Not Much New...

Last week was a quiet week here. I worked late Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday but made it home in time for American Idol! (priorities, right!?)

Friday night we had friends over to grill (in the snow!) and hang out. There were 11 of us and we played a few games and had a great time - it had been a while since we'd seen everyone.

Ryan worked yesterday morning and then spent some time clearing the 6.5" of snow from our driveway. I got a haircut (I have bangs!) and then we had a lazy afternoon followed by some shopping and a movie up in Maple Grove. We saw Defiance. I thought it was really great and very moving. Ryan gave it a "good."

The new 'do...

Today was church, birthday shopping for my sisters and dad, and grocery shopping. Then Ryan made his dad's jambalaya recipe and I baked muffins and made mac-n-cheese in the crockpot. A food-filled afternoon!

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Pictures...

All of my updates seem to be picture related...

We got a gift certificate for a Photofiddle painting from my sister Kelly for our wedding. We finally chose what we wanted and it arrived a couple weeks ago. It's a painting of one of our favorite engagement pictures (as always, click to enlarge).



And here's an updated shot of all the family photos. It's not complete; I think we may hang them up since it's a little crowded on the ledge. And I'm still trying to gather pictures of both my sides of my family.



We got these two frames at HomeGoods a couple weeks ago. We didn't like what was in them so we printed some pictures I took in Rome. We're undecided on where to hang them.



And we finally printed a few wedding pictures. I think they'll go in the hallway to our bedroom.



Our "est. 2008" frame has been sitting out housing a picture of a random couple. We finally remedied that today and added one of us.



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We had a great Valentine's Day! We slept in, ran errands, went to a new gluten-free bakery, checked out Honda Ridgelines and then had a delicious dinner at PF Changs and saw He's Just Not That Into You. A perfect date with my valentine!

Besides all of our picture work today we also organized the extra bedroom downstairs. We moved a shelf/cabinet in and cleared out some extra stuff. I've now got a big desk set up with my sewing machine and the cabinet is full of all my fabric and craft/sewing supplies. Ryan even hooked up the tv and dvd player so I can watch movies while I sew. I'm hoping that having my sewing machine out and ready will motivate me to sew a bit more.

And more news...we have a new "sister". Ryan's parents got a new dog yesterday. You can see her here.

On the travel front, I'm heading to Tomah in a couple weeks to meet my cousin; it's the halfway point between us. We'll stay in a hotel and read, relax and catch up. Speaking of, I need to book that hotel! I can't wait! While I'm gone Ryan may head to Ames to see his family. His parents will be there so he'd get to see everyone.

I think that's it from here.

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The Great Flood of 2009

We've had some warm days lately (at least for MN in February!). Normally this would be cause for celebration and walking around in just a sweatshirt.

But with these warmer temps comes melting and dripping. This does not make for happy days at our house. Don't get me wrong, we're ready for spring (specifically softball if you ask me!) but all this water is wreaking havoc on our house and my poor husband's sanity.

I'm not sure how many of you remember last spring when we had water in the basement of our newly purchased house. It was terrible! Ryan lived here alone and couldn't sleep or eat for a week as the water made its way into our basement. We pulled up the carpet, moved everything out of the family room and kept vigil with the shop vac. We did get someone out to repair the problem (a crack in the garage foundation and water running from the garage under the door and into our basement). The rest of the spring and anytime we had a hard rain our sump pump would go off like crazy. But we lived to tell about it and never had wet carpet again.

Until yesterday...

Don't panic. No water in our basement yet. But the garage steps are filling up again and our backyard has a 4 foot wide lake just taunting us outside the garage. Last night when we got home from work we discovered the water on the steps. The original repair work from last year seems to be holding. But the water is still finding its way in on higher steps and then trickling down to the landing.

When we went to bed the water was at a slow trickle. Ryan never slept. He got up at 2 to check on it and woke me with "the landing is all wet". We were up for an hour shop vac-ing, attaching longer hoses to the sump pump and rigging up some golf tees to direct the water flow. I know...golf tees? I'll explain.

When the man repaired the garage last year, he patched the crack and dug out the entire landing to tie it into the drain tile for the house. When he replaced the cement in the landing he edged the entire thing in ribbed plastic. If we looked down the behind the plastic we could see a deep hole. At 2am we discovered that the water coming onto the steps was flowing down over the plastic and settling in the landing. But if we held the plastic out from the steps the water flowed behind it and down into the drain tile and off to the sump pump. So, the golf tees where used as little shims to hold the plastic out and allow the water to flow behind it. And the landing has been dry ever since. My husband is brilliant and resourceful!

Despite getting back in bed at 3:15 neither of us slept until after 5. I'm at home on flood patrol and Ryan will be back around lunch to meet the cement guy. He is going to stop by and see if there is anything he can do.

That's where we stand. Please pray for peace about the whole situation.

It looks like regrading our yard might be in our near future. We'll keep you posted...

Lake Bohlen

Behind the garage

The steps and landing

The golf tee shims

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An All-Encompassing Update

So, it's been too long. I'm back with pictures and updates.

Not this past weekend but the weekend before was really busy for us. Friday night was a birthday dinner and bowling for our friend Ben. Saturday morning was my ladies bookclub. As I mentioned before we're reading Water for Elephants. (I'm not very far but I like it. Sadly, I'll miss the next meeting). That afternoon we ran errands, went to church and then headed to Buca for our friend Alex's birthday dinner. After dinner we drove up to Ryan's old house for a going away party. Sunday was hanging out, errands and the Super Bowl. Our friends Laura and Bret hosted and there was great food and great company. And, believe it or not, we didn't take a single picture all weekend!

Last week was busy too. We had friends over for dinner on Tuesday, I had dinner with girlfriends Wednesday, Pilates on Thursday and then it was the weekend again!

Lately, we have no idea where the weeks are going. They are flying by!

This past weekend we went to a concert on Friday night. We saw Jeremy Camp and Bebo Norman - both are Christian artists. There were 8 of us who went and then came back to our house for dessert.


Part of the concert crew - Katie, Ben, Dana, Sarah, Steve


Jeremy Camp (we were in the second to last row but still had great seats!)


Jeremy Camp


Bebo Norman

The rest of the weekend was low key - shopping, errands, church, dinner with friends, baking (the most amazing muffins!) and a few little projects around the house. We put up some great shelves in the laundry room and bought the biggest shelving unit I've ever seen for the garage. We may wait for warmer weather to put it together.

Here's the latest addition to our room. We don't have a headboard and have been looking for something to hang above our bed. This is what we came up with...






Continuing on with other random tidbits:

- We booked our flights to San Francisco. We'd love to hear what are the "must-sees"!

- I made granola a couple weeks ago - it was totally delicious! Perfect with plain yogurt for breakfast.



- I'm making progress on the family picture wall. All the pictures we have are framed and resting along the ledge in the basement. I still have to print some big (11x14) pictures for the large frames and get some of my family to mix in. Hopefully I'll have shots of the finished product soon.



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Water for Elephants

Book club met for the first time on Saturday. Our goal was to catch up and choose a book to read for the next meeting. We all came with suggestions but settled on Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I've been told to read it by multiple people so I am excited to get started.

Costco book department here I come! (the library has 94 copies but all are checked out or on reserve and Costco is cheaper than my usual used purchases on Amazon.)

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