Waiting for Directions

New Directions

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 02:44:00 +0000

... Warning: this is a very long post. A few very important updates in the midst of lots of personal reflection ...

No, I am not talking about the high school show choir on "Glee," the great show on FOX that is starting its third season this fall.

I'm talking about our continual wait for directions from above. The moments when Adam and I feel a little lost, a little unsure, and we're waiting for directions. Waiting to know what is right and when it is right.

And now we've heard.

Heard that our next adventure is to move again. Three more times, to be exact!

Now you might be thinking, "Aren't you sick of moving? Don't you just want to stay in one place?" Absolutely!

But we have come to learn in our young lives that what we want and what God wants for us is not always the same. Ultimately, what He wants for us is immensely greater than what we could have ever wished for ourselves. At the time, it doesn't always feel as though this is true, but as we look back over our lives, we can't help but agree with Him.

So as not to lose you, I'll be a little less vague about our upcoming moves.

This past winter (well, probably before then) Adam began to feel pulled towards a career that can provide a better lifestyle for our family (not that it's better than others, just better for us). He has never loved the "feast or famine" workload of a country elevator. He'd much rather be in "feast" mode all of the time. Personally, I think he's crazy, but the man loves work. He also wants to eventually get beyond the actual grain handling facilities; more logistics/training/?? at the home office of a larger company. This would allow Adam to use his brain more and his hands less as he gets older, but more importantly he could then coach high school sports and be around for family time.

After months of applications, interviews, and traveling, Adam received an offer late last week from CHS. He will be in the Assistant Superintendent Trainee program. Short explanation is Adam will be in three different locations over the next 18 mos learning, and then be placed full time at a terminal. We'll spend 6 mos in Davenport, IA, and then 6 mos each in New Orleans, LA and Superior, WI (or maybe Portland, OR). Oh, and did I mention that he starts Sept 1?

Let me be completely clear now, before I confuse you later. This is an amazing opportunity for Adam and our family. I am so happy that someone has recognized that his skills, knowledge and abilities and are going to put them to better use. This is a great "return on investment." In a year and a half, he'll be so much farther ahead than if he had just tried to get a permanent position somewhere.

This. Is. A. GOOD. Thing.

But it is a bittersweet transition. We've been here for two years, the longest that either of us have lived in one place since high school, almost 10 years ago. We've put down a few roots; not as many as we thought we would, but roots.

Our little house. I love it. I never thought I would want to live in the middle of a cornfield, but I LOVE it. It's quiet, peaceful and pretty. I've learned about gardening, including rosebushes. I've painted my own rooms for the first time. We survived our first major remodeling project with our bathroom last winter. (oh! my new bathroom, how you'll be missed) The bonfires, dinners with friends and family, canning, oh so many GOOD memories.

My job. This is my first "real" job that has felt like a "real" job. I feel like I matter, that what I do counts. That I have made some sort of contribution to the organization for the better. That I might truly be missed. Part of me worries that the skills and experience I have gained at Prairie Lakes Church will not be transferable. Finding a job for only 6 mos, 3 times, doesn't really lend itself to meaningful jobs. Then 18 mos down the road, will my two years at PLC even matter to any prospective employers? I don't have any training. No one will really know PLC and therefore won't understand that I didn't "just work for a church." But then I think, does it really matter?

Working for our church has been absolutely the right thing at the right time. Something that I never would have pictured for myself. Something that still kind of "doesn't fit" into the rest of my life experiences. But it works. and it works well. But is it what I really want to do for the rest of my life? No.

I want to be a stay at home mom. I've wanted to be one since I was pregnant with Aaron three years ago. But I haven't been able to. So in the meantime, I have to work. And God was so gracious to give me such a wonderful job for the past two years. Thank you Ron Phares for taking a chance on me. The girl you had never met but just had a feeling was the right person for the job. The opportunities and experiences I have been blessed to have are all because you saw more than my resume could tell.

And the people. Never before have we lived somewhere long enough to build any sort of community. Never before have there been so many people that I will truly miss. I don't need to name names. You know who you are. Some of people I see often, others only every once in awhile. Some people I will stay close to for the rest of my life, others I may never talk to again. But you all have become a part of who I am. I am thankful for every person that God has placed in my life during our time in Iowa. I will miss you all.

The next 18 mos will be crazy. And wonderful. And scary. And fun. And tiring. And one of our most exciting adventures. Do I want to live in New Orleans for the rest of my life? Absolutely not. But it sure will be fun for 6 mos. Melody will lose her big yard, but we hope that in two years, she'll have one just as nice. Do I relish the thought of packing up all of my belongings only to do it again twice more in a short period of time? Nope. (Um, have I told you how much I HATE packing??) But at least this time we'll have *some* professional help.

But I know this is good.

I know that this is the next step God has placed in our lives.

I know that God is good.

I know that God is always right.

I know that He has planned this next adventure just for us.

He's written the directions.

We waited, not always patiently, and now hope to follow well.

And continue to wait for further directions.

I wonder...

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:23:00 +0000

As it gets closer to what would have been your 3rd bithday, I wonder...

...do you have the blonde curls I always picture? Or did you luck out and get red hair?
...do you have blue eyes like me and your dad?
...are you long and lean, or a little roly poly like your dad was at that age?
...would Melody ever let you ride her? Would you two be buds?
...are you a picky eater or are you willing to try anything?
...can you climb up on our bed or is it still too high?
...would you be potty trained by now? I sure hope so.
...do you sleep though the night?
...do you have dreams?
...would your grandparents spoil you?
...would your aunt and uncles make excuses to visit just so they can see you?
...do you like dinosaurs, tractors, blocks or Superman?
...do you have your dad's musical abilities?
...do you have freckles like me?
...are you healthy?
...do you sleep with a stuffed animal or blankie?
...do you suck your thumb or did you (hopefully) prefer a pacifier that has by now been taken away?
...how much laundry would you create?
...do you like to snuggle and give lots of kisses?
...what does your smile look like?

...can you see your dad and I?
...do you know how much we love and miss you?
...have your great-grandpas shown you the ropes?
...does Jesus take walks with you?
...how awesome is He in person?
...does it make sense why you went to Heaven so early?

...will it make sense someday?
...will he be remembered?
...will he have siblings?
...will they understand that they have a big brother?
...will I get to meet him someday?
...will You take care of him until then?

I wish I could have known the answers, honey. But I know that you are in the best place ever. Love you, Mom

No Longer a Cavewoman

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 03:20:00 +0000

Last Friday I spent $40 and 7 hours to relieve me of being a cavewoman. When we bought this house almost two years ago (was is really that long?) we were very pleased with the paint colors. There was no pea green or mauve. There was nothing that needed to be painted.

Last week I decided that our bedroom finally needed to be painted. It was a very beautiful chocolate brown. The problem is that we have angled ceilings and a very small window that gets very little light.

That's not the greatest picture, because it includes the one wall that was originally blue. But imagine turning around and seeing three dark brown walls and two dark brown angled parts of the ceiling.

Now it looks like this. I woke up Saturday barely able to move my right leg from all the contortions to paint that ceiling. But I no longer sleep in a cave. :)

I didn't even tell Adam I was painting! I was putting the last piece of furniture back in place when he got home. He said that it was a good surprise.

Two Wisconsin Craftsmen

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 04:29:00 +0000

Looking this picture just makes me love my new vanity even more. This one was very good, very functional and really quite nice.

But take a look at this beast...

We had it custom built by two Wisconsin craftsmen. Also known as my father- and brother-in-law! Adam and I shopped around for vanities a little and realized that we just couldn't afford anything in the size we needed. Dale has been accumulating really nice tools and thought that this would be a good reason to use them. They both did a really nice job.

As far as a countertop, I went a little unconventional for a bathroom. I'm not a fan of laminate and the solid surface stuff just looks off to me. Cultured marble just makes me think of the 80's and granite wasn't an option. So I started looking for other options and ended here...

Butcher block counter from Ikea, $129! I've seen it used in kitchens, but wasn't sure about the moisture in a bathroom. After a little research, we learned that we could seal it with some poly and we'd be good to go. It does invalidate the 25-year warranty, but oh well. Oh, you can stain it too!

The boys went along with my plan, but weren't completely convinced until we put it in. (They didn't tell me this until later.) We trimmed it up and cut a hole for the sink. That was a little scary, you can't really fix a mis-cut.

And here it is, mostly put together. We ended up using one of the scrap pieces as a backsplash and are really pleased.

A quick tour of the vanity:

See the hole on the left side of the vanity? They built in shelves with a door to hold rolls of toilet paper and my womanly items. PTL for custom made pieces!
Regular under sink cavity
Two stacks of drawers, LOTS of storage space
One small cavity with two shelves; space for washcloths and hand towels, as well as the items that don't fit in the drawers. Nice use for the leftover space in the vanity.

Thanks again to Dale and Tim for all your hard work!

Time for a Tub

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 04:59:00 +0000

So here's the problem with digital cameras: they hinder my blogging.

Just stay with me here. The camera takes a picture whenever you push the button, then it saves that picture. Then you can take another, and another, and another...as long as I want. It doesn't cost any more to take one or one hundred pics. But then you end up with way too many pictures of a bathtub. So many that you load them into Photoshop and leave them there for two weeks because the thought of sorting through all of those pictures and then editing some of them is just too overwhelming. Therefore you never can put those pictures into a blog post, which ultimately hinders your blogging. Right???

Okay, so I'm being melodramatic. Let's just get on with the remodel...

Once we (Adam and Dale) ripped out the old tub, we (they) worked to level the floor so that the water actually flows down the drain. Who knew that you had to worry about that? (Probably everyone but me.) I also didn't know that you have to put it in several times before you finally install it. Probably the reason I took so many pictures, I kept thinking, "This is it!!" only to be disappointed.

So finally here is our new tub! It's white and clean and glorious! I love taking a bath and knowing that some stranger's butt hasn't already been there. Okay, maybe that crossed some blogging line, but it has always weirded me out with other tubs to know that someone else had been there. I know, really logical, right?

As far as the current progress of the bathroom, we're almost done. Adam's finishing moulding for the window and mirror. Then we'll touch up paint and be done. Woo hoo!

The picture below was taken as the boys were looking at...well...I don't really remember but I just think it's cool.

P.S. I'm getting really annoyed with my camera (for real) because it's been taking really grainy pictures. Not able to invest in a new one now, but bothered to put up photos like this.

Destruction

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 17:56:00 +0000

Thankfully this weekend finds us at the end of a *fairly* normal week. Finally feel a little under control at work, the house is back in order and Adam turned 27 this week! I tried my hand at homemade orange chicken for his birthday supper, and it turned out pretty darn good!

For those of you wondering about my grandpa, he's doing pretty well. Mom told me that the nurse says that he is gaining a little strength! She even had the OT come out to work on goals.

Now on to the bathroom...

I'm going to be showing lot of picture of "stuff" but thought you might want to get a look at my contractors. Of course, my very studly husband...

...and Adam's dad, Dale. (I really thought I had a better picture, maybe I'll find one later.) Dale was here for a week and half and worked his butt off. Most of the time in a Charlie Brown Christmas t-shirt.

Before you can make something new, you have to destroy the old (well, at least in this case!). Here's the first hole in the drywall. You can see the original plaster lath in the kitchen wall...

Then, for some reason, the drywall is all over the floor! :)

Man did this project make a lot of trash. Enough to fill the entire bed of Adam's truck and then some.

Here's after we pulled the vanities out. Don't you love the duct tape on holding the exhaust pipe together? More on this another day.

This was probably the worst mess of the whole project. This is our office that connects to the bathroom. During destruction/construction, this was the staging area/dumping ground for everything bathroom related.

As I tried to figure out the best way to share the renovating process with you, I decided to go start-finish with each part of the bathroom. Then I'll share the complete finished project. Hopefully we're DONE by then!!

Hope that you are having a great weekend. :)

Time Rolls Along

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:56:00 +0000

I just can't believe it's already February 7th. Wasn't I just starting to show you our bathroom remodel? Funny how life takes other turns.

About this time, I got sick. Like lay on the couch and not move for a couple days sick. I had planned to have a productive week while Adam was in Kansas, but I could barely pick up all of my kleenexes!

The day Adam came home, I got a call from my Mom about my Grandpa. He has been battling lung cancer and prostate cancer for several months and had just been hospitalized with an infection. After days of treatment, the doctors decided that there is nothing more they can do. He's been home on hospice now for three weeks. Most days are pretty good. He told me yesterday, "I feel pretty good, but I'm just so sleepy."

I was able to spend two weeks out in Seattle with my grandparents. I wouldn't say that it was fun, it's not like I went out there for a vacation, but it was good to be there. I got to bake my grandpa two pies and some brownies. Made some chicken pot pie and poured lots of wine. The five of us, my grandpa, grandma, aunt, mom and myself all drank a different kind of wine! My grandma told me yesterday that she misses me, AND the food! Hopefully I'll be able to make another trip out later this spring.

While I was gone Adam's grandfather was diagnosed with liver cancer and sent home on hospice, too! Ralph passed away just one week after he came home, the day I returned from Seattle. He was a strong man of God that knew Jesus. He knew where he was going and had such a peace about the end of his life. Adam's grandmother knew this, too. While we'll all miss Ralph, we all know that he's no longer in pain and in Heaven with his Creator.

In the midst of all of this there are also a couple other things that Adam and I in the middle of right now. By Friday I just needed to stop for awhile. I was (am) horribly behind at work, but I just needed to be still. At church on Sunday I could finally feel the emotion of the past three weeks. During worship I just felt the tears roll down and man did it feel good! Maybe it's just a girl thing but crying can make me feel so much better.

Today finally it felt like my feet were back underneath me. But of course my feet are in a different place now. Ralph is still gone, my grandpa is still dying and I'm still in a place of ambiguity. A feeling of unsettledness that I am really okay with today.

**********

Hopefully this week I'll have a couple more posts ready about the bathroom. Maybe if I take long enough to post the process pictures we'll actually have everything finished and I can show you an "after" picture!

Here's to hoping that your family is well tonight/today and that if they are not, that you find peace in these troubled times.

One Last Peek

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 06:25:00 +0000

If you have been watching my Twitter or Facebook in the past month, you probably already know that the picture above is now a distant memory. After months of saving and planning we finally remodeled our bathroom!

Now as you look at these pictures, you may think, "That's not so bad." And for those of you reading this that used to own the house, this is no reflection on you.

And for the former owners years ago that updated the entire house, I hope to never belittle all of the work that you did on our house. (Creating an open floor plan in a 90+ year old home, adding closets, attaching the garage, etc.) You did a lot of great work, a lot of hard and expensive work.

That being said, Adam and I knew that the bathroom would be our first big project. As you look at the pictures below, I promise you that we DO clean!! Here are some of the top reasons for a new bathroom:

Top Left: This is what all of the tub seams looked like. It's really nasty. So nasty that I always tried to shower with my contacts out so that I wouldn't get grossed out.
Top Right: The tub spout. Just look at how nicely attached it it! ;)
Middle Left: The old tub was a whirlpool tub. I know that people pay really good money for these (it's now cleaned up and for sale if you're interested!!) but we could not keep it clean. Adam would get it all sparkly and days later it would look gross again.
Middle Right: Grout. Grout and I are not friends. I used to say that I didn't like tile floors. What I really don't like is grout. It just never looks clean to me.
Bottom Left: Isn't this a lovely box? The exhaust pipe comes up from the basement, goes into the wall for a while and then pops back out to continue up through the house. The pipe needs to be there, but we just had to do something about that crazy box.
Bottom Right: This one isn't quite as bad, but for a number of reasons, our window couldn't have any trim on the left side. This has always bothered me.

My next post will show the total destruction! I never realized that when you take a bathroom down to the studs, rip out all of the old wiring and plumbing and take up the floor just how much debris is created. If I didn't have such a clear vision for the finished product I probably would have cried a few more times during the process.

As of today all we have left is a little trim work and finishing touches. Hopefully by the time I am finished showing you the progress, we'll have a finished product to share!

A Little More Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 04:29:00 +0000

Let's just say that my Friday off was less than productive. I had the whole day and nothing planned. So what did I do? Nothing.

I know that I've written about this before, and my mom will just be nodding her head as she reads this, but it has always been a weakness for me. It's not that I don't have things I want to do, there just isn't a deadline for everything in my life. I thrive on deadlines. And checklists.

At work I have started to schedule all of the tasks for my projects on my calendar. I can't just say, "I'll do that this week." I have to say, "I'll do that from 3:00-4:00 on Wednesday." Now I don't stick to it 100% but at least it is on there and I don't forget that it needs to get done.

So tonight I sat down and created a schedule for my home. A schedule that plans time for crafting, blogging, baking and other projects. Of course it also includes things like cleaning, laundry and dishes. Hopefully having a plan to start with will help me to have more productive days.

This coming week, I'll have even more time, because my stud muffin is leaving me for a week. To go learn more about this golden stuff:

He leaves tomorrow for a week long "Grain Elevator Management Short Course" at Kansas state. Sounds really exciting, huh?

He's packing his swimsuit. I told him not to use it. For one, I don't have a pool to swim in. Secondly, there might be girls. I really don't care how long I've been with Adam, I will probably always think that there is some awful woman out there that will try to steal him. I trust him, just not those crazy vixens! ;) (Okay, I really don't stress that much about it.)

All I hope is that the pup keeps her crazy barking to a minimum. Like the kind of barking that makes you think someone is standing outside of the house trying to kill us. But it was really just a bird. Yeah, that kind of barking will not fly this week.

Hope that you all are having a great weekend!

P.S. I might start blogging about our bathroom remodel a little next week! I've got lots of pictures to sort through and edit, so it will take a while.

Wednesday Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 04:42:00 +0000

I decided that if I really want to blog more and document my year of "doing" I needed to come up with a solution that allows be to blog somewhere other than the back, cold, dark room of the house. (Although someday I hope to make this a warm, cozy sitting room. But that's not for some time.)

So I found an offline blogging solution for our MacBook. Blogo
And bought PSE for Mac.

Now I can edit pictures and blog from the couch or up in my craft space. Or when the weather gets nice this spring, on the porch!

(photo by Diana Richardson)

This evening I did start taking down the Christmas decorations. Correction. I did take down all of the decorations. I just didn't pack them up! Right now there laying out in the back room, at least out of sight.

As much as I love having my house decorated for Christmas, I really love how BIG and CLEAN my house feels afterwards. I am staring at the spot where my Christmas tree has been for the past 6 weeks and am wondering what the heck to do with that big blank wall. Is it time to paint? Or maybe I should finish the bathroom first...

The Year of "Doing"

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 07:56:00 +0000

A new year, another try. I spent much of 2010 reading. Reading magazines and blogs. Learning. Thinking. But not as much "doing" as I had hoped.

I am hoping that 2011 will be my year to test and stretch my crafty, baking and decorating skills.

Here are just a few things I hope to do this year...

Blog much more frequently. I love to write and share bits of our life with family and friends.
Get more cards published.
Actually send the cards I make!
Bake, bake and bake! I will remember that I can always send extras to the elevator with Adam.
Add "finishing" touches to our living spaces. I know that I will never be done, but there are some parts of this house that have yet to be touched since we moved in a year and half ago.
Be still. I have always been good at filling time, not always with something productive. I want to leave some room in my life to be still and and chill with God more often.

And because every post needs a picture, here is little Melody when she was only a few weeks old...before she learned that she can destroy an "indestructible" rope toy in less than 10 minutes!!

Taking back the flower beds

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:00:00 +0000

This spring Adam and I decided to take back our flower beds. Free our beautiful flowers from evil quack grass. Here is what our first target looked like last summer:

Yes, there are daylilies, Asiatic lilies and even a pretty rock wall. Somewhere. I promise.

Now I don’t fault any of the previous owners. At one point this house was owned by some amazingly green thumbed folks. Not everyone wants to put in the effort it takes to keep up all of the flower beds and the veggie garden. (Especially not if you have three young kids and your previous house was destroyed in a tornado not too long ago!)

That being said, these flower beds needed some TLC. We (Adam) started digging and found five or six huge root bundles like this: (see the rocks?!)

Just to show you just how aggressive the quack grass is, look at it below, growing through the daylily root!

Here they are all cleaned up:

Now, I didn’t take any pictures of the Asiatic lilies that we dug up, (I don’t know why) but there were at least 6 huge bulbs, 5-10 average sized bulbs and 50+ baby bulbs. That’s not including the many casualties of this battle. The shovel sometimes does bad things.

Once everything was out of the ground, Adam moved the rocks back and ran the tiller through several times. We divided up the daylilies and started planting. The original bed by the garage ended up with 7 or 8 clumps of daylilies and 6 or 7 patches of Asiatic lilies:

Well, that didn’t even make a dent in what we had pulled out, so we turned to the front flower bed. At one time there must have been something planted here, but whatever it was, it didn’t make it. There were three green bushes (so descriptive, huh?) and two barberry (?) bushes that were looking rather sad.

We pulled out all of the old, decomposed mulch and planted eight clumps of daylilies and four patches of Asiatic lilies in here:

There were still some daylilies left, so they went into the end of this flower to the side of the porch:

Later in the spring we added landscaping fabric and mulch. (I’ll post some of those pictures later.)

So now after months of growth, here is the flower garden, refreshed, revitalized and mostly free of quack grass:

One Year Later

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Today we have officialy been homeowners for one year!

June 2009

June 2010

Our Little Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Truth be told, I don’t know that you would call our garden little. Most of you will continue reading and think I’m crazy to call it little, maybe I am! But if you read all of the way down, maybe you’ll believe me.

So here it is:

When we bough the house last year, there was already a very large, established garden.

We tilled up about half of it and had a pretty decent crop. The only problem with this garden is that it was smack dab in the center of our backyard. It just wasn’t ideal. Especially because we were planning to move the playground back here. But last year we didn’t have time to really plan things out.

So this spring we laid out a new garden closer to the edge of our yard, out of the way. Adam spent a good majority of the spring tilling and re-tilling the new garden to get rid of all the existing grass. He continues to till in-between the rows every few weeks to keep the grass/weeds at bay.

I have to admit that the only thing I did in the garden was transplant these strawberries (only half of the original patch, we’ll move the rest this fall).

Adam has travailed over the rest of the garden. He’s getting sweaty and dirty now. I’ll get sweaty and dirty in the fall when I am canning and freezing everything. Or maybe I’ll just cry. I just look at my kitchen and begin to get anxious about the pots and pots of hot water I’m going to have to carry back and forth across my kitchen!

But for now, here is a tour of the garden…

Potatoes…

7 tomato plants, cherries and huge slicing tomatoes…

Peas, one row planted, another row to go in this week…

Lettuce, WAY too much for two people…

Broccoli, I think we’re adding another row of this too, maybe…

Brussel sprouts…

Beans, two rows in, one more to go (we lost our first plantings of these due to a later than expected frost)…

Carrots…

Cilantro, planted to make salsa, but it is about done and the tomatoes have just started, will be replanting later...

Onions, just beyond the green onion stage right now…

Green peppers and jalapeños, not doing so great…

8 tomato plants, romas for canning (whole, sauce, salsa, spaghetti sauce)…

Zucchini…

Pickling cucumbers…

Mini pumpkins…

White mini pumpkins…I think..unless the ones above are white…

Cucumbers, 2 of these…

6 rows of sweet corn, two or three varieties…

Indian corn, mini and regular (can you tell which is which??)…

The pumpkin patch, not really sure which is which, but I know that we have some gourds planted in there too…

So we think we’re kinda big time with our garden. But then I just turn around and see this…

We work hard on our little plot. But it still is very, very little compared to this. A little awe-inspiring, isn’t it?

Apple Blossoms

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:46:00 +0000

These are long gone by now, but they are some of my favorite pictures from this spring:

The Great Tulip Fall of 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Oh my tulips. I had such great plans for you. You started out so lovely:

Look how full and beautiful you are!

So why did you have to fall?

I could have tolerated one, two or even fifty out of the two hundred of you. That would have left me with plenty of tulips. But no, you had to make a mass-suicide pact. Couldn’t one of you been too chicken to follow through?!

I don’t know what I did to make you mad. But I promise, this fall I’ll dig you all up and make a better home for you. Maybe you’ll want to stick around.

Spring Color

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

This year, I waited not-so-patiently for our tulips. When we saw our house for the first time last year, the hundreds of tulips were in full bloom.

I wasn’t expecting a couple bushed along our driveway to do this:

These little purple flowers…

…were all over our front lawn. They were pretty, but I am pretty sure they are weeds, so the means they’re choking out my grass. Hmm…

And then the tulips! Here they are starting to show color…

Yellow dominated this year. Some were almost two feet tall.

Look at that luscious yellow!

I wish I could show you the vases of tulips that I filled my house with. I wish that I could show you two tulip patches in full bloom. But something awful happened. I’ll save that tragedy for another post.

Peter Cottontail

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sun, 16 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Adam is on a mission this year to clean out our ditches. He’s been cleaning out old stumps, tree limbs and garbage. Last Saturday, he finally was able to weed-whack and then mow.

I was busy painting and heard him yelling for me. Well, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it sure wasn’t this:

(Now, I did not zoom in. He really let me get this close with my camera. Just sat there.)

Adam had run over their nest and scared this little guy out. I came to learn later that a rather large snake had been making it’s way to the bunny as well until Adam scared him off. If I had known this, I don’t think I would have been on my hands and knees in the long grass!

Don’t worry, we didn’t hurt him. Adam was using the shovel as a guide to push him back to the nest.

The little guy got scared and ran the wrong way. Then he stopped and let me get close again. At this point we weren’t sure he’d make it back home before another snake or hawk found him. So I went to pick him up. He didn’t even try to run, but was rather annoyed to be hanging in the air.

He made it back to the hole, safe and sound, with his siblings. We’ve tried to stay away for awhile, so I don’t know if the bunnies are still there.

Thankfully, though, the nest is on the other side of Melody’s electric fence. So they’re safe from her. Though she wasn’t too happy about that fact. She stared at us the entire time, knowing that there was a tasty bunny just out of her reach.

Our “New” Hutch!!

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:20:00 +0000

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I was busy painting last weekend. This week we finally finished this project.

Last fall we went to an estate sale of an old gentleman that passed away. He was a carpenter and had a few pieces that were left. We scooped up this hutch for $50.

Then it sat in our garage until Christmas. Then we had company help Adam move it into the basement so I could work on it during the winter. It sat there for another month.

In late January, we finally pulled the cabinet apart. The bottom panes of glass were cracked, so we (Adam) pulled them out. I decided that this was a great first use of bead board in my house. So Adam used his mad skills and created these beautiful doors!

We sanded some of it down. Then it sat. Until April when we had company to help Adam carry the hutch back to the garage where I could work on it in the spring. It sat there another month.

Finally, last weekend, I decided enough was enough. My house was a mess and there were mountains of laundry. But this hutch was going to be finished!

I started to finish sanding. Then realized I HATE sanding. I was ready to quietly move this hutch back into the corner and pray that the sanding fairies would come some day. Not that I am calling my husband a fairy, but let’s just say that the hutch was magically sanded an hour later. :)

Then I started painting and realized that painting furniture is exponentially more difficult than painting a wall. I really am glad that it took three coats. Each coat was different: roller only, brush only, then roller with dry brush on top. Is is the best painting job ever? Nope. But as long as you sand a few inches away, it look pretty darn good.

When it was almost dry, (I only claim to be patient with kids, not paint) we moved it back into the house. I filled it up and then we started to hang the doors. I don’t know what possessed us to think this was a good idea. The door was so heavy that it was hard to hold still and the hinges scratch up the sides. So we unloaded the hutch and did it the right way. Well, I unloaded, Adam put the doors on. (Apparently hand-made pieces tend not to be square and make it really difficult to hang a door so that it doesn’t look crooked.)

Wednesday evening we finally finished, but it was dark, and I was gone all day yesterday, so here, finally, are some pictures…

View from the kitchen:

And the comparison:

I love it SOOO much! I’ve been reading magazines and blogs for two years now, drooling over white furniture. But there was always a part of me that wasn’t sure if I’d actually like it in my house. After this project, I know this is what I want my house to look like. We can’t do everything right now, but I know we’re on the right track.

It’s the little things…

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:32:00 +0000

…that make my day.

First off, I apologize for my long absence! But I hope to have some time soon. Today I was working in the kitchen on a few things, with my trust laptop on the windowsill for recipes.

Now, when I am working in the house I need some good white noise, not a radio, but the tv or a movie. Since my kitchen has no tv or is even in sight of a tv, this is pretty much impossible when I am baking.

Then today I stared at the laptop a little longer.

Why in the world couldn’t I pop a dvd into this machine?! Now I get to look at my recipe, bake some bread, and watch/listen to “The Holiday” all at the same time!

And watch my handy husband move and re-assemble our playground in the back yard. :)

Hope you’re having a great Saturday!

“Get Well Soon”

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:42:00 +0000

Just a quick card post. I’ve actually been making quite a few cards lately, but I’ve been too busy to get them all posted.

I made this one while playing around with my new stamps. I’m still trying to learn how to cut around shapes. Well, I can cut, just can’t keep a consistent border.

Not super tickled about the color combo, but I’m trying to break out of my box a little. Really do love those fonts, though.

Quick update from out night on the town: didn’t happen. We got to the bar about an hour and a half before the game and it was full to bursting. Looked like it had been full for a while. We tried a few other places and realized that we were doomed to watch the game at home. We picked up some wings from Famous Dave’s and headed home. Apparently I’m a really exciting person, because I fell asleep in the middle of the second half!

Supplies: (All Papertrey Ink unless noted otherwise)
Stamps: Fillable Frames #2, Polka Dot Basics II, and Turning Leaf
Cardstock: Kraft and New Leaf
Ink: Dark Chocolate, New Leaf and Terracotta Tile
Ribbon: Fresh Snow Grosgrain, Rustic Cream Twine
Other: Vintage Buttons: Rustic Wood

Country Days, City Nights

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:54:00 +0000

One of the great things about our property is the countryside around it. We are blessed to have this fantastic front porch that runs the entire width of our house. Unfortunately the only thing that we had to sit on out there were camp chairs. Fine chairs, but they were so low that all you saw was the porch railing.

So I found this beauty on walmart.com:

Of course we didn’t notice that it was designed to be hung from a stand. Let’s just say that I didn’t want to have to use a ladder to get onto my swing.

So after a trip to the hardware store for more chain, we’ve got a working porch swing! I think it’s a little odd that it leans back like that so much, but it sits great. (Is that really a verb?)

Excuse the poor quality of the next picture, but there is no way that I could have walked outside to catch her sitting like this. Trust me, she doesn’t just sit like this outside. I watched her long enough to realize that she was watching the farmer in the field across the road. Apparently she need to keep an eye on him.

Yes, it’s Friday, so you are subjected to pictures of my trees again.

Would you believe that the picture on the left is two weeks old and the one on the right is from today? Melting snow apparently makes for greener grass. I can’t imagine what it will look like after one good rain storm.

We’re off to town tonight. The local UNI Panthers are taking on Michigan State and it’s just too much of a big game to watch at home. After last week’s crazy upset, fans are in a frenzy here. (They even made it on the cover of Sports Illustrated last week.) We’ll also watch the Ohio State game in honor of my dad. If both teams win tonight, they’ll go head-to-head on Sunday. Enough sports talk for you? Me too.

Have a great weekend!

PTI Blog Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:15:00 +0000

It’s time once again for Papertrey Ink’s Blog Hop! I am so excited to participate; it’s been awhile. I went back to check and it was last June! I love making things with paper and just haven’t made time for it until recently. So glad to be back into it.

Anyway, the reason you’re here is for the blog hop. (If you don’t know what that is, check out this page for details.) This month’s challenge was buttons, and thank goodness. I have almost every color of PTI buttons, but rarely use them except as the center of a flower. Creative, huh?

For this project I had great plans to really do something crazy. I have seen other people do amazing things with buttons. Why couldn’t I? But then there was this paper sitting on my desk. This gorgeous, happy, colorful paper. It’s just been staring at me for weeks, begging to be used.

So I abandoned all notions of craziness to follow the paper’s desire. And don’t you know that I had buttons that matched every color on that paper? Amazing.

The card base is Aqua Mist (which matched perfectly!). I stitched up the buttons with white embroidery floss and used score-tape to add them to the centers of the circles. It’s not rocket science, but I like to think that it works pretty well.

Then I added a dark chocolate strip on the bottom, with some Stamper’s Select White for the sentiment (from Around & About Sentiments), in Melon Berry ink.

I’ve been on an envelope kick lately. I don’t send one of out this house without adding something. So I pulled out the coordinating circle sentiment from the same stamp set and used the colors from the paper: Aqua Mist, Melon Berry, Lemon Tart, Spring Rain and Sweet Blush.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of your hopping!

Supplies: (All Papertrey Ink unless noted otherwise)
Stamps: Around & About Sentiments
Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate and Stamper’s Select White
Patterned Paper: Spring: Giddy Grasshopper (Dear Lizzy & American Crafts)
Ink: Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, Melon Berry, Spring Rain and Sweet Blush
Other: Vintage Buttons: Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, Rustic Wood and Spring Rain

Poppy Seed Challenge #2

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I got my new PTI supplies the other day and was so excited that I couldn’t think of what to make! I remembered Lisa’s Challenge and decided to play along.

I have decided that I love the Fillable Frames Die #2. The curves are just so beautiful. I’m going to have to stop myself from using it on every project.

My favorite part about that is that I can cut cute windows in my cards. So not only does the front look nice, but it instantly decorates the inside of the card!

Supplies: (All Papertrey Ink unless noted otherwise)
Stamps: Fillable Frames #2, Polka Dot Basics II, Turning Leaf and Signature Greetings
Cardstock: Kraft and Spring Moss
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss and Versamark (Tsukineko)
Die: Fillable Frames #2
Other: Vintage Buttons: Raspberry Fizz; embroidery floss

Come Back Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Patti) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:30:00 +0000

Last Friday it snowed. I guess I knew it would, but I was just really hoping that it wouldn’t. It really wasn’t that bad, not much accumulation, but it just looked dreary. Especially after the previous week. Here’s the progression so far:

I’m still waiting for this: