listen.

its been a long time! hi! we have been incredibly busy and not with anything all that exciting, unless you consider pediatric nursing and cardiovascular physiology exciting. sadly, we kind of do.. but that is beside the point. i took some pictures of grant freaking out (ok i was too) during the ducks game saturday, but i haven't uploaded them. Maybe I'll get those up by the end of the week?? I know you are busting at the seams with anticipation, AREN'T YOU?!

In the mean time, I listened to some great episodes of This American Life while working out today and yesterday. Do you listen to this show? I used to not like it, but I must have been on crack because I'm obsessed with it now. And its on tv now too?! You can watch the show streaming from netflix, which I like to do as an excuse to sit in my rocking chair and knit. I know I'm 80 years old.. don't judge!

Anyway, a weeks ago This American Life did a two part series on the health care system. I'm sure we all have very different opinions about what is going on and how it should proceed, but I would encourage anyone with an opinion to listen to these. They do a really good job of looking at things from a different perspective and brought up a lot of issues I hadn't heard of anywhere else. It is really making me think and reconsider my position on the issue.

If you are so inclined, here are the episodes...the full episodes are on their website for you to click and listen to. If you decide you want to get the weekly podcast you can subscribe on iTunes... only thing is I can't figure out how to get past episodes that way.

Week 1: More is Less
Week 2: Someone Else's Money

Enjoy!

curtains and stools. OH MY!

when we bought this house we knew we needed some sort of window covering for the sliding glass door. the vertical blinds were going back up over my dead body. (no offense if you have vertical blinds...) we checked out our options and, quite honestly, could afford curtains and that was it. though my mom tells me it is the 'new thing' to do on sliding doors? she may have just been trying to make me feel better...

once that decision was made i had to figure out what the heck we were going to hang up! let me remind you that it was July by this point...there had been a quilt hanging up since May and i was tired of sweating and wearing my sunglasses to dinner (that side of the house faces west). this is becoming a long story. anyway... basically, i looked for fabric i liked - nothin'. G and i spent a few hours in target - nothin'. i stopped in pier one while running errands and found these. eh. i think i like 'em... this whole decorating this is so stressful for me!

they are kind of expensive for our one-income household and we needed to cover the slider plus three other windows...adds up fast! for each of the windows in the living room i cut one panel in half and hemmed the raw edge. then i bought one more panel for the kitchen window hoping to make a roman shade.

although i finished hemming... we haven't yet hung the other panels, but i think we are liking the ones on the slider. i am REALLY happy i insisted on getting one of the double curtain rods...the sheers on the second rod hide the fact that it is a slider back there... looks prettier, no??

one downer...i had grant hang the slider ones up and then (after a week..im slow?) realized i had never ironed them. OF COURSE it is now driving me insane and the screws (holding the curtain rod in place) are too tight to get them down...awesome.

with the extra fabric for the kitchen shade (haven't made that one yet...) i covered our stools. these were old and ugly oak stools with no pad on the seat. i primed and sprayed them (spray paint = my new best friend) and then cut a thick piece of quilt batting and a circle of fabric. then i just pulled tight and stapled A LOT.

i think i like 'em. i worry that there will be too much of this fabric in the room. i considered making pillows for the couch too, but i really do think that will be too much.

in other house news...

sunday while i made bread Grant cleaned up our garage. our attic is all organized with a TON of extra space...more than we ever thought. and the garage is too! it was all to make room for the car... its been COLD here and i wasn't about to go outside if i don't have to. love it!

in the coming weeks we have plans to actually assemble the last 2 chairs to our dining room set. they have only been hanging around since January! i always said i would never be this person...yet you get busy and you have no choice. i am also 2 years behind on printing pictures... i used to have every picture printed, in an album with some framed, and archived within days of taking them!

anyway...i am wordy tonight. i hung out at the state mental hospital for a few hours today... it might have made me a little loopy. we also have a plan for getting my craft room in order and, hopefully, making room for an actual guest bed! we'll keep you posted.

today was my monday and i'm already ready for the weekend... two.more.days.

pumpkin festival!

warning: picture heavy post...



we were going to go to the pumpkin patch this weekend but THEN we heard about the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival! what is a pumpkin festival? basically lots of fun booths and autumn festiveness where you can buy/pick pumpkins...SWEET! have i mentioned how much i like this stuff??



i took this from our parking spot...which was the sweetest spot EVER. G read that Hartsburg has a population of 108 (yes. total.), but that the festival draws 32,000 people every year (its only 1 weekend long)!! he decided that meant we should find an alternate way in and out of town...exactly the kind of thing that made me marry this man. everyone else easily waited 2 hours to get out of town and to the freeway...we walked slightly (maybe a few blocks) farther to our car and drove away with no wait!

we made it back in time to catch most of the duck game. did you see the SWEET touchdowns in the first few minutes of the second half?? we were screaming and clapping in the sports bar...no other duck fans here so they all just stared...whatever! your loss missoura!



back to the festival...this was our first stop...kettle corn. YUM!













there were lots of crafts booths, too! i love that my husband enjoys this stuff as much as me...we were checkin' out all the crafts/holiday decorations and he kept saying, "i can't wait til we can get all this stuff for our house." i melted, just a little. we had so much fun walking around and the weather was, obviously, awesome!



clouds in the mirror on the way home.



our loot!! grant says we are celebrating pumpkin diversity in this household...ha!

can you guess how much this all cost??? $15! can you believe that? pumpkins are 2 for $10 at the grocery stores here...such an insane rip off.

the boy

my boy comes home today! we took these when he was getting ready to head to the airport. he sang to me and i taped it...it was so sweet. but he won't let me upload it! just for me, i guess...

jealous

i got this picture from grant today. he took it with his phone! he is in DC for an APS committee (or something??) meeting. today he got to spend the afternoon/evening with his Gma. We are so thankful he is getting the chance to visit her! i wish i were there too! in eighth grade we took a class trip to DC, Philly, and New York...i had a blast, but was totally uninterested in the history or just more excited about the fact that we were on a trip without our parents. i hope we can go back in the next few years to see the sights!

happy rest of the week! i will be in a simulation tomorrow morning, providing care for a critically ill manikin. should be interesting.

table revamp AND my mixer!!

before

remember this?? that's right, i started sanding this table in MAY and i just finished it last week. in my defense, we have made some big changes like me starting school, moving, and ENDLESS house stuff. and really it has been a continual work in progress.

first off... i can't sand anything unless i have a hand sander. something about manual sanding makes me want to vomit. i kept telling myself if i pushed through i would eventually get over it, but it just wasn't happening...the dry-heaving would start and that was the end of it. luckily i have a loving husband who was willing to go back and manually sand all the little spots i couldn't get to with the hand sander.

after

second i had NO idea how annoying staining something can be. it was so hard to get the color even! it took me three weeks to muster enough motivation to do a second coat...and then i decided the color was good enough and avoided a third coat. then i just put a coat of glossy polyurethane and called it good!

i am actually really happy with how it turned out. it matches everything really well and the 'mistakes' are much less visible inside than they were when i had the table outside.

i still have to figure out what to put on the table, but i threw this stuff on there so it wasn't so plain for now.

and this is my new mixer!!! i am in love and can't wait to figure out how to use it. i want to make bread ALL THE TIME. i was being choosey with the color so i had to wait a few days for it to get here...i am glad though...because i LOVE the color.

that husband of mine is pretty good to me!