Progress

Just a quick post--

I recently borrowed a book called "Little House in the Suburbs" from a friend, and I fell in love with it. We can't really do a full-out homestead while renting a townhouse with about a 60 sq ft courtyard in the back, but I decided this year I'd like to try some container gardening. On my next trip to Fresh Market, I bought some wheatgrass seeds. Here is photo evidence of their daily progression - the first sprout popped up on Valentine's Day.

 

Should be edible in a few more days. Yahoo!

Making things OURS

Our first furniture re-do is complete, with more on the way!

Let's rewind a little...
When Devin and I got married (or, rather, when we moved into our first apartment a few months before the wedding), we had no money and almost no furniture. The latter was fixed, however, by the extremely fortunate circumstance of both sets of his grandparents downsizing and moving into single apartments, while his parents were also upgrading parts of their home. We inherited our bed, dresser, two living room chairs, and our kitchen table and chairs...among other things! And in that first apartment, we were on the second floor with only a balcony to access the outdoors; ergo, no major modifications were going to take place on our new-to-us stuff.

NOW, however, we've moved into a townhouse with a small courtyard in the back. Still no patio furniture, but now my "nesting" instinct is really kicking in, and I thought, HEY, let's make some of this inherited stuff really OURS. Project 1: the dresser!

Not bad, just not "us."

 This is not the thing that was completed today.

I think this dresser is about 40 years old (but please correct me if I'm wrong, if you know for sure) - we didn't have any real complaints about it, but we just wanted to upgrade it into something of our choosing. I've seen lots of decoupaged furniture online and I LOVE the look, so it just became a matter of figuring out the when and how.

I used some Christmas money to buy a large print from Michael's, as well as spray paint, wood stain, and drawer pulls. Devin borrowed a power sander from work, and now the only thing stopping us has been the weather...

Day 1: Wash watches me sand.

Day 2: the boys watch Devin sand FO REAL. He is Vice President In Charge of Sanding.

"I'm naked!"

That's all the pictures I have of the dresser for now. It has been spray painted, but the top still needs to be stained - it has a wonderful flamed/spalted top that we decided we didn't want to cover up with paint or paper.

Here's another project, some DIY shelves! The green ones will be in the dining room, the blues will be upstairs in the den/studio. Hopefully we'll get them up this weekend!

We'd like to be useful now, please.

 And now, for the Project That Is Complete: THE NIGHTSTAND.

Yes, the "after" picture is first. If you thought this was the before picture, I suppose I should rethink my new hobby.

 Here's approximately what it looked like BEFORE:

Except the handle was just a small wooden knob. It matches our coffee table (which is currently serving as entertainment center). Both were given to us by my mom, who won them in a church auction. And, as is often the case with church auction items, she had no use for them. We're thankful, but they're BO-RING. :-p

The ivory sides and the dark Kona stain on top are the same colors we're using for the dresser. The drawer front is scrapbook paper; it doesn't exactly match the dresser's print, but the colors are all there. Once we started on the dresser, I figured, why not go ahead and make the nightstand coordinate? I'm pleased as punch with how my first re-do/decoupage turned out! (read between the lines: yes, I would do this for money.)

Love y'all.

Love and Marriage Marketing

I have a confession to make:

I am not a blogger.

But I'm a young married woman (blog about how in love we are)! With two cute dogs (blog about how cute the dogs are...oh wait...)! WITH AN ENGLISH WRITING BACKGROUND (write blogs!!!!). And we have a small budget so we like to DIY and upcycle (perfect blog material) and we eat healthy (healthily?)(BLOG ALL THE RECIPES.)

So why have I been silent since August?

Because I just visited the blog of a married woman (younger than me...) with a baby. There's a photo of her licking a huge lollipop (the woman, not the baby. One's cuter than the other.) She has a button on the sidebar that's a photo of her holding colorful balloons, smooching her husband, with the baby on the ground next to them. It says, "Complete Bliss." It's nauseatingly adorable.

You know how my brain responds to that?

"COMPLETE bliss, eh? So when he farts under the covers and it wafts up to your nose, you just inhale, and say, "MMMMM, thank you for the gift of your gas, baby"? Or when the adorable infant is crying, puking, and pooping all at once, the only thought in your mind is, "WOW, life sure is amazing and wonderful and the best thing EVER..."? Yeah. Didn't think so."

Hey, I'm a realist.

And every young married's blog is filled with all the same exhaltations of life, the universe, and everything. And while there is a mood and a time and a place for such things, these women make it look as though every day is a creative, adorable, squishy, perfect love-fest. I was perusing another blog awhile ago, and the author gushed, "We like to make forts out of blankets, we hold hands at the movies, and we eat ice cream cones" (or some other such cutesy nonsense). My first reaction? "....we don't make blanket forts... :-/" Immediately I wondered if something about our relationship was sub-par. 30 seconds later my brain said, "Screw that noise! We're awesome and we know it." We could totes make a kick-ass blanket fort if we wanted to.

But since I can't write about our blanket forts that we don't make, and I don't want to say our life is COMPLETE BLISS because, dude, it's not, I feel like less-than-ideal blogger material. The attitude I've had is, "Well if I can't make everyone gush and awwwwww and SQUEE and nearly lose their lunch, then what's the point?" These women all seem to just have it together and all figured out, and I very much...don't feel that way.

So I'll blog when I have something on my mind, like now. Because I can't act like our life is a fairytale, or share every mundane detail. I don't photograph every meal or outing or family cuddle pile. I don't WANT the whole internet to know what we do with our days off together, and the internet doesn't care, anyways. I don't need to talk us up every day in my need to convince you how in love we are. Hang out with us and you'll know.

I was never one of those girls who doodled my own name over all my notebooks in school. I think those girls grow up to write blogs like the ones I'm running into (with varying grammatical correctness, I might add...), while I'm just over here like, "Todaaaaaaaaaay...wasaday. I'll tell you when something important happens."

Careful! Don't love too hard.

Inspired by a conversation I had a few weeks ago, complete with footnotes.

I was talking with a man who was going through a "nasty" divorce. I do not know on what grounds the divorce was based on, but from the sound of things, SHE was PISSED. Anyways, the man noticed my wedding ring and said, "Ah, it looks like you're married."

Me: "Yes, I am."

"Happily, I hope?"

"Sure. It's been about 8 months now."

"Yeah, the first 8 months can be good." *pause* "Do you guys have joint checking accounts?"

"...yes..." *sensing impending doomsday-type advice*

"So did we. I found out that almost 2 years ago she started putting everything in HER name."

"Wow...that's crazy. I don't think I could ever do anything like that." *wanted to say many more things, but really, what CAN you say?*

"Well I didn't think she would either, but she did."

His point?

"Be careful."

Be careful. In more words, be careful with the person you devote your life to. Be careful that you don't fully trust them. Be careful, because everyone, EVERYONE, will screw you over(1).

I retold this conversation to my husband a few hours later, and we confessed that we had probably never been "careful" with each other. I said, "Maybe in the first two weeks." And we wholeheartedly agreed on several things:

1) That the kind of "careful" that says, "Let's keep our money separate," is basically a poor man's pre-nup. It says, "I don't know if I trust you. If (when) we break up, I want to make sure I'm safe." I'm sure there are exceptions to this. I know that there are people who have spending/gambling problems, and maybe that really is a safety issue, and keeping their money separate actually helps these couples stay together. But I think that's a minority.

2) That "be careful" is some of the worst possible advice for a marriage. It's good in the early stages of dating. It's probably also good in a divorce. But for a marriage? There's no room for careful. There's no room for doubt or mistrust. There's a reason it's called "taking the plunge(2)," because you have to take a blind leap of faith, and hope and trust that you won't fall on rocks but on a bed of MARSHMALLOWS(3)!


3) That dogs, beer, cuddling, and Netflix are the best things ever (4).



So there you have it: insights from a newlywed. Go ahead, laugh(5).

Do these faces look careful to you??

P.S. Devin said earlier, "You're great." I said, "How'm I great?" Reason number 1: "I can call you on my way home and say, 'Baby, I need beer.' And you will go out and get goooood beer." :-D



(1) Except your dog.
(2) The only other plunge I've taken was a literal one from a 30-foot cliff into water. Marriage was an infinitely better decision.
(3) I think marshmallows and love go very well together, be it in metaphor or reality.
(4) Unrelated.
(5) Just be careful you don't choke or bust a gut.

Goings-ons

Yep. I'm a terrible blogger. But here are some things that have been going on in our world!

In dog world, Wash passed his Canine Good Citizen test with flying colors. Here he is with his completed evaluation sheet:

Being a Canine Good Citizen means that he can follow basic commands - "sit," "down," and "stay"; he knows how to greet strangers and other dogs appropriately; he walks nicely on leash; he lets strangers handle him (brushing, feet, ears); and he doesn't become overly anxious when we leave his sight. He still doesn't like it when strange people come into the house, but he has improved tremendously from when we first got him!

Meanwhile, Chewy has been having a bit of a rough year. Starting in March, he got what looked to be a spider bite on one of his paws. He had to wear the cone of shame for a week so that he wouldn't lick it and give it a chance to heal. Then, both dogs came down with some bug that gave them both diarrhea and vomiting. A little medication cleared that up. Then, they both came down with a mild case of kennel cough. THEN, one day after daycare I noticed Chewy having some trembling in his legs, and for a few days he was particularly lethargic. The vet diagnosed some kind of back strain/injury, and he underwent two rounds of laser therapy + pain medication. I have to admit, laser therapy was kind of fun and interesting, and the "doggles" they put on him were insanely cute!

Most recently, he had some odd growths removed from his paws (seriously, both vets that looked at them said, "Wow, that's odd..." Some kind of extra paw pad growing symmetrically on both front paws) Here he is, looking ultra-pathetic shortly after coming home from the vet:

For now, he is happy and healthy. And now that the weather has stopped with the insane heat, we've been doing short training sessions almost every day to REALLY crack down on his intense anxiety around other dogs. He has improved a little, but this will definitely take some time. We wonder if his reactions are a result of some kind of attack when he was chained up/on a leash before we got him. Poor little pup...
We've had him for almost a full year now, and I can't wait for his "birthday" - we're buying him a nice new collar and getting him groomed professionally at Good Dog. I'm sure there will also be some particularly tasty treats involved!

Moving on to other subjects - AND SPEAKING OF MOVING - we are! We found a really nice townhouse for rent in Broad Ripple, half a mile at most from Good Dog so I can walk to work. Yahoo! Devin's commute will be about the same, maybe a tad shorter. The place is 1200 sq feet, 2 bed/1.5 bath, comes with washer and dryer, small fenced courtyard in the back, and the only utility we pay is electricity. Lots of closets and a bigger kitchen! And the guy who's just moved out put a doggy door in the back :) The move will be in mid to late September.

In other good news, I got the job of color guard director for a high school in downtown Indy. It's not the same level of intensity that I've done before - they only have 2 competitions all season, 2 practices a week, and a five minute show (compared to the 7 or 8 competitions, daily practices, and 10-12 minute shows I'm used to!) But I'm glad to be teaching and spinning a flag again. I'm also glad to be dancing again - the same week that guard started, I joined a contemporary dance class at a nearby studio. Let me just say that one class a week isn't enough! I want more!! Devin also got a raise and job title change last month - he is now the lighting and sound technician for the Center (formerly assistant electrician).

It's now almost time for me to head to guard practice. I have another post on deck for sometime later (maybe in another month? :-p) Thanks for reading, everyone!

All About Wash

Yes, it's been awhile since I've blogged. Sorry...we've been busy! I guess that's what happens when we both work full-time or close to it. Here is a post that I wanted to write almost 3 months ago, but it's okay that it's just now getting done - here's the story, progress, and personality of our second rescue dog, Wash!

His very first day in his new home - not quite sure what to think!

With getting my job at Good Dog came the talk, and the search for dog #2. We had wanted to get Chewy a playmate and once we knew we'd have that extra source of income, it didn't take long for us to find a new someone to bring into our lives. His name was Billy, and he was in foster care after being found as a stray at a school near Plainfield, IN (southwest of Indy). After meeting him at a PetCo adoption event and filling out the application the week before, on March 10 we introduced Chewy to his new brother, Billy - whose name we changed to Wash. Yes, it's a bit unusual; he's named after a character from the cancelled TV show "Firefly" and the movie "Serenity." Here's the original Wash, expert spaceship pilot:

Wash and Chewy were best friends almost immediately, but once we got them both home and they played into the evening hours, Chewy started giving us this look like, "Soooo...when's he going back to HIS house?" He wasn't the biggest fan of sharing our attention with his new brother at first (who it turns out is a bit of an attention HOG), but the two of them are still like peas in a pod.

So here's a few more details about Mr. Wash:
We really can't tell what he's mixed with. Corgi and possibly yellow lab? He's about ten pounds bigger than Chewy.
His ears are very bouncy when he walks. It's ridiculously adorable.
He has a VERY waggly tail. Naturally, it goes nuts when we come home after work. But sometimes even if you just look at him or say his name, his tail will reveal how pleased he is.  :)
He came to us with a thick, plush undercoat and he was as soft as a teddy bear. He has since shed this, and now he is less soft and looks quite a bit scrawnier than in these photos!
Like Chewy, he LOVES treats, but compared to Chewy he is much better with accepting simple praise as a reward. Chewy's attitude: "You don't have a treat? Well then why did you make me do stuff??"
Unlike Chewy, he doesn't go completely insane when he sees other dogs (yay!) (Chewy is also making small improvements with this)
Also unlike Chewy, he is wary of strangers, ESPECIALLY when they come into the apartment. But in the 3 months we've had him, he has improved tremendously with this. Between going to the dog park, daycare, and his new obedience class (class #3 was this past Sunday), he has gotten much better accepting the presence of strangers and often will seek attention from them. He meets new people several times a week and we can see him changing before our eyes, which is so rewarding. It's like he's discovering how much fun life can be; when we brought him home, he wouldn't stick his head out the car window, and he didn't really know how to play with toys. Now he ALWAYS has his head out the window, and will ask us to play tug o' war with him the way Chewy did. He still tends to be generally afraid of unfamiliar things, and he especially hates any kind of spray bottle. Hmm.

Also NOT a fan of baths!

Mornings consist of Wash whining to be let out of his crate (as early as 6:30, as late as 10). We let both dogs out and Wash will hop in bed and sandwich himself between us - sometimes rather violently! - and Chewy will pop up to say good morning and then take window lookout duty. The two of them do most of their playtime after their meals and they love to chase each other in circles around the couch.

 

 

They do a good job wearing each other out!

Look how curious the puppy is! (just this past Sunday)

In summary, we now have two dogs who each has his own unique set of idiosyncrasies. They are great dogs and we are working to make sure they are the BEST dogs they can possibly be. They make us laugh every day, and even though it hasn't even been a year yet, we can't imagine life without them! I'd never had a dog before Chewy, and now there's two....I'm just pleased as punch :)

Until next time-
Kathleen

As of late...

Man oh man, has life been crazy! Apologies for not writing a pre-honeymoon post, but most of those final days were spent editing photos and making last-minute arrangements. I hope you all got the chance to follow our adventures on the travel blog, but in case you'd like to catch up on what you missed, all the details of our adventures can be found here. I've also posted a photo album on facebook, and we're in the final editing stages of a video. All I can say to summarize is that we definitely fell in love with Hawai'i and can't wait to go back for more.

Upon our return (in the midst of Superbowl frenzy) we picked up Chewy from my sister's house, had one day to chill, and then went up to Wixom to celebrate Devin's dad's birthday. His mom had arranged for all 3 siblings to be there as a surprise, and it was a wonderful weekend of disc golf, game time, and general merriment.

Visiting Grandma K in the nursing home

Chewy with the birthday boy

They wore each other out!

Unfortunately, this blessed weekend also cursed 7 out of the 8 of us with a nasty stomach virus. I'll spare the gory details (although I feel I should add for posterity that this was the first time I had to puke out of a car window...), but after the worst had passed, Devin and I were cooped up for about 4 days, napping, watching movies, and just being bums in general. Extended honeymoon? Kinda, but not really...

So Devin finally made it back to work and I finally picked up on my to-do list - edited another round of photos, changed my name, submitted photos to a contest at TACA (was accepted!), and cooked a delicious vegetarian dinner for my love on Valentine's Day. Now, we aren't strict vegetarians, but partly because of cost and partly because of our health, I as chief grocery shopper only ever buy deli meat for sandwiches, and I wanted to challenge myself to cook something delicious, satisfying, and healthy. Anyways. 2 of the 3 recipes were found on Pinterest, which was a fun little foray in itself. For the appetizer I made strawberry-basil-goat cheese-balsamic bruschetta, and our main course was spicy cocoa carrots and butternut squash gnocchi. The gnocchi turned out pretty dry (probably because I disobeyed about 1/3 of the recipe...) but the bruschetta was amazing and the carrots were quite tasty, with the added bonus of being very easy to make. And here are some hopefully mouthwatering photos of my creations:

Bruschetta

Spicy coca roasted carrots

No photos of the gnocchi. It was ugly.


Earlier in the week, I happened to be perusing craigslist out of curiosity when I came upon a job listing at Good Dog Hotel & Spa...where I actually had a friend already working! Hey! There's some hope! So I messaged her and she talked to her managers. I applied on Friday the 10th, got a call on Saturday, interviewed on Wednesday and started work on Thursday the 16th. WOW. So Thurs-Sun I put in about 25 hours in the daycare, and while overwhelming at times, I can say that I definitely like the job - cool people, great dogs, relaxed atmosphere, AND I'll be able to bring Chewy with me. It's not anywhere near a "normal" job but then, I'm not really a normal person, am I? ;-) Really, I've wanted to work with animals for about as long as I can remember. First it was as a dolphin trainer, but I'm not a strong enough swimmer; then it was veterinarian for awhile until I realized I was much too squeamish. Marine biologist was a consideration until I heard about the tedium of things like measuring the acidity and salt content of seawater...sorry, I'm not really scientist material! But this. This is cool. And it's already under my skin. When your job is something your mind wanders to when you're driving to your mom's house, you're probably on the right track.

I'll end it here. My husband is on his way home, and I've got paczkis waiting for him. :-D Happy Fat Tuesday!