Daddy and Owen were painting the garage while Katie was having her waterslide party. Yes, it’s purple. We only use Home Depot or Menards “oops” paint colors ($30 vs $120 for five gallons) for garages so it was bright peach or this. We figured the purple was meant to be.
Also, Tom’s sprayer died about 3/4 of the way through…so we ended up buying a new one. We hated to spend the money but he will definitely use it for future projects.
Once we showed up to check on them, of course Katie wanted to paint, too…so we let Katie do her name.
After some last-minute drama (with getting the funds wired the morning of)…it’s a done deal. We are now the proud owners of a 30-year mortgage! But it’s seriously our dream house and we couldn’t be happier. Tom and I just keep saying What did we do?! Oh yeah, we bought a house THAT WE LOVE.
I mean, we have purchased two houses in the past and they were both great for us at the time but we never loved them. We. LOVE this. house. (Is it perfect? Of course not. But does it check all of our boxes? Minus a lazy river and a four car garage… Yes.)
And then Anna brought the kids over…and was our family photographer!!
It was fine overall, but since this is our forever house, we figured we might as well do it right. Of course it was way more expensive than we thought but it needed to be done before we moved everything in… Otherwise it might never get done. So they actually had to start before we closed (we cleared it with the owner).
So this is what it started as…
This is what it looks like now… They did a bunch of retaping, replaced some boards, fixed some things…and now it’s looking good! Just waiting for it to dry so Tom can paint!
We get a veggie and fruit box every other week and for the most part we like everything or will try it if it’s something new. This week had artichokes. I steamed two and Tom and I tried one for lunch…
and it wasn’t exciting for either of us…so I texted my neighbor to see if she’d want it—and she did! As we were chatting she mentioned she had lots of dill and asked if I wanted some. Yes, please!!
So one of the perks of meeting the seller/owner was that she said “Hey, the floors are being refinished Monday. Would you guys want to pick the color?” UM, YES PLEASE!
So we scheduled a meeting with the floor guy and then thought about what color we wanted…I really thought a light gray would be great—it would really change the look and lighten things up a lot. (I’m so tired of everything feeling dark. I want everything light and bright.) Tom wasn’t sure at first but quickly came around and agreed. It will go perfectly with all the current paint colors and kitchen cabinets, etc.
He mixed some colors for us and these were our options (without making him do 32 varying shades). I had hoped for a bit lighter version, but A) I wasn’t taking the original wood color into consideration and B) when we added more white, it actually looked a bit more blue. We ended up picking the top middle. We can’t wait to see it finished!!
This bird feeder has been up for about a year now but the cat hardly pays attention to it. Well, a chipmunk has started visiting and Charlie still hasn’t noticed it…so today I literally pulled her out of the bed and forced her head in the direction to see it. She wasn’t having it so it took much longer than I thought it would, but then she saw it. And she was intense. (I thought we might get some chirping but we didn’t.) Now I can’t wait to see if she looks out on her own…
So if you recall, the seller of our new house invited us over for drinks and a casual walk through. That was today. And it was epic.
Long story short, she’s amazing, the house is amazing, and we love it even more now!! We got along really well, we have a lot in common (to start, a love of margaritas and makeup!), and we are definitely going to be friends! How cool is that? The kids even wanted to stay the night!
For legit YEARS I have been juicing limes for the freezer (because who can use a whole bag before they go bad?!) and then also freezing the rinds to put down the garbage disposal to freshen it up.
And then today. Today y’all. I had the mic drop moment. I was juicing limes from our local fruit and veg box (George Fourkas Produce Company) while also drinking a margarita and I thought why not use those frozen lime ends as ice cubes? 😱😱😱 No more watered down margaritas!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻
We went on yet another walk in our new neighborhood today and the homeowner was outside in the garage and we quickly debated introducing ourselves or not…and I said WHAT THE HELL and long story short she’s super awesome—she was excited to meet all of us, reiterated that she’s thrilled the house is going to a nice family, and she let us show the kids the back yard.
She also told us she was leaving two additional TVs (one in the wet bar and one in the gazebo), that we were welcome to start bringing stuff over to leave in the third garage bay, plus, after we exchanged numbers, invited us over for a house tour and a drink on the deck!
Both kids are super excited about the gazebo.
We also got to scout out the back yard again to see where we could put a small shed so that was good.
Bloodys with clamato, Worcestershire, garlic salt, celery seed, horseradish, and Absolut Peppar vodka. Much to our surprise, you don’t taste any clam at all and it was quite tasty!
So….this is how Katie left the front porch (and driveway, too!) today while she’s off gallivanting around the neighborhood. After, you know, we’ve told them 2,638 times to PUT SHIT AWAY. So not only has their shit exploded inside the house these days (as we’re trying to organize and clean to move next month), but shit has now exploded onto my front porch.
They skip steps all the time. Never finish anything without prompting. Because they’re kids. But it’s just sooo frustrating because it seems like it’s all I’m ever saying! I wanted to throw all of this away but Tom intervened and sent Owen to bring her home. She apologized (but it won’t change anything) and then she “cleaned” it up by stacking it all up under the bench. Sigh,
And this is what the sink looks like after I told both kids to load the dishwasher. TWICE. After I’ve told them every single time when they load the dishwasher that they need to check the sink. But heaven forbid I didn’t follow behind them and watch them so they didn’t do it.
Oh oh oh! And this is what the living room always looks like because they pull all the pillows and blankets off. AND LEAVE THEM ON THE FLOOR.
We invited friends over for a physical distancing movie night.
We introduced the kids to Back to the Future. It had a lot more language in it than I remembered… Katie whined that she didn’t want to watch it but of course she ended up liking it.
I stopped drinking because I’m trying to lose weight and margaritas don’t work with that plan…and I’m not a fan of diet drinks (Skinny Girl margarita? Barf). Once in awhile I will have a small cherry vodka and pop… Not very exciting but it’s something to drink by the fire instead of water. But I’m down 12# so there is that.
Since Covid-19 has thrown everything out of whack, a scouts weekend camping trip was turned into a backyard campout. The boys had a schedule to follow including camp setup, meal planning, zoom calls, computer check-ins with photos, and games!
FRIDAY
We borrowed a small tent from friends and both Owen and Katie LOVED hanging out in it. We put it up in the morning and they pretty much spent all day in and out of it, sometimes together, sometimes alone. They were coloring and listening to music and who knows what else.
And of course Owen loved starting a fire!
Day 1 Dessert Tonka
Katie really wanted to sleep outside with him but he wanted to do it himself. We were slightly unsure he’d last all night, but he said he’d be fine but asked if we’d leave all the lights on…so it was basically daylight out there.
Schedule said lights out at 9:30!
SATURDAY
The night went fine and he stayed out all night!! Tom assisted with getting the fire ready for cooking breakfast but Owen did most of the actual food prep!
Prepping scrambled eggs to cook over the fire!Eggs plus reheated sausage patties and French fries!Katie LOVED the eggs, because of course she never eats scrambled eggs when we make them.
Both kids LOVED cooking over the fire… Katie—who generally says she doesn’t like hot dogs—cooked and ate TWO!
Cooking corn on the cob for dinner!Tom grilled the sausages because we knew neither kid could successfully cook a raw sausage over the fire.
Owen decided to let Katie sleep with him the second night and she was over the moon. They had another official 9:30 lights out but she says they stayed up really late! And again, as bright as day out there.
SUNDAY
More scrambled eggs!
Overall we were really impressed with how much Owen enjoyed spending time in the tent and prepping and cooking food! He’ll be even more ready if and when actually camping weekends start again!
A friend told me that green onions would sprout in water so we tried it. And whaddya know? It worked! It’s not enough if you need a bunch of them, but if you just need a few tiny pieces for a garnish, this is perfect.
Our side? Roasted butternut squash, bacon, caramelized onions, Honeycrisp apple, and smoked candied walnuts with a Chipotle sauce. Or mostly this pizza.
