Category Archives: Country Living

On the Agenda

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It is downright gorgeous out right now. I just had to run an errand for work and I seriously contemplated getting lost on the way back to the office.

While I was driving, I was mentally making a to-do list for this weekend.

Of course there’s the typical things on my list…laundry, dishes, menu planning & grocery shopping, etc…yawn…

But there’s also some other, not-so-typical things on my list…

Brushing your teeth using water leftover from the day...it's just like camping! Only...NOT.

#1-FIX THE PLUMBING PROBLEM! Yep, we’ve got an issue. And not just us, it effects our rental house too. JOY. Country living at.it’s.finest, folks. Typically our water filtration system goes through a cycle every 3-4 days where we completely lose water pressure for about 20-30 minutes. Sometimes an annoyance, but usually no big deal. It’s always done it. So yesterday morning when we lost water pressure before I left for work, I thought nothing of it. Then Andy called me last night, upon beating me home, our renter came out of the house to tell him they’d had no pressure all day long. Awesome. We called a guy…yup, we’ve got a guy for plumbing because we’re cool like that. Anyway, we called him up and he & his family literally dropped everything to come out and help us. They got it fixed. We cheered. Then took them out to dinner as a thank you. By the time we got home? No pressure again. WOMP. Needless to say, our guy and Andy will be back out there this afternoon to try and really figure out what’s going on.

#2-GO TO THE HOMESHOW! It’s supposed to be all crappy and rainy this weekend so we figured to help combat the cabin fever we’d head down to the fairgrounds to visit the homeshow. We have no money to do any renovations but it’s always fun to dream…new patio out back…with a built-in outdoor kitchen, of course. New flooring throughout the house. What do you think about a big pond out back with a firepit? Heck, let’s build a new house while we’re at it! Andy loves this type of stuff and we always pick up good ideas along the way, so why not?

#3-COOKING! My sweet friend Lindsey just gave birth to a beautiful little girl in the wee hours of this morning! So, to try and help them out a little I figured I’d whip up a couple of freezer meals for them. And I may or may not want to love on a fresh baked baby if I get the chance. 

#4-GO TO MICHAEL’S & the thrift store! We’re planning on moving Rylee into her “big girl room” during Andy’s spring break. Well, that’s at the end of this month which means I need to get started on a plan. Her favorite colors right now are pink & orange so I’m using that as my inspiration…but planning things that can be easily changed because I know how my girl can change her mind. Ry has asked for pink bed sheets so I’ll pick some of those up at Target or something. My mom’s making her a quilt and I’ve enlisted her help on a Roman style shade too. I’ve been pinning ideas on Pinterest and what not, now I just need to put those ideas into action. {That’s 90% of the problem with Pinterest, am I right!?} I need to pick up some pink paint, some yarn, some glue, a couple of larger size picture frames and whatever else I see that tells me to buy it. Here’s some more of what I’m thinking…

 

 

 

What’s on your agenda for the weekend!?

Spring {And Change} is in the Air

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It’s that time of year…

The time of year where the sun starts peeking through the rain clouds and we start spending a little bit more time each weekend outside.

There’s no doubt, Spring is in the air.

But with Spring comes…work.

Gone will be the days of lazy family weekend morning filled with cartoons and home improvement shows.

Gone will be the family trips to the grocery store.

They will be replaced with one of us (me) staying inside the good majority of the day to get housework done and one of us (Andy) heading outside for hours on end working on the property.

Of course there will still be family lunches and family dinners at the table daily.

And there will be plenty of time where all of us are outside, but instead of us doing something all together, I will likely be hanging out with Rylee while she plays in her sandbox or digs in the rocks and Andy will be off in the distance brush-hogging a field, cleaning up the brush around the pond, pruning a fruit tree, taking care of the burn pile or any one of the other seemingly million things on the to-do list when you have 12 acres and two houses to take care of.

We’ll take a family walk to the back of the property now and again, watching Dante zoom past us when he realizes where we’re going. But shortly after our walk is over, it will be back to work.

Obviously, this isn’t meant to be some sort of woe-is-us thing because, really, we chose this path as our life we’re building. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it will be an adjustment.

Spring is in the air. And while we can’t be more excited for some sunshine and time spent outside, Spring means change. And it’s the change that we have the trouble with.

Sooo…lately?

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Wow, has it been a week already?

Work has been insane, so my typical lunchtime blogging has gone by the wayside, hence the lack of posting.

So, here’s the quick and dirty of what’s been going on our little life…

  1. Please to be noticing the epic outfit choice. Full of awesome, no? {For the record, she’s informed me she’s no longer wearing her jeans or carhartts and ONLY sweats and leggings because they are the most comfortable.}
  2. Someone has figured out how to write her own name…at 3.5 years old…and loves to write it all.the.time.
  3. We’ve also been making cards. Just for funsies.
  4. The weekends have consisted of a LOT of this.
  5. There’s also been a wee bit of daddy-daughter baking going on.
  6. Oh yea, and SNOW! Last week.
  7. Ry’s totally into my Kindle Fire.
  8. Remember how I said works been busy? I’ve been a final packaging fool!
  9. All that snow quickly turned into rain. Lots and lots of rain. And flooding. Andy’s school was even evacuated one day!
  10. Oh yes, and ice cream. Because…obviously.

Let’s see…what else? Oh yes, I’m fighting a cold right now. It sucks.

I’ll be headed back out traveling for work in February. It’s a show I’ve never been to in a state I’ve never been to. Should be an adventure!

I’m not so patiently waiting for my bloat to turn into a bump…I’m down to only 3 pair of jeans that still fit mostly comfortably. I’ll be washing up my maternity pants this weekend…so, any day now, right?

Oh yea, and today one of the posts I wrote over at Liberating Working Moms about leaving stress at the door is being featured on BlogHer.com‘s home page! I know some, if not most of my readers won’t know what BlogHer is, but I promise, it’s something to get excited about!!

So yea, there’s the update. Oh, also, it’s Tuesday! We’re having tacos and I’m pretty sure there’s a new episode of NCIS on tonight!

Happy New Year!

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Oh, yes, I’m fully aware I’m about 5 days late on this post, but well…I’ve had other things going on.

Besides baking a baby that has me wanting to go to bed at 7:30 every night, work has been particularly busy these last couple of weeks, as I prep for product launch and tradeshows. Insanity is more like it.

With work being so busy, my lunches, better known as my normal blogging time, has been filled with running errands for work or just plain working through.

And my evenings? Well, those have been reserved for my family.

The long weekend was glorious. It was the perfect mix of productive and lazy. We spent the entire weekend as a family…it was so needed. Saturday we spent the afternoon running errands. And, shockingly enough, I made it all the way to midnight!

Sunday, New Year’s Day, we took down Christmas decorations while Rylee napped. Undecking the halls actually resulted in a major living room and office overhaul, completely rearranging and cleaning everything.

Monday was filled with more cleaning and rearranging. And more laziness. And even spending some time outside…in, get this, the SUN!

Seriously, the weekend was perfect. I mean…when this is your view, how can it not be a great weekend!?

It was the perfect way to start a new year.

Hope your year is off to a great start too!

Wordless Wednesday: Oregon Girl

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She’s my true-blue Oregon girl…confirmed by the fact that she doesn’t even know that you’re supposed to use an umbrella when in rains…not when it’s sunny.