And then there was one…

After living in Branson for two months we are happy to say that our house is almost finished. As of last week Scott completed his man cave/office.

He decided to go with a world traveling theme since it’s what we love to do and plan to continue doing. He put up pictures from all the different places we’ve been spanning three countries and all over the US. He’s also hung some of the souvenirs we’ve collected along the way. You can’t tell in the pictures but the desk has on old leather map on the top of it that goes well with the one we have on the wall. It reminds us of how much we still have let to see together.

We inherited the book shelves from Scott’s grandma (to whom we owe much!) so that we could organize our crazy reading habits. Thankfully, I got a Kindle last year and have stopped filling up space with my addiction. But, every now and then, it’s nice to go grab a well worn book off the shelf and flop down in a cozy chair and drift away into another well written world.

So, now we are down to our last room—the guest room. We’re looking for a daybed/trundle or a good futon to put in there. The room isn’t that big so saving space will be key. I love having a home. I know we won’t be staying in this house very long (as we’re wanting to buy sometime in the spring) but it feels good to have space.

As an update (besides finishing the house) we’ve stayed ever busy. Scott is running the hospital pharmacy this week on his own. He has been the primary pharmacist dealing with the cancer center and chemo treatments but now there’s a little more to juggle. He’s doing a great job!

I’m staying busy with zumba, yoga, Pilates, and ballet. Not to mention cooking, cleaning, laundry, and finishing the Harry Potter series (on book 5—man that woman can write!).  Nothing exciting or new just busy, busy, busy.

I think it’s safe to say we are really settled in. We are happy, we are loved, and life just doesn’t get any better than this.

Come and see us anytime!

We love you guys,

S/A

Branson update

Aaaaaalright.

So, Scott and I have been working very hard the last few weeks trying to get everything together. We have managed to pull together rugs, lamps, tables, wall art, a sound system, a chandelier, a ficus tree, and a chair I’m quite fond of. We’ve been very fortunate to find some real treasures at the flea market and on sale in other stores. But at long last our living room and hall way are finished. These two can be added to the done list with the kitchen and master suite leaving only the guestroom and the office to finish.





putting together the grill

Scott’s personal projects include his office and a grill. With all this summer sunshine it would be a waste of our back deck not to be grilling out at least 3-4 times a week. So, he got a charcoal grill and has been cooking anything that stands still too long. Also, he ordered a desk and chair for the office that is now on the way.  We are inheriting a couple of book shelves to round out the space so very soon his man space too will be checklist ready.



Currently, the guest room has a four legged guest in it. We are puppy sitting a friend’s year old lab. The crate for my puppy was already located in there so now there is someone to occupy it until we go pick up our baby. Puppy sitting has been a good practice run for us for when we get ours the first week in August. Ziggy (said friend’s puppy) has been a wonderful house guest and has helped me put together a good routine for later. Consistency is key with training a new pup and I think this has given me a clear idea on what to do.   

Our original pick up date for our Irish Wolfhound puppy was going to be the first week in July but the puppy we had agreed upon became very ill and unfit for purchase when the time came. I was very very sad. Thankfully, we found a new (our third in this adventure) breeder with a fresh litter. She had 6 girls and 1 boy! We were able to snag him up just in time. The name I had picked out for the other puppy was going to be Detective Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock for short)—you know, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Hound of the Baskervilles”. But when we saw this baby for the first time I knew that name wasn’t going to fit. This little guy is a CHUNK! He’s going to be huge when he grows up… I mean, I know these dogs are already massive but he’s also very sturdy. So, we picked a new name—Thor. Nothing says ‘massive and powerful’ like a Norse god.

The down side to having to get another breeder is going to be the distance. This breeder (and the next closest in location) is located in Minnesota. She has agreed to meet us in Central Indiana to help cut the drive (since it’s too hot to ship animals right now) down to 9 hours. Woo hoo! Road trip! Allow me to reiterate how much I desperately want this puppy and how AMAZING Scott has been through all of this. I owe him big time!

For anyone who feels the need to look down their nose at me for wanting to purchase from a breeder (as a few have voiced) I would like to take a moment to defend myself. I have volunteered at the animal shelter, helped run pet adoption days on the weekends, and been a foster parent to dogs and cats alike. I love shelter animals. They are wonderful, loving, and deserving creatures who need good homes. If you have no preference in breed, please, adopt from the shelter. I so happen to have a great interest in the Irish Wolfhound breed and can only find them from breeders. Ok, moving on.

Work is going GREAT for Scott. He’s really getting the hang of things up at the hospital and already has doctors who specifically ask for him to get advice about medications for patients. This is a really good fit for him and he’s happy doing it. I couldn’t be more proud.

I’ve been hanging out around the house getting things set up. I’ve sewn an apron for all the cooking I do now and am currently working on a Victorian lamp shade for our master bedroom. I love crafts! I’ve also started the Harry Potter series for the first time and finally understand what all the hubbub was about. It’s a really great read! Next, I’ll have to watch the movies in order so that I can go see the last one that has just been released. I also decided this week to chop off a foot of my hair and donate it to Locks of Love. It's been about four years since I had short hair so I figured summer is the perfect time. Scott is less than thrilled as he was very attached to my long hair, but it will grow back.

To say ‘life is good’ doesn’t encompass the happiness we feel. We know how fortunate we are to have each other and are having a ball building a life together. Come up and see us anytime!

We love you all,

S/A

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

Movin' on up!



Our stuff w/o furniture



We’ve been waiting for this day for the past four years. We are finally in a house with all of our own belongings. We don’t share any walls with a neighbor. There’s no one pacing the floor above us like a caged tiger at 3am. I don’t have to take off my high heals when I walk around to be courteous to the person below us… The apartment chapter in our lives is OVER!





We found a great little house in a quiet subdivision to rent on the north side of Branson. We’re away from all of the tourist action but close enough to town and the hospital to still be very convenient. We moved in Thursday and have been unpacking since. Today, I finished the kitchen. We still have a few things being brought up by family but the bulk is washed and put away.

It took a 16 foot moving truck to fit 98% of everything we own. There are few delicate wedding gifts still in route but the rest is here. Scott and his brother Brian did super hero work moving everything in and out of the truck. I’m still shocked nothing was broken, scratched, or damaged in the move. I thought I’d be doing well to make it up here with two unscathed dishes-- but all is well. They were amazing!

We got our bedroom suite put together but we’re still short a mattress. It should be here next week with our chair and a half. Until then, we’ll be camping out in the living room floor. Our couch was gifted to us by my Marma and makes me feel that much more at home. We purchased an entertainment center that is going to require an upgraded TV-- Scott is so disappointed ;) There are a few things we’ll need to change and buy but all in all we’re settling right in.

Our wonderful realtor has done a great job of taking care of us including having her son mow the yards and ordering us pizza our first night in town. We owe a big thank you to Kay Fridley and Right Choice Realtors.

Scott is signed up for the NAPLEX and is about to hit the books hard to study for the next two weeks. He starts as a pharmacist at Skaggs Regional Medical Center the 13^th of June. I’m going to get our house set up and puppy settled in (in July) then start looking for a job myself. I feel like a little bird fluffing my feathers and settling into my own little nest. It gives me such a deep sense of joy and gratefulness. My cup runneth over.

If you want our new address please let me know and I’ll get it to you.  I'll post more pictures of the inside and out once we get it more together.

Love you all,

S/A

Dr. William Scott Hickey

WOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!

I am happy to announce that Scott has done it! He graduated from pharmacy school. Four years at the U of A for his BS in Biology followed directly by four years of pharmacy school. He has worked day and night studying, drilling, and reviewing nonstop. --Believe me; we got married three days before he started pharmacy school, he has earned every letter behind his name.

This past weekend we got to celebrate his and his classmate’s grand accomplishment. Scott was already in Little Rock last week doing a three day review for his board exams. I joined him Thursday night after packing as much as I could for the move.

Friday night was their convocation ceremony where all the doctoral pharmacy candidates were hooded. This was a much smaller, personal ceremony since it was just the pharmacy class (about 120 students). Saturday morning the college of pharmacy hosted a lovely graduate’s brunch in down town Little Rock. It was a very nice way to start a fun day.

Saturday afternoon was the UAMS commencement. This was a serious affair. There were over 900 students whose names were called, families cheered, and received their doctoral certificates. 900. This means in order to get out of there in a timely manner, the announcers called one name every 4-5 seconds. I took my Kindle along for the ride.

Below are the two videos of Scott being hooded and of him receiving his diploma. Forgive me screaming in the latter-- I was a little excited :)

CONGRATULATIONS WILLIAM SCOTT HICKEY, PHARM.D.

I know he was able to breathe a deep sigh of relief after it was all over. We are all so proud of him and his hard work the last four years. Now we get to start the next new exciting chapter in our lives. We are almost ready to go. Packing has been a nonstop process-- especially with trying to time moving trucks, deliveries, and loading around little things like tornadoes and other natural disasters.

We couldn’t have made it through the years though, without the unwavering support of our families and friends. There are so many people who were essential to us making out of UAMS alive. We are forever grateful to you all for being there for us in so many ways. Thank you, thank you!

Love always,

S/A