Domesticity

Well boys and girls, Scott just finished his first week as a real pharmacist. He found out last Monday that he passed the NAPLEX (pharmacy boards) and has been breathing easily ever since. After the first week he really likes the job at the hospital. They’re laid back, friendly people.  YAY!

At the end of last week we found out our pick up date for our Irish Wolfhound. JULY 2^nd!!! We will be driving to across Missouri to southern Illinois to pick him up and bring him home. Our wonderful breeder from Leap of Faith Wolfhounds has been fantastic and even called us on Father’s Day to wish Scott a happy (puppy) father’s day. Have I mentioned how excited I am… because if you know me, then you know just how excited I can get—REALLY excited. I may or may not be (but absolutely am) bouncing up and down right now just thinking about it.

 So, in preparation of bringing home our new baby I decided to make him a bed. I made one almost identical to this one for a friend last year. I liked it so much I decided to do ours like it. The size is 35inches X 35inches. I should have put something in the picture to give it scale but, he’s going to be really big so the bed needed to be really big as well.

I’ll do a post all about the breed as we get closer to pick up. Then once we get him you guys will be sick of puppy pictures and stories. I have a feeling I’m going to be like one of those obsessed parents who carry pictures in their wallet and somehow find a way to bring their kid up in every conversation. If they make puppy class honor student bumper stickers, I’ll probably own one.

In other fun news; over the weekend my friend Sara (who got a pharmacy job up here with Wal-Mart) and I got together for one of our favorite pastime-- cupcake making. <3<3<3  We decided to tackle the ever precarious Angel Food Cake recipe and make it into tiny cute Cherub Food Cakes (you know, since they’re miniature angels). Needless to say, we had fun. Even better though, they turned out fan-flippin-tastic! YUMMY! Scott and Miguel (the dog) got to relax while the girls did the dirty work.

So, between baking with friends and sewing for my puppy, I feel I am taking on the domestic life in full stride.

Love and kisses,

S/A

Grownups

I feel like an adult. It’s so weird.

Yesterday Scott took his pharmacy board exam in Springfield. I know he did great but we won’t have the results until Monday at the earliest. While he was gone I diligently typed away at my book. Today, though, was the day when I felt like I was really taking a forward and deliberate step into adulthood.

Yard work.

When I was younger my mom found a very effective form of punishment—manual outside labor-- more specifically, pulling weeds. We hated it! There was little I wouldn’t do to try and avoid pulling weeds. But my mother had beautiful flower beds surrounding our house. These were no small time beds either. She had gardening down to art and they always looked so beautiful. (I say this in past tense since I’m thinking of specific memories from the past, but her gardens are still very pretty.) But gardens get weeds and weeds need to be pulled and with a house full of mischievous children, there was never a shortage of reasons to make us pull them.

Since Scott and I’ve been married we’ve moved from one small apartment to the next. Obviously, we didn’t have gardens to weed and plant or yards groom and mow. I tried my hand our first year at a potted flower but it died. I felt no further need to punish perfectly good plants by taking them into my “care” and having them wither away.

But then we moved into our house with a lovely front and back yard. Now that we feel good about having the inside mostly set up we ventured out to work on our outdoor projects. Scott took the back yard and I took the front. His goal was to put steps into our terrace so that we could have easy access to the yard. I don’t know what the people before us did but it needed to be done.



My reaction to the rocks



I worked in the front trying to put in a flower bed around the base of one of our trees. I’ve watched my mother do this a million times over. I felt secure in my knowledge and set forth to conquer the bed. I knew I was in big trouble though when I put the tip of my trowel in the ground and it stopped short with a loud clink. Moving over several inches I tried again. Clink. And again… clink. The yard is built over solid rock. I don’t even know how our grass grows! Everywhere new I tried I was met with large rocks. This was not part of my game plan.

So, I spent a 90% of my time digging up rocks out of our shallow soil with hopes I would find good earth below it and be able to plant. After clearing the area I wanted to use of the majority of rocks I found the earth to be hard, dry, and still very rocky. If I remember correctly, these are not ideal planting conditions. There had been a shallow growing ground cover planted in that area before and now I realize it was because that was the only thing that could possibly have grown.

So, new game plan.

1.       Use the rocks I excavated to form a boarder around the “garden”

2.      Use more of the rocks to build a small terrace around the tree and put potted flowers on it

3.      Fill in the rest of the worthless dirt with mulch and put more potted plants on top of it.  

But there’s something about working outside in the yard that will always remind me of my mother. I remember her coming into the kitchen to scrub the dirt out from under her nails, covered in sweat and soil, and being very happy. At the time I figured only grownups could be happy doing that kind of work and now, though I’ve had few setbacks, I find myself walking into my kitchen to wash the dirt out from under my nails and feeling very satisfied with what I have accomplished.

Thankfully, Scott’s project turned out much better than mine. The steps look great! We both worked hard and now it’s time for a little pink lemonade and chili queso before I start dinner. Life feels good today and maybe in this moment being a grownup is better than being a kid.

We love you all,

S/A

Welcome home!

Nest, nest, nest.

It’s been a busy week for us. We got all of the furniture moved in but then the real work started. We had about a million little things to find a place for to turn this house into a home. This week too, has been a repair week for our landlord. There were a few small things that didn’t get finished outside before we moved in. But, today marked the end of that and now our house is ready. Decks are washed and stained, fence and retaining wall mended, knick knacks are finding homes on the walls and in shelves.

Many have asked for more pictures to be posted of the house. I initially wanted to wait till it was “finished” but that may be a few more months. Each room seems to be missing one thing or another that we want to get eventually. Every room is also missing curtains and wall art. The kitchen is doing pretty well but I have my eye out in stores and flea markets for a corner china hutch. The living room needs an end table for the couch. Scott thinks a tree would make a nice touch in the corner.

We were glad to find the octagonal end table and red/gold lamp on it at “The Place” flea market in Fayetteville. Also, while we were there we picked up a gold mirror for the entry way and a beautiful gold sconce. They have some really great stuff for super reasonable prices. Putting together a house is expensive to say the least.

The hallway will be filled with pictures of me and Scott from our wedding and graduations. I’ve got my eye out for a skinny end of hall table to finish the look. Our two spare bedrooms are a little scarce to say the least. We don’t have any office furniture yet. Between the two of us we have a really large book collection both for school and pleasure. Bookshelves will be a must if we want to ever walk in there. The guest room has a black night stand (courtesy of The Place). We’re thinking about doing a trundle day bed or a futon. Either way, saving space will be important.

Thankfully, oh so thankfully, our mattress set finally came in! Scott and I’ve been sleeping on the couch together for the last week. So, to go from a twin sized, 10 year old couch to a king sized, ultra plush bed… there’s just no comparison. Last night was our first night to sleep on it and I slept like the dead. Next to the window side of the bed I want to put a reading chair and lamp to complete the cozy sitting area. Besides that and a lamp shade, the master is done. Our master bath on the other hand, is not. We’re currently using the stuff that will go in the guest eventually but I haven’t decided how I want to decorate it. Besides, it’s not very high up on the list right now.

These are all things that we will collect over time-- little here and there. I know it doesn’t happen overnight and I’m ok waiting. I’m just so grateful and excited to have our little home. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to put holes in the walls to hang things and couldn’t or walked into a store and said ‘oh, I love that’ but not have anywhere to put it in our 400 square foot apartment. I’m starting to feel like a real adult, you know, with neighbors and bills. Life is so exciting!

I’ll be sure and update as we collect things along the way. Welcome to our home!

We love you all,

S/A