Hillside Reflections

Rainbow Day

2011-09-09T13:34:00.000-05:00

For the last two weeks my preschool class has been doing "color days".

Each day was assigned a different color and the kids would wear that color to school and bring an item of that color from home to show their friends. Today was our last day so, of course, it was rainbow day!

We did several really fun activities including painting with all of the colors:

We also did a really cool activity with unflavored gelatin.

We had been having colored jell-o each day for all of the other colors, so today we "painted" some clear jell-o. We started with a bowl of unflavored gelatin that I had made the day before (this was trickier than I thought! The first batch we made was waaaay too hard so we melted it down in the microwave and added more water. We were pleased to find that it re-set nicely in the fridge, but bummed to find we had added a little too much water and it didn't hold it's shape when we took it out of the bowl. Third time was the charm! It took wiping the inside of the bowl with a little veggie oil on a paper towel and making sure to dip the bowl in HOT water for about 15 seconds before tipping it over.)

Step 2 was preparing our "paint". We filled these paint trays with a little bit of water in each well (probably about 1-2 Tbsp.) and then I had the kids name what colors they wanted to add. I used Colorations Liquid Watercolors - a.k.a. The Best Classroom Art Supply EVER. They are a definite must-have for any early childhood classroom. You will not regret the money you spend on these!

tip: the more concentrated the color the cooler it will look, but you don't want to use the liquid watercolors undiluted because then you'll end up using A LOT of them in order for you to have enough for the kids to be able to get in their droppers.

Step 3 was using plastic pipettes to inject the watercolors.

It was super fun to push them into the gelatin and watch the color squirt out!

Eventually the gelatin started to break into chunks from all of the injecting. We also cut it into sections to see what it was looking like on the inside. Eventually, I pulled some of the chuncks off and put them on a separate tray so we could look at how they had been stained by the paint. They looked like jagged jewels.

Once I figured out how to turn the camera's flash on, I took this one which shows all of the cracks and punctures from the pipettes.

We also ate rainbow snacks (candy corn and goldfish crackers) and sorted them by color before eating them... but really, after the whole gelatin injection project, popcorn and goldfish are kind of lame. ;-)

We did one other super cool project that I've been dying to try after seeing it all over the crafty blogosphere:

melted crayon canvas art!!!

I had the kids help to find the colors and put them in the right order.

Then I hot-glued the crayons along the top of the canvas...

...and turned on a blowdryer on the highest heat setting.

They started off pretty slowly, but once the wax started to heat up, it flowed really nicely.

This was our finished product!

A lot of the pictures I've seen of similar artwork online have the wax covering more of the canvas, but my favorite part is the drips, so I kept a lot of drips and didn't melt as much of the wax as I could have.

I would have had the kids help with the hairdryer part, but by the time they sat through the process of finding and sorting the colors and waiting for me to hot-glue them on, they were ready to move on and go play. They all loved the finished piece though and were mezmorized by the drips.

As much as the kids loved it though, I think my favorite was the reaction of some of the adults in the building who saw it. Eyes bugged and jaws dropped and many people just asked "Where did you get that idea???" To which I responded, "Blogs!"

So thanks to all my bloggy friends who have done this project or posted pictures they found of other people who have done it. I'm definitely going to do more of these in the future and perhaps even a few for my house. Some of the ideas that my fellow teachers and I were discussing were using metallic crayons on a black canvas or experimenting with adding another layer of crayons over the first after it dries.

It's been a really fun two weeks in preschool.

Now I have to figure out what we're going to do on Monday...

Strange Pets

2011-03-05T15:16:00.003-06:00

My cats like to sleep in strange places.

Exhibit #1: Charlie with his face in a croc.

Exhibit #2: Emmett deciding that the only thing that would make sleeping on my lap more comfortable, is using Maddie as a seat cushion.

Oddly enough, Maddie didn't seem to mind.

Exhibit #3: I turn the corner into the family room to find this scene on the recliner.
I don't think a description is necessary.

Hallelujah!

2010-11-24T09:56:00.003-06:00

On Sunday afternoon I was privileged to see the Omaha Voices' 46th annual performance of Handel's "Messiah" at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
It was absolutely beautiful and a little bit magical. My sisters and I grew up listening to Handel's Messiah at Christmas time and I can't ever hear those familiar notes and words without my heart being warmed and a smile stretching across my face.

I've also enjoyed the many variations and performances of the "Hallelujah" chorus that I've seen in email forwards and facebook posts. My favorite are the "flash mobs" that surprise people in public places (like shopping malls and department stores) with amazing performances of this timeless piece. Others are a bit silly, but still fun.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Shopping Mall Food Court

A Macy's in Philadelphia

Silent Monks

Homemade Halloween

2010-11-11T00:06:00.002-06:00

It's a bird!

It's a plane!

No! It's... ABSOLUTION MAN!

That's right. My husband is a pastor-dork who thought it would be a great idea to dress up as a made-up character, "Absolution Man".
Because he's a pastor and part of a pastor's job is absolving people of their sins.

So, being a highly supportive and creative wife, I made him a costume... without a sewing machine! Thank goodness for iron-on fusible tape.

I dressed as a bag of jelly beans.

While both of our costumes were a big hit at the party we attended, neither of us won the costume competition. It went to another couple from our church who came as a bride and her mother. (The husband was the bride and his wife was the mother of the bride. She fussed over him all night fixing his bra straps that kept showing and reminding him to put his legs together and sit like a lady. Hilarious!)

Can't wait til next year!
...maybe by then I'll have a sewing machine.

Loess Hills Autumn

2010-10-31T13:44:00.007-05:00

Last weekend, Seth and I decided to take an afternoon drive around Glenwood and Mills County to enjoy the beautiful fall colors. It was an amazing afternoon and I was thankful that I was able to capture some photos what we saw.

I started in our front yard. It turns out that our three little trees along the driveway are absolutely gorgeous in the fall!

We started out heading south of town.

Seth took me down a rather treacherous road that he had discovered on a previous drive (he loves to drive around and explore country roads).

Notice the evergreen tree leaning precariously DIRECTLY over the road. YIKES!

It was strange and amazing and I loved it!

It led to an adorable little bridge and a clearing in the woods.

We continued along past some incredible views of the terraced farm land.

We saw these in several places - dark windy branches with bright red leafed plants growing up between them.

We ended up at the end of the road at a little cemetery. Some of the stones had been replaced with newer ones.

And some looked to be the originals.

Seth and I are fascinated by old cemeteries.
Headstones like these never fail to break my heart though.

"We loved this tender little one
And would have wished his stay,
But let our Father's will be done
He shines in endless day."

We passed through another "tunnel" road on our way out.

And passed a front yard that housed a long horn!

These are some of my favorite things that we saw along the way.

Signs like these:

That stand before bridges like this:
(notice what is... or isn't... on the other side)

But best of all:

That's right. "Quackenbush".
Why oh why can't that be the name of our street???

Harvest Open House 2010!!!

2010-10-12T21:53:00.005-05:00

On Saturday, Seth and I hosted (what will hopefully be our first annual) Harvest Open House!

The weather was gorgeous and the leaves started changing color just in time.

We had festive decorations inside and out.

Some that were borrowed from Seth's mom who came down Friday night to help us get ready.

Since the house was the cleanest it's been since we moved in, I went ahead and took some pictures around the rest of the house.

This is the office (a.k.a. "Kate's Jewelry Room"!) ...or at least the prettiest corner of it. I tried to take pictures of the whole room, but the sun was coming in the window and none of those pictures turned out. Perhaps another day...

This is the former storage room/current guest room/future nursery :-)

Master Bedroom

Bonus Room (addition off the kitchen/dining room)

We had tables set up in the garage which my wonderful sis-in-law helped decorate!

Aaaaaaaand most important - THE FOOD!!!

We had lots of yummy baked goods... like cream cheese brownies, cinnamon roll cookies, caramel apple bars, and pumpkin muffins that my MIL made. YUM!

Then there were pinwheels, spanikopita, mini quiche, bourbon bbq lil' smokies, veggies, cheese, crackers, etc.
All delicious!

And don't forget the super yummy apple cider punch!
With carved apple leaves thanks to howtogarnish.com!

After 5 hours and about 80-90 people, the party was deemed a success.
Everyone loved seeing the house and enjoyed the food.
I couldn't have done it without the help of my mother-in-law, Colene, and sis-in-law, Liz.
They were awesome... and I think they already have it marked on their calendar for next year.
I know I'm looking forward to doing it all again
...in 12 months. For now, I'm all partied out!

On the list of things NOT to do...

2010-09-17T18:14:00.003-05:00

Taking our Lab Fishing

Last night Seth and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and go fishing at our favorite private pond. Somewhere along the line of making plans, we thought it might be fun to bring Annie, our black lab, along with us. I think both of us had visions in our head of Annie chilling out comfortably at our feet, quietly and calmly enjoying the ride, while we enjoyed some good times and big bass. What a lovely thought.

As we packed up the trailblazer with our gear, I grabbed a few old towels out of the closet. You know... just in case Annie decided to splash around a bit. Hah. No sooner had we let her out of the car at the pond than she was traipsing out into the water... then sitting in the water... then lying down in the water... then rolling around in the water... and mud.

"No biggie," I thought, she'll be dry by the time we leave, no harm in letting her play around a bit before we get in the boat. So I dried her off a bit so she wouldn't drip all over us in the boat, and we took off from the shore. We weren't 10 feet away from shore before she took a flying leap off the side of the boat and into the pond. She swam around a bit and then came back to the boat at which point Seth had to lift her out of the water and back into the boat. About a minute later, she was back in the water again - swimming out to a fallen branch which she attempted to retrieve only to find that it was solidly planted in the water. Once again, we had to call her back to the boat and Seth lifted her out of the water. At this point, I had to hold her down to keep her from jumping back in the water. It seemed that her hunting instincts and training had kicked in and she was completely unable to control herself. Every little splash or ripple, every log or stick poking up out of the water, all drover her crazy.

At this point, Seth and I were both pretty wet, Annie was crying to get back in the water and retrieve something... anything! We decided the only thing to do was take her back to shore, dry her off, and get her set up in the back of the truck to relax while we fished. A few hours and several big bass later, we came back to find her calmly waiting for our return. We let her run around (away from the water!) before we headed for home.

And today Annie got a bath.

I Heart September

2010-09-16T13:28:00.000-05:00

The forecasted high for today in Omaha is 71 degrees.

It has yet to go above 60.

Did I mention it's overcast too?

Today is the first day that has truely felt like Fall... and I love it.

I don't think I've ever enjoyed such a cloudy, chilly day, but it feels like fall is finally on its way and before I know it the colors will begin to change and the magical season of autumn will swallow me up.

I can't wait.

Losing Time

2010-08-07T13:26:00.002-05:00

After having several conversations with other teachers who have extended time off during the summer months, I have found that I am not alone in my quest to find out what day it is.

All too often I will be shocked to find that it is not the day I thought it was.

"I missed Project Runway??? Is today Thursday!?!?"

"Why hasn't Sara posted a blog today? Oh wait... is it Saturday???"

(This one is especially bad considering her Friday posts are always the same "What Keeps Me Going" theme so I should know at a glance that if her last post was "What Keeps Me Going" then logically today must be... that's right: Saturday.)

Something about leaving the confines of routine just throws me completely off course and I loose all track of time and space. This is also how I manage to get to the end of the week in a panic because I've run out of time to get things done! We are leaving tomorrow afternoon for a wonderful road trip to visit 2 parents, one grandmother, three sisters, two brothers, and a niece (maybe two if I'm super lucky!) I started the week with a long list of To Do's and have been doing a relatively good job of keeping up with it, then last night Seth and I were driving home from having dinner with his littlest sis and her hubby when it hit me that today was going to be Saturday (a fact which obviously hasn't stuck considering I just couldn't figure out why my sister hadn't posted on her blog) and I proceeded to PANIC!!!

So much for the To Do list. Now it's time to do what I like to call "The Last Minute Scramble". This means you pick the few things that ABSOLUTELY MUST BE DONE (i.e. packing for the trip, taking out the garbage, making a list for our wonderful friend who is house sitting for us while we're gone) and everything else gets bumped to the "if I have time left over" list.

So, now that I've managed to sneak in a blog post (which I most definitely DO NOT have time for!) I'm off to tackle my A.M.B.D. list in hopes that I'll have more time left over than I think...

County Fair

2010-07-17T17:12:00.002-05:00

Last night two of my good friends, Sara and Laura, accompanied me to the Mills County Fair. We wandered through the livestock pens, enjoyed root beer floats, and - of course - watched the annual tractor pull!!!

It was a lot of fun... but once the tractors were done, the trucks started -
and their suped-up engines were crazy loud!

It was quite the event. As you can see...

A New Addition to the Family!!!

2010-07-08T21:55:00.003-05:00

After three years of marriage, we've finally gone and done it!

We've joined the club that so many of our friends and family members are already a part of.

We got a dog!!!

Her name is Annie, short for "Annie Get Your Guns".
Which fits perfectly with our previous pet naming theme - our two cats, Emmett and Charlie, were named after characters from our favorite Westerns, "Silverado" and "3:10 to Yuma".

She's a three-year-old purebred black lab and is the best dog ever!
She can sit, stay, come, heel, fetch, and lots of other things!
She's completely adorable and makes a wonderful pet.

So far, she's getting along with the cats pretty well.
They aren't big fans of her... but we're hoping that they'll continue to warm up.
Fingers crossed!

A New Adventure

2010-06-29T19:49:00.003-05:00

My last post was about my favorite person in the whole wide world...

...whom I get to see every single day. :-)

THIS post is about my next two favorite people in the whole wide world...

...who live a collective 3,500 miles away from me. :-(

These are my sisters, Emily (in the middle) and Sara (on the right).
And since we can't see or talk to each other every day while we're living so far apart,
we came up with a fabulous idea to start a blog together as a new way to keep in touch.

We've been at it since the beginning of May,
and now we've decided to share our secret sister place with the world.
So stop by and check us out at Sisters Away
and see how we are navigating the world of long distance sisterhood.

Also be sure to stop by Sara's blog, Mommy Honesty, to enter her giveaway for an adorable scrabble tile necklace from Studio Kin.

no words

2010-06-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

Have I ever told you about my husband, Seth?

He grew up in Denison, Iowa (the home of Donna Reed - you know, "It's a Wonderful Life"? It's a classic) as the oldest of five siblings. He's the son of a pastor and a teacher and grew up on a farm. He went to Concordia University Nebraska (a.k.a. Concordia Seward) and was a director of Christian education for five years before going to the seminary to become a pastor.

He is many things.
He is the man who always knows how to make me smile and laugh, whether with one of his silly puns or his famous sarcasm.

He is always supportive of whatever is important to me at any given moment.
He's my biggest cheerleader and my biggest fan.
He encourages me when I get down on myself and rejoices with me in my triumphs.

He taught me how to fish, stack wood, spackle drywall, and run a trolling motor.

He is just as big of a dork as I am... maybe bigger.
And I love him for it.

He taught me to love the Lions, the Tigers, and the Pistons.

He is an incredible example of faithful service to God and His people.
His passion for ministry and his love for the people of our congregation constantly blows me away.
He is a wonderful vicar and will soon be a wonderful pastor.

He is my best friend, the love of my life, and the guardian of my heart.
On this, our third anniversary, I am filled with gratitude to God for choosing and preparing such a wonderful man to be my husband.
Seth is the greatest gift next to salvation that He has given me,
and there are no words adequate enough to express how much I love him.

Happy Anniversary, Bubs.
Here's to a lifetime left of love and blessings.

Love, your wife

Seven Years' What???

2010-06-17T23:24:00.002-05:00

One of the projects we've taken on in our new house is decorating/renovating the guest bathroom. We were lucky (?) enough to have a completely blank canvas to work with (a.k.a. bo-ring). White walls, white cabinet, white counter top, white tub, white toilet, and the most plain, boring, and cheap fixtures you can imagine. It was so plain and boring that when I went through the house taking pictures before we moved in, I didn't take a single bathroom shot. Therefore, I don't have many "before" pictures to show you. Sorry! Lesson learned. :-)

We started with buying a new faucet, towel bar, and toilet paper holder, all in the most beautiful "oiled antique bronze" (black with coppery edges). Seth successfully installed those items and today we graduated to more decorative items. It will still be a little while until we're finished with it.

Tonight we started the enormously unpleasant task of trying to remove the large rectangular beveled-edged mirror that was glued to the wall. As I sit here typing, he is across the hall with the door closed (to at least attempt to contain the mess) banging away at said mirror and pulling/prying it off in chunks. It sounds pretty horrible. I have only had to bring him a band-aid twice so far...

Once that's finished (and cleaned up after), he will install the new light fixture and then tomorrow we'll start the task of patching the drywall where the glue and mirror were torn from the wall. After that will come painting, then hanging the new shower curtain, artwork, and towels. At that point I will take some lovely "after" photos to share with you, but for now, here's a sneak peek at some of the goodies we snagged today!

I never realized before how weird it is to take pictures of mirrors.

Here is a slightly better shot of the art piece with the towels and shower curtain that match.

The walls are going to be painted one of the gold shades in the painting. I think it will work nicely with the sage green towels and brown shower curtain. You'll have to let me know when it's finished if you think I was right or not ;-)

I never knew I had it in me

2010-06-15T22:36:00.004-05:00

I have found that every day I live out here in the country (I'm on day 20, in case you were wondering) I become a little more desensitized to bugs. Now, I have always had an issue with life of the insect variety. Any creature with more than four legs is not welcome anywhere near my personal space, and the size of that personal perimeter is directly correlated with the number of legs said creature possesses. So for me, even though I say I am becoming "desensitized", in terms of Kate's fear of bugs, I'm still a pretty big wuss. I have a long ways to go before I can just crush a large insect without batting an eye.

Yet, today I learned that I am much, much braver than I thought. Get ready.

I pulled into my garage at about 6:20pm, turned off the ignition, and got out of the car. I turned to walk around the back of the vehicle, only to stop dead in my tracks at the sight of a giant wolf spider parked just off the back corner of my car. I stood there for a moment, assessing the situation. Seth was not home. This spider was huge. I had to do something.

Apparently "something" took the form of taking a picture of the terrible beast with my phone.

After taking a photo, I stood over it, staring, and wondering if I had the chutzpa to actually smash the thing. With a body that large I was sure it was going to make a big splattery mess and I just didn't know if I could take it. But alas, I knew the closest weapon was one of my husband's crocs sitting by the interior garage door (thank you, Baby, for having such big feet!). As I turned to start walking towards the crocs, the nasty spider started running BACK INTO THE GARAGE at full speed!!! So at the same moment I broke into a sprint to grab the shoe and then get back to the spider, but by the time I did, it was gone! GONE!!!

Well I wasn't about to walk away knowing that the terrible beast was lurking somewhere in my garage, just waiting for a chance to get into my house and (as all spider-fearing people know such beasts will do) up the stairs and into my bed to eat me alive as I sleep. I decided it was worth the risk to venture as quickly as possible into the house to grab my economy sized can of RAID. I returned to the garage - big yellow can in hand - and began my search for the monster. Thankfully, I didn't have to look far as the beast was hiding at the end of a pile of old trim pieces along the garage wall.

I stood back, aimed my can, and began to spray, but I didn't have the chance to enjoy my victory because no sooner had the first drop of poison touched the spider's back than anywhere from 30 to 50 baby spiders jumped of their mama's back and began to scatter in all directions! I held my breath (to keep from screaming) and just sprayed with all my might. All of the babies were quickly dead, but Mama was still hiding under a piece of trim. I scooted it out of the way with my foot and she started to run. I continued to spray her but she just kept running! That is not supposed to happen. She got at least three more feet down the wall before she finally succumbed to the power of the poison.

I was overcome with a strange combination of pride and terror. Proud that I had conquered the Great Spider Beast and her Brood of Spider Babies, but terrified that creatures of that size are living around my house. (I must confess that I first typed "in and around my house" but had to delete the "in" because it unnerved me out too much to see it in writing. I must hold fast to the belief that there aren't any that big actually inside my house. No way.) I called Seth to tell him of my victory and he congratulated me on my accomplishment... although something in his voice told me that he had somehow taken this experience as evidence that I will henceforth no longer need his spider killing services. Au contraire, my love. Bravery like this only comes around when you are alone without any other option. Just ask my friend Hayley (who can be found over at Simply Nesting) who killed a spider and its babies while in her bathroom, alone, naked, and pregnant! She is my hero.

To show you just how big the terrible beast really was, I took a photo of a penny on the cement right next to where I first saw the thing and then superimposed it onto the original cell phone photo.

It's huge! ...right???

If I had a million dollars...

2010-06-15T13:19:00.003-05:00

I would get one of these for my back yard.

Nevermind that I don't live by a beach or have a pool.

I don't care.

A beautiful shady outdoor bed would be perfection anywhere.

Whatifs

2010-06-10T13:46:00.004-05:00

Today my sister, Sara, wrote a wonderful blog about moving forward with challenging goals. The goal she writes about is her dream of publishing a book. While exploring the reasons why she hasn't been moving forward towards her goal, she writes:

"When I really dig deep, I think that an intense fear of failure is keeping me frozen in a pattern that is safe and comfortable and preventing me from reaching out to chase a dream. Maybe the book I should be writing is How to Allow Fear and Procrastination to Crush Your Soul: Successful Ways to Stay Exactly the Same. Oh, but we could all write that book at some time or another, I'm sure."

I know I could add a few chapters to that book! Sara's post struck a chord with me today because I feel like I'm in the same boat with my jewelry business sometimes. I have been content with the easy and comfortable level which I've reached and have failed to move forward.

I remember last fall when I finally decided to open an Etsy shop. I put it off a few times before finally taking the plunge. I was so excited when I first opened it and so proud of myself for taking that next step. Now I am ashamed to think about the poor job I've done of keeping up with it. It's been months since I've posted new items, though I have a big pile of beautiful new pieces I've made. It's almost as if I checked off the inital piece from my list - opening an Etsy shop - but haven't managed to keep up with the even more important piece of keeping up with en Etsy shop! Not to mention the fact that there are so many more opportunities out there for me to explore (home shows, art fairs, farmer's markets, bridal shows, local boutiques, etc.), yet I haven't taken that next step.

What if it takes too much time? What if it costs too much money? What if I don't sell anything? What if they don't like my work? There will always be a long list of "what ifs" keeping us from moving forward. It reminds me of the Shel Silverstien poem, "What Ifs".

Well, what if we start changing our "whatifs" to "What if they say yes?" "What if they love me?" "What if it works?" "What if I'm a wild success?"

While I always try to stay grounded in reality due to my strong tendency to get crushed when I allow my hopes to rise too high, I think there is a difference between asking yourself the good "whatifs" and having an expectation of success. I think we can, and should, allow ourselves to consider the possibility of success without taking it to the emotionally dangerous place of expecting those "whatifs" to come true.

So while I know that I may not rush home today to post half a dozen new items on Etsy, I think I can be resolved to ask myself at least two goodifs for every badif.

...or perhaps two positifs for every negatif? ;-)

Will you join me?

The Neighbors

2010-06-04T20:07:00.002-05:00

Every now and then, when we're sitting in the family room watching TV you can hear some mooing... and when you walk out into the back yard, this is what you see:

I'd take these cuties over our old neighbors any day!

Welcome to the country!!!

Welcome to home ownership.

2010-06-01T21:39:00.004-05:00

Just as I announce my triumphant return to blogging, I go and leave it for two weeks. I do have a good excuse though... several actually.

#1: packing
#2: moving
#3: cleaning rental house
#4: youth group lock-in
#5: no internet for five days

Those are good excuses, right?

So now I am sitting in our new family room recovering from my first official "home owner" experience. As some of you may know, my husband and I are the kind of people who are crazy enough to buy a house with a moldy basement. We gutted said basement before we moved in and are in the process of getting it treated so that it is 100% mold free (right now it's probably about 92% mold free). We were fairly certain before we bought the house that we knew how the water that caused the mold got into the basement. Now we know for sure.

Apparently, someone who had no idea what they were doing only buried about two feet of hose for the downspout off of the addition. This downspout happens to be just uphill from the basement window well, so when it rains really hard (like it did this evening) the ground becomes completely saturated and the window well floods from underneath. Not cool.

First we noticed a "drip, drip, drip" coming from the basement and went down there to find water running over the windowsill into a growing puddle on the floor. Upon further inspection we found a water line on the glass and our jaws dropped as we realized that there were at least 8 inches of water in the window well. We ended up traipsing out into the rain with a shop vac to suck the nasty, muddy water out of the window well. We kept count and by the time we finished, we had sucked out over 100 gallons of water. Whoa.

We both got soaking wet, laughed a lot, and cursed the idiot who didn't bury a longer drainpipe! Even though this all sounds pretty awful, here is the good news:

- it happened before we refinished the basement
- we heard the dripping before we ended up with 100 gallons of water inside the house
- we figured out how the water got into the window well/basement
- we figured out how to fix the problem
- it's going to be relatively easy (and inexpensive!)

Now we just need to figure out when we're going to have time to fix it...

Progress!

2010-05-19T00:01:00.003-05:00

Over the weekend we started taking loads of stuff over to the new house. I failed to bring the camera with us tonight when we took two big loads over, but here are some pictures of our rental house mid-move:

The Office
the desk and book cases have been removed and only my jewelry stuff remains, now on a folding table, so that I can continue to work on my custom orders that are quickly coming due.

See that pile of electronic stuff? That's where the desk used to be.

My Closet
Only the essentials remain. Yes, the shoe rack is essential.

Man Town
I was so proud of Seth that he was able to choose just a few hats to keep handy during our transition (which is obviously a lot better than I did with my shoes).

The Living Room
it's weird to look at all the stuff that hasn't been touched, yet the recliner, side table, and coffee table are all gone. Tonight's move was a "what's the closest thing we can grab that will fit in the bed of the truck?" kind of load.

Tomorrow night will be another round, then we'll take a break until next week. (And by "take a break" I mean continue to be insanely busy, just with things other than moving.) Then on Monday we'll get back to moving. Here's hoping we can get it all out by Thursday morning!

Aaaaaaand we have a winner!

2010-05-15T21:38:00.002-05:00

9 months, 21 days.

That's how long we've been at Trinity Lutheran Church in Glenwood, IA. That's also how long it took for the first member of Trinity to make a comment to me about Seth and I having a baby. Which is actually a lot longer than I thought it would take.

I was walking into a graduation party with a member of our church, let's call her "Amy", and we were watching a group of kids playing Bag-O (a.k.a. "bags" or "cornhole" depending on where you're from). There was a little baby girl who was probably about 9 months old who was crawling up onto one of the boards and Amy turns to me and says, "You guys should get one of those." I was thinking she was talking about the Bag-O set and inside my head said, "We actually have one in our basement!" But at the moment I opened my mouth, it hit me that she wasn't talking about the popular yard game, she was talking about the baby. Oh my.

I started to laugh and then assured Amy that it is indeed in our plans to have "one of those" in the next few years, but not just yet. I suppose now that we own a house, we can expect to hear more questions about how soon we'll be expecting, but in the mean time I will be thankful for people like Amy, who care about us very much and are looking forward to being a part of our family's lives in the years to come.

Long Time No See

2010-05-11T12:35:00.000-05:00

Oh the shame. :-(

It has been almost four months since my last post, and now that I have returned I must face the serious question that all bloggers must answer after having taken a leave of absence, whether it was planned or unplanned, announced or unannounced: Do I just start fresh and skip over the time I spent away from my hillside reflections, or do I provide some sort of overview of what it was that kept me so busy that I neglected to take time to share it with my beloved readers?

Hmmm... as a blog reader myself, I have seen it done both ways and I there are things I like about both options. So I think I will provide a hybrid. A bulletpointed list of the highlights from my time away (which comes with complete and total permission for any of you to skip right over if you'd rather not be bored by the past) followed by a more typical update of the most recent goings-on.

Thus, I give you the list of excitements:

Youth group ice skating and Super Bowl Party
A visit from our friends, James & Jackie
A fabulous visit from my sisters, Sara and Emily, and of course, my lovely niece, Addie!
Spring Break
Wonderful time spent with my in-laws over Easter
Several custom jewelry orders

and the "big one"...

putting an offer on a (short sale) house
having the offer accepted
gutting mold from the basement of that house
closing on the house
cleaning the house
preparing to move into the house

I have to say that while I knew that the process of buying our first house would probably be complicated, buying a house on short sale was almost more than I could handle! I haven't been so stressed since grad school when I had 19 credit hours on top of student teaching and two practicum placements. Yikes!

Then, once the stress of actually buying the house is finished, on comes the stress of moving! Thankfully we have several weeks left on the lease for our rental house so we don't have to be in a huge rush, but we are definitely itching to get into our new place that we are so excited about and having so much fun working on already.

I don't want this blog to become completely consumed with my adventures as a new home owner, but there will definitely be posts about our excitements and surprises during the process of moving in and making changes balanced with other tidbits from life out here in Iowa.

Love and blessings to all of you from me, along with my apologies for staying away for far too long. It's good to be back :-)

Pure Joy Giveaway!!!

2010-01-18T20:33:00.000-06:00

Have I mentioned how awesome my friend Jamie is?
Because she is.
Totally awesome.
She made this beautiful photo print that I framed and gave to Seth for Christmas.
It's his favorite verse and I wanted to have a nice way to have it in his office
so I talked to Jamie and she created this!

Well Jamie happens to be hosting a giveaway on her blog, Pure Joy!

You can enter for a chance to win one of these gorgeous prints
just in time for Valentine's Day!

So be sure to stop by jamespurejoy.blogspot.com and enter this fabulous giveaway!
And tell your friends!
:-)

My Big Manly Hunter

2010-01-08T20:19:00.000-06:00

I've never really liked guns. I've never thought much of the idea of hunting.

Then I met my husband.

While I'm still not sure how I feel about guns and hunting, I have learned a lot about what it really means to be a responsible firearms owner/operator and what hunting is all about. Now, I know good and well that there is a whole lot that I don't know about guns and hunting, but I have reached the point of being able to accept my husband's gun wielding and wild animal killing. Perhaps even beyond acceptance, I actually kind of like the fact that he hunts.

As silly as it may sound, I like that my husband is a big strong manly man who gears up with his dad and brothers, braves the dangerously low temperatures and fierce winds outside, and ventures out into the wilderness to try and bring down a big buck.

Maybe it goes back to some sort of primal urge of wanting my husband to be the "hunter-provider" for our family. Maybe I like having the house to myself while he's gone so that I can do my own girly things for a few hours. Or maybe it's because it's so much fun to watch him get dressed ;-)

Good luck, baby! Get a big one! ;-)

Snowed In for Christmas!!!

2009-12-25T16:34:00.000-06:00

On our way up to Seth's parents' house Tuesday night there was freezing rain/wintry mix/sleet or whatever you want to call it.Wednesday morning there was 1/4 - 1/2 inch of ice coating everything outside.Thursday afternoon the snow started.

We went to church at 1pm, then went to visit Seth's grandmother at the care center and made a stop at Walmart. By the time we were on our way back to the house (about 4:30pm) there were several inches on the ground and the wind was kicking up some serious drifts. At the top of every hill we drove over the snow was blowing so badly that visibility dropped to zero. We got back to the house to find that the power had gone out. It came back on at about 5pm and my mother-in-law was able to finish the turkey that had been in the oven since before we left for church. We had a hot dinner and opened some gifts.

The "kids" (my husband, his two brothers, my future sister-in-law, and myself) hung out in the basement playing Kelli's wii and a pretty awesome board game called Encore. Just after we finished the game, the power went out again (about 1:00am). We figured that was a good sign we should all go to bed.

This morning we opened presents, enjoyed a Christmas cookie breakfast, and then a cheese-and-cracker-with-summer-sausage-left-over turkey-sandwich lunch. We all took naps and awoke around 3:30pm to find the POWER HAD COME BACK ON!!!

So now that I can get online, here are some lovely photos of the snow here in western Iowa:

The ice and snow covered tree in the back yard:

The driveway:Check out the cows! And I thought I was cold!

a not-so-smart person who tried to drive their car up the big hill:

It's still snowing and we're going on 18" (not counting the drifts!)
The good news is that Seth and his dad drove in to town and Seth feels pretty confident that we will be able to make it back home tomorrow.

In the mean time, I'm definitely enjoying the whitest Christmas I've ever had!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
to you and your families! I'm praying that you are enjoying a blessed and joyous celebration of our Savior's birth!

Some overdue photos of the snow

2009-12-24T09:29:00.000-06:00

About two weeks ago Iowa got hit with a ton of snow. You may recall my post about the three snow days in a row that I had that week. In that post I included some photos of our driveway and cars under 10-20 inches of snow (depending on the drifts). I also promised to post some pictures from our drive around town that day. Well... two weeks later, here they are!

Our street:

The hills of Glenwood, Iowa:
Downtown Glenwood:

We're up at Seth's parents' place right now for Christmas and they're forecasting 12"-18" of snow by Saturday morning (on top of the 1/4" - 1/2" of ice that's already coating everything.)

It should be an interesting drive back to Glenwood on Saturday morning... at least it's only 90 miles!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

My Family's Christmas Cookies

2009-12-23T17:48:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite parts of preparing for Christmas when I was growing up was helping Mom make the Christmas cookies. There were several different types that we always had: French lace roll-ups, Swedish heirlooms, white chocolate covered pretzels (I know, technically these aren't cookies), and... my favorite... Lebkuchen! Lebkuchen is a traditional German molasses cookie that looks kind of like gingerbread. They include pecans, walnuts, and dates along with a whole lot of yummy spices!

The first year I lived on my own, I got way too excited about recreating the wonderful Christmas coziness that I always enjoyed at home with my parents. I did have to make a few sacrifices. I got a fake tree instead of a live one, thinking the lesser fire risk would be a good idea since I was living alone. I did buy a few pine scented candles to try and make up for it though.

One thing I knew I couldn't scrimp on was lebkuchen. I went out and got a new mixing bowl that was big enough to handle the huge recipe as well as a heavy duty wooden spoon as I had heard my mother's stories about all of the spoons she had broken over the years trying to stir her lebkuchen dough.

I remember calling my mom from every aisle of the grocery store confirming that I was getting the right ingredients. "What kind of molasses do I need?" "Whole dates or chopped?" The calls continued when I got home and started mixing. Unfortunately I tried to add one cup of flour at a time... which worked great for the first four cups. By the time I got to the fifth or sixth cup I was calling my mother once again asking her how in the world I was supposed to finish adding all eight cups when my arm already felt like it was on fire. She laughed and told me that I should have only added the first two or three cups one at a time and wished me luck on the remainder of my stirring.
When Seth and I got married, my parents gave us a kitchen aid standing mixer and even at the end of June I was thinking about lebkuchen and how much easier it would be to use the dough hook to mix in those 8 cups of flour!

This year was my third year making lebkuchen with the mixer and it was every bit as wonderful as I remembered! I invited two middle school girls from our church to come over and help me since I didn't have much time and needed some extra hands. We had a lot of fun and the girls loved the cookies.
After a few hours of work (and having to put a few dozen back through the oven a second time) we ended up with about 8 dozen cookies. More than enough for the church bazaar, sending some home with the girls, taking some to work, bringing some home to my family for Christmas, and still having some left over for Seth and I to enjoy in 2010! Now if only I could find a use for that gigantic wooden spoon...

SNOW DAYS!!!

2009-12-09T12:38:00.000-06:00

When I was a kid I loved snow days. A snow day meant bundling up in my warmest winter gear and playing outside with my sisters in the fresh white snow. We would build snow men, make snow angels, create snow forts, and run around until our ears, noses, and cheeks were pink and our gloves and mittens soaked through. Then we'd come inside, strip off our wet clothes and change back into our warm pajamas, and sip mugs of hot chocolate while watching one of our many favorite Christmas movies. Good times.

As a teacher, I also love snow days... but for much different reasons. Now when I get a free day to spend at home, I look forward to doing dishes, laundry, and other household chores. I still look forward to the hot chocolate (but perhaps with a little something extra mixed in ;-)

Yesterday I enjoyed the snow day by getting some chores done around the house. Today I have gotten a little farther with our Christmas decorations. I got the ornaments on the tree and put up a few of our nativity sets. I haven't found the tree topper yet, though, and may need to go hunting for more Christmas boxes in the basement.

It's a beautiful day outside and Seth and I are going to drive around a bit and get some pictures of our snow-covered town. For now, here are some pictures from our yard. We got about 12-14 inches of snow yesterday and overnight, and now the wind is blowing at 25-35 mph and making some lovely drifts. This one was peeking out our front door. That's Seth standing at the bottom of our driveway... with half of it left to shovel.Looking back up the driveway at the trailblazer

More to come later :-)

After five looooong months...

2009-12-01T23:51:00.000-06:00

I finally got to see my grandma, sisters, brothers-in-law, and my niece!!!
While I was very excited to see all of them, I must admit I was probably most excited to spend some time with my niece. The last time I saw her was over the 4th of July and I'm sure you all know how much a little girl changes between 15 and 20 months of age. After hearing all sorts of wonderful stories from my sisters and parents about all the fun things she's been doing over the last 5 months, I was dying to see her for myself! I even had a dream the week before Thanksgiving that I yelled at my mother and younger sister, telling them that they were to leave Addie and I alone, that it was our day to spend together, and to stay away. Yeah. I'm officially the crazy possessive aunt. I'm not proud.

But I was overjoyed to see my darling girl! I got hugs and kisses, I got led around the house by one finger, and I got lots and lots of giggles!

My favorite moment with Miss Addie was when she was bent over Memere's (grandma's) toy basket handing me toys behind her back without turning around. Each time I took a toy from her hand she would burst into a fresh round of giggles. A few times she almost fell into the basket she was laughing so hard! My dad (Pepere) caught some of it on video... I will be doing my best to get my hands on that footage!

These pictures are the only ones I took all weekend. Most of the time I was too busy playing with Addie or talking with my mom and sisters to take pictures. This is me trying to take a picture of us... might have turned out better if I'd just asked one of the other 9 adults in the house to do it for me! Oh well!Addie sure does make the cutest faces! Only four more weeks til I get to see her again... oh yeah, and the rest of my family too ;-)

Charm Design Bags and Totes $50 gift card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-11-25T11:45:00.000-06:00

I LOVE purses! Ask my husband. Ask him about my birthday in April of this year when he took me shopping at the mall and I begged and bargained like a 5 year old to get a beautiful candy colored Franco Sarto Purse that I couldn't live without. "I won't buy another purse for a year!" I promised him.

And while I have thus far managed to keep that promise (less than five more months to go!), winning a new purse does not break the terms of our agreement!

Therefore, I give you the Charm Design Bags and Totes $50 gift card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!! from Kathleen at Grosgrain!

You MUST check it out - but don't sign up to win because that will only hurt my chances ;-)

p.s. Seth and I leave tonight to go see my family for Thanksgiving! After months and months of looking forward to this week it's finally here!!!

A Family Favorite

2009-11-08T12:33:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite meals that we enjoyed growing up was Beef in a Basket.
Not only does it have a catchy name, it falls solidly in the category of "comfort food".
You start by browning a pound of ground beef. When it is fully cooked, drain it and mix it with your favorite barbecue sauce (enough to generously coat the beef). I like to throw in a hand full of shredded cheese as well.
Open a can of refrigerated biscuit dough (the honey butter flavor are fantastic!) and use your fingers to flatten each one and stretch it out so that you can press it into a cupcake tin. Spoon the barbecue beef into the dough and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake according to the directions on the biscuit dough, or until the "baskets" are golden brown. They should pop right out of the tin if you're using a non-stick one, though if your muffin tin is not non-stick, you might want to spray the cups lightly with Pam before pressing in the dough. I have also found that if I don't worry about pressing the dough all the way into the bottom of the cups, just enough to make room for the meat, then they come out a lot easier when they're done.

This is a quick, easy, and super yummy dish that pleases the whole family! Enjoy!!!

The things girls do for good hair...

2009-11-02T10:02:00.000-06:00

It wasn't pretty...

But when it was through...
I ended up with beautiful curls!!!
After spending 26 years with stick-straight hair, I am thrilled to finally have the curls I've always dreamed of. I'm sure there will come a day when I miss my straight locks and pull out my trusty flat iron, but for now I'm absolutely loving the curls!!!

While it takes a bit longer to wash and dry, I can go longer between washes and have infinitely more options for styling (as my straight hair wouldn't hold anything from a bobby pin to an ironed curl). I've gotten so many compliments and I love how many people have told me that they just thought I had naturally curly hair and always straightened it!!!

The only bad part about getting the perm was when my husband found out how much I spent on it :-o But when I reminded him that I hadn't had so much as a trim for over 18 months and then asked him to add up how much he'd spent on haircuts over the last year and a half, he did calm down quite a bit ;-)

A day in her shoes

2009-10-31T18:45:00.000-05:00

Seth and I spent the day up in Denison, IA visiting his family and attending a joint bridal shower for his cousin, Jamie, and her brother's fiance, Kensey. After the shower we came back to my in-laws' house to hang out and relax a bit. Seth's sisters, Liz and Bekah, were also over for the day.

At some point I was called down to the basement to join Liz and Colene (my M-I-L) in their quest to dig through some of mom's old shoes to see if there were any cool "vintage" pairs that Liz might want. After looking through a few boxes, we headed upstairs to mom's bedroom closet where she said she had "a few more pairs"...

At this point I quickly began to realize that my beloved MIL does not throw anything away. Anything. Including just about every pair of shoes she's ever worn (and perhaps even a pair or two that she never did). We were delighted to find a few pairs that were the lucky combination of retro style and not falling apart. Unfortunately, not one pair fit me. :-( But I am happy for my Liz that she found a few super cute pairs that she could definitely get away with wearing out in public.

About halfway through our digging, I could no longer restrain myself and went running for my camera. There were just too many pairs of shoes that I could hardly believe and that I HAD to share with all of you.

I give you... My Mother-in-Law's Shoes.

This was one of the first pairs that Liz found. Still cute after all these years!

These were Mom's wedding shoes.

And these were her "going away" shoes that she wore when they left the reception.

I had some like these when I was about 7 years old.

Mom: "I wore these to the dance clubs in Kansas City."

Me: "What year was that, mom?"

Mom: "Oh, I don't know... probably 1973."

And she didn't have just one pair...

Pastel peep toes with mesh cut-outs. The perfect Easter shoe... in 1986.

Liz walked away with these beauties. And I'm totally jealous.

That's right. Teal lace. You aren't imagining things.

This may be the only time in my life I've ever wished I had bigger feet.

Taking my holiday temperature

2009-10-27T20:39:00.000-05:00

I have always prided myself on my ability to wait until after Thanksgiving to turn on my Christmas mood. I would walk by the holiday aisles in Kohl's and Hobby Lobby shaking my head at how crazy it was for people to start decorating for Christmas before Halloween was even past. I had very strict rules about waiting until December 1st to listen to any Christmas music. I love holidays, but I have always taken them one at a time. Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. No blending. No mixing. One. at. a. time.

Then I moved to Iowa.

I have written about at least once already, I am working on adjusting to the weather up here, which is a bit of a challenge considering I had finally started to get used to the weather in St. Louis just in time to move away. Don't get me wrong, I love it here in Iowa! I love our new town, our church, my job - all of it. But I'm having a bit of trouble with the weather.

October temperatures in Iowa are too much like December temperatures in St. Louis and it's throwing off my internal Holiday thermostat! Halloween is still 4 days away and I am finding that I am getting a bit itchy for Christmas. What the heck. Seriously.

I was running errands in both Kohl's and Hobby Lobby this evening and I actually caught myself looking longingly at the Christmas aisles, and even - gasp - wandered down a few! And even worse, had to tear myself away from the stocking hanger display (which got me really excited because we actually have a mantle piece now from which to hang stockings!) while chanting to myself "It's not even Halloween yet. It's not even Halloween yet."

I have also noticed that when sitting at my desk at work and scrolling through the playlists on my ipod I've been lingering a little too long on the "Christmas Instrumental" mix. It is far too tempting. I'm even considering removing it temporarily until after Thanksgiving as I'm becoming fairly certain that I won't have the will power to last another month without taking the plunge.

I brought up this whole weather/holiday conundrum to Seth tonight. He said he likes that it gets cold earlier because then Christmas is in the middle of winter instead of the beginning. "You'll get used to it," he says.

Used to a winter that's long enough for Christmas to fall in the MIDDLE?!?!?!?!

I think my Christmas itch might be least of my worries after all...

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-10-26T13:00:00.000-05:00

It's time for another Grosgrain giveaway!!! You have to check out this beautiful yellow dress. I'm usually not a big fan of yellow, but this dress is so delightfully charming I can't let the chance to win it pass me by ;-)

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

A series of unfortunate events...

2009-10-21T19:36:00.002-05:00

I am a preschool teacher.

1st quarter assessments + parent teacher conferences + getting sick = no blogging for a while

My apologies.

By next week conferences will be finished, assessments completed, and (hopefully) all traces of sickness will be gone.

AND I will be back to blogging!

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-10-15T08:22:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite blogs, Grosgrain, is having a new giveaway... but it's not just any giveaway. It's a Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

You MUST check out the photos of these amazing costumes that Kathleen made! I, too, have been mesmerized by the still photos from Tim Burton's new Alice in Wonderland so I LOVED the fact that she used those photos for her inspiration.

I'm really crossing my fingers for this one ;-)

I must be crazy...

2009-10-14T07:52:00.000-05:00

I actually left the house at 5:30 AM this morning to go to the Y before work.

I had a nice short workout - partly because I was paranoid about being late for work and partly because I was still sore from Monday evening's workout - then showered and got myself ready for the day. It was actually really nice because there were only a few other people there and by the time I was drying my hair and doing my make-up, I was the only one in the bathroom. There are several other advantages to this new routine:

1) Not having to wait for a treadmill
2) Showers that don't run out of hot water
3) I get ready faster when there aren't distractions (like my laptop or the TV)
4) Significantly more counter space :-)
5) The Y bathroom is about 10 degrees warmer than my house
6) I feel more alert and prepared to handle my work day

While I don't think I will make every trip to the gym an AM trip, it's nice to know that in my quest to achieve a consistant 3-day-a-week exercise routine if I need to make one of the days a morning workout day, it won't be the end of the world. And who knows... maybe I will eventually become one of those crazy people who goes to the gym every morning before work! Yeah... probably not ;-)

Kitchen Adventures Continued...

2009-10-13T20:45:00.000-05:00

I love quiche.

Partly because it's a one-dish-dinner and also because they're just plain tasty. AND you can make a quiche a week and they can each be totally different from each other because you can put just about anything in a quiche as long as you buddy it up with complementary ingredients. The only downside is that they sometimes take a long time to bake.

Last week I picked up some frozen pie crusts at the grocery store with the intent of making a quiche or two. Every other quiche I've made has had a cheese crust (made with a LOT of shredded cheese and butter c/o The Joy of Cooking) so I decided to branch out and actually use a pastry crust. I have also been on a bit of a southwest kick lately. I even stocked up on bbq chicken and baja style Lean Cuisine quesadillas for lunch at work. So of course I had to try my hand at making a southwest style quiche.

Before leaving work I did a quick bing search for "black bean quiche" with not much luck. So I spent the whole drive home brainstorming what I was going to fill my beautiful pre-made pie crust with...

I think it turned out pretty well considering I was in a bit of a time crunch since I had a meeting at church and wanted to make sure it finished cooking before I had to leave (I can't stand to leave the oven on for any length of time when I'm not at home - I'm far too paranoid). I will share my makeshift recipe with you in case you'd like to give it a try. It definitely needs some tweaking so feel free to make any changes you like. This is merely a record of how I did it this time. My suggestions for possible changes are in blue.

Southwest Quiche
1 frozen pie crust - deep dish
1 can (15oz) black beans (8-10 oz black beans)
1/2 can (8oz) canned sweet corn
1/2 small red pepper, diced
1/2 small green pepper, diced
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup chunky salsa
3 large eggs (4 large eggs)
1/2 cup milk (1 - 1.5 cups milk)
1/2 cup grated colby jack cheese (1 - 1.5 cups shredded cheese - Mexican blend)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover the bottom of the pie crust (you can either leave it in the aluminum pie tin it came in or place it in a glass pie plate) with the diced pepper and onion. Mix the corn, black beans, cheese (save some cheese to sprinkle on top), and salsa together in a bowl and add to the crust. Also in a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together and pour over the bean/corn/salsa/cheese mixture to fill the crust. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Cover a cookie sheet with foil, place the quiche in the middle, and put the whole thing in the oven for 40-50 minutes (until the middle is set and the top is as brown as you like it). Some of the egg mixture may overflow during cooking (hence the foil). Allow it to cool before serving.

Two other suggestions:
1. All of the quiche recipes in The Joy of Cooking say that you should brush the pie crust with egg yolk before putting in the ingredients. I did not do that this time because I had already started putting stuff in the crust before I opened TJoC.
2. I didn't have time to saute the onion and pepper before putting it in the crust, but I would highly recommend doing so as it will reduce the amount of extra moisture in the mix and will keep the crust from getting soggy. I did end up with a bit of a "watery bottom" when I sliced my quiche open due to my veggies that had not been precooked.

Mine was also a tad on the dark side of golden as it sat in the oven at 200 degrees for an extra hour while I went to my meeting. But it still tasted great!

If you happen to try this recipe and tweak it, please share your additions/deletions/modifications etc! And I'll be sure to let you know what I do with the other crust...

Fire!!!

2009-10-11T18:11:00.000-05:00

Almost as exciting as the first snow of the year is the first FIRE of the year!
One of my favorite things about our rental house is that it has a fire place, and in celebration of the first snow, Seth and I decided it was time to use it!

We even took a shopping trip to Menards to get an ash bucket and a fireplace tool set (I'm sure it has a better name than "fireplace tool set" but at the moment that's all I can think to call it). Today it was about 30 degrees outside as well so we've had the fire going since we got home from church this morning and I LOVE IT!!!

I only hope we can keep up our wood supply enough to keep the fires going all winter. Plus - as long as we had the fire going, our furnace didn't kick on - so we're saving $$$ too!
Best of all, I love the way it makes the house smell. :-) Here's to life by firelight!

Welcome to Iowa

2009-10-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

Seth and I woke up this morning to about an inch and a half of SNOW on the ground!

Just to clarify, it's October 10th, it's 31 degrees outside, and it's snowing.

Wow.It's so strange to see snow on the ground when the trees still have their autumn colored leaves on!

OPEN ON ETSY!!!

2009-10-08T21:46:00.001-05:00

My Etsy shop is officially OPEN!!!

After a lot of preparation, I have finally started selling my jewelry online. Check it out here:

www.katekaiser.etsy.com

I will be adding new items frequently, so check back often!!!

It's all relative I suppose...

2009-10-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

I lived in Chicago for 6 years. During those years I got used to pretty cold winters, lots of ice, snow, and wind. I got used to short springs and autumns, and very. long. winters.

Then I moved to St. Louis and all too quickly forgot all about the Chicago weather. Suddenly spring started in March instead of May and leaves didn't start to change color until the middle of October. Even though winter was much shorter and somewhat milder, I still complained. I remember complaining to my mom on the phone about how cold it was and she laughed at me and asked what happened to the "Chicago girl".

Now I'm in Iowa and summer is definitely over. The high when I left work today was about 45 degrees with really strong winds. I'm starting to get a little nervous about winter up here. If I went from Chicago winters to St. Louis winters and turned into a wuss... what does that mean for me going from St. Louis to Iowa?!?!

I'm trying to channel Chicago and prepare myself for the months ahead... but I'm thinking it's not going to be pretty.

Charlie's home!

2009-09-29T19:19:00.000-05:00

Charlie came home today from the vet. His surgery went well, but the vet said there was a lot of scar tissue around the break which means that Charlie's hip was probably broken for longer than we thought. He will undoubtedly be much more comfortable once he heals up than he was before the surgery.
He has to wear a cone to keep him from messing with his stitches and his right hindquarters are shaved. He looks pretty pathetic and we are already counting down the days to his stitches coming out so he won't have to wear the cone anymore. But most of all we are just glad to have him home and healthy.I'm curious to see what he's going to look like in the coming months as his hair grows back in. Should be interesting...

Poor kitty :-(

2009-09-27T13:17:00.027-05:00

Seth and I have two wonderful cats, Emmett and CharlieWe got them in January from a rescue in St. Louis. Charlie was only 6 months old when we brought him home, but we don't know how old Emmett is (based on what the vet told us, he's at least 4, but probably more like 6-8). Emmett was rescued from a cat hoarder and was in very bad shape when he was found. When we brought him home he only weighed 6 lbs and had a lot of trouble eating. Over the last 9 months he's come a very long way. He's now at a healthy weight and eating well, and he has lots of energy and loves to run around and play.

Charlie is a stinker. He loves to eat and despite our best efforts to control his portions has developed a bit of a pudgy belly. He is very sweet boy and loves to snuggle and have his belly rubbed.

About two weeks ago, we noticed that Charlie was limping. We thought he just had a minor injury or irritation on his paw so we figured we'd give him a few days and see if it got any better. After about a week of no visible improvement we made an appointment for him at the local vet's office. I brought him in Saturday morning and the vet decided he needed to take some x-rays.

Well as it turns out, poor Charlie has a fractured hip. It seems he has a disease that results in a deterioration of the bone at the top of the femur between the ball of the hip joint and the length of the femur. Our vet said that it could be genetic or a result of a previous injury that he could have incurred as a kitten before he was rescued. So since he had a weakened bone, it could have been just about anything that caused it to fracture.

The bad news is that it probably won't heal on its own since the bone is so weak. The only real solution is for them to operate on his hip and remove the ball of the joint. They'll file down the bone to make it smooth and Charlie will have a "floating hip". Apparently cats have enough muscle mass in their hips that he will still get along okay with his leg not actually attached at the bone. The vet said that while he probably won't use it for a month or two after the surgery, eventually he will start to use his leg again. And most importantly, he won't be in pain like he is now.

So tomorrow morning Seth is going to drop him off at the vet for the surgery and he'll probably be able to come home on Tuesday.

And now, some super cute pics of our Charlie Prince (and his brother Emmett) :-)

chicken mushroom pesto!!!

2009-09-24T19:37:00.000-05:00

I love to cook.

Even though I don't have a lot of time for it, and even though I hate cleaning up after it, I still love to cook. And my favorite kind of cooking is the kind that involves no recipe. Perhaps this is due to subconscious fantasies of being a culinary genius. Perhaps it is due to a stubborn laziness that says I can come up with something on my own faster than I can look up and follow a recipe.

Well, whatever the reason, I greatly enjoy inventing my own dishes and throwing things together to try and come up with something delicious.

Tonight it was chicken and mushroom pesto. I highly recommend it. And not just because I made it up. Because it was oh-so-yummy and amazingly quick and simple.

Here's what you need:
(Pretty much all of the ingredients can be adjusted, more or less, depending on your taste.)
- 2 large chicken breasts (cubed)
- 8 oz. fresh mushrooms (sliced)
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 1 box of pasta - my favorite is cellentani. It's fun and a good weight (is "weight" the right word?) for a dish like this.
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 tbs garlic
- olive oil
- 8 oz grape tomatoes
- 6 oz. pesto Start by boiling the water for the pasta while you melt the butter and some garlic in a medium skillet. When the butter is bubbling and starting to turn a nice golden shade of brown, add the mushrooms and onion. Saute the veggies until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms nice and dark, then add a little olive oil, the chicken and the rest of the garlic. While the chicken and pasta are cooking, halve the tomatoes. Drain the pasta and mix all of the ingredients together AND SERVE!!!

The Pleated Poppy GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-09-23T13:19:00.001-05:00

Have you ever visited Grosgrain? It's a blog by Kathleen Dougherty and it's one of my favorite places to visit.
Kathleen is hosting an amazing giveaway and I highly recommend checking it out here:
The Pleated Poppy GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Fishing with my hubby

2009-09-20T18:40:00.000-05:00

Seth had been planning a fishing trip for the two of us all week long. Friday night: homecoming. Saturday night: fishing. We were going to run some errands in the morning and then head out to the pond around 4pm.

Unfortunately, I woke up Saturday morning feeling a little sick... which quickly became a lot sick. As bad as I felt from the sudden sickness, I felt even worse that our fishing trip might be canceled. I knew how much Seth had been looking forward to it so I was really hoping that I would feel better by the time 4 o'clock came around. I threw a few different kinds of medicine at my stomach and finally started to feel somewhat normal just in time to go fishing.

I tried to prepare Seth for the possibility that I might not be feeling up to staying out on the pond as long as he usually likes, and he promised me that if I started to feel sick again, he would take me straight home (because he's wonderful like that :-).

Well wouldn't you know - the night I go out fishing when I'm sick and don't even really feel like fishing ends up being my BEST NIGHT EVER!!!
Now, I do have to say that I haven't done all that much fishing, so what I would consider my "best night" may be nothing special for a more seasoned fisherman. We were only out on the water for about an hour and a half and I caught 5 bass that were 1.9 - 2.2 lbs! (Plus a few smaller ones.) This was my second 2lb bass (hence the two fingers - no, it's not a peace sign)
Plus we got to enjoy the emerging fall colors and an absolutely beautiful sunset.

a specatcle unlike any other

2009-09-19T13:20:00.001-05:00

This is homecoming weekend for Glenwood High School in my new home of Glenwood, Iowa.

My previous experience with high school homecomings consists of a football game and a homecoming dance. And that's it.

Well apparently not in Glenwood.

Ever since Seth and I arrived here in mid-July, we've been hearing from people about homecoming. "Oh just wait til homecoming!" "Have you heard about our homecoming yet?" At first I thought it was just a highly developed sense of community pride, but as the big weekend started to approach, I began to realize that it was so much more than that. Here in Glenwood, homecoming is probably only second to Christmas in terms of preparation and celebration.

First, there's the parade. People begin planning for parade floats before school even starts. The parade has a theme and all floats must be connected to the theme. This year's theme was "Going Green" (as in environmentalism - not the school colors, which are in fact black and gold). Allow me to introduce you the various categories of parade participants:

1. The Authorities
The mayor, the city council members, school administrators, etc.

2. The Alumni
There are floats for every class going back in 5-10 year increments all the way to the class of 1949. (Plus, the 25 year class of 1984 got to go around the route twice)

3. The Royalty
There are various types of convertibles, ranging from 90's mustangs to 20's or 30's cars with jump seats down in the back, which carry the varying levels of Glenwood royalty. There's the reigning homecoming king and queen, the candidates for this year's king and queen, and several of the kings and queens from the alumni classes (see #1). There's also the Outcast King and Queen ("Outcasts" are any people who didn't graduate from Glenwood High School. They also have an "Outcast Dance" after the football game.) and the Keg Creek Days (a local festival held in August) prince and princess who can't be more than 4 or 5 years old (see photo to the left).

4. The Kids
Now I would have expected that perhaps each school would have their own float in the parade, but no. Every grade has their own float, and every student rides on their grade's float. Even local daycare programs have floats.5. The Bands
Two middle schools and the high school.

6. The Churches
Our church was the only one with a float in the parade this year. Which means we won the prize for best float in our division.

7. The Businesses and Organizations
Some examples: local restaurants, the after-school tumbling program, boy scouts, etc. (I didn't get to see this part of the parade as I jumped on our church float as they entered the square and missed whatever came after us)

The parade route includes three sides of the town square (one small block that is home to the county court house) and the entire parade lasted over 90 minutes. I think what I found most shocking though, was the amount of people who came out to see the parade. Every inch of the parade route was plastered with people in their Glenwood black and gold - at 1:00pm on a Friday. The entire town was shut down. Every store front was covered with encouraging messages for the team. And I must admit that I, too, took a half-day off of work so that I could witness the spectacle for myself.

After the parade, people went home to rest and freshen up for the JV game, followed by the varsity game. The stands were completely packed, but we were lucky enough to find some people from church who happened to have space in their section for Seth and I. We sat between the star player's grandmother and a local beauty shop owner. It was a wonderful game and the Rams won 17-0.

The game was immediately followed by a complete fireworks display that lasted almost 15 minutes. It was hard not to get swept up in the charm of the moment. Sitting in the football field stands after watching the local team with the homecoming game with beautiful fireworks bursting overhead and every child in the town sitting out on the football field.

In the words of little orphan Annie, I think I'm gonna like it here. :-)

Needle-phobia

2009-09-08T21:09:00.000-05:00

Right after I started my new job I started hearing about flu shots. There were the mentions of them during orientation meetings and the company-wide email reminders. I did my best to ignore it all and stuck to my long held belief that the chances of my getting the flu do not outweigh my long-standing fear of needles.

Well after the presentation by the infectious diseases guy that we had to go to for orientation, I started to think that perhaps I needed to give some thought to the idea of getting a flu shot. After all, I do work with preschoolers, which means I am exposed to more than the average amount of bodily fluids. So I decided (somewhat vaguely) that I would indeed get a free flu shot. Sometime...

Then, this afternoon, I get a phone call from my fellow teacher.

"Did you get the email about the flu shots? They're giving them right now in the conference room. We should go."

Crap. In the words of Kevin McCallister, "This is it. Don't get scared now."

I very reluctantly agreed to go with her to get our flu shots. She promised to hold my hand and as we walked toward the conference room I tried to take slow, deep breaths to keep from getting light-headed. It didn't help. You see, ever since I gave blood my freshman year of college (which, unfortunately, involved lots of vomiting and near-passing out) my fear of needles became a downright phobia.

As we walked through the doors of the conference room I tried to keep myself calm. I told myself, "you are a grown woman. suck it up. it's just a flu shot." We joined the line and started chatting with our fellow shot recipients. They pointed us to a pile of consent forms on the table and the bunch of pens on the counter top near by. As I started filling out the form, I noticed a section where you had to check a box for which form of vaccine you would prefer: the flu shot, or the flu mist. WHAT?!?! Flu mist!?!? Praise the Lord!

Apparently, they have this new thing called the "flu mist" which is a nasal spray instead of a shot. I had to restrain myself to keep from jumping up and down. This was the best news ever. My pulse slowed. My breath deepened. My muscles relaxed. I did not have to get a shot. Excellent.

So I waited cheerfully in line, joyfully proclaimed "mist!" when, at my turn, they asked me which form I would prefer, and took a bold sniff as the medic squirted liquid up my nose. I did not have to get a shot. Who cares if the spray drips out of my nose. Who cares if I can feel it dripping in the back of my throat. It's nothing a can of diet cherry coke won't rinse away! I didn't have to get a shot! Hooray for post nasal drip!

breaking the seal

2009-09-07T12:21:00.001-05:00

When Seth and I first came up to Iowa to look for a place to live last June, one of the first things I noticed was the relatively new shopping center just 15 minutes away from our small town. It had the most beautiful Target I'd ever seen, Kohls, a BW3's (a.k.a. Buffalo Wild Wings), AND.... a Hobby Lobby.

There it was. Right off the highway on my way to and from work. Every day. That spells danger.

So I resolved to put off visiting said Hobby Lobby for as long as I could stand it, knowing that once I started going I would most likely never be able to stop. We moved on July 17th and I successfully resisted for a solid seven weeks. But last week I made the mistake of visiting their website and checking out their weekly add. To my absolute horror & delight I discovered that they were having a sale on jewelry making supplies - up to %50!!! - until Sept 5th. The wait was over. This had to be a sign that the time was right for me to finally make my first trip to the glorious H.L.!

So on Saturday afternoon I went. It worked out perfectly because Seth had to pick up some stuff from Menards so I had him drop me off so that my time would be restricted. I also didn't get a cart or a basket. I gave myself the rule that I could only take what I could fit in my two hands... which ended up being quite a lot actually.

After Seth picked me up he asked how much I spent. I gave him my best puppy dog eyes in hopes that the power of my cuteness would cause him to forget the words that had just left his mouth, but alas, it did not work. "A hundred bucks," He guessed. "Oh, goodness no!" I said, "Nowhere near that much. Wait... could I have spent $100???"

**check out my design blog to see pictures of my haul as well as the first fruits ;-) **

a well stocked gym bag does not a work-out make

2009-09-01T21:53:00.000-05:00

4 pairs of socks: check
a few tops, bottoms, and sports bras: check
cute (yet conservative) sporty bathing suit: check
combination lock: check
gym shoes (complete with arch supporting insoles): check
extra deodorant, moisturizer, and razor: check
travel-size loofah: check
travel-size bottles filled with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and face wash, all tucked in cute little mesh zipper bag: check

After a great amount of careful thought, planning, and preparation, my gym bag is at long last complete! I have thought of everything I might need at a visit to the Y. Even though I haven't gone swimming for fitness purposes in... well... okay, so I've never gone fitness swimming. But I might! And so what if I've never actually showered at the Y after a work out (I do shower, just usually at home) I might decide that I want to next time. The point is, now I'm ready for anything.

The problem is that I have allowed my gym bag preparation to take the place of actually going to the gym. My bag sat, first in the car... then in the house... then in the car again, for almost two full weeks before (drum roll, please) I went to the Y today!!!

After work I called Seth and asked him if he wanted to meet me at the Y. He suggested I just come home first and pick him up so that we wouldn't have to take two cars. I (somewhat grudgingly) agreed, but insisted that he come out and jump in the car so that I wouldn't have to get out and lose any time. Translation: I didn't put all of that time and effort into carefully planning and preparing my gym bag so that I could just come in the house and change for my work out. That would just be wasteful!

So I picked him up and we did our usual Y routine (can I still call it our usual if we've only done it 5 times?) of Seth shooting hoops in the gym until he reaches his quota of successful baskets followed by free weights, and me running/walking on a treadmill for 30-40 minutes followed by weight machines. And even though I didn't touch my bathing suit or my shower supplies, I did feel so much cooler and athletic walking into the Y with my gym bag over my shoulder. Besides... there's always next time.

shock and awe...

2009-08-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

don't ask me why I was cleaning the bathroom at 11:45 at night on a Wednesday, but I must take a moment to share with the world my distress at discovering the little speckled pattern on the floor of my tub was not actually a speckled pattern, but deep-set gunk and grime in the texture of the molded plastic tub.

I was going along with my cleaning business, putting some elbow grease into the soft-scrub-with-bleach-and-scrub-brush action, when for whatever reason I spaced off and kept at the same 6" circle for a few moments longer than the rest. When I realized that I had been scrubbing the same spot for over a minute, I found - to my horror!- that it was the only all-white spot in the entire tub! Of course I then spent the next 20 minutes scrubbing my shoulder sore to ensure that ALL the gunk was removed.

I also had to repeatedly call my husband to come and see the step-by-step process first hand. "Honey! Come look at this! Our tub is filthy!" ... "Honey! Come see! I scrubbed it all out!" And he, being the wonderful man that he is, beamed with pride at his wife's hard work and told me how much he loved me for scrubbing the specks of grime out of our tub. Now I just hope he remembers that pride and love when I ask him to rub my sore shoulder later...

The Housekeeping Gene

2009-08-24T22:13:00.000-05:00

I've never considered myself to be a clean freak. Not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I've always been closer to the opposite of such. The housekeeping gene that is so prevalent in certain members of my family was most certainly dormant within me. When I had an apartment in a Chicago suburb during my first two years of teaching it was not uncommon for me to...

...now, I feel the need to pause for a moment before continuing this thought to warn you that what I'm about to write may be disturbing to some readers (my older sister in particular who is a recovering cleaning addict) so continue reading with caution...

...not do dishes until I was out of silverware, sometimes eating cereal out of mugs or tupperware; I would put off doing laundry until I was out of underwear; and I am far too ashamed to admit how much time I would let pass between cleanings of my linoleum floors. Oddly enough, I actually like cleaning the bathroom and would rather scrub a tub and toilet than wash a sink full of dishes.

After two years of only cleaning my house when I had guests coming over, I got married - and I was surprised to find my long dormant housekeeping gene activated. Unfortunately, Seth and I were both in grad school and working a few different jobs during our first two years of marriage which significantly limited the amount of time I had to keep our tiny apartment clean - and, oh yeah, our apartment was tiny... that, or we just had way too much stuff crammed inside it. Either way, no matter how many times I tried to reorganize the office or how many closet shelving units I bought, our apartment never seemed to look completely clean. As a result, I was constantly frustrated by how messy our apartment was and how little time I had to keep up with keeping it under control.

Fast-forward to this summer. Almost more exciting than my graduating with my masters in deaf ed, Seth finishing his seminary classes, and both of us starting new jobs, was the fact that we were going to be moving into a HOUSE!!! Finally, no more sharing walls with strangers! Granted, it's only a rental house, but we're still a good 12-14 feet from our nearest neighbor as opposed to the previous 4-6 inches. Also, our rental house has a full (unfinished) basement - which means that even though our living space is not any greater than our "tiny" apartment in St. Louis, it feels like so much more because of all of the added basement storage.

Now that our basement has freed us from the clutter and I'm no longer spending my time at home writing papers or reading research articles, I am free to embrace my love of housekeeping! Even after coming home from a long and busy day at my new job, I find myself energized by picking up around the house, straightening the couch cover and cushions, vacuuming a few rooms, or - yes - even scrubbing out a few dirty pots and pans. ;-)

Coming Soon...

2009-08-18T21:40:00.000-05:00

;-)