working on cleaning up the basement, and now I’m remodeling the kitchen. But I have to work while I have the momentum. Once it stops, I stop. My motivation has been seriously dragging lately so it’s kind of good to get working on something again. This kitchen remodel is going to be done in three phases.



Phase One: Paint the kitchen cabinets. I chose ultra white and we're going the controversial route of not sanding. Check out some of these posts I went to for inspiration:
http://ohsolovelyblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/our-500-diy-kitchen-remodel.html
http://www.thethriftyhome.com/2012/09/kitchen-remodel-painting-cabinets.html

We are also going to install beadboard around the peninsula where the carpet used to be. I'm excited about this.



Phase Two: Cover the countertops with concrete. This is even crazier than Phase One, but we're gonna try. Mike and I are still discussing whether or not to cut the countertops (the peninsula thingy is way too big) and getting rid of the laminate “backsplash”, so we still have a bit before this gets started (like maybe a few weeks?)



Phase Three: Put in a backsplash. Mike’s taking care of this project, so I have no idea when it will get done. He wants small tiles and I might just let him do that. We also have been talking about changing out the flooring. The ceramic tiles are super uncomfortable to stand on all day and they show everything (like dog hair and dust). We are looking into laminate or vinyl tiles to replace it; both good options for where we live. Phase three will probably be a fall project.

The main thing we're trying to remember is that while we want things to look nice, we also don't want to be investing a ton of money into our kitchen. Since we don't plan on this being our forever home, we will have to sell it at some point, and our house is one of the bigger, pricier homes in the neighborhood where we live. Adding things like granite and hardwood won’t pay off. So we're taking small steps. And crossing our fingers that this DIY type approach will pan out for a beautiful kitchen!

Yikes! We have some work to do.

Summer To-Do List

We've been officially into summer for more than a week, but things at our little homestead are so behind that I'm just now getting around to figuring out what I want to accomplish this summer before going back to work. Too many things.



1. Finish the garden.

You know, like actually getting the fence done. Putting the rest of the mulch down. Weeding out the mess.

2. Clean up the basement.

The workout room is pretty much finished. And the bathroom is functional. But the main room is a disaster. Boxes and broken items, a stove and a refrigerator, a huge pile of recycling lie around waiting to be taken care of. This needs to be done before winter hits again (Hey, four months comes sooner than you think!).

3. Get the craft room organized.

It’s in the same state as the basement, minus the old appliances.

4. Finish those curtains!

Yeah, the fabric is still sitting on the cutting table waiting to be sewn up.

5. Paint the living room.

Gray.

6. Kitchen

The current plans are to refinish the countertops with concrete and paint the cabinets. This will be a semi-big project so this will probably be the focus of the second half of July.

That’s it. Only six items on the list, but most of the projects are pretty lengthy. This week’s focus is the garden. Then we will be heading on vacation, so by the time we come back, it will be time for the kitchen. If we are able to get that done before the end of July, that will leave only two weeks in August to complete the rest. Eek! Better get on it!