One Man's Trash is another Man's Treasure

Look what I found on my run Monday evening!

And for FREE! They were sitting next to a tree by the curb with no "Free" sign on them but that's what people do in the cities. They put what they don't want out for others to pick up. We recently did that with an old computer chair (that was broken but still usable) and an old patio furniture set. We put them out late Sunday night and by the time I went to work Monday morning they were gone.

Thankfully this old window and two screens were only half a block from the house. I waited until dark to grab them and then yes, I ran home. I don't know why when the original owners clearly did not want them but I just ran so no one would see me.

I'm not sure what my plans are for them yet. They will probably sit up in the garage rafters until I decide and they definitely need to be cleaned up but I couldn't pass up FREE old windows when people sell these babies for mucho green dolla bills. Now everytime I'm driving/walking/running through the neighborhood my eyes are prowling everyone's lawns for their trash but my treasure.

In other news, it's Friday which means the weekend is rapidly approaching. Baby steps to 5:30...baby steps to 5:30. I finally get to start working on a project for our bedroom this weekend and I'm not making any plans except to work on the house/yard and do my fall cleaning. And I am PUMPED. By that statement alone you can tell that I'm no longer in my "early" twenties, I am a wife and I am weird.

Sadie Mae

My baby sister, Sadie, is a senior this year! I can't believe she is finishing her last year of high school and heading off into the world to explore her dreams. When things slowed down at the end of this summer I was able to take a few "extra" grad pictures of her to go along with her professional photos. We had fun exploring our little town and took a few in our own backyard. She's grown up to be a beautiful woman inside and out. Enjoy!

Just a Quickie

Have you ever had an quick home improvement project that would literally take you ten minutes or less to do/finish if you'd just start it but for some reason it always found its way off the to do list? Sounding familiar? Friday night, Joe and I, ok fine...Joe finally took care of the towel rack in our upstairs bathroom. One side of the rack kept coming out of the wall and the slightest bump would make it tumble to the ground. We knew exactly what it would take to fix it, but did we ever remember to pick up our supplies when we were at Menard's or Lowe's? Not a chance. Except our last trip to Lowe's.

All we needed were two of these babies and a screwdriver. Joe was quick to getting started so I didn't snap a before shot but here he is during the process. Gotta love a handy husband.

Now we can finally hang our towels in the bathroom instead of on our closet doors!! And to think its only taken three years since Joe bought the house to fix. 

Mouse Prevention...Hopefully

According to the Chinese calendar, last year was the year of the mouse. Actually, I made that up but in our house it was. We had at least three visitors in the fall/winter season and one was even brave enough to crawl around on and in our kitchen counters, my Kitchen Aid Mixer and our toaster! And that little fella was smart! We had at least five different types of traps and he could even eat the food off the trap without it snapping on him. I will never forget the night we came home from bowling league and Joe and I saw the mouse pop its little head out of our toaster that I had recently used by the way! We quickly put a garbage bag over the top of the toaster and dragged the mouse and toaster straight out to the garbage. Yuck!

This fall I am all about mouse prevention and taking a proactive approach to stopping these little critters from entering our home in the first place. Along our driveway where the foundation meets the dirt, we're having a bit of crumbling action going on. Don't worry our house is not falling apart and the house inspector said our foundation was solid...its just seen better days in its 50+ years of life. When we had a bit of snow on the ground last year we could see little footprints leading up to the side of the house and then disappearing. We noticed that you could reach up into the foundation quite a bit and those little buggers can squeeze through a hole as small as 1/4 of an inch so we figured this was their entering point. We plan to eventually do brick landscaping along the side of the house but until we save up some dough and actually have the time to do it right, we have to come up with cheaper and less time consuming alternatives.

Plan A: A mix of steel wool which they don't like biting through and pre-mixed cement to really seal the deal. While Joe and I were off picking up our bed, Sue helped us out with this little project since we were running of out time. Before we left, her and I ran to Menards to get a few supplies - rubber gloves, a wire brush, steel wool and pre-mixed cement. Total cost of the project was around $60 which in my eyes is well worth it if it keeps the mice out.

This is what we're working with. Definitely an eye sore which will one day be beautified - just add it too my "To Do" list! All along the side of the driveway you can see where the dirt has been washing away leaving small pockets for mice to climb up into.

Sue stuffing and sealing the holes. There may have been some odd nursing references during this time but I will not repeat what my mother-in-law shared. Joe especially didn't appreciate the visual storytelling haha.

First, we stretched out the steel wool so it was easier to push up into any pockets we found. Just when you thought you couldn't push farther up into the house you'd find another pocket. There were many spots where probably more than one steel wool pad was used.

After, we took the cement and using our fingers coated the steel wool and side of the foundation. We tried to fill any opening we could with the steel wool/cement mixture. It's not pretty but I sure hope it works.

This is the pre-mixed cement we picked up from Menards. We went through two full tubs and about a third of another one. 

I guess time will only tell if Plan A truly worked. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I like my toaster and don't like sharing my home with outside critters.

We've upgraded...

This weekend was a whirlwind. I feel like we got a few things done on our "To Do" list but at the same time I feel like we didn't cross a single item off because the list is BIG! Joe had his first weekend off since Labor Day so he took full advantage of it putting in his time on the golf course. Saturday I went to my first Premier Jewelry party hosted by my friend, Britta, then spent the afternoon shopping with my friend Alison who was in need of a couple outfits for her engagement pictures. Alison also asked me to be a bridesmaid in her upcoming wedding next July! I am so excited to be a part of her special day:)

Saturday night Joe and I went out for dinner with his Mom while his sister Kate was at the Gopher football game with her boyfriend. After, everyone including our friends Chad and Kelly were over for a chilly fall fire - smores included! The next morning we went out for breakfast and did a few things around the house with the help of Sue. Now if only she could help with the other 900+ projects I want to do:)

But enough of the play by play from the weekend. I have some great news to share with you! And no, I already asked Joe if we could have a baby and/or a dog and he said no so don't jump out of your seat. On Friday night, Joe and I bought a new bed! We have finally upgraded from a full to a queen size mattress! Oh glorious day. We went into our nearby Slumberland because they were having a "Any purchase over $499 and you get a 3 day/2 night free hotel stay" sale and we all know Joe loves any excuse to travel.

For example:

Me: "I killed a spider that was in the bathroom!"

Joe: "Sweet! To celebrate let's take a quick trip to Chicago for the weekend".

Although this conversation hasn't happened yet, I wouldn't put it past him. Anywho...we tried out mattress after mattress and finally found our gem. The sales guy told us the hotel deal wasn't the best 

because the hotels and dates are already picked out/you don't really have your "choice"/many people can't even use the deal and that type of thing. The mattress we chose was originally listed around $1299 and marked down to $799. It was still out of our price range and what we wanted to spend but he said he could give us Sunday's price and it would be $499. We were good with the new price and we also found a bed frame to go with it. Yesterday we picked it up with the help of his uncle Scott's truck and the hubby put it together last night while Sue and I returned the truck!

He even vacuumed before he started to assemble the bed. How romantic:)

Our bed in boxes

He waited for me to make the bed because he thought I would like to do that. And probably because it was the last thing he wanted to do:) haha We love the look of the bed frame. I was worried that the dark wood of the bed would clash with the white trim in our room but Joe convinced me it would be okay. He was r..ri...righ... I can't finish the word.

Here it is! The finished look! This was the only comforter at Target that Joe really liked. Guess it's a little more manly than the swirly, floral pattern I picked out.

We have about 12 inches on each side of the bed to work with for nightstands. I say we get one for each side and Joe thinks we should just put one in the corner (that's his side) because otherwise it would look to crowded. I'm on the fence with this one because I go for visual balance but we'll see.

I love the green pillowcases with the dark wood frame. It looks awesome together and our room really isn't that bright either fyi.

There you have it. We now have a grown up bed and although our clothes are still in our old room, we have no blinds or curtains and besides the bed there is nothing in the room, we spent our first night in our new bed and it was roomy and very comfy. Joe still stole my covers though.

Favorite Fall Recipe

Last Saturday my friend Kelly and I had our second annual "Girl's Only" day in Stillwater. We started with our traditional stop at Aamondt's Apple Farm and picked up our fair share of the best apples in Minnesota - Honeycrisp. Geez louise they are delicious. We split a ten pound bag for $13 a piece and went on a picking spree plus stowing a few away in our purses. Hey! Don't judge! The bag they give you is not as big as you think and it's not like we filled our purses...we just threw a couple extra in. After our apple picking fest, we ventured out into downtown Stillwater to do a little shopping. We were twins that day - both got apples, a scarf and picked up some cute aprons for when we bake away!

Every fall I like to make a big batch of applesauce with the Honeycrisp apples we pick. It's super easy and sure is tasty. All you need are apples, sugar and cinnamon and voila! you have homemade applesauce goodness:) Here's how I do it...

Step 1: Start off with your choice of apple. It's up to you on how many you want to use and all depends on if you want to make a big batch or small batch.

Step 2: Peel your apples. It doesn't have to be the perfect peel unless you like perfect. (Weirdo! JK)

Step 3: Chop the apples up into chunks, place in pot and put a little bit of water in with the apples. You have to eyeball how much water you need. Since I had a lot of apples I used a little bit more water than I would if half of this pot was filled.

Step 4: I cooked them over medium head and kept stirring them every once in a while. They eventually start to break down as they cook and get soft.

Step 5: I like my applesauce chunky so when it starts to get mushy but there are still some chunks of apple in there, that is when I stop. If you like chunkless applesauce...keep cooking.

Step 6: Add sugar and cinnamon to taste. Be careful trying the applesauce, it will be hot!

Step 7: Place in pretty white bowl (optional) and serve.

ENJOY!

What are your favorite fall recipes?

To Be or Not To Be: Afraid of Color

Now that Joe and I have the house to ourselves we are in full force making it our own. It will be a slow  process due to lack of time and the busyness of our lives but we'll get there. Eventually. Don't they say the best part of the destination is the journey you take to get there? Without further ado, I give you Part I of our bedroom makeover.

This used to be one of the old roommate's room that Joe and I are moving into once we get a good start on it because it's a tad bigger than the one we're in now. None of our rooms are big by any means but we're working with what we got.

This is the color throughout our whole house except for the upstairs bathroom and kitchen. The builders "splurged" on some color for those two room for some reason. It's an okay color but I'm ready to see it go. It marks up super easily and is a little to bland. I also think it looks more nice in this photo than in person so don't let the warm beige color fool you.

This is the color we went for called New Avocado by Valspar. Some of you might be thinking, "Why did she pick that color?" but my reasoning is simple. I do not want (and trying really hard) to be afraid of color. I want to take some risks with this house so we can figure out what we really like and what our style is. Plus, the picture on the back of our comforter shows it with a nice green wall and it looks awesome.

You'll have to forgive the different lighting in these photos. Some were taken during the day, at night, with a flash and without. I'm not a camera genius although it is on my to do list. My husband who left this painting project totally in my hands (he's not one for painting) helped me take down the curtains and take off the light switch and socket plates so I could get my spackle on.

I used smart from Lowe's. It's zero voc (those nasty, harmful fumes that can still be given off once everything dries) and it was a more organic choice. Trying to be green when I can. I had to fill quite a few small holes and some places where the paint and some drywall peeled off because of pictures and a mirror that previously hung on the walls. After the spackle dried (about 20-25 minutes) I took a very fine piece of sandpaper and leveled the spackle with the wall. (Forgive me for my lack of correct home improvement lingo. I'm learning as I go.) Thanks hubby for this picture while I'm hard at work sandpapering.

The last step before painting (besides laying down a drop cloth and taping all the trim) I took a little bit of primer and went over my spackling. In my research before starting this painting project, I read that sometimes paint does cover as evenly  as the wall where you have spackled so if you put some primer on the spots it will help the paint stick better. Worked for me so I guess that means it's true? haha Friday night what prep night. Saturday was paint day. 

Saturday evening after my experience at the Junk Fair and my Girl's Only day with Kelly in Stillwater (more on that tomorrow) I finally opened up the paint can. I chose Valspar's Signature Colors paint (one of their best) in a satin finish. A Satin finish is durable but what's nice about it is that you can clean it better with a wet wash rag unlike a flat finish. It won't hide the imperfections of a wall like a flat finish can but it gives it a nice clean, slightly shiny look. Oo la la!

Hello Color! Do not be afraid.

Along the ceiling I used a 2" angled brush and never once got paint on the ceiling while working along the ceiling/wall line. Well, I did but it was with the roller and not the paintbrush and it only happened twice. I thought for sure I would have to do two coats as well because you could still see where I had spackled the wall but once it dried you couldn't tell anymore and the wall looked even all around. Yay for no second coat!Thankfully the paint itself is a little thick so I think this had something to do with it. I had to take the brush and touch up a few spots that I didn't get fully with the roller but overall we really like the color. Oh! And let me tell you, this paint dries fast! The whole project, well painting part, took me about four hours and the first couple of walls were already dry at the end of those four hours.

Some days it looks bright and other days it looks like this. Once we get all our furniture in, add our comforter and personal touches I think the room will really come together. Forgive me for not taking a "I'm done with painting this room" picture! All the tape is off and the plate covers are back up. The green wall and white trim look great together. I'll have to get a good picture of the "after" look. Now we need to find a bed...