A million and one things I want to do before...

I'm going to blame my new obsession with all things "Bucket Listy" on the other fun blogs that I read.  (Like Amy's 1,000 things to do this year, and brooke's 101 Goals in 1,001 Days)  But maybe, deep down, I feel a clock ticking.  I want to do big, big things.  Things that will take time to work up to, to train for, to save for, to build...And now, after Grandpa's death, its just about all I can think of.  My Grandpa had such a full life!  He did so many different jobs, met so many people, traveled the world.  So I am going to start keeping a list of all the stuff I'd like to accomplish, and then maybe talk about each one, as I do them.  Some of the things are just normal, everyday things but maybe its important to me to do them a whole bunch.  Some of the things are huge and expensive and will take a long time to accomplish.  I hesitate to call this a goal list, as I don't really have a timeline in mind.  Its more just a list of stuff that I think is neat and I really, really have a desire to do.  Since I started writing things down a few weeks ago in a special little notebook, I think I have added a few things nearly every day, as they have popped into my head.  I am going to share them all with you, in the hopes of being accountable to my list, and also just in case someone wants to help me out with any of them!  You know, like "donating" a trip to Holland?  Or maybe just making a date to donate blood together and then have coffee:)

Bare with my list.  It started out in catagories, but my brain and my fingers both started working fast and the catagories got lost.  Also, it is just implied that I want to do these things with my family, unless otherwise stated.

1.  See Mt. Rushmore and camp in South Dakota
2.  Hike in Rocky Mountain National Park
3. Take a wine tasting trip to No. California with girlfriends/girl cousins
4. Visit Washington D.C.
5-7.  Visit 3 West Coast beaches
8-10. Visit 3 East Coast beaches
11-13  Visit New York City 3 times: Once to run the marathon, once with family, and once on an artsy girly trip
14. Visit Connecticut
15. Go to another Hawaiian Island
16. Italy
17. Bali
18. the Maldives- or somewhere that has those huts on the water
19. Thailand
20. Canada
21. See the tulips in Amsterdam
22. Hike in the Swiss Alps
23. New Zealand
24. See the Grand Canyon
25-27. Take 3 spontaneous trips with others
28. Trip with my entire family to Estes Park, all together in a big cabin
29. Camp at the Great Lakes
30. Run the full Lincoln Marathon
31. Run the Chicago Marathon
32. Run the NY Marathon
33. Qualify for the Boston Marathon
34. Run the Boston Marathon
35. Run an Ultra Marathon
36. Have visible abs
37. Do a pull-up
38. Get into a regular yoga practice, at a studio
39. Master inversion poses
40. Meditate daily
41. Be capable of at least 25 military-style push ups with good form
42. Spend an entire day running/walking, for fun
43. Try a massage
44. Pet dolphins with Willa
45. Ride in a hot air balloon
46. Go ice skating
47-51. Have family pictures taken (professionally?)
52. Hold a scavenger hunt for someone
53, 54 Go on a missions trip for church (US and international)
55. Watch sea turtles hatch
56. Make almond milk
57. Cook all the way through a vegan cookbook
58. Visit a cave
59. Have another baby (try to do it naturally, again.)
60. Own a very large dog
61, 62. Read through the entire Bible, twice
63. Own my own Bible
64. Skinny dip
65. Write something that someone else wants to read
66. Own a very small dog
67. Have a large garden
68. Can something from my garden
69. Freeze something from my garden
70. Be completely debt free (including house payment)
71. Volunteer for the Humane Society
72. Work at the polls for a presidential election
73-75. Pay for the next person's coffee
76-78. Take a class on gardening, plants, etc.
79. Own a really nice camera
80. Own a really nice tv
81. Go snowmobiling again
82. Try accupunture
83. Go to an NFL game
84. Go to an NBA game
85. Stand under a waterfall
86. Go canoeing
87. Go tanking with friends
88. See whales in the ocean
89-91. Visit another (big) city's farmers market
92. Wear heels in public
93. Find the perfect lipstick shade (for me)
94. Be blonde again
95. Keep a journal of Willa's childhood
96. Keep a journal of Next Baby's childhood
97. Go on a 10 year anniversary trip with Brad
98. See a gymnastics event
99. Dye a streak of my hair a fun color
100. Learn how to make my blog pretty
101. Visit a well known vegan bakery and try 3 things
102-104. Leave a $100 tip at a restaruant on Christmas Eve
105. Pet an elephant
106. Pet a baby cow
107-157. Donate blood 50 times
158. Do paper mache with Willa
159. Take photos in a photo booth
160. Make (and master) vegan, gluten-free donuts
161. Learn to braid
162-164. Have a spa day
165. Have my palm read
166. Go on a yoga retreat vacation
167. Wear fake eyelashes
168. Have hair extensions
169. Spend a night in a very fancy hotel
170. Stay at a bed and breakfast
171. Stay in a house right on a beach
172. Drink wine that costs more than $50/bottle
173. Order room service
174. Make a pie from scratch
175. Wear a formal gown
176. Own a little black dress
177. Be in the audience of a tv show (like Ellen or Kelly or David Letterman)
178. Go to a movie by myself
179. See a "cirque" show
180. See NOFX again
181-183. Spend at least $100 on a piece of art
184. Try hot yoga
185. Own a motorcycle
186. Visit the capitol building
187. Visit a rain forest in Costa Rica
188. Rent bicycles for a day on a vacation
189. Eat at a really good seafood place
190. Go berry picking
191-193. Visit 3 different apple orchards
194. Go on a well planned picnic
195. Visit Yosemite National Park
196. Be a part of something that raises at least $1,000 for a cause
197. Use solar energy at home
198. Use wind energy at home
199. Own a car that is very fuel efficient
200. Set up an organized recycling center at home
201. Shake the hand of a US president
202. Own a really nice, classic winter coat
203. Own a good pair of snow boots
204. Meet Isa Chandra Moskowitz again
205. Reread the "Anne" series
206. Run a race with Willa
207. Visit the Jocelyn Art Museum
208. Run a race with Brad
209. Hold a really big snake
210-212. Rescue 3 dogs
213. Drink a $50+ bottle of champagne
214. Work with a personal trainer to be comfortable in the weight room of a gym
215. Pay cash to build an addition to our house
216. Pay for and take a trip with my mom
217. Have an outdoor meditation area
218. Have an indoor meditation area
219-221. Have 3 at home slumber parties with Brad and the kid(s) in a fort with movies and junk food
222. Make friendship bracelets with Willa
223-227. Have 5 or more 200+ mile months of running
228. Build up a well organized colleciton of pretty, high quality cards/wrapping paper supplies
229. Set up an allowance system for Willa
230. Build an "Easter" flower bed with tulips, daffodils, hyacinth
231. Makeover front of the house complete with new door, front porch, flower beds
232. Go to a book tour/book signing of an author I love
233-243. Go on 10 litter walks with Willa
244. Grow wild flowers along 14th Street
245-255. Volunteer at Matt Talbot
256. Take Willa to Branced Oak to walk and explore on a mom/Willa day
257. Go to Oregon
258. Place in the top 10 in my age group in the Lincoln Half Marathon (1:35 or under)
259. Visit the Tate Modern
260. Go to a fashion show
261. For one Christmas, shop only local or handmade
262. Join a small group or bible study at church
263. Make towers out of marshmellows and spaghetti
264. Go to the State Fair
265-267. Tour a few Frank Lloyd Wright homes
268. Design/build a plant stand
269. Design/build a coat rack
270. Go one full year without any soda
271. For one full year, run at least one mile every day
272. Have a healthy, productive strawberry patch
273. Research bird feeder/seed types and have feeders to attract cerain birds
274. Build a cute little trailer camper
275. Visit a Farm Sanctuary
276. Start making my own spaghetti sauce
277. Meet The Bloggess

So.  That's what I have so far.  I'm sure I will add to this list frequently.  I'm already working on a few of them, I'm excited to share! I have discovered in the process of sharing my list, that I REALLY have a thing for reading other people's lists.  Maybe that should be number 278.  Spend a day reading other people's dream lists...A whole day.

Why? Why do I kill plants?

One of the mini-goals that I set for myself in 2013 was to keep a house plant alive.  Sort of as a pretest to myself for gardening this year.  If you will remember, I tried to garden last year and pretty much failed.  Brad keeps saying I can blame "The Drought" and blame him for not helping, but I really think I am cursed when it comes to growing plants.  And its such a shame, since they are my favorite things to eat.  I have read a few books all about families who grow their food for the year in their own yards and these people amaze me (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and The Quarter Acre Farm).  I could totally eat the food they eat and be perfectly happy, I just suck at growing stuff.  

So, it delighted me when all the fun design blogs and modern home furnishing stores were pushing succulents this year.  I mean, they are related to cactuses and cactuses have got to be hard to kill, right?  Plus, I just think they all have such a unique look to them.  I had a gift card to Campbell's from my loving brother and the adorable hanging pot from Valentine's Day, so I set out to meet my mini-goal.  Once at Campbells, it was very hard to choose a plant.  They were just adorable and tiny and they each seemed to have a personality.  Weird, I know.  So instead I picked 4.  I put one in the hanging planter and three in this cute little bowl.  And I was in love.  I have been giving them a little water every week or week and a half.  They seemed happy.  Then today, I noticed that the tiny guy in the front was looking all wilty and squishy and weird so I kind of played around with him and he just mushed right off of his roots. Casualty number one, and just a few weeks in.  I really don't want to lose the rest of my new friends so I have been doing a little research and the problem is either over-watering (I kinda doubt that one) or improper drainage.  So I think I will look for a new home for the remaining 2 friends and resume eating cereal out of this bowl.  Maybe put him in more direct sunlight as well.  Fingers crossed that I can salvage the other 2.  The one in the hanging pot in the bathroom seems to be ok so far, but I probably just jinxed him...

A Necessity For Someone Who Likes Marshmallows As Much As Me

We decided that our "big" yard project this summer would be our fire pit.  (It really wasn't that big of a project.  But we are lazy and poor this summer:)  We had fire pit visions from the first time we looked at this house last year.  We put the metal ring in right away, and it was certainly usable in the sense of being a fire pit, but we had intended to make it a little prettier and more substantial all along.  I won't even show you the pictures of fire pits that I pinned, as ours look nothing like the gorgeous, modern works of art that I drooled over.  But I must say that I am proud of the nice little area that we created all by ourselves and pretty darn inexpensively.  Bringing the supplies home from Menards took several trips, as those pieces of concrete are REALLY heavy!  Like tons and tons and tons of heaviness!

While Brad and I worked, Willa discovered new yard friends like the super fuzzy caterpillar and the worm that she named Abbey (and made a bed for and fed grass to and then pulled into several pieces which she called his brothers and sisters).

 Doesn't it look like my dad is a great supervisor??

We had a bit of a time trying to figure out what to do with the edges of our pit.  The pavers we were using were designed to make a square or diamond shape but we really wanted it to turn out round.  So after we had created a somewhat roundish shape, Brad broke the extra pavers into chunks, then we used little rocks to fill in the spaces between the pavers and the edging.  It worked out perfectly!

Ta-da!  What a lovely place to make s'mores, to read a magazine and have a cup of coffee, or just to sit and look into the fire.  I can totally picture Willa having slumber parties some day and all the little chick-a-dee birds sitting around telling ghost stories. 

Nothing like a little landscaping to rid your front step of skinks.

Its a proven fact that I am horrible at blogging about our house projects, as I nearly always forget to take a before picture.  So let me paint you a word picture of what this area in the front of our basement window looked like, for those of you who haven't been over for cookies yet.  It was a giant rock garden.  Oh, so many rocks.  Some that were quite large and heavy, all the way down to gajillions of little pebbles filling in all the little spaces.  So, so many rocks.  And then there were some really nice, old wagon wheels.  And then this metal silhouette thingy of maybe a cowboy and a horse?  I can't even remember.  We threw it away really quickly.

So over the last couple of weeks, Brad, Willa, Mom and I removed alllllll the rocks.  And pulled all the grass that was growing in the rocks.  And then dug up the weird brick border thing that was buried halfway underground.  Then we put down some of that black fabricy stuff to hopefully prevent the grass from growing again and planted 2 very pretty azalea bushes, threw on about  7 bags of wood chips, and made a nice border out of some edging stones.  It looks so much better now and as an added bonus - the weird family of legged snake creatures has moved out of the area now that there aren't all those rocky crevices to hide in!  Granted, we weren't aware of the creatures until we started the project and disturbed them.  But its nice to know that they are gone:)  During the project, Willa also discovered a love for worms.

She wants to be all big

The time has come.  Willa has requested a big girl bed.  Pardon me while I go find a box of tissues.  Okay, all better.  I will distract myself from the sadness by...shopping for a big girl bed!  I refuse to put her in one before her 3rd birthday.  Mostly because I want her to stay little, but I suppose the reasons could be somewhat financial.  I am quickly realizing that my taste in big girl beds is more caviar and champagne than pringles and coors light:)

Here are 3 catagories that I am pondering.  The first, a daybed from West Elm, might be my favorite.  Its compact enough to fit nicely in her room, while still allowing lots of room for toys.  Even though it is small, it doesn't really scream "young" to me, so it would transition well to a more mature bedroom.  Maybe a bed she could get use out of for years.
The second bed is fun.  Kind of trendy.  Its a platform from CB2.  I can see it with some really fun bedding, maybe paint the walls back to white and get some awesome prints on the wall.  The smallest size it is available in is a queen though, and I would worry that a few years down the road it may not seem as "in" as it does now.
The third bed is a toddler bed from Ikea.  Surprise!  The only one in the current budget.  I think it is adorable and Willa would love it, but don't you think I'd just be buying yet another bed in just a year or two??  That doesn't seem very smart, even if it is less than $100.  It also doesn't seem like it would be quite as cozy as the first two.  I guess that all depends on our mattress selection.

And bedding?!?  So fun!  Keeping in mind that these are just a few that I took from the 3 or 4 websites that I am looking at right now, during my preliminary shopping stages.  I think the top two sheet sets are my favorite, paired with a solid colored quilt or duvet cover.  On a white bed.  Awwww.  I think if I was letting Willa pick, she'd go for the fox comforter.  I'd be ok with that.  It will be interesting to see where we end up!

Growing things again

Willa and I started off the planting this spring!  I am so horribly bad at growing things, for a number of reasons.  Mostly, I forget to water them.  And sometimes its not so much forgetting, as just being kind of lazy.  My hopes for our new home, and all its space to grow things, is that I will improve each year.  Last year's garden was small, and not everything worked out, but it was an ok start.  We had lots of basil and lettuce and squash.  I thought maybe this year we would plant more garden space, but when I got really honest with myself, I realized that I better take another stab at my little garden.  So after today, my little plot of garden soil is planted.  Tomatoes, basil, Brussels sprouts, bell peppers, spinach, lettuce, carrots, kale and peas.  We'll see how it goes.  I'd like to do a few more tomato plants and some cucumbers, maybe a few more types of herbs but first I want to make sure that what I planted today lives.  No sense in killing even more veggies.  Willa picked out the pretty pink flowers that we potted.  She is quite good with plants.  Maybe my plant-killing-genes skipped a generation...

In unrelated news, today was Easter (pictures to follow).  The church service at Southpointe Christian was beautiful.  Powerful sermon, great music.  If you don't know, Brad plays drums with the music team at our church.  Willa was very well behaved, which hasn't happened since she was a tiny infant who couldn't walk or talk.  Maybe I have unrealistic expectations for her, but I don't take her to the nursery, nor do I bring along all kinds of toys and distractions.  I expect that she should be able to sit, fairly quietly and draw or look at a book, or maybe even listen.  I'll give her credit for trying, but some weeks she is just a bit more challenging in church than I would like.  Last week was one of those weeks.  Right after the first round of songs (when it was quiet) she asked me loudly if I needed to go to the bathroom.  Kind of embarrassing.  Then, as the communion tray was being passed (also a relatively quiet time) she asked me if the communion wine was "the kind of beer that daddy likes?"  Hmmm.  Thanks Willa.  And that is why we generally sit in the very back row.

I am so in love with that yellow "V"

I feel like it has been ages since we have done anything fun in the house.  I guess I don't consider the new well pump as fun.  I certainly don't consider the cost of it fun.  Replacing our used washing machine with another used washing machine wasn't a party, although I do really enjoy being able to wash a load of laundry that consists of more than 5 t-shirts without there being a tiny flood in the laundry room.  A million thanks to Bev and Leo Benes for the great deal on the washing machine:)
So, after spending a few hours outside today enjoying the amazing February weather, we finally were able to hang our new kitchen shelving!  These shelves were uber-difficult to obtain.  At Christmas time, Brad tried his darndest to order them for me as a Christmas gift.  If you have ever tried to order something from Ikea, you know that its complicated and expensive.  As it turns out, the matter that complicated the ordering of the shelves was a change in Ikea's suppliers.  We found this out from our new favorite friends at Omaha Modern, who were finally able to bring us our shelves a few weeks ago.  Do check out their website, they have a really good business going.  They travel to Minneapolis every few weeks or so and bring back Ikea goods to those of us here in Nebraska who are deprived.  I think they charge about 1/3 of the cost of the item as their service fee, but sometimes that is just so worth it.
Finally, they are up and I think they are really pretty!  I'm sure I will tinker with their layout a few times.  I think I need a really cool clock to sit up there somewhere.  Now I also have to consider the aesthetic of all the alcohol bottles that I buy.  Only 3 of the current bottles were pretty enough for the shelves today.  Guess I better empty out the rest of the ugly bottles this week and restock.  Anyone want to come over and drink alcohol from ugly bottles with me??  Its an open invitation.

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

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!

Hangin'

 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.

Sneak Peek

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.

Te Amo!

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?

We tried to leave her here

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?!?

Ikea loot

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:)

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

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.

Lookin' good, living room!

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.

Weekend plans

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.