Happenings At the Van Boening Mini-farm

The babies are here! The babies are here!

2012-02-22T12:04:00.000-08:00

Willa, Mom and Baby Samuel

My favorite little nephew.

Baby Evie and I

After months and months of waiting (and not offering their mom's drinks when we get together:), Samuel and Evie are here! And they are, of course, perfect! I always get a little nervous to hold other people's newborns because seriously what if I dropped one?!? But these little peanuts were so sweet and I didn't drop either of them. If you'd like to see more pictures of Samuel, here is brooke's blog. More pictures of Evie? Here is proud Aunt Amy's blog. Geez, babies are fun. But no, its not making me need one.

Maybe I decided to like Valentine's Day

2012-02-20T03:21:00.000-08:00

These are my two favorite pictures from our 2 day Valentine celebration. Monday night, Brad and I joined our friends Tosha, Jared, Xander and Adah for sushi. I can't even blog about sushi without having my mouth water. Its a serious condition. Then, Brad and I went downtown for drinks at Jakes. If you don't know about Jakes, it is one of the few establishments in Lincoln where you can still smoke indoors, as it is mostly a cigar shop. Much as it smells bad to smoke indoors and it is horrible for your health, it is also a total blast from the past and reminded me of being 21 all over again. So, we sipped some Guinness/Jameson and smoked some cherry cloves. It was a lovely evening. Then Tuesday night, we gave Willa a few gifts (tulips, nail polish and a book about hugs) and cooked a very tasty supper of shrimp scampi, linguine, and chocolate covered strawberries. I was a horrible vegetarian this week, apparently. Another great night! I think I will give up my dislike for the holiday, and embrace it for all its tasty food, mushy feelings, and pinkness. I can love anything that starts a sushi tradition. Plus, once Valentine's Day is over, I can start thinking about Easter, which has always been my favorite holiday.

P.S. If you're wondering about the socktopi (thank you, Marty:), I bought some socks but haven't had time to create them yet. If I get around to it, and they turn out at all cute, I'll post some pictures.

P-p-p-p-pins

2012-02-19T02:59:00.000-08:00

Print from here

Found this print on Pinterest. Fell in love. Its like the holy trinity of a picture. Its got bold typeface, the color pink, and its fluorescent. I have to admit that neon colors weren't my idea. They were the idea of two of my favorite people that I have never met named Emily and Orlando. They have such good ideas.

Recipe from here

And this little ball of heaven, she is called a coconut lemon meltaway. I'm fairly certain that if I can locate some coconut flour, I will make some of these this week. Does anyone know if coconut flour is something I can buy, like, anywhere? Maybe Open Harvest? I will hand-deliver a package of coconut lemon meltaways to the first person to tell me where to find coconut flour.

Thanks again, Pinterest. We made it through another night shift.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)

2012-02-18T02:24:00.000-08:00

A very big and important moment in my life just happened. I preordered The Bloggess's book. How on earth am I going to pass the time until it ships in April??? I guess by just living my life, and reading less-than-amazing books. I am aware that some of my readers (there are about 9 of you) are also fans of The Bloggess, and so I have decided to host a "book club" of sorts as soon as the book has been out long enough to have read it, and maybe loaned it to a friend to read. So maybe sometime in May. Keep this in mind. Pretty much it would just be an excuse to get together and drink a lot but that's OK, right?!? Maybe have some snacks, share our favorite part of the book, drink some more...oh my goodness I can't wait.
For now, just in case you haven't discovered the magic that is Jenny Lawson, I am going to provide you with a few of my personal favorite posts, to get you hooked so that you want to come to this special "book club" meeting, too:)
These puppies weren't my fault
How to make your husband think you're a witch
Its like a hoodie but with fangs
Phone koozies
And then I saw a Sasquatch on the road
That's why I'm not allowed to be here unsupervised
It kind of feels like a hollow victory
And that's why you should learn to pick your battles

OK, that was way more than I intended to provide and I didn't even go back that far. I was just having lots of fun rereading the posts. Enjoy!!

Grandma and Grandpa Christensen

2012-02-13T03:02:00.000-08:00

We traveled to Grand Island today to visit my Christensen grandparents. We love seeing them! This weekend was the celebration of Grandma's 89th birthday, and also their upcoming 71st anniversary. 71 years of marriage! That is amazing to me. When we arrived, Grandpa had just finished getting his hair cut and Grandma said to me "Doesn't his hair look nice? I told him I would marry him all over again." It just doesn't get any sweeter than that.

We were also lucky enough to arrive on time to meet our newest little cousin, Baby Kelsey. What a beautiful little girl. And boy, she is little! Brand spankin' new. Sometimes I am able to fool myself into thinking that I don't like babies. Then I see one...

And speaking of babies, I keep waiting for the phone call that either brooke or Mel has gone into labor! Or maybe both at the same time! I am so excited that I was seriously tempted to call each of their husbands on Friday to tell them to, um, do something to make their wives go into labor. You know...maybe cook a spicy supper, rub their feet, um, try that one other thing that is pretty much guaranteed to get the job done. Am I allowed to ask them to do that?!? We will never find out because I didn't do it. But if either of you (Chris or Brian) read this...do your part!

Maybe if there were friends to visit in the hospital I wouldn't have to think about the fact that we now haven't had running water in our house since Friday evening. Maybe I could shower in their hospital rooms. Maybe they wouldn't mind if I just did some dishes in the sink there. Uuuuuggggghhhhhh! Something is wrong with our pipes. Or our well. Or something is frozen. It is, to say the least, very inconvenient not to have water in your home. It is starting to make me very testy. Enough complaining, Allison. Water isn't required to drink wine. Or whiskey. Life isn't that bad.

A little socktopus, a little wine. Valentine's Day is great.

2012-02-10T04:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, normally I think Valentine's Day is a pretty lame excuse for a holiday. It just doesn't really have enough depth for me, or something. And we all know that I'm a pretty deep person...But I'm kind of looking forward to it this year. Maybe because this year, Willa seems to be old enough to grasp the concept of a holiday being kind of a special day. Before you go getting all concerned that maybe I fell and bashed my head on something during the night, or that I should be tested for multiple personalities, I am still not going to be romantic. I promise. Brad and I are going to use the holiday as an excuse to eat sushi, but we are going to do it the night before and not alone. Not romantic, see? And we aren't going to buy each other gifts. Although, I would never turn down a tulip or two...Cough, cough. Hint, hint. BUT, I do want to make Willa a gift. She has mentioned finger puppets a few times lately in casual conversation so I looked at a few options on Etsy. Found some really cute ones. But I put off ordering them for too long so now its too late. So here's my idea. Socktopusses. Socktopusi? If a word isn't really a word, how do you make it plural?

Yeah, how much do these guys rock? And wanna know where I found them??? I'll give you three guesses. Pinterest!! I think I might try to put a little VDay spin on them and buy some cheap, cute, heart-themed socks to make the Sockto-bodies. I can't wait to see how they turn out.
Maybe I will also attempt some sort of heart shaped dessert. Or last year, I made heart shaped pancakes. Man, I love pancakes. I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

Pinterest didn't disappear from the www yet.

2012-02-05T02:59:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more of my favorites from the depths of my Pinterest files. This first picture was one of my very first pins. Cupboards don't get any better than that. You could never, ever, ever wake up in the morning, walk into your kitchen, and maintain any sort of grouchiness after you looked at your cupboards. Fact. And you wouldn't have even touched on your pretty wood floors, mismatched white chairs, and sexy white pendant lighting.

I'm not sure where I first saw this chair, I'm gonna guess Design Sponge awhile back. It really puts me in the reupholstering mood. I don't think my new/old chair would wear the heart pattern well, but this chair certainly does. And it reminds me lots of the Alexander Girard print that I have always wanted. Carry on with your pinning, peeps!

Oink

2012-02-04T02:44:00.000-08:00

We went out for dinner tonight at Bison Witch's. That place is so good that I almost don't have words for it. The veggie sandwich, the queso, mushroom soup. I want to eat it again and that was only like 8 hours ago.
I'm talking about food because we have been cooking at home quite a bit lately, as part of the money saving plan. Also, I love grocery shopping. I would rather be in a grocery store than a mall. Give me a really good grocery store and I might choose it over an amusement park. I heard a rumor that Lincoln is getting a Whole Foods. If this happens, and I go missing from time to time, you can bet that's where I am. Just gazing at things like soy flax seed chips and vegan chipotle sausages. Sometimes I wonder how I even have human friends.
Anywho...Thought I would share a few of the new recipes that I have tried and loved, in case anyone else is on a "cook at home" kick!
Through Pinterest and the advice of kind friends, I have discovered the blog Oh She Glows, and my two favorite new recipes came from there. First being the Creamy Avocado Pasta and second being the Sweet Potato Enchiladas. Both were delicious. I might have used a touch too much garlic in the pasta sauce, as it was a little heart-burny. Next time I would just use one small clove instead of the giant clove that I chose. Also, I just used whole wheat pasta and not the spelt or kamut pastas that the writer of the blog used. Those sound fun to try though. As for the enchiladas, man were they good! The recipe says that it makes 4, but I think I made like 8 and put about 5 of them in the freezer, minus the avocado sauce on top. Although my cousin Mandy taught me the other day that if you leave the pit in with the mashed avocados, it is supposed to keep them from turning brown. Not sure for how long, but that's a fun little tip for avocado freaks like myself. I also made a double batch of raspberry almond thumbprint cookies. I took a few to wine night, as they just sounded like something that would go really well with a good red wine. And they were. The rest are in my freezer to take to dinner tonight, as I think I made a few empty promises right after Christmas to deliver more of them to certain friends. I also have plans to whip up a big bowl of avocado/feta/tomato dip and maybe even play around with some buffalo wing tofu for Super Bowl Sunday. I'm not exactly sure which teams are playing, but I hear there is going to be a cute dog in some of the commercials, and Madonna is performing at half time. Sometimes looking at Madonna's 60 year old arms inspires me to do lots of push-ups.
Now you know what I have been eating for the last few weeks. Cool, huh? Maybe next week I'll tally up how many times I floss my teeth and then go on and on about it.

A day with the girls

2012-01-30T03:06:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Mom, Willa and I spent the better part of the day in Omaha. Mom and I had talked about a day of antique store shopping for quite some time and we finally got around to doing it! We checked out some really fun stores in and around the Old Market area. Then, we made a stop for lunch at Roja. It seems that when the 3 of us are out and about together, we always end up at a place with a very Spanish sounding name. And margaritas.

And yes, this is a picture of my lunch. Veggie tacos. They were so good that I was hoping if I took a picture of them I could recreate them at home. Except for the whole homemade tortilla thing, which is sad because that is the best part.

My favorite picture from the day:)

I love the progression of these pictures of Willa. This was at the end of the day, after we had been in probably 10 different stores. She was pooped! We're talkin' nearly asleep on the table. But as soon as the waiter brought us our "snack" (of a giant piece of chocolate cake:) she perked right up! And ate nearly all of the frosting. And the cherry.

I wish I would have taken a few more pictures of some of the fun things we found but I guess I was too distracted by the other fun things we were finding. I really liked the shape of this chair. And even his orange color, even though my first inclination with older chairs is to recover the fabric.

Willa found a drum set that was just her size. And don't we all want our kids to have their own drum sets? They produce such a soothing sound.

This is the only guy I brought home with me. He may not be much to look at right now, but he is oh so comfortable, and in my head he looks fabulous in a new outfit. I found him in a really fun store called

Back in the Day for dirt cheap. Like, under $20 cheap.

Upon returning to Lincoln, we joined a fun group of folks for a game of pitch, some wine and appetizers, and great conversation. Many thanks to the Christensen sisters for their hospitality! If you are curious where Brad was all day, I will just say that he attended a bachelor party. And resurfaced at 5:30am. That is all:)

Its like crack

2012-01-28T04:17:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I enjoy my time perusing Pinterest. So much so, that I think I might share a weekly favorite. Until I get bored with doing something weekly which will probably happen in about 2 weeks. This weeks favorite is this room. And its dog. I would name him Peter Nickels Eater if he were mine. The dog, not the room. I would name the room Sexy Thang.

And because I got such positive feedback about my first Pinterest Picture Share, I chose another one. I have been crazy, madly, deeply involved with quinoa the past few weeks. And avocados and cilantro and little tiny tomatoes. You might be wondering how I got all the positive feedback, since the first picture is just right above this one. Yes, sometimes I have delusions wherein people say amazing things about me when really I am all by myself at work. I don't medicate this issue, as it keeps my self esteem really high.

Bitten by the bug...only about a month too late

2012-01-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure why I ever go through these periods of NOT running. I think it usually just naturally coincides with my hatred of winter and my desire to hibernate for months. This year, my running strike continued right on through the few weeks that registration for the Lincoln Marathon was open. I had a whole conversation with myself (hopefully in my head, but I guess if it happened out loud I'm sure I was having it at work while all the kids were asleep.) about how I hadn't run in forever, didn't really feel like running anytime soon, my preference for curling up with a blanket and Dexter on DVD...the list could go on and on. Needless to say, I didn't register. And now, I'm kicking myself for it. I did the same thing two years ago and instantly regretted it. Could someone please remind me in like November of this year to just pay the stupid $40 because I will be glad that I did come February?!? So, I've been running. Just on the treadmill for now. And I found a race that looks really fun to keep me truckin'-Run for the Bridges at Wilderness Park. Since its really creeping up quickly, I only registered for the 6 mile race. That should keep me satisfied for awhile. Plus, I've never done a trail run, so there is the added fun of trying something new! Aaaaand, here's the REAL kicker. Brad wants to do it with me! I'm going to have him look over a 10k training schedule before I pay the registration fee, but I'm super excited that he's even considering it! What is the world coming to? Last year, I got him to go hiking and now this year, running?!? I've heard talk of the world coming to an end this year. If I happen to get Brad to eat vegetables, I will let you all know so you can start making plans for your last few days on Earth...

Stolen

2012-01-27T01:51:00.000-08:00

I stole these pictures (not the cute kid) from one of my most favorite blogs. brooke always gets good pictures of Willa, and I believe these pictures involved a new lens. Or film. Or camera strap. God, am I seriously worse with camera terms than I am with computer or football ones??? I didn't think it was possible. The shots were snapped at brooke's shower a few weekends ago. If you're a germ-o-phobe, don't worry about that last shot. She was eating out of the berry bowl with the serving spoon AFTER all the guests had left. And none of us stragglers were worried about catching her cooties. I vote that brooke should pop our her baby, quit her job, and become a part-time photographer.

Monday Nights

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

Can I please tell you all about my new thing that I do on Monday nights??? Its so nerdy. And I love it. I have decided that since I don't seem to be getting any younger, maybe I need to spend some time taking care of myself. So Monday nights from now on are going to entail facial masks, hair masks, yoga DVDs, candlelit baths, pedicures, good books/magazines, and wine. That's right. I said it. Girly, pampering, relaxing goodness. Once a week. And Monday nights are perfect, as my schedule makes my Monday night the same as most people's Sunday night, so it starts my week off on a VERY good foot. A very relaxed, polished, good-smelling foot. Go ahead and make fun of me...Its ok. I won't even be mad because its Tuesday night and I still feel relaxed. Couple this with Wine Wednesday and I'm pretty sure you may never run into a crabby or stressed Allison ever again. Unless the well breaks again. I think I may need to take another bubble bath...

If you are curious, here is the recipe for the mask I have done the past 2 weeks. It makes your skin so smooth and glowy. I crushed 4 or 5 non-coated aspirins and then squeezed a little fresh lemon juice on them. Let the aspirin dissolve into a gritty paste. Rub it onto your face in a circular motion. Let it dry (about 10 minutes). Dip a cotton ball in water and then baking soda. Rub that around in a circular motion. Rinse. Ahhhhhh. I'll let ya'll know if a find any other good ones. I've been pinning a few to try in the future.

By the transitive property, I think this baby is also my best friend

2012-01-17T19:08:00.000-08:00

Brunch and tulips

Add caption

Mama Karen and Mama Cindy

What a perfect cause for celebration! This past Saturday was the day to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Baby Petermann, or as Willa has been frequently calling him, Baby P. Oh my goodness, we cannot WAIT for Baby P to be born! Willa was under the impression that when we went to the party on Saturday, that we would see Baby P being born. Hmmm. That would be quite the party. Our dearest friend brooke is an adorable mama-to-be! We had so much fun "showering" her. The menu for the brunch party consisted of veggie frittatas, cheesy hash browns, berries and granola, chocolate dipped clementines, Jamicakes cupcakes, and onesie sugar cookies (that my mom made and that were amazing!) We created an alphabet book for Baby P, each guest chose a letter and illustrated it with something personal. We also took pictures with moustaches. In theory this was because the baby will be a boy, but I must admit that I just thought it would be fun to make everyone wear a moustache. brooke plans to cloth diaper (YAY!), so the gifts were pretty cloth-diaper-focused. We had a tour of the nursery. So cute, with lots of handmade touches. I may have to do a whole post just to do a photo tour of Baby P's nursery. Maybe after he is born, so he can be in a few:) Or a jillion. What a great day, with great friends, some of which traveled quite a distance! Thanks to everyone for attending, and to my mom for all her help. (And to Amber and Karen, who used their scissor skills just for me:) We hope that the rest of brooke's pregnancy goes as smoothly as it has, and the labor is as easy as it can be. And then, Auntie Allison gets to babysit...and then, Auntie Allison gets to take brooke out for a vodka tonic. First things, first...

When it rains, it pours.

2012-01-13T03:24:00.000-08:00

These pictures are not fun. There are no cute animals, or babies, or friends or light fixtures or anything. What there is, is holes where appliances used to be. Remember that time, the other day, when I said we were going to try to pay off some debt? And do a really good job with our money? Ugh. Life got in the way already! If we could travel back in time about a month or so, I will tell you all the things that have malfunctioned/stopped working/broke.
-our well stopped producing water one day
-the ice maker in the fridge stopped creating ice
-the front of the oven fell off
-the microwave stopped making things hot
-the dishwasher leaked all kinds of water into the basement ceiling
-the "check engine" light came on in my car

I'm sure I am forgetting something, but these are the things that are sticking out in my mind right now. And causing, what is for me, a significant amount of stress. We had to have someone come out and fix our well. Big bucks. We are ignoring the ice maker. He's just being rude. Brad put the oven back together. A friend gave us a microwave, after his parents got all new appliances. And another friend gave us a loaner until we could get the new one put in. What would we do without our friends?!? The dishwasher is awaiting parts. He is just sitting in the dining room, not functioning. Also being rude. The basement ceiling, also being ignored. For now. My car?!? Oddly enough, the check engine light turned itself off after I backed into my mom's car the other night. Sober, I swear.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?!?!?!?

Hello, there 2012. Nice to meet you.

2012-01-08T05:15:00.000-08:00

Willa's Aunt Joy picks out some pretty amazing gifts. Table tennis is a blast and with a glass table, even Stickers is entertained!

The New Year is upon us! For some reason, I always get excited about New Years Eve. Not necessarily about the parties (I worked this year, 3 nights in a row. So I was no party animal.) Mostly I enjoy the feelings I get of gratefulness for the previous year, I like to take some time to think over the things that have transpired. 2011 was a pretty big year for the Van Boening's! We sold our first home, after making some renovations. We moved to the country. We grew a garden. Our baby turned into a toddler (who thinks she is in high school. She told me that today.) We lost Luther. We gained Stickers. We took our first family vacation. We (Brad) built a dirt bike track. We (I) grew my cleaning business. I ran the half marathon. We did lots of fun stuff with friends. We celebrated Brad's 30th birthday with a surprise party and a trip to St. Louis to see Travis Barker and Supercross. All in all, it was a pretty great year. Except for losing Lu. I don't think I will ever get over that.
The other great part of the New Year is thinking about all the things I am looking forward to and all the things I want to work on in the coming 365 days. I thought I might share a few things I'm thinking about. Not because they are interesting or anyone will even care, but this way I can go back next year and see if I blogged about accomplishing any of the things I set out to accomplish. Maybe I will set a goal to be more interesting so next year people will want to read my blog:)

I think the biggest area that I need to improve upon are our finances. I won't go into any specifics of dollar amounts or anything weird like that, but I do have certain dates laid out that I would like to have certain debts payed off. And dates by which I would like to have certain amounts in various savings accounts. There are also several home improvement projects that I would like to fund this year, including (but not limited to) building a play structure, finishing off the fire pit, making over the flower beds to give them a more modern feel, replacing the mail box and landscaping that area, completely redoing the spare bedroom, and maybe replacing the flooring in Willa's room.

In the area of health, I need to change my thought process on exercise. See, a lot of the time I skip working out because I feel like I don't have a big enough chunk of time to devote to it. Then it just doesn't happen at all. I have started to do little mini-workouts (from Bodyrock.tv) and if I only get one in a day, that's fine. I don't beat myself up over it. If I have time later in the day, then I get some cardio in. I think that will work out a lot better than trying to find an hour or more per day to work out. That NEVER happens. Ever. The other big thing is making sure to have groceries on hand to pack a lunch on cleaning days. That gets tricky because it has to be something that can be eaten easily, quickly, and without any warming or preparing. And sandwiches, especially as a vegetarian, get old fast.

A few other things on the list...find an activity for Willa (swimming? gymnastics?) to introduce her to the social world. Not having ever gone to day care, I don't want to completely shock her when it gets to be preschool time! Take another little family vacation. Maybe even to Colorado again. Go on a trip that requires a passport. I have one in mind, but we'll have to see how that plays out:) Hire more Purely Maid employees. Which means we need to increase our client load by a few, also. That never seems to be hard. Find a new office space downtown. Find something to do, within the year, to use one of my creative skills to make money. How vague is that? Gonna need to do some thinking on it. Read more. I think I say that every year. Spend lots and lots of time with Baby P, starting by throwing him a rad baby shower. More on that later this week! Do a better job with my garden, composting and recycling. There are more, but if you can believe it, most of them are even more boring than those were. If I weren't at work right now, I would toast my goals with a little glass of wine or something. Oh yeah, that was another one. Drink more wine. And champagne. And whiskey. From pretty glasses.

January 7th...time for Christmas pictures?!?

2012-01-07T03:17:00.000-08:00

Willa was falling-down-excited about her new turtle from Uncle Chris. She got some great animal gifts. Wish I had a pic of her inflatable giraffe from Brant and Joy.

Even Grandma's dogs get Christmas Eve hugs.

Santa left a few little things in the stocking

A lego zoo! Its almost like Grandma and Santa communicate, as Grandma bought the lego grocery store!

Elefun is a challenge, unless you are nine feet tall like Uncle Chris

This gift has already provided me with many hours of fun. And inspiration. You just wait.

Helping to prepare brunch

Only Willa looks this good straight out of bed.

Christmas was weeks ago. I feel like the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving, just FLEW by! Why is that?!? I'm blaming it on the amazingly un-winter-like weather and my semi-busy schedule. I feel like I kind of slacked this year on Christmas preparations. Didn't put up very many decorations, and those that I did, Stickers attacked. Did some pretty frantic, last minute shopping. Maybe next year I will be a little more prepared and have a more well behaved cat. Christmas weekend was still enjoyable, with or without shiny glass ornaments. Church and Christmas Eve dinner at my parent's was perfect. Fun gifts were opened. Willa understood about Santa this year. Santa didn't leave Willa coal. We hosted a little brunch for my parents and brother. We made it to Grand Island, with potatoes. We spent the entire next 2 days rearranging our home to make room for the great stuff that Christmas brought and taking down the (sad looking) tree.

Another must-read blog for the end of 2011

2011-12-27T03:55:00.000-08:00

I hope that the picture that accompanies this week's must-read blog post makes you hungry. And thirsty. Brad and I went Christmas shopping last week (minus Willa, thank god. She is going through a phase of being a HORRIBLE shopping buddy) but we got distracted midway through by a new sushi place in downtown Lincoln. Brad ordered a volcano something-or-other, and mine was a southwestern what-not that was COVERED in cilantro. Wow, yum. With a side of edamame and a tasty cabernet/Japanese beer. Perfect shopping meal. And conveniently, Dozo is located right smack across the street from the offices of Purely Maid. And they have happy hour. Twice a day on weekends. Tosha, how have we not been there together yet??? Sushi with my cleaning buddy is going on the 2012 goal list. So is reforming my child's poor shopping behaviors. I'm not even kidding, she sprinted out of a store holding multiple pairs of low-rise men's boxer briefs. Laughing the whole time. Not ok. I should have let the store press charges, just to teach her an early lesson.

Onto the blog...http://www.peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.blogspot.com/ is hilarious. Aaaand, has a web address that is even longer and more complicated than mine. I was turned onto this blog at the time she was writing about her experiences with the Elf on the Shelf fiasco. Then I spent an absurd amount of time reading her older posts. Love it! Add it to the blog roll.

Recommended Shopping

2011-12-26T03:11:00.000-08:00

Don't these puppies look good with a few of my other Christmas decorations??

I was finally able to shop a bit with my mom a few days back and we went to a store that she has been telling me about for a few weeks. Its called Cool and Collected and it is located near 13th and Hwy 2. If you have any interest in anything vintage, antique, retro, used, just plain awesome...you should really check it out. I only took pictures of a few of the things that I loved. I took the ornaments home with me, as well as the letter V. Its not very often that a lady can find a bright yellow letter V! I was really thinking that the yellow dresser would look absolutely perfect in a nursery, maybe painted a different color, its kind of a rough shade of yellow for such a big piece of furniture. Painting/refinishing furniture makes me nervous as heck but its something I'd like to master someday. And those chairs??? Recovered? Ugh. I think the owner of this store is gonna have to get used to my face. Poor guy.

Ugly Sweater Love

2011-12-25T03:29:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago, we were invited to an Ugly Sweater party at the home of the Ellis's. Enough time has passed that I feel I can safely talk about the party without my hangover returning, however my memory of the evening is poor. Mostly due to the amount of alcohol consumed, but also the passing of time and the age of my brain. I know that the night involved jello shots and Apples to Apples. Picture taking with Tosha and Jared. Learning killer taekwando moves from Xander. Dominoes and math. I think this is where I get fuzzy. Math has always confused me, but about the time the math started, Reggie brought out a diaper bag filled with bottles of tasty liquor and Tosha and I started playing the 7 Second game again that we invented a few years back at a tailgate. Do we ever learn??? Apparently not. Such a fun night. Looking forward to more nights with these friends, maybe with a few less jello shots and less diaper bag fun:)

Merry Christmas, friends!!

2011-12-24T03:29:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season!! We have lots of plans for the next few days. Christmas Eve with my family at my parents' house, Christmas day at home, Christmas evening with Brad's family in Grand Island and then a few holiday parties over the next few days. Thank goodness for a few days off! And then...2012!! Lots of big plans for the coming year. Maybe my next round of night shifts will include a 2012 goal setting post. And/or a holiday letter of sorts.

I'm so excited for Christmas Eve church service, gift-giving, cookie baking, and lounging in pjs. Then maybe some wine or whiskey drinking? Don't want this thing to get toooo PG.

Because people want to buy me stuff

2011-12-14T02:40:00.000-08:00

for inspiration

because I don't have a matching set of coffee mugs.
and these will look so cheerful on my future open shelving.

time to face the facts. i drink a lot of whiskey.

practical boots.

for living in nebraska.

its on sale

because its pretty cute.

All the really cool bloggers are making wish lists this time of year so I thought I'd make one too! These are just a few things that popped into my head. I am also in need of new kitchen spatulas, big rubbermaid bins, a new laptop, a print by Thomas Campbell,

A Highly Inappropriate Must Read Blog

2011-12-13T02:24:00.000-08:00

You just never know what your little tyke will find while shopping for fake, white Christmas trees at WalMart. And yes, Willa does know how to find my phone, unlock the screen, open Angry Birds, and then shoot all the birds backwards so that the pigs will laugh. Then sometimes she accidentally calls people. Sorry about that, friends whose last names start with A and my Accountant.

I've got a new blog to follow, courtesy of my night shift coworker, Kelli. I'm warning you right now, the language is foul and pretty much every single thing about it is completely sick and wrong. I have a very juvenile sense of humor. Please don't be angry at me if you are offended. But please do let me know if you read it and laugh. And don't worry, its all text (there are no inappropriate photos or anything.)

Margaritas with my senoritas

2011-12-12T01:40:00.000-08:00

Mom, Willa and I had the best time the other night at El Toro. Willa is such a ham! She *may* have had a small, teeny, tiny taste of mom's strawberry margarita while chewing on her straw and I think it was just enough to make her loco. We laughed till there were tears in our eyes! Then on the drive home, she found a cookie that she had put in her cup holder a few days before and she said "OMG. Where'd this cookie come from?" Where does she get this stuff??? And speaking of Willa saying stuff, today on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's, she asked me "Where do babies come from?" I wasn't sure I heard that correctly so I asked her to repeat herself. "Where do babies come from? And tiny, tiny puppies?" She's 2, people! 2! I thought that was a question more for like, 5 year olds! Or kids whose mom's are pregnant. Not 2 year olds! She wasn't quite satisfied with my lame-o answer about how they grow in mom's tummy because its just a good place to grow. When I asked her why she was asking about babies, she said something about Beethoven. I might have to watch that movie...

Sledding in the yard

2011-12-11T00:59:00.000-08:00

It finally snowed! I feel like the weather has been so strange this fall and winter and the first snow seemed really late. It also provided yet another reason for us to love our new home. So much room for sledding! Last winter, Willa didn't even want snow to touch her boots but this year, she didn't want to go back inside. Like, REALLY didn't want to.
What happens to us in the years between being a child and being an adult that makes us lose the joy that we used to find in cold weather and snow? When I was young, one of my favorite things was digging and tunneling in the snow. Now, I just think that cold and snow are obnoxious. Unless Willa is in the snow, and giggling:)

I was warned that this would happen

2011-12-10T02:19:00.000-08:00

Over the past week or so, we have slooooowly been putting up some Christmas decorations. We bought a new artificial (duh) tree at (gasp) WalMart because of a show I saw on HGTV. It is, of course, a much (much, much, much) cheaper version of the HGTV tree, but it works for us. I wish I could find a clip from that show to share, because what they did with that house, and that tree, was awesome. Anyway, we had just started to put a few things on the tree, including some turquoise bulbs that were brand new from Hobby Lobby, when Stickers suddenly decided to take an interest in the tree. First, he just batted one of the lower bulbs from the branch and was playing with it on the floor. Which was cute, until it shattered. Bad Stickers. Next thing we know, he is UP IN THE TREE. Like, all the way. Well, you can see. And he was just sort of punching the bulbs from the tree with his tiny paws. And they were shattering. But for some reason, we didn't put a stop to it. It was way too funny. Willa was hysterical. Brad was making a video. I was taking pictures. Very bad Stickers. He will never learn, if all we do is laugh at him.

Counter Envy

2011-12-10T00:59:00.000-08:00

Image from YoungHouseLove

People are always wondering, and asking me, what my ideal coutertop looks like. Oh wait, no...no one cares. Its just that I think about my ideal countertops a lot. There they are! Big 'ole, thick, heavy Corian. White. Fabulous. I do wonder why they didn't go all out and get the seamless Corian sink? Those are a cleaning ladies' dream.

Someday, Allison. Someday.

The Chocolate Bar

2011-12-03T01:21:00.000-08:00

Willa, Panton at Silo. We were diggin' the way her coat matched the chair.

Best. Latte. Ever.

Aunt Joy and Willa. Self portrait.

We went to Grand Island for Thanksgiving with the Van Boening's last weekend. Always enjoyable. This post, however, is going to be a straight up RAVE about the Chocolate Bar. We stopped by after a visit to Silo (so Brad could get new shoes. I swear that guy gets new shoes more often than I do. In the words of Willa "That not fair.") We were there during non-operational hours, and they have only been open for about a week, so we got to see some things in-progress. But MAN, that place is going to be cool! I am so excited for those who live in Grand Island to get to go there, and for myself, as I'm going to find more excuses to go there:) My brother-in-law, Brant, did their website and logo/print work and sister-in-law Joy will manage the coffee bar portion of the Bar. Joy made us a soy gingerbread latte while we were taking a tour and it was heaven in my mouth. No kiddin, she is good. We also got to sample one of the new martinis that the owner was experimenting with. Ohmygosh.
If you live in Grand Island, go! If you live in Lincoln, call me and lets make a date for a road trip!

A Must-Read Blog (yeah, another one)

2011-12-02T01:21:00.000-08:00

These pictures don't have a single thing to do with my latest Must-Read-Blog, but I liked them. So here they are. We had just gotten home with some groceries and we remembered (via Pinterest) that chocolate chips fit really well right into the opening of raspberries. Yes, we ate the entire container of raspberries, but we did use SOME self control and didn't eat that whole bowl of chocolate chips. I swear we didn't.

Anywho...I don't think I've shared this blog yet, but its latest post has generated A LOT of conversation/controversy/support so I thought now would be a great time to introduce you to FitMamaTraining and her blog. Erin was a coworker of mine at the hospital several years ago and she is an amazing person. She has built a business around the fact that she has altered her lifestyle and made some huge changes in her health and fitness levels since becoming a mother. Very inspirational and very honest. I really look forward to her blog posts. So...go read about her thoughts on the Victoria's Secret fashion show..then go back and read all the rest of them. You won't be sorry you did!

Baby, its cold outside!

2011-11-26T02:21:00.000-08:00

Willa and I played outside the other day. It was pretty chilly outside but it just looked so nice that we couldn't stay inside. We decided to take Stickers with us. He was supposed to have been an outdoor cat, but I am just still too nervous about pets getting hit by cars to let him be outside unattended. So, we played a little, we followed Stickers around while he checked things out on the track. Willa drug him around. As usual.

Then, the neighbor dog decided to join our fun. Here's the deal with the neighbor dog. She (I'm pretty sure its a she) is a very pretty, sweet yellow lab who we met very shortly after moving in. Long before we met her owners. She was so friendly that we wanted to be able to call her by name, but she had no tag so we decided that WE would call her Sara. Willa even named one of her stuffed puppies after Sara. It got to the point that I think we all forgot that her name most likely isn't Sara. We even introduce her to guests as Sara. We never remember to ask the neighbors what their dogs' real name is. So...back to my story. Sara came. Stickers was terrified. He climbed the biggest tree in our yard so super fast and so high that there was no way I could get him down. I had to convince Sara to go home, which seemed to make her pretty sad. Then I had to just stand in the cold and wait for Sticks to climb down far enough that I could climb up and get him. I was a little nervous. I wish I would have snapped a pic of how high up he was. We were oh so grateful when he was down and safe and we took him inside and snuggled up with him. Which I did get a picture of:)

Greenish Black Friday

2011-11-25T02:14:00.000-08:00

FOR REAL! Purely Maid has a website! We've talked about/wanted one since, oh, probably that first fateful day that we cleaned together at Marcia's house 5+ years ago. We were like, hey, let's clean a house together, go drink some bloody marys and eat some sour patch kids, and then have a really awesome web site all about it! Now that we have built our clientele from 1 to over 30, we have a website! Thanks 110% to my fantastic brother in law, Brant Van Boening. For now, the website is just featuring our Green Black Friday sale but very, very soon it will have our info and then the business can just go ahead and pour in:) Because apparently I think we need more than 30 clients?!? Yes. Yes we do. We will start cleaning on Mumphday if we must, even though now that is our day off where we do all sorts of enjoyable activities together and with our families. You've never heard of Mumphday? That's because we invented it. Go invent your own day.
In my previous post, I mentioned that I was very thankful for this business, my business partner and all of our clients and I really meant it. As strange as it may seem, some of my best memories of the past few years have come from cleaning or cleaning related situations. I have also met some really wonderful people, some who clean with us, some who we clean for, and some who have given us lots of help along the way. And as an extra bonus, I get such a good feeling from cleaning. I like to leave someone's house and know that it looks so nice and fresh and they are going to come home to that and it will alleviate just a little bit of stress in their lives.
So, check out our Black Friday sale. Check back later this week to see the regular website. Email us. Call us. Buy a gift card for someone you care about. Hire us to clean your house. Or just come downtown and have a drink with me when I get off work this morning. It promises to be entertaining, as sleep deprived as I am:) Go Huskers!

I am thankful for...(in no particular order)

2011-11-24T23:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! Isn't Thanksgiving just the best holiday? I mean, its all about eating and thinking about the positives in life and watching football (or in the case of my family, catching up on Dexter and Homeland). My poor family has to put up with my wacky work schedule, so I slept till noon and we had a late lunch - which was delicious. Brother Chris made some mushroom and shallot gravy that I kind of wanted to roll around in like a pig does in mud. And I got some cupcakes from a coworker who has started a cupcake catering service called Jamicakes that were heavenly. I believe that Tosha described the cupcakes well when she said that the frosting is better than s.e.x. Then there was some red wine and some tv and ooops. I went back to sleep for awhile. And now I'm back at work! What a nice day! I did volunteer to host Thanksgiving next year, since it will be my holiday off so I'm already brainstorming...I do want to take some time now to just make a list of whatever pops into my head of all the things I am thankful for, just to kind of take stock of how great life is. So:
family (duh). old friends. new friends. having a job. owning a business. my business partner. my health. the health of my loved ones. blogs. iphones. holidays. red wine. sometimes white wine. whiskey. tequila. vodka. sushi. frosting. green tea. curly haired toddlers. facebook. the internet. my home. my yard. stickers and bailey. luther and the memory of luther. my friends' pets. twitter. the bloggess. laughing until there are tears. the upcoming cookie baking day. dinner club. book club. 99% of our cleaning clients. tailgating. houzz.com. babies on their way (NOT mine, don't get any weird ideas). texting. email. mini coopers. anderson cooper. bradley cooper. pandora. comfy boots. slippers. hoodies. marriage. adoption. ikea. mountains. honeycrisp apples. baking. photos. painting. mad men. dee, charlie, dennis, and mac. pedicures. riding bikes. soy lattes. vegan cookbooks. tattoos. parties. beer. red beer. mimosas. bloody marys. clearance racks. pinterest. taking chances. getting haircuts. our church and its people. NOFX. concerts. stool softeners. running. magazines. books. chairs. tulips. lilies. mums. thuggy rap music. the simpsons. barney stinson. etsy. vacations. the smell of coconut. the smell of gasoline. detangling spray. basil. target. meeting friends for coffee. coffee. caffeine.
I'm sure I'm probably forgetting the really obvious ones, but its a good start. a good list to look at when something pops up to make me feel down or frustrated. And I love to look at other people's lists, so lets share!!

Hmmm. My daughter's boyfriend is like 20 years older than her...

2011-11-14T02:45:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Willa's best friend/love-of-her-life came to town to visit. If you'll remember, Darren and Tori moved to Kansas this summer and Willa missed them like crazy! I'm pretty sure that Brad missed Darren a lot, too. I mean, he did stop saying 'purt near' after awhile, but it seemed painful for him:) Naturally, we took our child to the bar to have dinner with her friend. She was pretty shy at first, as usual. But after a few drinks (waters) and a quick game of pool, she really loosened up. And I must say, loosen up she did. The first picture was taken just a millisecond before she attacked the poor guy with kisses!
We took Willa to Grandma Luth's house before she got too out of control and then proceeded to Sean and Alicia's for some temporary Halloween tattoos, creative shot-tasting, and lots of mechanic talk. It was a super-fun night and we are very glad that we got to spend time with the Goetz's again!

If you are a vodka fan, and haven't tried whipped cream vodka yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. Mixed with pretty much anything, or mixed with nothing.

Hangin'

2011-11-13T02:44:00.000-08:00

We were finally able to get a few things up on the blindingly bright walls! I had picked up a pretty big stack of white frames when we were at Ikea, with this very idea in mind. Man its awesome how cheap frames are there! I didn't pay more than $4 for any of these frames, and most of them were 2-packs! I'm such a cheap date:) I did the whole "make a newspaper shape for each frame and tape them to the wall to plan a layout" thing first. Then Brad helped me with the nailing. I also painted those sweet owl guys. They were originally some rather dated shades of brown and orange, very 60s. Then in Willa's old bedroom they were kind of a yellow-green color. Now they are shiny white. Once the frames were hung, I found stuff to stick in them. Well, most of them. The bigger ones still need to be filled.

I had to grab a close up shot of this guy. He says "F is for fainting goat." I have a thing for fainting goats. I mean, who doesn't??? I have also always wanted to own a print by this chickie, Meghan Stratman of BunnyPirate fame. So when she had a booth at Craftacular, I picked up this lovely fainting goat. She has a whole alphabet book filled with little phonetic love-nuggets like this. Willa might need that book for Christmas.

A Very Christensen Family Weekend

2011-11-07T03:22:00.000-08:00

What a fantastic weekend! We had visitors from both Texas and California (Aunt Sherri, Amber, Rachel and Melissa.) And that was the perfect excuse to have a get together or two with all of the Lincoln Christensen's! Friday evening, there was lots of food and wine and family at my mom's and then Saturday morning, there was a pre-football brunch at our house. The celebrating did continue after the game, but it moved to Grand Island and we didn't make the trip this time.

Mom and I even got to attend the Nebraska/Northwestern football game which was fun, but also a little sad. Tough loss:(

Aunt Sherri and I

Aunt Sherri, Uncle Dan, and mom

Mom, Andrea and I

Mom, Amber, Jada, Aunt Sherri, Rachel., Willa and Melissa. What a beautiful bunch of Christensen girls! I think it was decided after a few bottles of wine that it is in the genes to have great skin and look young in this family:)

Willa, Rachel, and Stickers. I am sure that Rachel was having to rescue Stickers from Willa.

Some Like it Hot

2011-11-06T03:22:00.000-08:00

Ordered this print for the kitchen. Waaaaay excited about it. Check out the Etsy shop here. I wish I had a place for the yellow print with all the old cameras!

More candy, Mom and Dad!

2011-11-05T02:57:00.000-07:00

There are loads of great pictures from Halloween. Willa loved trick-or-treating with Xander and Adah. Feast your eyes upon the loads of pictures.

We checked out a new pumpkin patch just a few miles down the road from our house, called JT's. It was awesome!

We each had a pumpkin to carve. I was shocked that Willa was willing to dig into the pumpkin guts but she loved it! I found that I had to keep taking knives out of her little paws though...

Willa and her trick-or-treat buddies, taekwando girl (Adah) and ninja guy (Xander)

After every house, Willa would run from the door, hand someone her bucket claiming that it was too heavy, and then run down the sidewalk yelling "More candy, Mom and Dad!"

And as I predicted on the drive home from trick-or-treating, she has asked several times since if we could please just go trick-or-treating again. Maybe next year, if you're good.

Sneak Peek

2011-11-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

We've been working on making Willa's room a little bit more fun the past few days. Before we started it looked a little bit like this:

Well, except for the furniture was in the right place. Yucky brown wood trim, dirty white-ish walls, horrible tan-ish carpet, big-dark-loud closet doors and just about the ugliest ceiling fan I have ever seen in my life. So I invited my parents over to help me get started on the trim painting.

And I talked my dad into taking the closet doors out for me! Thanks a million, dad!
Now the room looks a little bit more like this:

Here's what we have done so far:
Painted all the trim white.
Painted 3 of the walls a very, very, bright shade of limey, greeny, yellow. I feel that it is bright. We weren't even initially planning to leave any of the walls white but the color ended up being so crazy that we needed the white accent wall. Once we got things back into place though, I felt a million times better about the color. And once we hang some things with a lot of white in them, I think it will be perfect.
Rehung the bird curtains on the windows.
Recreated the closet door out of the flowery Ikea curtains and a clippy system so it opens very prettily and quietly. Hanging the curtains required my mom to use her amazing seamstressing skills for a few hours.
Emptied out one of the little dressers by putting away some baby stuff and moving things into the closet. Hopefully this will make room to move Willa's little table and chairs into the room so she can be a doctor and also force Stickers to drink tea in her room.
This is where the room is currently, and probably how it will stay until at least the middle of next week. I have a few ideas running through my head, though and I am itching to get them done! Big family plans this weekend though, so I will try to refrain. Some of the things I still want to do are to create a new light fixture and be rid of the horrendous fan, hang a bunch of white picture frames and some artworks, and possibly replace the window treatment on the window closest to the closet. Its a bit busy with the flowers on the closet and the birds on the window. Down the road Willa is going to need an actual bed, too. I'm keeping my eyes open for a good deal. And new flooring, but I haven't decided which route to take on that, so I'm going to let her get a little bit older and keep destroying the carpet she now has while I think and save some money.

In which I really enjoy football

2011-10-26T03:03:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, I spend some time in downtown Lincoln celebrating all that is Husker football. Which to me, is friends and drinks that are red. Or have red on the bottle. Or have names that relate to football. I had a fantastic time at brooke and Brian's tailgate, also with the Nebesniak's. Many laughs, always.

Hmmmm. Look at the cloudy sky. To some, that might signal that one should have a poncho. I was soaking wet by the end of this day.

Brad got to join us for the second half of the game at Red9 and we shared this giant bloody mary (a red drink!) Look at the beautiful drink garnish. That is how to do a bloody mary. After Red9, we visited the tailgate of a coworker of Brad's, and then we took a long and rainy walk to the car. And in typical "I drank all day long and forgot about food" fashion, we went to Amigos and then spent some time with my parents and Willa. Football is growing on me.

Loads of Vitamin C

2011-10-25T02:56:00.000-07:00

We recently harvested the last of the 2011 inaugural garden. They were some mighty tasty carrots. Kinda funny shaped, but delish.

Willa, M.D.

2011-10-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

I can't look at this picture and not laugh. Brad set up this little "office" scene for Willa the other night and she took it very seriously. Yes, her office consists of an old keyboard, a Nintendo DS, a pumpkin and a sippy cup. She told us that she is a doctor and she has very important work. She typed furiously for several minutes while we were making supper. When we asked her to join us for supper she got very frustrated with us and again reminded us that her work was very important. We were able to convince her to eat a few bites at her desk and warned her of the dangers of becoming a workaholic. After a few bites she moved the plate to a side table and went right back to typing. Where does she come up with this stuff???

Stickers Van Boening

2011-10-24T02:56:00.000-07:00

We finally did it! We took in a cat. I was super nervous to get another pet, after Luther's tragic end. And also, just because new pets are a lot of work. Growing up, Brad and I both had cats, but really they were our parents' cats, not really our cats, our responsibility. Turns out, if you get a really good cat, they are practically no trouble at all! And get a good cat, we did! Stickers came from a farm somewhere south of town, where he lived the first 5 months of his life outside with his parents and many siblings. I think he had a name before Stickers, but he is adjusting to his new name well. (It just "sticks" Chris:) He is a darling cat, such a lover. He is constantly purring (loudly) and he takes up residence on any lap he can find. And oh my lord, he tolerates Willa. Her new favorite thing to do is to tell him what to do and carry him around by his neck. Stickers is a saint! I have yet to see him kill a mouse, but I'm sure that will happen in time. It better. Or maybe his presence will just scare the mice away.

Do drop in and meet Stickers. You won't be sorry. Unless you are allergic to cats or you are a bleeder. His kitten claws are very sharp.

This picture was taken during the football game on Saturday. Stickers obviously is such a Husker fan. Pay no attention to the fact that I am still in my pj's and it is well past noon.

Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk

2011-10-15T05:01:00.000-07:00

Hi, all! This is really short notice, as I almost forgot about this event, but I am walking with a team from BryanLGH in the Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk next Sunday, Oct. 23 and would love your support! Every little bit helps. The statistics on breast cancer are mind-numbingly scary, we women need to do all we can to educate ourselves and to take steps to help prevent (and find a darn cure already!) Thanks so much.

https://secure3.convio.net/tacs/site/Donation2?idb=1403729913&df_id=1009507&FR_ID=36163&PROXY_ID=23388643&1009507.donation=form1&PROXY_TYPE=20&JServSessionIdr004=zpxb1jxt42.app314b

Let food be thy medicine

2011-10-10T02:41:00.000-07:00

Hippocrates is pretty old school, but "Let food be thy medicine" has long been one of my favorite quotes. I just spent the last hour and a half watching a new documentary called Forks Over Knives and I would love for each and every person that I care about in my life to also watch it. The film gives a very in-depth and science based explanation as to why our cultures' current diet is killing us. Sounds dramatic, but it really is. I urge you, if you have a Netflix account, watch this film. Its not action packed, or funny, or visually entertaining but we all need to hear these statistics. Normally, when I read about plant-based diets, I am doing so to learn more about the welfare of the animals or the impact on our environment that meat production has, this film took a different approach. If you are a dude, or someone of the opinion that you need tons of protein, there is even an interview with a vegan MMA fighter, a professional triathlete, and a whole fire station full of Texas firefighters who have all adopted a vegan lifestyle.

So...go. Watch. Then call me and we can discuss:)

Te Amo!

2011-10-07T01:59:00.000-07:00

I did it! I finally made something that I like enough to hang on my wall! I am willing to go all the way and say that I am in love with this painting. Wow, this has been a long time coming. Art was my favorite subject all throughout school. Heck, I even took a studio art class nearly every semester at Hastings College just for fun. But I hadn't been able to produce anything I liked well enough to display, aside from a fish from my beginning glassblowing class and he is a little bit sharp and cuttey to have out with Willa around.

Now, I really can't take much credit for this painting. The idea was completely, 100% not mine. I can only claim to have put in the labor, and it did take quite a few hours of painting (which I found very soothing in the evenings for a few weeks.) The idea (and tutorial) came from The Pleated Poppy which I stumbled upon on dear brookie's Pinterest. If you don't have a Pinterest account yet, that means....you still have a life outside of your computer. Good for you!

There she is. She is so pretty. I want to get back home to her, whisper things to her. If you want one of your own, I suggest you check out the tutorial on The Pleated Poppy (link above) but I will walk through the process anyway, as I like to hear myself type. I didn't use a canvas, I can't remember what my initial reasoning was, but I'm glad I didn't. This is a piece of 3'x4' Masonite that I roughed up a little with a few layers of gesso. The gesso step is totally skippable, I just didn't want the surface to be quite so smooth. Then I painted the entire board with a very neutral tan color. Next, I found a very nice coffee mug with a picture of a basset hound on it in my cupboard and I measured its diameter. Divided that in 2 and made a grid over the whole board using the measurement of half of the coffee mug. Then I drew a whole-lotta interlocking circles inside of the grid lines

This isn't the best picture, but it might help to understand the pencil/ruler/coffee mug set-up. Once I had all the circles drawn, I went back over it and lightly erased the lines that were inside of the circles (they didn't erase very well which initially freaked me out. More on that later.) Then came the fun part which was to mix up a color and randomly fill in a bunch of the little circle do-hickies. And repeat a million times with lots of different colors. Back to the lines not erasing...I have always been kind of a perfectionist when it comes to projects like this so I thought I was going to have to scrap the whole thing, or go back and repaint all the tan color in the middle of all the circles (which would have taken years) so that it would look perfect. But, the more I looked at it, the more I really loved those pencil lines in there. So, I cured my stupid craft-induced OCD thing! Yay! Also, Willa colored in one corner of the board with a purple Crayola marker and I didn't beat her even once, just sort of covered it with darker colors and called it character. Lastly, we added a little claw hanger thing and threw her up on the wall! And OMG. Did I mention that I love her?

Reggie Ellis Kidney Transplant Benefit

2011-10-03T04:42:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a night out coming up this next weekend so I thought I would try to share the flier for the benefit. I am computer not-smart and when I tried to save the image of the flier, it was very blurry. So I took a photo of the flier. It is not really legible either so I will just tell you what it says, ok???

Reggie Ellis Kidney Transplant Beer Bracelet Benefit at Grata Bar and Lounge

Friday, October 7th 9p-2a DJ starts at 10p

Grata Bar and Lounge Back Room 2755 Jamie Lane

$10 donation gets a bracelet good for Bud Light till the keg runs dry!

Happy Hour Specials till 2am!

Now for the important stuff: In April of 2010 Reggie was diagnosed with FSGS, a disease that attacks the kidneys' filtering system. Reggie is on the kidney transplant list and is patiently waiting for his gift of life. The average cost of a kidney transplant in 2008 was $259,000 and the anti-rejection meds that Reggie will need to take the rest of his life average approximately $10,000 a year. The amount of money it takes to have a functioning kidney is astronomical. This benefit night has been organized by friends of Reggie to help offset the medical cost that have been and will be incurred with his transplant.

On a personal note, Reggie is a fellow Hastings College graduate and also a co-worker of mine at the hospital. He has a beautiful wife and son, with another little one on the way. If you'd like to help them out and can't make it to the benefit, there is a fund set up at a local bank and I can get you that information. Tosha and I will be taking money at the back room door for the beer bracelets. Come and see us and help out a great guy!

The entire family has a thing for hot serial killers

2011-10-02T06:37:00.000-07:00

Dexter premiers tonight. Party at my mom's. Bring dip.

A first

2011-10-02T02:52:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, after my big nap, I went for a run around my new 'hood. Not being someone who grew up in the country, I sort of forgot that each side of a section is an actual mile. I hadn't done any running since, oh, June? 4 miles was brutal but I made it and loved every second of it. The land around our home is beautiful and I would like to share it with you! I need to find time every day to run a similar route.

I might try to steal this cute little camper-thing I stumbled upon. It doesn't look like the owners use it, right? And yes, I was actually running when I took these pictures. Notice that they aren't the slightest bit blurry. That gives hints at my pace. Molasses slow.

Who did you hug on Sept. 30th?

2011-10-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

As an interested vegetarian, I get text messages from PETA. They keep me informed of things. I do wish they would send out the annual reminder for "Hug A Vegetarian Day" a day or two in advance. So maybe I could plan something or get a button or something. I did not receive a single hug related to what I do (or in this case DO NOT) eat. I asked a coworker and covegetarian if he received any of said hugs. He said that he in fact did not and also that he would "fall over f-ing dead" if I ever voluntarily hugged him. Or anyone for that matter. He said he would think it was more normal if the housekeeping worker whom he had never been introduced to gave him a hug than me. Ok, ok. I have issues with personal space, public displays of affection, and spontaneous physical closeness. That is beside the point. The point is...I kind of forgot. Oh yes. At the end of October, it will officially be five years since I gave up meat for good. Take THAT all of you (Amber S.) who think I can't stick with things!!! In the past few years, I have reintroduced some seafood, maybe once a week but I have also eliminated cow's milk and butter from my home. And I ate a hamburger at a bbq when I was like 10 and a half months pregnant. And I had a piece of hamburger pizza at a Husker football game once but I was kind of drunk and the crust looked like a good beer sponge. Kindness to animals (and not eating them) is something that I feel defines a big piece of me. And yes, I get enough protein. Any questions about eliminating meat from your diet? Even once a week? I have read a lot of nutrition books on the topic. And I get a kick out of reading vegan cookbooks. That is what working night shifts does to me.

We tried to leave her here

2011-10-01T03:19:00.000-07:00

Yet another fantastic fall day! The universe is going to punish us somehow, for all of these beautiful days. We went to the Lincoln Children's Zoo. Every time we go, Willa has a new favorite animal, and a new one that she is surprisingly scared of. For some reason, the reindeer when you first enter the zoo scares the ever living piss out of her. She clings to us like the thing has a gun to her head. The same for the goats. On this visit, she was really into the penguins and the camel. She even got in the camel's pen and put grass in its mouth. Personally, I would be more afraid to put my hand that close to a camel than to give a goat a food pellet, but whatever, Willa. Go ahead with your bizarre phobias. We love you anyway. And reverting back to this blog's origins and our Bobcat fiasco, it really confused our child when there were Bobcats in the parking lot doing construction (something she totally GETS) and then there was an animal in one of the cages called a bobcat (she did NOT GET why it wasn't moving dirt into piles.) All in all, lovely day. Bonus to visiting the zoo: the train. Brad has decided that he is going to be a stay at home dad who volunteers to drive the zoo train on Sunday afternoons. Gotta love a guy with goals that involve such altruism.

Now, may I please tell you why this next week is going to kick tail??? There are ever so many reasons. Two - yes two - of my most favorite people on earth are going to find out what flavor of babies they are giving birth to in February. Right now I am predicting "girl" for both. We'll find out on Monday and then again on Wednesday. Monday night I get to spend the evening with two other favorites for a little girly shopping fun. That's right, Tosha and I (and Adah) are going shopping together. The fact that we are going to buy new clothes that we aren't going to scrub any toilets in may cause the world to implode. We'll see. I suppose I should include that Brad gets to go on a mini-trail ride on Tuesday. But he doesn't write this blog, so there. Friday night is another girls night, this one involving cocktails for a cause. More on that later. Saturday I get to tailgate for the first time this football season. Sunday I have a bike ride scheduled with Katie. And sometime during the week I am going to finish the painting that I started last week that I am IN LOVE WITH. Yay! Never have I been able to produce a painting that I liked well enough to hang in my own house. I think it's happening. If I can get Willa to stop drawing all over it with markers, I'll post a picture when its done. How's that for a golden week?!?

Awaiting the Great Pumpkin

2011-09-26T02:27:00.000-07:00

I love fall. I try to deny it every year. It signals the start of winter and I loathe winter. If it weren't for the Christmas hymns at church, I would attempt to sleep straight through from Nov. 1 through about March 20th or so. God, that would be a great nap. So I claim not to even like fall since it gets dangerously close to winter. But once I'm in it, I remember how great it is. First of all, I love to put canned pumpkin in everything. Cookies, muffins, oatmeal, pancakes, smoothies...I may try to do some sort of a diy pumpkin face mask. Who wants to be my guinea pig for that one?!? Secondly, I love football. HA!!! If you know me, you know that I DO NOT have the attention span for the sport of football. I don't have the attention span for most sports, although volleyball and the NBA both put up good fights. However, I do love the atmosphere of football and I do enjoy a good tailgate. Especially when the tailgate has shots that come in glasses made of ice. And when Tosha is there and we can make up our own games instead of pay attention to football. Thirdly, I love hoodies. I mean, who doesn't? They are the comfiest piece of clothing ever invented. There are a smattering of other reasons why I love fall, I'm sure I'll get to them eventually but for now, here is a pictoral sampling of how this Saturday was a perfect fall day:

Mom, Willa and I went to the Downtown farmer's market. There aren't too many left so we thought we'd best take advantage. Then we had an early lunch at The Green Gateau. Yum. I think I could eat there every day and not get tired of it. Oh and see those pretty, jewel-toned beverages? Half price sangrias. I guess they figure if you are brave enough to drink before noon, it should be half off. We also popped into an antique store. That is always a fun thing to do with my mom. Between the lunch and the next event, I tried to get a car wash. That sounds simple enough, but car washes these days are pretty high tech, and I'd had a sangria, and I swear the light that is supposed to tell you when to stop malfunctioned. I'll spare you the details, but 50 minutes later, my car was a little shinier.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Adams' family 1st Annual Wing-Off. What a fun activity and a perfect day for an outdoor football party! Tiffany and Raymonn have a great new house (with some envy-inducing furniture;) and a fun yard for the kids. Willa had so much fun with her friend Adah (who has envy-inducing hair, complete with a feather!) and some new friends, too. A good time was had by the grown-ups, as well. I think the Huskers even won, on this fab fall day. By several goals. Home runs?? Touchdowns?!? Anyway, I want more fall days just like this before my 5 month nap. Bears eat 20,000 calories a day before they hibernate. I think I could do that...

And I just remembered another reason that I love fall and it is that I love mums. I did not take this mum picture, but I do have several really lovely mum plants in my flower beds, courtesy of the old residents. Thanks for the mums guys! It almost makes up for all the wallpaper and the lacy curtains!

Ikea loot

2011-09-19T04:43:00.000-07:00

I stinkin' love Ikea. Maybe I wouldn't love it so much if I lived in a city that had an Ikea but I don't. Or maybe I wouldn't be giddy about going there if I were rich and didn't need to take advantage of plastic bag organizers for $1.99 but I'm not rich. The el-cheapo Swedish meals in the little cafeteria don't hurt either. We spent the last day of our vacation at the new Ikea in Centennial (Denver). We allotted for about 3 hours. We stayed for about 6. Oops. We got back to Lincoln at 4am. Totally worth it. Here is what I can remember of our final shopping list:
-Hopen bed for master bedroom
-Expedit bookshelf w/five openings for living room
-curtains and other gear for Willa's closet makeover
-15 or so white picture frames
-stuffed dog
-measuring spoons
-salad spinner
-tiny table and chairs for Willa's tea parties
-a few things for the Petermann bean
-aforementioned plastic bag organizer
-toilet bowl brush
-kitchen light fixtures (3) and bulbs

I think that was all. I am anxious to get it all put together and start making Willa's room a toddler wonderland:)

Fooled by a 2 year old

2011-09-18T03:42:00.000-07:00

My favorite!

I think Willa told her first lie while we were on vacation. I mean, sure. She has said things before that aren't true, like that the scratches on her arm are from a tiny bear or dad only let her eat 1 marshmallow before breakfast but this one was a well thought out lie. We were having mini-bagels and cream cheese for breakfast at our little cabin and Willa was just licking the cream cheese off the bagel and not taking any bites. I tried to tell her that she should eat it and that she needed lots of energy for hiking and she seemed ok with that idea. About 10 minutes later when we were all ready to head out the door, the bagel was completely gone! I was pretty surprised that she ate it that fast, but I didn't see it anywhere and neither did Brad. I asked her if she ate it and she said "All gone. In tummy." Silly me, I believed her. Probably even praised her for being such a good eater. We stepped outside the cabin and there on our little porch, was a bagel with the cream cheese all licked off. No bites taken out of it. Willa faked a look of shock and then looked from her stomach, to the bagel, to me with a look on her face that first said "I have no idea how that got there" but quickly changed to "I am so busted." I asked her how her bagel got on the porch and she looked down and said. "Threw it." What on earth. I couldn't not laugh but I also realized that its hard to explain to a 2 year old why you shouldn't tell lies. She also told us on this trip that she poops Pound Puppies. It is possible in our family that we talk a little too freely and openly about poop.

Up a mountain without a motor? Is that even possible?

2011-09-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

If you know Brad, then you know that he likes anything that he can ride that contains some sort of an engine or the ability to make him go really fast. I thought it might be a struggle to get him to enjoy hiking, since all of his past experiences with mountains have included either a dirtbike, a 4 wheeler, a snowmobile, or a snowboard. And then there is the whole "I have a torn acl and refuse to get it fixed" thing. But, Brad was a trooper. So was Willa for that matter! We hiked both days that we were in Estes. The first day was more of a nice walk in the mountains, very laid back and not at all challenging. Maybe a mile or two. The second day, we decided to try a different route and it was a little bit more gnarly. Lots of rocks, some narrow paths, several signs warning us of bear season and how the bears can smell you from 5 miles away. This path was rumored to be about 1.3 miles long, with a lake somewhere in the middle of it. That is, if you can read a map. I am horrible at reading maps and I somehow managed to get us on the wrong trail after we left the lake and it was loooooong. Miles long. It was chilly and drizzly. It was still fun, though. We had a baby backpack that we put Willa in on the rough patches, and for her nap. She slept in that thing for like an hour! We did not get eaten by a bear, although we did have a plan for if one happened to snatch Willa off the trail. It involved me punching it and Brad stabbing it. As far as wildlife goes, we did see some unusually friendly chipmunk things, a few elk, and some giant wild turkeys. It is mating season for the elk right now, so we got to hear the really sexy cry of the male elk trying to attract a lady elk. If you are wondering what it sounds like to hear an elk use a pick-up line, it is something like a cow with bad allergies dying a slow and painful death. Ask Willa to do the elk noise for you. She is pretty good at it.
Now for some pictures:

There is probably no more obnoxious class of citizen, taken end for end, than the returning vacationist

2011-09-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

I cannot even begin to tell you how much we enjoyed our little 3 day jaunt into Colorado. I will try to let the pictures do it for me, with just a few interjections:)

Here we all are, the first morning of our time in Estes Park. After driving all day Monday and spending the night in our adorable, cozy little cabin, we roamed the streets of downtown Estes in search of...SALTWATER TAFFY! (and fudge. Mama likes her chocolate.)

Can you feel the intense excitement?!? I love how old-fashioned the taffy shop felt.

After we had our sugar fix for the day, we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park for our first hiking experience. I may just lump all the hiking pictures together in the next post as they are very pretty, but mostly self explanatory. After the hike, we had dinner at the Estes Park Brewery and we had a little fire in our fire pit back at the cabin. And then (and I'm almost embarrassed to say this) we watched season 5 of Dexter. On our vacation, we spent approximately 5 hours watching Dexter. We are completely hooked on that crazy murderer. I aaaalmost thought I saw a tiny tear form in Brad's eye when the last episode ended. Not because it was a sad episode, but because we don't have Showtime and therefore we will have to wait another year for season 6 to be on DVD. Sorry, back to cute pictures of the kid.

The second morning in Estes (and last full day there) we started the day at a really nice little coffee shop called Kind Coffee. If you're ever in Estes, you should caffeinate there. They had really tasty bagel sandwiches and some seating, as you can see, just right along the rushing river! It was so peaceful and just the most perfect way you could possibly start your day. We spent quite awhile there, throwing rocks and sipping lattes. After breakfast came more hiking. A bit more hiking than we bargained for. More on that later. Once we had returned from hiking and had thawed and cleaned ourselves, we went out for a very nice dinner, complete with martinis. A quick clean-up of the cabin ended our last night in Estes. It was perfection...Thursday morning we were up bright and early for the trip into Denver for our Ikea fix. A bit more Ikea than we bargained for. More on that later, too.

Although our trip was short, it was so great to have just a few days with no schedule to follow, very little cell phone reception, no alarm clocks and 24 hour a day Willa access. It made the trip even more enjoyable that we stayed in a cabin that was completely stocked with everything we needed so that we could cook a few meals ourselves and not pack a bunch of extras. And having plenty of cash saved up, just for the purpose of vacation, so that we didn't feel guilty about spending a little money on ourselves. What a great way to celebrate our 5th anniversary and our little family.

For the love of all that is funny...

2011-09-17T02:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so The Bloggess is laugh-out-loud funny. It made my day. Oh all right. It made my year. BUT I have been introduced to a whole new brand of funny and it goes by the name of Hyperbole and A Half. I think the writer of this blog and I may be non-identical twins in some sort of alternate universe. I just finished reading the post about how simple dog behaves when they are moving and his high pitched noises. Totally Luther, back in the day. And helper dog has a self esteem problem? Hello, Bailey?!? And the writer does not want to be a grown up or do grown up things? Its like this girl is watching my life and talking about it in a way funnier way than I ever could. I suggest you take a gander at it. And make sure you don't skim over the pictures. And to give props to the lovely lady who made me aware of simple dog and his adventures...Fit Mama Training.

We have hopes for the circus one day

2011-09-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

So, Willa fits in our nightstand! Totally her idea to climb in there, shut the door and then come out like some sort of monster. I'm sure this is exactly what the designers at Kartell had in mind for this piece of furniture...baby storage.

In other news, I just discovered that Blogger has an iphone app. How long have I been missing out on that one?!? Whose job is it to keep me informed of these things? They should be fired. I just downloaded it, hopefully I can give it a try on vacation so you can know about every rock and wildflower we find on our hikes.

Labor Day is an ok holiday

2011-09-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

We played at the park! Willa had zero fear. Not of slides or of big, crazy duck-birds. There was some serious static action going on on the twisty slide.

You too, Rubber Duckie

2011-09-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I always do this, but I get really fixated on silly things before I go on trips. This time, I was just sure that we needed to have the carpet in our room and Willa's room shampooed before we could leave. So needless to say we aren't quite ready to go yet but we have fresh smelling carpets! I laid out some suitcases to start throwing clothes into and then left the room to get ready for work. When I came back, I found Willa frantically running back and forth from her room to ours, arms full of stuffed animals. And she was telling them "Go on trip, Puppy Van Boening! Go on trip, Rubber Duckie!" It was the cutest thing I ever saw, so I let it go on. It got a little less cute when I realized she was attempting to fit every darn thing from her room into the two suitcases. I'm hoping that while I am here at work, Brad is at home neatly putting all of Willa's stuff away and packing matching outfits for our whole family. Ha ha ha ha ha.

The anniversary of a birth. In other words, a birthday.

2011-09-11T03:06:00.000-07:00

Its true! Our dear friend Tosha turned 31! As per usual, the 2 of us spent the entire day together. If you are somehow unaware, Tosha is my partner in clean. Not crime, clean. Get it? So most days we are cleaning together all day. It just so happened that the day of her birthday, we were done cleaning just a little early and the weather was just perfect to do what Tosha and I do second best (after cleaning) which is to drink margaritas! Don't worry, we learned our lesson about drinking margaritas between cleaning jobs. We now wait until after. We also learned that no good can ever come of making up our own drinking games that involve bottles of vodka and counting.

After the birthday drinks, we took the fams to Champions for arcade games, pizza and bowling. This was Willa's first ever experience with bowling and I think she did pretty well. I swear her score was in the 70s.

Thanks, Tosha for including us in your big day!

Sad Update on Ms. Miller

2011-09-10T03:05:00.000-07:00

After all the nervous waiting to hear back from fabric designer Melody Miller (that's me being dramatic, it was only a matter of a few hours) she emailed me to say that Decor8 made a teeny tiny mistake in that the picture of the beautiful chevron fabric was actually just a picture from her portfolio of an idea that never became a fabric. And that, folks, was the longest sentence ever. Crap!!! I am sinking into a deep despair. Although it was very kind of her to respond at all, especially in such a timely manner! Maybe I could urge her to get it into production, just for the 6 or so yards I need?!?

Also, if you happened to read the previous post and then click the link and read the bloggess blog post, I hope that you loved it. I have now spent a good portion of my night shift reading her other posts and believe it or not, some of them are EVEN FUNNIER! I highly recommend that you stick her in your regular blog roll. And maybe follow her on twitter so you can learn how to make a water bed for a cat in just an hour using Ziploc bags, duct tape, and condoms.

Doesn't Willa look smarty-pants in this picture wearing my glasses? Can I please tell you a story that might make her seem less smart? She has started going off somewhere so that we can't see her when she poops. As soon as she is out of sight, we always say "Willa, are you pooping?" And she says "No. Just hidin'." To which we say "Are you pooping WHILE you are hiding?" Reluctantly, "Yeah."

This chicken will cut you

2011-09-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

If you have started reading Young House Love like I told you too, then you have probably already seen this and are already laughing. If you are slow and have not started reading Young House Love, then here is something to make you laugh.

Waiting on Melody Miller

2011-09-09T01:51:00.000-07:00

Beware, rambling blog post to follow.
First and foremost on my mind right now is Willa's bedroom. Without saying too much, and therefore committing myself to anything that I will end up destroying, the most important item I need is some fabric. I want to violently rip down and jackhammer the closet doors in her room and install some sort of track that fabric curtains can slide on. I have a few very specific criteria for said fabric, in that it cannot be too girly, or too youngish, or too plain or too crazy. I had all but given up on my quest until this morning when I got my daily Decor8 blog email and in it were some new fabrics from a designer named Melody Miller. In amongst them was the Holy Grail of "just a smidge girly, kind of grown up, great color scheme, I'm in love" fabric.

TA-DA!!! (Willa's own words. She has been saying ta-da a lot lately. She holds things up and says "ta-da" like they are the coolest things on earth, even if they are dried up grapes that she dropped on the floor 6 days ago.)
So, I found it. But now I have been scouring the Internets for where to buy it. It seems the answer is...nowhere. Its just a giant, rude, fabric-tease. So I took a chance and sent a whiny, begging email to Melody Miller herself. Now comes that anxiety filled game of checking my email every 9 minutes to see if maybe, just maybe she wrote me back. Please Melody Miller. Just this once. I cannot proceed with the reinvention of my 2 year old's room until I have this fabric. Fabric is one of those words that when you say it (or type it) too many times, it becomes a non-word. Fabric, fabric, fabric.

In other news...today is the 5 year anniversary of our wedding! We probably won't do anything magical or romantic today, as I have to work and then work some more and also because we are Brad and Allison and we don't do magical and romantic very well, BUT we did go to Kansas City together last weekend and are headed to Estes Park on Monday. That is my kind of celebrating! It has been a wild 5 years, and I can't imagine having had such a good time with any other person.

Look at those youthful people! What a nice day our wedding day was. Remember how it poured rain and it was an outdoor ceremony and reception??? But for some reason, that made it great. I think the thing I like the most about weddings is how they bring together all of your favorite people from all the areas of your life into the same place, and everyone is in such a good mood all together and all in your honor.

And yes, I have checked my email twice while finishing this post. No response from my good friend Melody. Maybe I should have invited her to my wedding. There was some lovely fabric there.

What a gem!

2011-08-29T00:05:00.000-07:00

I love blogs like this. I love people who introduce me to blogs like this.
I also love these pictures.

Want, want, want

2011-08-27T03:35:00.000-07:00

Etsy

This is what happens when I don't bring a book to work. I window shop. I have a strong feeling that I will end up making both of these purchases, after I do a little measuring.

August 26th is a beautiful day

2011-08-26T03:35:00.000-07:00

Colored bubbles are an awesome idea. I couldn't wait for Willa to try them. They are best used under close supervision. This situation didn't turn out nearly as bad as it looks, everything washed out (and it was pretty darn funny.)

Do you wonder why I am arguing with NOFX that August 26th is a better day than August 8th? It is the day, 31 years ago, that I was adopted! I couldn't have laid out a better plan for my life. That's right...DeeDee got what she wanted:) Ok, I'll stop quoting NOFX songs now. But I really do think that clams have feelings, too.

Wilderness Water

2011-08-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, we went on a tanking trip down a river whose name I have forgotten, with some Nebesniaks and some Petermanns. If you have never been tanking, I highly recommend it! It was a fantastic time. A few tips though: wear lots of sunscreen and if you have a fear of wilderness water, like I do, drink several beers. Enough to be comfortable sitting in the river. Lets do this again next summer! And brooke, thanks for the pictures, which I stole by taking screen shots of Instagram on my phone and then re-Instagraming them. Complicated, but worth it since there are very few pictures of Brad and I together on the blog:)

Amigos

2011-08-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

I like this picture that Brad caught on his phone last Saturday night while the kids were all watching a movie. At some point in time, I'm pretty sure that Willa, Borne and Kael will all gang up on the rest of us and take over. They are a scrappy bunch:) I would also like to take this opportunity to tell Brian that I am very sorry for what our fruit tree did to you, jumping up out of no where like that!!

There are places that a Burley is NOT made to go

2011-08-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, we finally got to go for a family bike ride! I still haven't posted any pics of my new bike yet, I just realized. Oops. I am in love with it. We decided to take the bikes to Branched Oak and ride around the lake. Doesn't that sound just lovely, and relaxing, and laid back??? Well, when we got to the lake, Brad decided we should check out these so called "bike trails" they have. So, me on my Bianchi, Brad on his little BMX bike and taking turns pulling Willa in the Burley trailer on washed out, rooty, steep hills. It was a little scary at first. Willa just kept moaning and saying "Um, not fun mommy." But, it did get better/easier and then we found these fun little secluded campground areas where we stopped and had some rice crispy bars. She thought that was much better. Then, we actually did ride around the lake which was more relaxing. All in all, it was a nice bike ride, if just a little bit challenging.

Our favorite food is muffins

2011-08-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

We went to the downtown farmer's market with Grandma Luth the other morning, and then had coffee and muffins at The Mill. For some reason, Willa and I really like to eat muffins together. The other day, I asked Willa how to spell her name. She said "W...I...65...75." She is so close to genius. She also named one of her stuffed dogs Puppy Van Boening. But if you ask her, Van Boening is NOT her last name. It is the name of her dog.

I haven't posted any pictures of the house lately, we kind of took a break from house stuff after all the trim painting. We do have big plans for Willa's room, though. And a trip to the new Denver Ikea is in our very near future, so that should motivate some house projects!

Anybody else thinking now that putting some silent numbers in their kids name could be a really fashion-forward idea???

Mabel and Lu-Dog

2011-08-20T03:51:00.000-07:00

I want to say a million thank you's to all of our friends and family who sent us such nice thoughts and prayers in the last week. It is evident that we surround ourselves with animal lovers! I want also to share this most beautiful blog post from my friend, brooke. Her pup, Mabel, and Luther were instant friends from the moment they met. It was always guaranteed that if Luther and Mabel were going to hang out, they would then be exhausted for days, as they would play so hard. That is true friendship. Why don't people play like that??? Oh that's right, we have to go to work afterward, not take naps on couches all day long. Pay special attention to the picture of Luther eating the stuffed cheeseburger, squeaker and all.

Puppy love

2011-08-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't shed tears after that last post, here are some pictures of pictures of baby Luther. I'm guessing right about now, you want to go buy a basset hound puppy. Or at least spend some time playing with one. I know I do!

Farewell, friend

2011-08-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

The handsome fella that is common to all the above pictures is Luther. He was our first baby. Brad and I drove to Grand Island to get him from a lady who had an ad in The Independent the day we first moved into an apartment complex that allowed dogs, back in August of 2003. He was born in late June, therefore he was just over 8 years old. What a dog!!! If you have never looked into the eyes of a basset hound pup, then you have never known pure joy:) If you have ever met Luther, you know that obedience and good manners were lost on him. As a puppy, he was a biter, a chewer, a barker. As an adolescent and older pup, he stole food, whined when we had company, and jumped on the laps of people he liked. His short hair fell out everywhere. He sometimes forgot how to be potty trained. And his most fatal of personality flaws was that no matter what, he was a runner who followed his nose, as hounds are prone to doing. But despite all these things, we loved this guy like mad. You just couldn't stay angry with those sad eyes, those long ears. He was the most gentle creature, always happy to see us, eager for our attention, loved to cuddle. And when Willa joined our family, there was never a concern that he would bother a baby, or be unkind to her. He would allow her to hit, pull his ears, climb on, ride, poke. And at the end of the day, even if he stole her snacks or stepped on her toes with his giant paws, she would hug him and tell him that she loved him. Her "You-Fer." (His name was tricky for her, as she can't do L's or th's very well:)
Sunday night, we lost our Luther. I will spare some of the yuckier details, but I was home alone, getting ready for a night shift at the hospital and he got off the lead and choke collar that we put him out on when we can't walk him on his leash. I didn't know he was gone for about 10 minutes and by the time I started looking for him, I had a terrible feeling that it was too late. He had been hit by a car. My parent's came and helped us with his body, which we made a nice home for in our yard, amongst some pine trees and sunflowers.
If you have ever lost a pet, you know exactly where we are at right now. Devastated. I get short of breath when I pass the spot on the road where the accident occurred. I semi-dread going home and not having him run to greet me. I start to talk to him while I am doing house work. I never realized how much he filled our home with his presence, how much everything I do all day is just a little bit affected by my buddy. I have never been able to set a plate of food at the edge of the counter or on the coffee table before. I have never had to sweep up food scraps from the kitchen floor. I have never been able to leave a door ajar to the outside. I have never felt worried that there might be a stranger in my yard that would get scared away by his bark. I have never had to explain to a 2 year old why she won't see her furry friend ever again, but that she can visit his forever-bed and talk to him if she wants. Ugh. I have never shed so many tears typing a blog-post.
If you knew my friend Luther, say a little prayer for him. If he ever stole your food, or rooted in your purse for a stuffed cheeseburger, or got frisky with one of your pets (or your leg), please think of him fondly. And if you have ever lost a pet, my heart goes out to you, as well.

I'm no expert, but I don't think this is what potty training looks like

2011-08-08T03:32:00.000-07:00

Quick Willa story. I was on call for the hospital on Wednesday for 8 hours. You hate to really do too much on days that you get put on call, just in case you would get called in (which rarely happens). So I decided that we should just bum around the house and Willa should try wearing undies and using the toilet! Genius. After the first hour of this situation, we had gone through 4 pairs of undies, 2 beach towels, and a roll of paper towels. Hmmm. So we gave up on wearing anything at all on the lower half of the baby body and Willa put on one of Brad's tshirts and pulled it up over her head and then just stood and watched Finding Nemo.

Does anyone else see the resemblance? Does anyone want to come watch Beavis and Butthead Do America with me?

Willa makes good cookies

2011-08-07T03:34:00.000-07:00

We baked the other night for our guests. We were not aware that my mother would be bringing over a giant cheesecake and then putting 62 candles in it for my birthday. These cookies were from the Isa Chandra Moskowitz cookbook called Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and they were the best cookies I have ever made. I think they were called something like Fudgy Wudgy Oatmeal something or others. I ate about 62 of them.

Carbon and nitrogen decomposing stuff, just for turning 31?!? Yes, please!

2011-08-06T03:54:00.000-07:00

I have always thought that birthdays are just too short. I mean, its a big deal that you were born, right??? And there are 365 days in a year? Why not take at least a week to celebrate your birthday? Maybe not every minute of the whole week, but I do like to plan a few special things for myself during my birthday week. The very beginning of my celebration was a gift from Brad of a new bike! I won't elaborate on it too much, as I don't have pictures of it yet, but will soon. Then came the bummer...I got sick and couldn't go on my big bike ride with Katie that we had planned weeks ago. We were going to take the MoPac trail to Eagle (and beyond) but I got the crappy summer cold that was floating around. So did Willa. So, I spent the weekend working and sleeping and not riding my new bike. On Tuesday, we had a little get together at our house, as my cousin Debbie was in town for the night on business from Denver. It was a very nice time, complete with lots of pizza, desserts, and wine. Thursday, the actual day of my birth, we enjoyed the farmer's market at Fallbrooke, and then dinner and drinks at Toast, which is quickly becoming my new favorite place to eat/drink/have coffee and muffins. They have a fantastic veggie burger. And fried pickles. And Summer Shandy. We get to cap off the birthday week tomorrow night with a pool party and BBQ with friends. Willa wants to try the diving board for the first time! Many, many thanks to those of you who participated in Allison's Birthday Week. It was very enjoyable. I am now well into my 30's. Eek.
You may be wondering why a post about my birthday started off with a picture of Willa standing next to a really cool looking tumbling composter. You are so observant!! That was my other gift from Willa and Brad. I was not expecting it at all, but really did need one! I have a little research to do on the proper proportions of the compostables, but I am looking forward to enriching my garden soil. When we first moved into our new house, I ordered a small counter top composter from OXO, and I love it for collecting my cooking/kitchen scraps. Now I have a place where I can dump it! Thank you, Brad and Willa! I know it just kills Brad to buy gifts that he doesn't think are "fun."

To Know Me Is To Love Me

2011-07-31T11:51:00.000-07:00

That is what her shirt says.

Test driving a bar stool

2011-07-31T02:37:00.000-07:00

I think I'm gonna like it, after we find a new home for the trash can (and the Keystone box). I think I even want another one to sit right next to it. Thanks to my new furniture buddy, Raymonn, for the heads up on the very affordable stools at Target. This might even atone for the fact that you killed a cow to cover the floor in your sitting room.

Should I share a recipe??? Why not?!?

2011-07-31T02:03:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to make a very concentrated effort to change a few of my eating habits lately. Not really for weight loss (although that is never a negative side effect of any change!) but more for the purpose of being a good role model to Willa, to have more energy, and to make good use of the things that are coming out of our garden and from the farmer's market. I am a big fan of the "clean eating" movement, however I am just not dedicated enough to say I do it with consistency. I am also a vegetarian (who sometimes eats seafood but avoids butter and cow's milk). And thirdly, I have a huge sweet tooth, especially when it comes to baked goods like cupcakes, muffins, and scones. I would kill for a scone right now.

Some of the changes that I am really focusing on for now, until they become habit and I can pick some new ones to work on, are:

-drinking TONS of water. I used to be really bad about drinking water.

-having green tea at least once a day. I love the stuff, and I feel like taking the time to make tea helps me to slow down for a bit during a busy day.

-having protein with each meal. Whether it be eggs, hemp protein powder, almond butter, beans, tofu, or seafood. Get it in there!

-Making the largest portion of at least one meal a day be veggies. Lots of veggies. I've really been digging bell peppers, kale, and zucchini.

I'd say these things are allllmost ingrained in my day. Some things I'd like to work on next are buying more organic and local produce, limiting sweets to things that people have baked and that look delicious rather than just sweets that are available, and getting back into making green monsters for breakfast. If you've never had a green monster, those things are like crack smoothies. I always feel so happy and energetic after I have one! For some reason, I get annoyed with having to use the magic bullet to make them though.

Now, you know way too much about my eating habits. Let me share with you something really easy that I made and popped into the freezer for when I am too rushed for breakfast, or for when I need something sweet and chocolatey. I found the general idea for this recipe here. I just sort of picked and chose what I wanted in my protein bars and this is what I ended up with:

2 mushy bananas, 2 cups oatmeal, 1/2 cup shredded coconut, a handful of dried cranberries, a handful of mini chocolate chips, a big spoonful of almond butter, 2 heaping spoonfuls of hemp protein, 1 spoonful of ground flax, a few dashes of cinnamon, a tiny bit of vanilla extract and then enough agave and coconut oil to make the mixture sort of "wet." Just a drizzle of both. I mashed all these things together and then pressed the mixture into a cookie sheet. I stuck the cookie sheet into the freezer for about an hour and then cut the mixture into bar shapes. Wrapped them individually in saran wrap and put them back into the freezer. They are really good. The blog I borrowed the recipe from has a whole list of other ingredient options. I would like to try them with dates and maybe with a little instant coffee. Or maybe a variation that makes them seem like carrot cake?!? Oooooh. I just thought of that! The picture below is from the yoga blog, but mine actually looked pretty much just like that.

Grandma's Day

2011-07-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

July 25th was my mom's birthday. 55! And she doesn't look old enough to be my mom. If you've seen my grandparent's or any of her siblings, you'll know its in the genes:) Willa adores her Grandma Luth. My parents provide all of Willa's daycare, so she sees them pretty much every day, with our crazy schedules. It is such a great situation for Willa (and for us). She gets so much attention and love and one on one time to learn new things. Most days she doesn't even want to leave their house! I have to think of some insanely fun thing for us to do when we leave in order to convince her to go with me. Good thing she thinks things like the grocery store, farmers market, Target, and running in our yard are insanely fun.
Thank you, mom and dad for being unendingly giving, generous, caring, and devoted.
PS. It was my dad's birthday 2 days later but the poor guy had to work all evening and we didn't get a picture.

I wish Instagram could build me a boat

2011-07-29T01:40:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting into my Instagram app on the 'ole iphone. Could you tell?!? It really makes me look like some sort of photographer. Or someone who owns a camera, at least. Which I don't.

Enjoy this picture, as I don't appear on the blog very often. Check those horrific tan lines! From tanking, which was a BLAST. (No pictures though because Allison+river+beer=well, we didn't find out because I didn't take my phone but it wouldn't have been good.)

Willa and I were on the dock at Branched Oak. We got to go for a nice boat ride in a little jet boat that was sitting in our garage but that wasn't ours. Why does this always happen to me? Fun stuff sits in the shop and it isn't mine! I'm not even clear whose boat this was, or is, or will be. All I understood from the story was something about an evil mohawk. Communicating with Brad is always fun.

This outing left me wanting a boat.

In Willa's Top Five

2011-07-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

We had to say goodbye to one of Willa (and Brad's) favorite people last week. Darren was a co-worker of Brad's at Star City and one heck of a good guy. He and his wife, Tori, moved to Kansas last week. This is one person that Willa just loved to talk about! If we see a truck like Darren's, or a building that looks like an apartment, she says "Darren's house?!?" We are gonna miss those guys and hope that they are enjoying their new home and jobs (and that they visit often!) The above pictures are of Willa "helping" them pack. Gosh, she's good at that!!

Just because I love it

2011-07-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

This birthday party picture gets a post of its own. It is heartwarming.

Lookin' good, living room!

2011-07-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

I didn't take the time to find before and after pictures of the living room that were very similar to one another, which is really annoying to me. Hopefully you all can get past it and focus on what is really important here and that is THESE CURTAINS!! As well as a much easier-on-the-eyes wall color and shiny white trim. The painting in the main living spaces of the house is pretty much done, except for a little bit of touching up. It really got whipped into shape for Willa's party, mostly thanks to the efforts of my mom who came out and painted almost every night for weeks before the party. She also sewed the curtains from fabric that I picked out on clearance at Calico House. I am such a sucker for that color scheme! I thought I would branch out, try something new...but no. Turquoise, grellow. Maybe I'll get sick of it someday.

And a little living room update, a package arrived on our door step today from our favorite friend who is named after a month and lives in Seattle. It contained a really rockin' light fixture from Ikea. Be on the lookout for a new picture of our entryway as soon as I have time to affix a gajillion little white flower-things to a gajillion white stem things.

Beautimous

2011-07-24T04:03:00.000-07:00

This little sneak peak was sent to me while I was working tonight by the guy that lives with me and hangs my light fixtures. And fathers my children.

Willa's Happy Party

2011-07-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

Willa finally got her party time on Sunday! We had a great day together on her actual birthday, but she was very excited to have a party with all her friends. And to make candy fall from a tree, which she hadn't stopped talking about since we went to Ian's party back in May. Memory like an elephant, I tell ya! We let her have first crack at my home-made pinata. It wasn't a very productive swing, but I think she enjoyed it. If I ever paper mache a pinata again, I will know to do a few more layers of newspaper and maybe reinforce the top a little better. Oh, and maybe make sure to have something on hand to string it up with besides dental floss. At least it wasn't already-used dental floss, I guess! I feel compelled to apologize to my mom, who volunteered to hold the pinata once it had detached from its floss and wound up with a badly bruised hand. Oops!

Time for presents! The other lovely lady in this picture is our cousin, Abbey. Willa just adores her.

This cute pink Hawaii tee came pretty much fresh off the airplane from the rainbow state, as Aunt Marlys and Uncle Mel just returned from their vacation there! Lucky ducks...

Willa's cake was pretty tasty, and very pink. I think it was all the love that went into the egg cracking:) Will someone please remind me next year that A GOOD MOM PUTS CANDLES ON THE CAKE?!? How did I forget that?

Willa's Great Grandpa Ray always has stories to share. Sometimes it is hard to even get him in the car when its time to go. Which is fine with us, he can stay!

And at the end of the day, Willa's favorite thing to do is play with her very best friends. Like brooke and Brian. Thanks for turning 2, Willa! It was a great day.

She is like a Keebler elf

2011-07-23T03:43:00.000-07:00

Willa was a great help to me, as I made her birthday cake. She cracked all the eggs! I don't know too many people who look that good, baking in their underwear. BTW, I am not in the pictures, but it is NOT because I was baking in my underwear. Its just a coincidence.

Our little mechanic

2011-07-15T01:14:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of the pictures that our favorite Auntie brooke took for us as a Father's Day gift to Brad. We snuck his dirtbike and a few tools out into the yard and bribed Willa (with cookies) to sit on it. No bribery was necessary for her to poke at it with the tools though. She LOVES to help Brad fix things. The other day, he was laying underneath the bobcat, working on it. So she layed underneath her tricycle and worked on it, too. (And yes, I did say bobcat. It is STILL in our driveway, broken.) Today we were driving in Brad's truck and he had a part to a boat in a box. She saw the part sticking out of the box and said "boat." She saw Brad take the broken part off of the boat and recognized that this was the same part for the boat. That is one smart cookie!

Her Very Own Special Happy Birthday

2011-07-15T00:50:00.000-07:00

Today was the day that the youngest member of this Van Boening family turned 2! And what a day it was for her (and for her family:) Brad and I were up late last night, wrapping her gifts, making breakfast muffins, and strategically placing a few balloons and streamers. Its hard to know exactly how much an almost-2-year-old understands about birthdays, so we wanted her to know as soon as she woke up that today would be cooler than all the other days of the year. We were also up early, as we wanted to be all ready for the day before Willa woke up so that we could enjoy the morning with her and not be too rushed. For anyone who knows Brad, it is a miracle anytime he gets up before 8:25. He must really like Willa.

When we could wait no longer, we woke the sleeping beauty and dressed her. Isn't that top just so birthdayish??? I think we overwhelmed her just a tad by going into her room and immediately telling her about all the fun that awaited her. She handled it well. If I had been woken with that same enthusiasm and noise, someone might have gotten punched in the face. WOW, we are not morning people:) First things first, opening the wrapped presents (which included a few movies, books, and tees), sampling the mocha-chip muffins, and wailing on the noisemakers.

And the BEST part of the early morning, taking the brand new, battery powered, Kawasaki 4 wheeler out for a spin! That thing is awesome! Initially, I didn't think she was going to like it. She took one look at it and declared it to be "yowd". That is Willa for "LOUD". She does NOT like for things to be yowd. She is not a fan of the vacuum, my little food processor, or the lawn mower. Once we got it outside and papa showed her just what the go button would make it do though, she loved it! She even sort of figured out how to steer it, after a few run-ins with my flowers and bushes. It was so much fun watching her learn to make it go! Too bad we had to go to work at all today:( But not without a few family pictures.

If I would have been thinking, I would have had one of the friendly road-crew workers come and take a picture of us all together. They have been hanging around our driveway all week!
The rest of Willa's morning/early afternoon were spent with Grandma and Grandpa Luth. I believe a trip to Toys R Us and IHOP were on the agenda.
Brad and I were both able to be done with work around 2:00 today, so we grabbed the birthday girl and took her home for a little nap. Which turned into a long nap. Which sort of interfered with plans to go to the Lincoln Children's Zoo. REALLY wish that place would stay open past 5:00! Ah well, the pool was just as fun! We didn't get any pictures there but I can say that Willa is very anxious to be big enough to go off the diving board. She did her best to convince us that she already is.

After the pool, we hit up Chuckie Cheese. I personally was very skeptical about this idea. Brad was just sure that this was the best dinner option. I didn't think they would have any games appropriate for a 2 year old and I thought it would be, well, annoying. I'm glad I gave in, because it was a good time. Willa loved all the games, even if she was a little young for them. And there were plenty of little ride-on games that were perfect for her, especially this horse. It was a little loud and chaotic, but that's ok for Special Birthday Day. Sadly, this is pretty much where the day ended for me, the boring night shift worker. It was time for my nap. As I was headed to bed, Brad and Willa were becoming reacquainted with the 4 wheeler and the new Lightening McQueen toy in the driveway. When I woke up from my nap, both of my buddies were falling asleep to Cars in the DVD player. What a great day. Willa is certainly no longer a baby, but a very intelligent, kind and caring toddler. The night before her birthday, we looked through all of her little Shutterfly books that I have made for her and remembered things together which was very fun. She was able to name all of the special people in her books. Last year on her birthday, we watched her birth video. I am, of course, very glad we have this video, however I am ok with not watching it very often. It makes me cringe. In the same way that I cringe every time I go into a cleaning clients bathroom who has just had a baby and I see that little squirty bottle and the bottle of numbing spray. And the Tucks medicated pads. Oh. Dear. God. Bottom line is, even after all that...hemorrhoids and all...I love my little peanut more than I would have ever thought possible. Happy birthday, Willa!

This is the prize she won at Chuckie Cheese for being a master at ski ball. Its a pink spider. Its what she wanted I swear.

The start of a very important birthday week!

2011-07-10T02:17:00.000-07:00

Willa will turn 2 this week!!! On Thursday, to be exact. Here is one of our very first family pictures that we took after bringing the bean home from the hospital. It is amazing how it feels like that was forever ago and just weeks ago both at the same time...She was so tiny! I was so big! Brad...is the same size! (I think he might have one less piercing, a few more tattoos:) I love to look back at pictures of her and remember her personality as it developed. She has always been a funny kid!

Such a nice picture with her papa, just a few days old. Seeming to be so breakable. But we didn't break her! Or lose her, or forget to feed her...Success!

This picture was taken on her six month birthday. Still no hair but crazy-funny and super-smart!

First birthday! A whole year ago. Saying just a few words, eating a few things, not yet walking. No hair. Still.

And would you look at that?!? HAIR!!! Lots of curly, springy, blonde hair! What a munchkin. Quick Willa story, while I have your attention. Yesterday I was cleaning some junk out of my car when we got home from a busy day. Will crawled into the front seat and was pretending to drive. I ran inside with an armload of the junk and when I came back out, she had strapped her stuffed dog completely into her carseat, propped up my checkbook in front of him so he could read, and crawled back into the front seat. She told me "Goggie book. Drive to Gramma's."
Willa, we hope that you have a super-fun week that is all about you. You are our absolute favorite.

I DARE you to work out with this girl!

2011-07-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

If you are a reader of this blog, then that means you are either my mother or someone who knows me equally as well (most likely) and therefore you know that the chickie-poo on the left of this picture is my cousin, Katie. If you are that one person showing up on my stats from Russia, then let me introduce you to my cousin Katie! She is one of my most favorite people. She is also a hair stylist to my hairs. And thirdly, she is a huge fitness inspiration to me! So, a few weeks ago I was in Katie's salon for a little emergency hair help. It turns out, the nitrates in the water at the mini-farm were destroying my hair during the time that our water softener was not functioning. So Katie was nice enough to squeeze me in and do some repair work. (The end result: soft, manageable hair. She is so good...) While the conditioners were doing their thing, Katie and I were having some green tea and chatting and she suggested that we schedule some time to ride bikes together. So on Saturday we did just that and it was great fun! We left from Katie's house, in the southeast part of Lincoln and took various bike paths/sidewalks to the Haymarket where we had a light lunch of salad, hummus, and sangria at the Bread and Cup. Next, we rode from the Haymarket to Lazlo's on 56th and Hwy 2 for a quick glass of white wine and lots of water, then back to Katie's. I really wish I would have borrowed Brad's bike speedometer thingy, because that seemed like a lot of miles! My legs (and bum-bones) were sore! I had almost forgotten how great a bike ride can be. I really like to run, but sometimes biking is the way to go, you can cover so much distance. The bike trails in Lincoln have got to be one of my favorite things about this city. Now that I got that taste of biking, I want more! I want a bike for my birthday. I want to learn how to properly use the gears. I want padded shorts:) Just kidding but really, ouch. Another bonus to our workout is that we both got to cross something off of our goal list, which was to ride with traffic on the street in downtown Lincoln. We were a little nervous about that! A big thank you to Katie for the great idea and the great company on a hot Saturday afternoon. Also, thanks to Alicia R for unknowingly letting me borrow her awesome bike.

Before the sun went down

2011-07-08T23:41:00.000-07:00

Its the Luth's and the Petermann's!

In which I attempt to ride a dirtbike. Note Willa on the pink Ninja:)

Every day starts off innocently enough

2011-07-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

The first ever celebration happened at the mini farm on Sunday and it was...um...a success?!? No one was killed? No, I'm sure no one was killed. That is all I'm sure of.
We didn't quite get the to-do list finished, but we did hit all the important things like food, clean floors, and keg. Didn't get all the way done with the trim painting or trimming the dogs nails but we'll get there. The night started off with some dirtbike riding and food. Brad and Sean did jump the smoke bomb, which was visually stunning. I believe there is a video on YouTube. I'll try to find it. I even took my first spin around the track. It was ugly but it got done. I prefer the yard, where there are no hills. After the sun went down, things took a turn for the "inappropriate" a.k.a. the fireworks got a little dangerous and shortly thereafter the keg ran out. So that is when the little ones went to bed. Willa at Grandma and Grandpa's and baby Jackson borrowed her crib. But Willa didn't leave before a little country music dancing with her parents, swimming with Jackson, riding a pink Ninja, petting some frogs, and spending some quality time with her Auntie brooke and Uncle Chris. (That makes them sound like a couple. Which they are not. They just happen to be 2 of her favorite people.) Many, many thanks to everyone who came to help us break in the mini farm. I apologize if you were in any way burned or if my husband shot you with a parachute. I do recall saying (more than once), "Why is my yard on fire? Could someone please put out the fire in my yard?" But I don't ever remember being too concerned about the fires so yes, the night was a success. I think that 4th of July parties may just become annual for us.

PS: YouTube video located, click link above. Major excitement:) I will share more pictures when mom, the photographer, gets her pictures to download properly.

Only like, 15 days till someone's party!

2011-07-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

I spent some time making some invitations for a pretty lady's 2nd birthday party. Now, if only I could find my address book in the mess that is our home.

Weekend plans

2011-07-02T04:29:00.000-07:00

Its looking like this holiday weekend is going to be a big, busy, fun one! The most important thing about the weekend is that I have 2 days in a row that are completely free from work. I think people think I am exaggerating when I say that I only have 2 days off a month but its really true. Every other Saturday. This weekend I swapped Saturday for Sunday, so no working on Sunday or Monday! No night shifts, no sleeping after night shifts, no napping before night shifts, and no cleaning!
The plan is to host a little 3rd of July gathering on Sunday, which is really determining how the rest of the weekend is going to play out. And it is pushing/motivating us to get this trim painting process wrapped up enough to clean up a little bit. Some things we plan to do before Sunday evening: get chemicals in the pool, purchase the patio set we have been eyeing, and some lights to hang on the patio, finish mowing and trimming, weed the garden and flowers, lay the mulch in the front flower bed, power wash the driveway and decks, get groceries and make some party snacks, finish painting, clean, trim the dogs' nails, mail Willa's bday invitations, and buy lots of fireworks. Whew! Makes me a little dizzy to read my own list! Also need to squeeze in a bike ride and wine with a cousin, a visit with a friend from Denver (who I don't see nearly enough), and church. And sleep. Which I am in desperate need of right now. I couldn't sleep yesterday after my night shift to save my life. Instead I shopped. Again. Something is up, I've been shopping more than usual lately. I don't feel like I am spending unnecessary money, I think its just that our way of life has changed enough so that we need different things than we used to need. Lots of outdoorsy gear and supplies. I envision that calming down a bit once we have the munchkin's birthday party, as most of the initial projects will be done by then and the big entertaining events will be over.
Speaking of putting chemical in the pool, the pool is up! The water is getting comfortable warmed and Willa LOVES it! In fact, when it was time to go inside, Brad and I both witnessed the biggest tantrums either of us has ever seen Willa have before. She was like some sort of demon child! Luckily for us, she is easily distracted by mango greek yogurt:)
Wish us luck with our to-do list today and tomorrow. Have a safe and happy holiday, if we don't bump into one another in the next few days.

Killer shades, chica

2011-07-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

Baby Gap was having a really good sale. And I went. Ooops! But seeing Willa in these sunglasses makes every penny I spent worth it. She has always shown an interest in my sunglasses but I didn't really think she would wear them if I got her a pair of her very own. But these were on clearance and they are oh so very movie star, don't you think?
Now that we have ooohed and aaahed over my sleeping baby...I was having a moment the other day where I was just marveling at how perfectly perfect she is. I'm kind of either getting used to or getting over the whole "my body made a human being and she is whole and complete and living" thing. I think just because she is getting so big and grown up and she isn't quite so tiny and fragile anymore. Now, I'm on to just how amazingly smart she is and how she learns new things by the minute. She says all the words. Not that you can understand them all but she says them. She is stringing together 2 and sometimes 3 or 4 words. She tells stories. She makes faces that are appropriate to situations. She ROLLS HER EYES at me. She listens in church. A few weeks ago, Pastor Craig was praying and Willa was digging through my purse and pulling out all of my receipts and business cards. She looked completely INattentive. Pastor used the word "presence" like, being in the presence of God or something to that affect. Willa stopped what she was doing/destroying and said (loudly) "Presents?!? Happy party presents??? Me???" Oh boy. That's my little buddy, always thinking about parties. And presents. She has also been very focused on friends lately. Pretty much, anyone whose name she can remember is her friend. And she wants them to do everything with her. The obviously fun things like coming to her birthday party, swimming, running. But she has also told me to invite friends when we are eating, shopping, and sitting on the potty. Hmmmm. C'mon over!
And, that is Willa, in a nut shell. Just a few weeks before she turns 2!

When bad things happen to good paint jobs

2011-07-01T02:04:00.000-07:00

I almost titled this blog post "When bad things happen to good people". But that sounded really overly dramatic and I feel like right now I could write a book on that actual subject and it would be a really sad one. So...on to paint jobs.

If you know me and we have ever had a conversation (sober) that lasted for more than about 20 minutes, you will know that I completely adore the blog Young House Love. Like, it is a borderline unhealthy relationship with this blog and I. Like, I almost don't want to even tell you about it as I will start to have feelings of jealousy and I will worry that if the Petersiks have any more stalkers (besides me) they may get scared and stop posting and then WHAT WILL I DO?!? Ok, I will try to share them with you. Seriously though, if this is not a blog you read, you should. Especially if you have any interest in DIY home improvement projects, interior design, or chihuahas. You will begin to notice that I take a lot of my "ideas" straight from either their current or their previous house. The color we are painting all of our main living spaces? The same one they used. The paintbrush I bought to paint the trim? Sherry's favorite. A little hint about our entry way light that is yet to come? It possibly hangs in their bedroom. Burger is on the list of names for our future cat.

What does my internet crush have to do with the bad luck we are having painting the trim? Sherry and John were having very similar misfortune at their house trying to paint wood paneling! And this is what I love about reading this blog. Home improvement (and blogging about it) is their full time job, so they did all the work to figure out how to fix their problem and I think it could potentially fix my problem too! The trim that mom and I have painted so far, with paint+primer in one, is turning a yellowish color in places where we didn't quite get all the varnish or varnish remover taken off. I think we may just need to go purchase some stain blocking primer and at least put it in the places where the discoloration is taking place. Although the bummer of the deal is that the Petersiks say that the paint can continue to discolor for up to six months. Yikes. I guess we will take our chances and keep the primer around for touch ups. The yellowing isn't super noticeable and the effect of the white trim is amazing, but I'd like for it to be at its very best. So, thanks a million, imaginary-blog-bff's!

What not to wear, home edition

2011-07-01T01:37:00.000-07:00

Here they finally are, some before shots of the main living areas of the house. If you tend to have a weak stomach, now might be a good time to stop looking:) Above is the front door entryway. Great potential as it is well lit with high ceilings. But as you can tell, friends will not be welcome here, since Brad is removing the wall decal that says they are. So bug off. Only kidding, we will hang a light fixture that will imply that friends are welcome.

Living room area. What is up with this yellow color on ALL the walls?!? It is just so drab and gives everything a weird, dark, sour look. The first few times we toured this house we thought those swooshes on the wall were just being created by light reflecting off of something. When we started moving in, we realized that NO, they are there permanantly and on purpose. Someone put them there, ON PURPOSE.

This is a weird kitchen angle, taken standing in front of the sink and directed at the dining area (which is a tad on the small side. I have big dreams of adding on to the back of the house and extending the dining area. We're talking 10+ years down the road). Take note of the cupboard that is totally obstructing the view. Also, take note of those bangin' yellow coutertops. Gag. Those, however, don't disappear quite as easily as unwanted cupboards. Those will require someone to give me a very sizeable monetary donation.

Here is a more clear view of the dining area. Wallpaper? Chair rail? Textured walls? Blech.

Here are the top five-ish things we want to or have changed about these areas.

1. Remove all wallpaper/chair rail/decals.

2. Take down room dividing kitchen cupboard.

3. Paint all walls a unifying, calming tone

4. Paint all trim, baseboards, window sills, and doors white

5. Replace the chandalier in the entry way with something more fun

Numbers 1-3 are pretty much complete. Number 4 is proving to be a pain in my rear. Number 5 has a hatched plan that I am very excited about. There are things I'd like to do beyond this, but these 5 things will make the overall effect of the main living spaces much more flowing and serene. As soon as we can conquer number 4, I will start posting some "after" pictures.

Tasty treats...from the yard!

2011-07-01T00:37:00.000-07:00

Thought I had a picture handy of the raised bed garden that we planted right after we moved in to the mini-farm, but can't seem to find it. So, here is a picture of the first thing we were able to "harvest". And when I say harvest, I mean that I picked them while Willa destroyed parts of the plants in an effort to...help? We can't take any credit for the strawberry patch, as it was already planted and in full production mode when we moved in. It was so much fun to go out and grab a few berries and rinse them and eat them while they were still warm from the sun. Hopefully next year we can take advantage of the full season and maybe I can even attempt to make something with my strawberries, even if its just to slice them up in some strawberry lemonade. Man, that sounds really good right now. Today was a scorcher.

As for the garden, we decided to try out a few things as neither Brad nor I had ever had our own garden. Historically, I have been really bad with green, growing things. I have killed some really beautiful plants in my day, but I think the fact that Willa is still alive and healthy and growing has given me some confidence in my ability to have a garden. Working in the yard, and picking veggies straight from our own dirt is something that I want Willa to associate with her childhood when she is older. Our garden is not big, I think its measurements are something like 5x10 maybe? We built a nice box, dug it into the ground a bit, and brought over wagon loads of soil from the old garden. Then we bought some organic seeds. Corn, spinach, leaf lettuce, carrots, kale, tomato plants, basil, and zucchini squash. So far, everything is looking good! We put up a nice little chicken wire fence but some sort of evil creature still managed to eat all my spinach. I may try to replant it and set up some sort of surveillance system to catch the rascal. We have used lots of the basil, it happens to be tied for first place for my favorite herb (along with cilantro). Willa and I even sampled the leaf lettuce, even though its still small. Can't wait for the first tomatoes to be ready! Then, all I will need is a mozzarella plant and I can eat caprese salad every day and be happy as a clam! Fingers crossed for my little garden. If it goes well, I plan to build at least 2 more identical beds for next spring and try lots more plants.

Abloom

2011-06-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have white lilies! It has been such a treat to see what will bloom in my various new flower beds. I always wanted pink lilies. At the old house I had red, yellow, and orange. At the mini-farm? Pink AND white! As well as lots of columbine, daisies, roses, other lilies, and maybe a hydrangea!