Category Archives: Life

Right Now…

Posted in Journey to Boo, Life, photos by

Right now, I am happy about a bunch of the decisions John and I have made.

Right now, I feel free. Although it seems like half of my life is up in the air [with going back into teaching and adopting Boo being in the beginning stages yet], I feel free. For a few years, well really since I left home, my heart was always stuck with Boo… but listened to wrong advise and didn’t take my own judgements into account. It is freeing to be able to do what I have been wanting to do and I am so happy that John is on board. I think he is more on board than I am at this point.

Right now, our priorities have changed. Drastically. For the better. 🙂

Right now, I can see how many of the things that did not make sense to me a couple or a few years back, now do. It’s crazy.

Right now, I have never been so grateful. Life isn’t perfect, but that’s what makes it so great and worth waking up {stronger and better} each day.

Right now, my only frustration is having to wait. But I do realize, this is the story of my life.  I must need some serious sharpening in this aspect, because everything that I do or have done as of late requires being patient and trusting that all will be well. Patience is not my strongest suit, I must admit.

Right now, with all the waiting and harnessing of my faith and trust into the One Who is the Source of all good things, this verse from the Book of Isaiah Chapter 40 always reassures me:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.

Right now, on the lighter side of things, I am enjoying the cooler temperatures. Fall is my favorite season.

Right now, our weekends comprise of Skype calls with Boo and playing with Google+ Hangout masks and goofing around and long drives to marching band competitions. I enjoy both thoroughly. Anytime I get to hang out with John in the fall [when he is busiest], I make time. I don’t care how sick I am with a cold or how much my allergies are bothering me, I get in the car with him and go to competitions to support him.

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Right now, she is the best part of our TODAYs.

Right now, waking up in the morning means getting on Skype either to talk to her or read the messages she leaves us while we were asleep or look at the emoticons she has flooded my chat window with. 🙂

Life is good. Right now.

Dear Boo,

Posted in Dear Boo, family, Immigration, Journey to Boo, kids, Life by

… You are loved beyond your wildest dreams. Not only by us, but by the people who surround you.

… We miss you every single day. We think about you nonstop.

… You are growing up so fast and although it is frustrating that we have to be “okay” with watching you grow through the webcam [for now], we are also grateful for technology for making this possible. We would take this over not seeing you at all.

… You have changed us. You have changed our lives tremendously. More than we could ever explain.

… [You have no idea] how hard it is to say “bye” to you on Skype. And how we wish we could just come and get you here now. But we have to abide by the rules, no matter how unnecessary some of the steps are.

… No matter what happens, it is our constant prayer that you grow up to be the person God created you to be and be a good steward of the talents He has given you.

… Thank you for the sweet little messages you leave on Skype for us to read when we get up in the morning.

We love you very very much. And we can’t wait to get you here soon.

Revisiting the Utility Closet…

Posted in DIY Projects, Life, photos by

I have spent pretty much this whole week mapping out my fall projects. It’s going to be fall soon, and with marching band competitions drawing near, I need to crank up projects/things to do to occupy my time. John is a percussion instructor and a band director by trade. This is the busiest time for him. And while he is away and I am not traveling to competitions or parades with him, I work on the house.

A few weeks ago, we wrapped up the last of our summer projects. We turned our unused and very inefficient utility closet into an appliance garage. What is that, you ask? Check out the photo below to know what it is. Look at the whole process here.

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So do I still feel the same way I did with the appliance garage?

We STILL love love love it! It is functioning like it I want it to and that’s really all that matters. I enjoy the fact that I don’t have to dig my kitchen electrics out when I need them. The best thing about it is when I send John to get something for me, he finds them. The appliance garage isn’t just for appliances, I’m also storing my endless collection of glass and stone bowls in here, pitchers, paper towel supply, my interior paints and some supplies, baking pans I rarely use, and the booze needed for John’s Margaritaville.

At some point during the back and forth process of putting this closet together, I considered turning it into a pantry. Yet, I had to rethink that because I don’t go on huge grocery shopping trips… Ever! I get stuff as I need them. Although I did try planning meals a week at a time, but it did not work for us. John and I decide on dinner around a little after noon every single day. When he is home, we talk about supper over coffee in the morning. When he is at work, like right now, we text back and forth after he eats lunch… then I go to the store and pick up what I need. Believe it or not, I am able to stick to the budget this way, no food or groceries get wasted or unused or shoved all the way back in the pantry cabinet.  I also don’t use a lot of canned goods. If I can make it myself at home, I will make it. I even make my own marinara sauce and spaghetti sauce, my own salad dressing, and mostly vegetable, chicken and beef broth. The only four things I get in bigger proportions at the store are: flour, baking chocolate, sugar and butter. I bake a lot. I cook meals every single night of the week. We rarely go out to eat, and we have not eaten fast food in over a year now.

So, back to the utility closet…

It is pretty. I dreamed this whole thing up for a good six or so months. I wanted it to be pretty so I can leave the doors open, I wanted a nice, bright happy color in it so we don’t have to replace the lights in there.

It is efficient. Not only is it easy to find what I need, the space is also low maintenance because it is all on a single layer. There is a place for every piece that’s in there. No digging necessary. I also organized everything according to how frequently I use them. Obviously the ones on the very top I don’t use all the time like my big round baking pans, the booze, and my seasonal supplies.  Everything that is visible at a glance are being used regularly. I love my kitchen electrics as much as John loves his wood working tools. We use and work our tools to death.

Here is a very recent photo of the Utility Closet/Appliance Garage, I took this yesterday.

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I did realize that in the original blog post here that I didn’t show what was going on on the floor. So here it is:

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The closet goes beyond where the Margaritaville bag is. In the far corner are my left over interior paints and some painting supplies. I don’t like storing interior paints in the garage, they seem to go bad faster when they are exposed to the elements.

I am not too worried about the linoleum floor because IT IS a utility room. We may replace it if we live here long enough to have to… but for now, it is not on the list of stuff  to be replaced. 🙂

So there you go. 🙂

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Be Badass

Posted in DIY Projects, Life, photos by
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{from Pinterest}

Excuse my french… It just feels appropriate is all and a good reminder too. The past two weeks, I have been under the weather and scaring myself to death over some life and career choices John and I are getting ready to embark on.  There are just a lot of mixed feelings going on, more excitement than anxiety. I cannot elaborate much YET but John and I are like little kids in a candy store right now with all the things happening in our lives.  I never thought it was possible to be happy and be scared at the same time until now.

John and I have weathered enough storms and changes in our lives I believe we will be badass at the new adventures we are diving into. I just need to get rid of this cold, because it is getting really old.

While I wait for things to work themselves out, I am working on our master bathroom. Given that John is involved, this is going to  take a while because he is in-charge of picking stuff out. Mainly because he uses the master bath more than I do. I use the guest bathroom because I like having my personal space to myself. Anyhow, John also manages almost every time to confuse himself with his options.  This is why I said it will take a while. I had to pick out the paint color to get him started, otherwise, that bathroom would never get done.  It’s just really dated and ugly.

It’s just a traditional bathroom. Before I painted it, there were three patterns and colors of wallpaper in there. It was a mix of hunter green, mauve and blue. Yuck! Everything in it is just plain BAD, dated, and stupid. So I made up a list of things to do:

1. Clean and Sanitize

2. Paint the walls

3. Pick out new light fixture

4. Install bamboo floors

5. Replace sink and vanity

6. Refinish tub and enclosure

7. Replace shower doors or do without it

8. Furnish

I still have a ways to go. And here is a visual of what the end of this project is going to look like. Click on the photos and they will link you to the sources.

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Sink and Vanity

Shower Curtain

Shower Curtain

I don’t know what to do as for a mirror yet but I am thinking just framing the existing builder’s mirror while I think about this whole thing. John wants a medicine cabinet slash mirror type thing but if you ask me, it just gives him a new place to junk up. So, I am going to have to sleep on this.

Framed Builder's Mirror

Framed Builder’s Mirror

This bathroom doesn’t have a lot of floor space, so everything needs to hang on the wall or over the door. I am thinking one like this.

Towel Rack

Towel Rack

I love makeovers. I love changing things up in my house. John and I enjoy learning new things, picking up new tools and skills we never thought we actually had. Thank God for internet resources and new innovations in technology, now the normal guy can do a lot of things  like the Pros. And be BADASS at it, too! 🙂

More updates to come soon!

And like I said, Be Badass!

signaturevanessa

Welcome to My World

Posted in 2013 Summer, Crafts Room, DIY Projects, Life, photos by

I have made peace with the fact that everything that I touch is going to forever be a work in progress… because I like changing things up and I am constantly learning new things. My crafts room is one of those things that I will probably keep on working on until it is time to part with it.

In the past two years my crafts room [really, my whole entire house] has changed significantly. Originally, this room was a dining room. From experience, we don’t really do the whole dining room thing. Also we have an eat-in kitchen and it is big enough for me and John [and guests too if we have people over], so we opted out of having a dining room and decided to make it into my crafts room and load it with all kinds of prettiness.

I used to be in the farthest corner of the house. I had an L-desk and a cube storage to house all of my stuff and that was it.

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Huge sloppy mess!

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So when we decided what to do with this room in the very front of the house, the first thing I wanted was this desk. My husband built this for me.

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As I was slowly moving in to the new crafts room, we realized, if we were going to make this the “pretty room” we need a place to house all these supplies I have. Otherwise, they would all just be randomly laying on the floor like it is in the photos.

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While we were trying to figure out what we really wanted to put in this room, I put together this corner. I DIY-ed the lamp, the table is something I already had. My cat ruined the finish on it, so I sanded it some and painted it heirloom white by Rustoleum.

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Then it warped into this… The armoire we already owned. I needed a place to store the printer and printing supplies, so this had to happen.

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And now, it looks like this. I have been going back and forth over painting it… but every time I come in here, the first thing you see is this gigantic dark armoire. So a couple of days ago, I finally decided it needed to get made over. And… VOILA!

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This whole thing was a long grueling process. From picking out the color to getting it finally done. This piece of furniture is HEAVY. I could not move it by myself, not even John could do it. So, spray painting it was out of the question. This needed to be brushed and rolled. I used paint conditioners to reduce brush and roller strokes, the finish is pretty awesome, but it increases drying time.

The light has also since been changed from this wimpy semi-flush mount to a more stylish one.

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This was the state of this room for a while. It was a mess until late March and early April this year. We got brave and added more storage.

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Here’s what it looks like now…

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Since April, we were able to get two new task chairs for my new work space. I have picked up some knick knacks. The ampersand was from Marshalls, the big @ sign on the wall was a great find from the Goodwill, the task lamps were from Big Lots. I didn’t really care whether they matched or not because they are temporary. I didn’t want to spend too much money on them. The plan is to add recessed or track lighting over the counter. The pinwheels I made myself out of my paper stash, as I was organizing during the spring, I found that I had some unopened paper stacks that I had purchased a couple years back… I finally found good use for them.

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My desk never stays clear of stuff because I am here every single day making something or working on something. This is one of my most favorite places to be. In fact I am getting a little sad thinking that I may not be able to spend as much time here in the next few months because I am going back into teaching. But I also realize that I really don’t want to be a stay-at-home wife forever and be stuck. I always knew this gig was going to end…

I am just thankful that I was able to create this beautiful space in the process and be teaching again. I miss being in the classroom! 🙂

signaturevanessa

Summer Lovin’

Posted in 2013 Summer, Life, photos, Road trips, summer, travel by

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It is true, time flies when you’re having fun. This summer, we did something different, well different in the sense that we actually decided to travel instead of drowning in DIY home projects like we have done in the past couple of years. We drove at least 2,000 miles [back and forth] out west and visited John’s Grandpa.

The photo above was taken from their front porch after a really nice dinner with Grandma and Grandpa’s best friends. They have the most beautiful view of the sunset over there. Their house sits high up on a hill and it overlooks pretty much all of the city in the front. Out in their back deck you can see the Casper Mountain.

It has been a while since our last visit, so much has changed in the town. It seemed bigger, roads seemed wider… I felt like there was more traffic now than the last time we were there. The town seemed more alive.

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This is our tree. We carved it on our last visit in 2009. It took us a good 10 or so minutes to find it and I was so pleased that it was still there and you can still read what the carving said. And we got to see this little guy sitting on a rock as we were cruising up the mountain one day.

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This is Grandpa and John. We grilled, cooked and ate a lot on this trip. Well, nobody starves when I am around. 😉

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This is Molly [Grandma and Grandpa’s dog]. We have been around her a bunch of times in the past 7 years but she never warmed up to us or anybody for that matter. She just wants Grandpa. End of story.

She did tolerate us in the full week that we were at “her” house. We invaded her space, took her Mommy and Daddy away from her. She growled at us a lot, nipped the back of John’s foot enough times that he was scared of her. By the way, she is a little yorkie-poo. lol

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Here are some of the photos I snapped during this trip… These are both from my big camera and my phone.
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This is a view of the town on our way down from the Casper Mountain. I was surprised this picture turned out, we were going pretty fast.

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Just something from Grandpa’s garage.

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Famer’s Market finds… We bought stuff from this local spice vendor, their spice blends are the BOMB!

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We didn’t buy from the “jelly and jam lady” because I make my own at home but she did tell me about the berry-like plants that are growing in abundance in the park where the farmer’s market was at, they are currants [photo below]. She saw me and John looking at them and talking about them.

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This store was like Christmas, they sold fudge! 🙂 I bought a box of a variety of the flavors that I thought would taste good. And they were all yummy, except John and Grandpa ate most of it when we got back to the house. They did let me get a taste.

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This jazz trio was the entertainment at the park. We sat there for a few minutes and listened to them play while we ate.

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But, these little stores were what really caught my attention… The artisanal breads and local honey stores! 🙂 I loved the multi-grain loaf I picked up and I still have to open the jar of honey. I am looking for a good excuse to use it in a dessert or meal.

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While on this trip, John also got to golf with Grandpa. He has been wanting to do this for years! I was so glad they finally got to hang out and catch up and golf. I had a lot of down time because they golfed pretty much everyday, which I was really thankful for because all I really wanted to do was NOT DO ANYTHING! lol 🙂 I did cook and bake some, which pleased everybody, of course.

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This ball was busted on the other side…

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This place a.k.a the basement was my hangout. Most of the time, Grandma would come and join me and we would watch movies and fall asleep in our chairs in the afternoons while John and Grandpa were out golfing or doing whatever they were doing… We didn’t really care.

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But before we went on our journey out west, we stopped in St Louis and stayed the night there to watch Matchbox Twenty and the Goo Goo Dolls in concert. Of course that whole week temperatures were mellow until the day of the concert, then it was 95 degrees with a heat index of 100. Awesome….. NOT! But we had a good time. We were so glad to be back at the hotel in the air-conditioning by 11 PM.

matchbox20Photo by: Mynee’s Musings

googoodollsPhoto by: Mynee’s Musings