A Favorite

For over a year now, I've been eager to spend some time in Amish country. Observing their way of life interests me, but I also wanted to find someone to sell me a quilt. As I shopped online to see how much I may have to pay for one, it seemed clear the place to start was a baby quilt. :)

While planning a day trip to take with my parents, I found an Amish market we could visit. We loved it. Mom and I bought several things at a variety of booths, mostly food, and both wish we had more time to shop.

One of the booths had many quilted items, most of which were pot holder size or the size of a wall hanging. Right away, a design caught my eye and I asked if there was one in a larger size. The lady running the booth said she'd contact the quilt maker to find out. In a few short weeks, my order arrived: 

I LOVE it!

Truth be told, I'm looking forward to going back for more canned goods, more quilts, and even a hot air balloon ride!

Master Tour

Once at the top of the stairs, our room is immediately to the right.

This is what you see when you look through our bedroom doors: 

The picture has now been hung over the bed and the baby activity gym you see below is in another room, but you get the idea.

We love the space in this room and high, coffered ceilings. I'm not so crazy about all of the white. This is another room I want to paint. Paint just seems to warm up a room. 

As you see below, I have some work to do on the curtains. I've found exactly what I want and know how I want to arrange the curtains. They're just SO expensive and I need 8 panels. On the windows to the right, the rods are already installed. I got a little ahead of myself, but at least I have the hardware I'll use. Hopefully, we will be able to get this done soon.

The windows on the left don't have the rods up yet, but I have them. They no longer liter the bedroom; I finally put them away in my closet until I get the curtains. 

Pictured below is our dressing area. This is right outside of our closets by our bathroom. I LOVE this space. We already had the mirror, so I hung it in a way so that it serves well as our full-length mirror. It looks a lot better in person.

Along the wall you see where I hung a couple of robe hooks so I can set out our Sunday clothes once they're ironed. Recently, our church had Fan Day as an outreach to invite friends to church. We classed it up by wearing dressy clothes with fanwear touches. It was fun! I wish we'd had someone take our picture.

One addition I'd like to make to this room is a bench seat. By putting it along the wall on the right, we would have a seat close by to sit on as we put on our shoes. 

These are our closets. Mine on the left; Matt's on the right. We both have lots of clothes. Unfortunately, mine don't all fit in one closet! Note to self: Weed out the clothes you don't wear. 

Matt's closet is rather large. He is able to keep all of his clothes in one place. This picture doesn't do it justice. You can't see the built in shelves or the corners to the right and left. This is one of my favorite things about the house.

Since he gets ready to leave the house each morning for work or church, it made more sense for him to have all of his things in one place. It's also easier for me when I put things away. Since I buy his clothes, he also needs to see what he has! I love that there's room for our hamper in here too.

This is our bathroom:

Behind the door on the left is the shower, the vanity you see is mine, and to the right of the jacuzzi is the water closet. Matt's vanity is just beyond the door on the right. I love that the blinds lower from the top of the windows so we can enjoy natural light and preserve our privacy. 

We regularly use the shower rather than the jacuzzi, but we hope to take advantage of that too at some point. If you haven't heard, when you're trying for a baby, it's best not to soak in a bath...either of you. So, for now, I simply have the pleasure of cleaning it ;)

Below is Matt's vanity and you see the door to the water closet as well: 

The only thing I care to do in this room is paint it. In the long term, the very long term, I may consider putting in new counter tops. 

While looking for the color granite I want in the kitchen, I saw a picture of a couple of bathrooms with granite or faux granite counter tops. I like the look. Especially if I never get around to painting this room, it would be nice to add some depth, dimension, and darker color to accent the room.

That completes the tour of our new home. As I make changes, I'll post some updates.

Come See Us

Next on our tour of the house is the guest room. If you come see us, this is where you'll stay: 

 

If you saw my house in TN, you know my quest room hasn't changed much since I lived there. A few accessories have changed and the lamps are new since we've lived here, but otherwise, it's the same.

  

You can see in the next shot a little of how the room is oriented upstairs. When you look out, you see a door on the left. That room is the man-cave.

When guests visit, I want them to have a place to put their suitcase. After looking online for a while, I found this luggage rack and had to get it. The nook by the door is the perfect spot for it and it worked great for my parents when they visited. When no one is here, I stow it in the closet. It makes me feel good to find as many ways as I can to make family and friends feel comfortable while they're in our home.

On the other side of the guest room is the guest bathroom. Recently, we added a Waterpik shower head and shower wrack for shampoos and things.

 

As far as improvements to these rooms, there's not much I want to do. We bought a ceiling fan for the guest room so we need to put that up. I'd like to paint both rooms and there are some decorative shelves I already have that need to go up on the wall behind the toilet.

Truth be told, I'd love to have ceramic tile in this bathroom rather than linoleum, but that won't happen unless we decide to put in ceramic tile in a larger room like the kitchen. It's not needed, but it would look nice.

So be sure to come see us. We've got room...

Commercial Break

There is still more to show you on our tour of the house, but with a group of friends coming over this weekend, I'm shifting into planning mode. It looks like there will be about 10 adults and 7 children coming. Since I'll be going out with a friend tonight, making a meal for a family tomorrow, going to coffee with church ladies tomorrow night, and keeping the baby on Thursday, I've got to focus on getting things done early because I'm prone to getting overwhelmed when I plan to entertain at my house. :)



In the meantime, I'll tell you a few of my favorite stores:
Pottery Barn
Bed, Bath and Beyond
Hobby Lobby
Tuesday Morning
J.C. Penney for lamps
Kirklands
Walmart for bins and organizers
Target for bins, organizers, and some small pieces of furniture

Do you have any favorite stores to add for household items? 

The Next Stop

The next stop on our tour of the second floor is Matt's man-cave. I can't say it looks particularly impressive now, but it's his own space to use when he needs time alone. That's one thing we discussed before we married. We both need a fair amount of alone time. 

You can see here that we set up my smaller flat screen in this room, which is actually the perfect size for the space. He has his trusty reclining leather sofa with console. On the right, you can see a weight bench I bought him for his birthday this year and he has a set of adjustable free weights that lie outside of the picture. 

He has a retro mini frig with freezer next to the couch, a birthday present from his mom this year. Then, as you see, there are lots of unsightly boxes waiting to be dealt with as soon as I can get to them. The closet you see in the first picture contains some more boxes of Matt's CDs and DVDs. He has TONS of CDs. He also has his golf bag, guitar, and a few other things stored in the closet.

My plan for this room is mainly to get it organized. We need to buy something to display his CDs and DVDs. I need to sort through the rest of his boxes to see if any of it needs to be set out for easy access. He has a lot of binders and files from his days pursuing his Master's degree. Most of that, I'm sure we can store in the basement, but I haven't asked him yet.

Otherwise, we need to choose and purchase a light fixture to install overhead. I need to hang some pictures and I'd like to paint this room for more depth. It seems pretty simple as it is, but I've struggled to decide on a color. Other rooms need to be painted first, so I'm in no rush. 

Matt spends most of his alone time in this room having his quiet time, working on Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) homework, or lifting weights. From time to time, he also uses the home office to complete online training, go through his work emails, finish writing capital project proposals, etc. Even still, most of his time at home is spent with me :)

There are even times we'll both work quietly on things in the main room. Both working on BSF homework or him doing some work, while I email a friend or blog. That is to say, Matt loves having his own space in this house, but he doesn't disappear into it for hours at a time on a regular basis.

Not long ago, I read an article a friend linked in on Facebook. It was about this modern concept of having a man-cave. She was in complete disagreement with having one in the home. To her, it communicates that the man-cave is the one space in the house that is the husband's, but the rest belongs to the wife. She suggested it would relegate the husband to spending all of his time in that one room and the wife and kids would have run of the rest of the house. Well, to be clear, that's not how we use it.

I agree that a man-cave could provide a husband and father an easy (possibly too easy) local for escape from family or family matters. That's not a good thing for sure, but if a man wants to escape his family or family problems, he will.

My suspicion is that this modern convention of a man-cave was dreamed up by a woman who wanted her husband to escape at home rather than at the local bar. Give him his own space and then maybe he'll choose to come home. At least he'll be nearby if I need him. 

When I read in some premarital counseling books that men, due to the way God created them, are prone to feel less capable of handling family matters than they feel with work matters, I took note. One of the best weapons in the fight to keep our marriages strong is awareness.

Knowing that harmony in the family and peace in the home are extremely important to our men, we need to be very guarded with how we welcome them home, what they initially experience in those first few moments, how we communicate with our husbands and allow our children to communicate with him. We need to think about how we may feel after a hard and tiring day at work if we were to enter that family scene, whatever is typical of our family, and how we'd feel in response to it. We should do whatever we can to give our husbands an experience that draws him home, that leads him to want to be there.

The other morning, as I was hugging Matt goodbye before work, I told him I loved having him home, would miss him, and asked him to come back home to me. Not an unusual thing for me. He gave me a long hug and replied, "Of course, this is my refuge," and added in good humor, "but we'll have to name it something else because Dawn and Chris already have that one." :)

I relate that to you, not because I have this thing down, goodness, almost all of you have been married far longer than we have. It's because we are working on it now while it's just the two of us and I hope to keep this in mind when we have children. Children are game changers. It will become so much more difficult to keep my perspective sharp once there are little ones constantly distracting me.

In the meantime, Matt is choosing on a regular basis to spend time with me in the evening and he makes sacrifices to do it at times. We like a few of the same shows, very few, but mostly I go for family drama (of the Parenthood variety) and he goes for comedy. When he's in the room, he controls the remote (I told him that from the beginning). With time, he began to change the channel to a show he thought I'd enjoy. It worked well because he didn't hate it, but I liked it. Occasionally now, he'll even turn on something he doesn't like and he'll disappear into Facebook and then go take a shower. lol

Many couples in the same situation would end up in different rooms watching whatever they want to watch. That may end up happening with us over time, but I hope not. We've also discussed having no-t.v. nights. We're not particularly ambitious, so maybe one night a week we'll try that out. 

As it is, I'm glad Matt has a designated place for his quiet time, to lift weights, and even to get a little time alone when he needs it. During this season, his only times alone are in the car and in the shower otherwise. Once there are little ones, I fear he won't even have that...

A Silly Little Thing

During winter, Matt has certain things he leaves on the second floor at the end of the day or in the morning that he uses downstairs when he arrives home at night. When I notice them during the day, I try to remember to relocate them from upstairs to downstairs so he doesn't have to go up in search of them when he gets home.

One of the items is his iPad, but that's a year-round item that he moves from place to place. Now that it's turned cold, his house shoes is another of those things.

Recently while I was upstairs, noticing his house shoes by the bed, I remembered that he'd begun leaving his house shoes, on rare occasion, in the entry hall by the bench. Not wanting to run downstairs just to move that one thing and not wanting to forget, I took advantage of this feature in our home: 

 Standing in front of our bedroom door upstairs, you see our 2nd floor hallway. The railing straight ahead overlooks our foyer. 

This is the view looking over the rail.

I dropped Matt's house shoes over the rail to the first floor and hit the red rug in front of the bench :) Today was the second time I dropped them to their spot and I couldn't help but smile.

I LOVE being able to drop soft things from the second to the first floor :) It's a silly little thing, but sometimes it's the little things that make me smile.

Sweetness for the Soul

As you know, I keep a baby for a friend one day a week while she goes to work at our church. She used to work there full-time, but having had Collin, she works part-time getting in a few hours at home and one day in the office. She also has her own photography business on the side.

It's a priority for her to be a stay-at-home mom, but most women living here can't manage it. The cost of living is so high both husband and wife work. In very few cases, the wife/mom finds a job to do from home. Fortunately, Hannah found a way to make it work.

She's in an ideal situation where she's using her gifts, talents, skills and creativity to do the things she loves, while being with her son most of the time. It's a crazy-busy, hectic existence, but one that God blesses abundantly. She speaks often of how blessed, happy and content she is with the life God has given her.

Last Spring, before they had any idea how the plan would shake out, I volunteered one day a week to keep the baby for them if they felt they needed it and that it would be best. At the time, one day a week didn't make sense because they thought she would continue working full-time.

After many months of preparation for his birth and after his appearance into the world, Hannah had a clearer picture of what they were going to do going forward. The church provided a staff nursery for the first time, so that was their answer to prayer for what to do with Collin on her office days. 

The only catch was that God kept reminding Hannah of my offer. An offer I'd made 7 - 8 months before and hadn't been mentioned since.

When I made the offer, I meant to follow through on it. It just didn't make much sense for what they seemed to need and most people seek their own childcare, rather than having someone offer to keep their baby. #awkward

I offered because I felt I was supposed to offer. It seemed like the kind of thing a good friend, a sister in Christ, should do if she can. They don't have family close (or didn't at the time) and neither do we. Sometimes the family we have is the family God gives us.

It seemed highly unlikely they'd take me up on it, because that's just highly unorthodox. In the end, Hannah felt God was putting it on her heart, saying to her that would be best for Collin.

Hannah took this shot (Expose Photography by Hannah)
 

So now, it's been 9 months of spending time with the boy and it's been really good for me. It began with me taking care of him to be a good friend, but I chose to love him from the start. Taking the best care of him that was possible was the supreme goal, but loving on him in the midst of it was of significant importance too.

As a task oriented person, I worked the schedule, making sure he received the proper nourishment as he had special feeding instructions...making sure he was safe, happy, warm, clean, secure, given attention and affection, and so on. It was fun watching him change, grow, and learn.

Though the basic things that little ones need are the same, each child is different. It has been really fun learning Collin. For example, when he's frustrated, he pumps/kicks his left leg only. Every. Time.

When you ask him what he wants to do, or what he needs when he's irritable, and suggest one thing to him, if you're right he stops moving completely and doesn't make a sound. As you wait quietly and still while he's completely still and silent, he'll turn his head and look up at you with those big beautiful eyes. And. You. Know. Yep! That's what it is!

My response is always, "Ok. I'm going to ________." I communicate back to him that I'm taking him to do that very thing. When I confirm I'm going to give him a bath or take him outside, I get a very excited response...lots of wiggles, smiles and panting-laughter :)

It's interesting when you step back and think of what it might be like to be a baby. I know he won't remember when he's older, but I try to consider how difficult it would be to depend 100% on other people to care for your needs or even to cater to your wants. He knows what he needs; he knows what he wants; but he can't make it happen on his own or be certain he'll have someone provide it. 

Don't get me wrong; he's not spoiled. By that, I mean his requests are reasonable: food or sleep mostly. The rest I offer: do you want to play? go outside? have a bath? He is spoiled with attention, but I don't think that's a bad thing at all. :)

Collin is not the kind of baby who gives smiles away easily. As much time as I have spent with him, it took a long time for him to break into a smile upon seeing me. When he began doing so, he offered them sparingly.

A few weeks ago, I watched how he lit up when his mom played with him. I'd seen it a few times before, but I began to wonder why he didn't respond similarly to me on occasion. It occurred to me that I may have been focusing too much on the practical side of caring for him and not spending enough time playing with him.

I regularly spent time talking to him, watching him play, cuddling him, making music for him (whistling, pounding a beat with my hands on the floor, etc. -- he loves music/sounds), reading to him, taking him outside and so forth. It occurred to me, though, that I wasn't crazy-playing with him. :)

You see when he was really little, I did my normal goofball antics I try with every baby. Usually it works. They get tickled with my silliness and I get smiles and laughter. Collin furrowed his brow and gave me a hard look. A look kinda like this:

Hannah took this picture too.

After trying a few times with the same response, I decided my normal baby games didn't interest him, so I didn't try again.

When it dawned on me he wasn't responding to me with smiles and laughs during our time together, I began trying my antics out on him again. After a slight hesitation of uncertainty from him, he began to smile and laugh. A. Lot. Maybe he just needed more time in the beginning to warm up to me ;)

These last few weeks with him have been super fun. He's growing and changing and learning and coming into his personality and he's beginning to communicate. He's really, really close to saying "mom," if he hasn't already. Sometimes Hannah forgets to update me on the milestones :)

So, if you don't talk with your baby extensively when he/she is tiny, give it a try. They know what we're saying well before they can speak it. Not knowing exactly when that would be for Collin, I've been telling him every step of the way what I'm doing when I'm the one controlling his body...telling him where we're going, what we're doing, etc. 

Last Thursday, I stood him up at the coffee table and put toys within his reach. He'd tilt to one side and start slowly sliding off that direction...doomed to flop to the ground if I didn't catch him...so I'd subtly give him a balancing assist with one hand until he lowered to the floor. He'd sit there a second with a toy and get motionless and silent, then look up at me. :) "Ok. I'll stand you back up at the table to play." He'd pant-laugh with excitement. And on and on the cycle went. 

He's getting to be such a big boy. :)

Last week was the first time in a long time that I laid him on his stomach for tummy time. He was pumping that left leg before long ;) I settled him down by talking to him (about how we all have to struggle at times in order to learn :) and the next thing I knew he was reaching for a toy, twisted his torso a little, managed to turn onto his side, and rolled onto his back! He was one happy boy...pumping both legs (his happy dance), smiling and laughing. lol #doesn'tliketummytime #won'tlearntocrawlwithoutit

It is true that Matt and I want a baby, but time with Collin is no substitute. He's one of the extras...an extra special blessing in life...an unexpected one. For that reason, I'm often thanking Jordan and Hannah for sharing the boy with me. They think I'm a huge blessing to them for keeping Collin weekly unpaid. I think they're the huge blessing for sharing him with me. #allisasitshouldbe

In the meantime, there are moments I see myself growing up a bit with Collin. Each time I take on a new challenge...eating with a friend at a restaurant with him along and awake, shopping at walmart, running a series of little errands, going to the church for ladies Bible study, figuring out what he wants when he's sick, off schedule and inconsolable, learning what he likes to do/what he needs interpersonally and emotionally and meeting the need...

As it is, God gives me a little sweetness for the soul each week I am able to spend time with Collin.

P.S. Since I initially wrote this post, a few days in advance, Hannah reported that Collin has called out to her during a cry, saying, "ma-ma." There's nothing like it for a mama's heart. His first word and her tears overflowing. #truelove

Story and Stew

Carrie, this one's for you :) The rest of you, feel free to enjoy it as well...

In the summer of 2010, Matt and I were asked independently of one another by our Singles minister to become lay leadership for a new Sunday school class they were starting for singles in their 30s. Three others were approached individually as well so that together we could begin with a solid base for growing the class. The commitment required us to leave our current class, change our Sunday school (and thus our church service) hour, and invest in outreach/inreach/administration/leadership for the class. That's when we met Chris and Dawn Rockholt, the couple who would teach the class.

As a side note, Chris and Matt hit it off during those first weeks of preparation (He was Matt's best man at our wedding) and Dawn and I hit it off (She was one of my bridesmaids). So, now, back to my little story...

Within a couple of weeks of the launch of our new class, a friend from our former class and friend group (Troy Richey), was greeting people before a new Thursday night class. While waiting in the hallway for the doors to open, Troy got my attention to welcome a girl who looked a little lost. That's when I approached and met Wendy. We quickly hit it off and as we were talking Matt joined us. That night was the beginning of Matt and I establishing a new friend group with our new class. It all started with Wendy.

Wendy had just returned from serving on the mission field in Kenya, so she was feeling a little lost when Troy introduced us. That didn't last long. :) By that winter, we were getting together at Wendy's house with our new friends to hang out like we used to with our former group (the group where we met).

One of those nights, Wendy made us Santa Fe Stew. It's a recipe she got from a family member (an aunt), I believe. It was so well liked by the group that Matt and another guy quickly asked for a copy of the recipe. A bachelor's dream dish. Since I wanted a copy too, and she'd already agreed to get the men a copy, I asked for it as well. It's a good thing, because I'm probably the only one who still has it!  

Since that night, I've made this each winter and recently made it when my parents were in town for a visit. My parents, Matt and I managed to wipe it out in two days. Needless to say, it was a hit.

Santa Fe Stew

Brown 1 lb. ground beef and 1 large onion; Drain. 

Add: 
     1 package Ranch dressing (dry)
     1 package taco seasoning mix

Add: 
     1 can Kidney beans
     1 can Rotel tomatoes
     1 can tomatoes, diced
     1 can whole kernel corn
     1 can pinto beans
     1 can ranch style beans

Cook in crock pot or simmer on burner. 

Serve over tortilla chips (w/ cheese), cornbread or rice. 

Freezes great.

That right there is the recipe exactly as it was written. Here are a few suggestions: 

After draining the grease from the skillet, I added the dry seasonings and about a half cup of water into the ground beef and onion mixture and let it cook a little bit (bubbling 3 minutes) before dumping it all in the crock pot. That step attaches the seasoning to the meat instead of it being lost in the liquid of the stew. It seems to enrich the overall flavor.

Also, when adding all of the canned foods, don't drain any of them except the kidney beans. Rince and drain the kidney beans because the material it's packed in won't taste good in the stew. All of the liquid from the other cans adds the right amount of liquid to simmer in the crock pot on low for 8 hours. There won't be much liquid left when it's done. This definitely has a thick consistency. If you want more liquid, you can add a little water.

We've typically treated this recipe like a chili recipe, topping the stew with cheese, sour cream and a few original Fritos. We've put it over tortilla chips and added cheese on top too. That stretches the recipe farther. It's good with cornbread as well. We haven't tried it over rice and I haven't ever made enough to freeze. If you want to try freezing it, you can double the batch and it will all fit in your crock pot.

The recipe yields about 6 portions when eaten like chili, but we are big eaters. Normal people would probably get 8 servings out of a single batch. :) If you serve it over tortilla chips, cornbread or rice, it'll go farther than that.

One more thing, the only place that I know for sure has Ranch style beans is Walmart. I looked for them everywhere in our area the first winter we were here and couldn't find them. As we speak, I have 6-7 cans left in the pantry from a trip to Memphis last year where I bought 10-12 cans from Walmart, stowed them in the checked bag and hauled them back home on our flight. That's how important that particular kind of beans is to the flavor of the recipe.

This recipe is SO easy to make and SO good, I hope you'll try it. Maybe it will become a Fall/Winter favorite in your house too.

Nothing Special...Yet

Where to begin with a tour of the second floor...hmm...

We have four bedrooms, two baths and a laundry room upstairs. I suppose I'll start with the least exciting space. :)

Warning: it looks AWFUL at present...

This is our overflow room. As you can see, I still have a few boxes to unpack. The middle of the floor is covered with things I've begun to sort, so I can more easily make decisions about where to put these last things. 

The curtain rods you see over the windows were left by the previous owners. I have new rods and curtains to go up, whenever I can get to the windows to hang them :) 

Some of our pictures and wall hangings are laying around in this room as well. A few of them have a place to go, but others I haven't decided yet.

When I consider hanging pictures on the walls, I think to myself, "You might as well wait until you paint that room before putting that up." The more time that passes without finishing my painting projects, the more I hang on the walls. :)

This room has just hit the top of the list and holds first place among my priorities for the house. So far this week, I emptied a few boxes, found a place for some of the things I'd sorted, picked out the paint, and found bedding that may work (on a bed we don't have yet). lol 

Eventually, we hope to use this room as a nursery. There's plenty of room, so what should I put in it? hmm...

A friend of mine always had a bed in her nursery to use the room for guests when someone came in town. When someone visited, she'd move the baby to her room for nighttime, unless the guest was her mother or MIL. Then, they'd welcome sharing the room with the baby.

She gave me the idea of putting a twin bed in the room when we use it for a nursery. This is partly for extra room for guests and partly a bed for Mommy on difficult nights, so Daddy doesn't lose sleep. Our goal (wish us luck) is to have our babies sleep in their own room from the start. (And no, there's no news on that front.)

Just to give you a preview of what I'm thinking...

I bought this canvas about 10 years ago. At the time, I thought I'd use it in my little girl's room one day. I loved the bright colors and the verse is my Dad's favorite. It seemed perfect.

As you can see, it's still in the heavy plastic it was wrapped in when I bought it. It's literally never been unwrapped. It keeps making the move from house to house; being stowed in a safe, easily accessible place. Maybe I'll use it one day.

My choice of paint color was influenced by this canvas. You can see the paint chip at the bottom of the canvas in the pic above. I wanted a shade between the two blues, but toward the lighter color. Before long, we'll see how it looks on the walls!

I've been looking for the right bedding to coordinate with the color scheme without being too plain or matching too much. So far, I've had limited success...and I've spent a lot of time looking. This is one set that I'm considering, but I'm having trouble visualizing it in the room.

 

Picture care of Pottery Barn

Will it look right with the wall color? The canvas and other accessories? I'm not sure yet. It's difficult to color-match online. 

I like the idea of using blue and white as the main colors and keeping it simple for the time being. The curtains I bought for this room are white sheers. When we get it, the furniture will be dark brown wood to provide some contrast between light and dark.

Since I love bright and vibrant colors, I will bring in more color with accessories based on the sex of the baby we hope to have one day. I like the idea of using orange with a boy and dark pink with a girl, but this is way too early to be figuring all of that out.

The main thing is that the room will be versatile. No matter how we dedicate its use, we can make it work without having to repaint. I like the sound of that.

Work at Home

When God led us to this house, I had no idea how much it would improve our life and experience here. It just so happened, Matt had just hired an assistant manager who is a good worker. That relieved Matt of having to check on the plant every Saturday and Sunday as he/we did our first two years here.

Another major help was this:

Matt now has a home office!

When we first moved in, Matt told me over and over that he planned to work from home more. I LOVED the sound of that, especially because he meant it. ;)

Since we've lived here, Matt has only worked a couple of Saturdays. That is HUGE, people. I LOVE having him at home and tell him often :) 

To complete your tour of the first floor of our home, I'll show you the way to Matt's office.

From the kitchen,

you'll pass this...

head down the hall...

passing this on the right...

and this on your left...

and back to the right, pass this...

before walking through the double doors into his office.

It's not exactly tidy at this moment. I usually help with keeping his spaces straight and organized, but I haven't done much with this room after painting and moving in the furniture. 

You see a framed map on the floor by the bookcase. We may hang that in his office, but if not, it will go up in the man-cave. The rest of the clutter on the floor is his work computer bag, empty box that had our security system components in it, and a box of files for work.

Since this room doesn't have a closet for storage, we don't have a place for the odds and ends while we're still making decisions of how to finish the room. There are several things that belong in the office that are still in other places in the house. We're making progress slowly, but surely.

Other than painting the office, we had an electrician come out to wire the room for overhead lighting. Our state doesn't require it, code only requires "entry lighting," so most homes only have an electrical outlet connected to a light switch. We bought the fixture and the electrician hung it while he was here. 

The only things left to finish this room are: hanging diplomas and pictures on the walls, purchasing a bookcase or two, filling the bookcase we already have, and getting it a little more organized. I have my eye on a couple of new lamps for this room (to replace the desk and floor lamps), but they aren't cheap so we'll see.

There's also the matter of patching a hole in the ceiling left by the electrician. We knew in advance; he had to have access to pull the wire through to connect it with the switch. I decided to patch the hole myself rather than paying someone else to come in to do it. It's not my first attempt and my previous work was essentially undetectable when I was done. I'm hopeful this patchwork turns out as well.

When I start reviewing my list, it always seems to be much more work than it is. Finishing this room isn't the top priority right now, so it'll have to wait a bit longer. 

That essentially completes the tour of the first floor. We also have a mud room, garage, deck and patio. I'll show you all of that in a post at some point, but the most exciting spaces on this floor, you have seen.

Now, on to the second floor! Stay tuned...

Little Bit

Our Pastor preached on Sunday morning from Acts, where Peter had been imprisoned and an angel came to him in the night and led him safely out of jail. The common thread he identified in Peter's response, that of the believers praying and Rhoda was that they all had a little bit of faith, mixed with disbelief.

Peter in a dazy-haze, walking along with the angel didn't actually realize he was being led to freedom until after the angel went away and he looked around. Rhoda heard Peter's voice through the door and didn't believe it was him, though she had been praying for him along with the other believers in the house. When Rhoda ran with excitement to tell the others that Peter was freed and stood outside the door, the believers responded that it must be his angel.

The point our Pastor made was this: though each of them doubted that God had answered their prayers, they all had enough faith to pray. He challenged us to take the little bit of faith we have and pray for what's on our hearts. We don't have to muster up a large amount of faith for God to move; we just need enough faith to pray and ask Him. 

Is there anything you're afraid to ask God for in prayer? Ask God for enough faith to pray.

On and Off

Our second anniversary this year was squished in among much activity and trips. As usual, Matt did an excellent job of making it a special night.
 
He bought me flowers...

He gave me a sweet card...

We went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner...

We ate outside; the weather was perfect, the food delicious.

and 

We made a side trip to Niagara Falls and the Finger Lakes after our fishing trip to Lake Ontario.

King Salmon...cooked up nicely.

Ithaca, NY has some fabulous eats.

Needless to say, Matt was on top of his game.

Unfortunately, I was a little bit off. There were plans. Supplies were purchased for an especially nice home cooked meal. Other ideas were brewing for making it a fun date night at home, to make him feel loved and appreciated.

Somehow it didn't seem to come together. In all of the hubbub, I decided, "It'll happen. It'll come together soon enough. It doesn't have to be on the day or right by it. He'll appreciate it whenever I manage to work it into our schedule."

You got it. It took almost two months to follow through. :-/

I did give him a card on our day and our sentiments matched almost exactly! Now, I can also happily report that I made him a nice steak dinner to enjoy at home...and he thoroughly enjoyed it. :)

My first attempt at a T-bone; normally we grill Ribeye or NY Strip. #tryingouttheindoorgrill

Hey, I may be off, but I'm off in a good way ;)

It's Here!

It's time for the changing of the seasons...light layers...heartier foods...football!...pumpkin muffins...spicy scents...cozy blankets...leaves crushed beneath our feet...

It's time for corn mazes...bonfires...s'mores...hot cocoa...scavenger hunts...haunted houses...

It's time to visit an orchard...pick a pumpkin...take family photos...

It's time to pack up the salads until spring...to bring out the crock pot...to simmer chilis and stews...

Pasta Fagioli -- the recipe was swiped from Facebook :)

There's so much fun to do!