The Writing is on the Wall

Literally. It really shouldn't be all that surprising that I frequently try to convince my husband that we need more wall quotes. And for some reason--even though he always ends up being the one to hang them--he continues to let me buy them.

But seriously, what else am I supposed to put on the massively large wall that, because of the split-foyer, is awkwardly a part of the living room, entryway, and stairway downstairs?

Not the best angle, but a shot of the wall during the (difficult) painting process shortly after we moved in
 

The wall now!

It's a little hard to read, but the quote says "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". And I love it! Darrell, however, did not love the hanging process required for this quote; apparently it was more finicky than the others he's done and the letters did not want to adhere to the wall. He's (pessimistically) convinced that they'll just fall off one day, but so far so good. And here's hoping it stays that way--I don't know if I could talk him into another one if this one fails! (At least not another one in that location--I've already got him on board with one for the nursery, and our basement is rife with possibilities for quotes now that we're finally in the process of getting it all finished!)



Like Father, Like Son

I couldn't have asked for a better father and role model for my son.

Happy Valentine's Day!

So Darrell and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day (his logic: I don't like being told when to be affectionate and tell you I love you. My logic: s%&@ is crazy over-priced and restaurants are crazy busy). It's been this way since we started dating (in fact, I know for a fact that the first Valentine's Day we celebrated together was on a Tuesday because the card Darrell bought for me was crossed out and re-written in mulitple places, including the ending, which was modified to read Happy Valentine's Tues Day!) However, Darrell still knows that I love me some chocolate, and especially the Russell Stover chocolates. Which--while they do sell them at all times during the year--they sell them in much larger packages and much wider varieties around Valentine's Day. And while Darrell refuses to prescribe to the typical Valentine's Day mushy-ness and sappy-ness (some things haven't changed in eight years--I got a text from Darrell this morning wishing me a "Happy Friday"), he still knows how to make me feel special. With the most awesome box of chocolates I've ever seen in my life.

And for the record? Darrell actually bought that for me ten days ago; I've just taken forever to get it posted. Which means he doesn't even consider it a Valentine's Day gift--just a random "I'm feeling like being nice" gift. And those are my favorite kind. 

Forever Flowers

So the other day Darrell wanted to get me flowers because he knew I'd had a few rough days at home with William, but he was out of his allowance money so he couldn't afford to buy me any (yes, we do allowances, and yes, it works incredibly well. I can't tell you how many "money" arguments we've probably avoided because of our allowance system). His solution? Make me a bouquet.

Is that not awesome? And I think I like it even more than a "real" bouquet because it'll last forever. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if he had used those scented markers--do you remember those? I don't know if I ever actually colored with them; I think I just periodically took the caps off and smelled them. (Actually... Now that I think about it... I'm pretty sure the markers were my sister's and I was forbidden from using them, which was why I just took the lids off to smell them without actually coloring. My sister and I were not exactly "buddy-buddy" growing up.)

The Power of Pregnancy

(written August 30th)

Well, I'm currently 7.5 weeks pregnant, and have so far been blessedly free of any major symptoms. In fact, if it weren't for the sticks I've peed on and the preliminary OB/GYN visit, I'd consider questioning the fact that I was indeed pregnant. Because while I've had a few bouts of nausea, most have been directly connected to some sort of foul smell (which--apparently--my sense of smell might also be heightened). And yes, I've been feeling some fatigue, but even without the pregnancy I think that my crazy schedule of full-time job, soccer coaching, and part-time job would be enough to make me fatigued. 

Recently, though, a dairy aversion has started to set in. Not all dairy, just, well, chunky dairy. Like yogurt (but not the frozen stuff) and cottage cheese (and that's the last time you'll hear me mention those items until this aversion is long gone. *Shudder*). And, naturally, according to one of those fancy week-by-week pregnancy updaters, I find out that around eight weeks my dear parasite (call it what you want--the darn thing is a parasite. I love it to death--but it's still a parasite) begins the ossification of it's bones. Excellent. Just the time to get a dairy aversion (as Darrell pointed out, the whole vomiting and food aversion thing all seem very counter-intuitive to what a pregnant woman's body is trying to do). So, I casually send Darrell an email letting him know that we'll need to make a conscious effort to get dairy-rich foods into my diet (like broccoli and spinach), as well as plenty of the actual dairy items that I can still tolerate (which, thankfully, still includes milk and cheese). And oh, speaking of cheese--cheese and crackers sounds delicious. And that was it for the email. Just a casual mentioning of cheese and crackers. Well, I get home that night to find a platter with not one, but two different types of cheeses all sliced up and ready to eat, and a box of Triscuits. Ah-mazing. 

And to make this even more outstanding--this is all happening during a week where my schedule is straight ridiculous. Monday and Wednesday both I was working at Excel until eight, and today (Thursday) we have soccer in Vermillion, which means I won't be getting home until after nine. And oh, did I mention that it also happens to be Labor Day weekend this weekend, and Darrell and I are supposed to be getting ready to head out to Wisconsin to go camping? And that, because of the drive, we are needing to leave immediately after practice/work Friday afternoon so everything needs to be ready to go before then? Needless to say, Darrell is pretty much taking care of everything. And not just everything that we need for camping, but everything that needs to get done around the house as well. Like making dinners (and cleaning up--every night this week). And doing laundry. And who knows what else. It's safe to say I'm pretty darn lucky.

Side note: I considering typing this up--sans pregnancy references since we haven't officially told anyone yet--and publishing it on the day that it was actually happening, but I was too worried that the ever-intuitive Mama Shirley (and even Darrell's sisters) might start to get a little suspicious because Darrell was being too nice for just normal day-to-day stuff. And since we already have pretty fun ideas in mind for how we want to tell our families (with surprise being a key element), I couldn't risk publishing this and raising any red flags. So, off to sit in my "Drafts" folder it goes. 

11/26 Update: You know that dairy aversion I mentioned? Hasn't really gone away. Although it has gotten a little better--I can actually say the word "yogurt" without gagging and a few weeks ago I had a (small) spoonful of cottage cheese. And I don't have to banish Darrell to a different room of the house if he wants to eat yogurt. Thank goodness milk and cheese are still a-okay though. Oh, and this post is also the last time you'll hear me refer to the baby as a "parasite"; despite my very accurate reasonings for calling the baby such, Darrell was none too thrilled with that moniker. Instead, we coined the name BOB (Baby On Board) to refer to the baby. So if you hear us use that name, that's why. We have no idea if baby is a boy or not--and no intent of using the name BOB even if it is a boy.  

Photo Gem

One of the best parts about Darrell being a "camera person" is that he is plenty willing to come to the games I am coaching (because honestly, unless you have a legitimate investment in the game, girl's soccer can be kind of boring. Especially if you are a male soccer player. So taking pictures keeps him occupied). And the best part about him being a talented camera person with nice equipment is that he is able to capture shots like this:

Pretty darn sweet.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

In honor of my brother's baseball beginning their playoffs this weekend to make it to the State Amateur Baseball Tournament, I thought I'd post a picture of a piece of artwork that we recently gifted to my brother for his new house.

Actual size: Three feet long by one foot tall

Years ago, Darrell took a panoramic shot of the team playing at their home field and we gifted it to my dad for Christmas. My brother has always talked about wanting one of his own, so a few weeks ago Darrell had a chance to recreate the picture--but with a nicer lens and quite a bit more photography experience, he was able to produce a much more clear image. Unlike the photo my dad has, on this photo you can read the scoreboard and numbers on the players jersey (including my brother's, who is pitching). Plus, Darrell was able to capture an sweet sunset this time around. The creation and printing of the image was so easy (at least Darrell made it look really easy; I didn't really do anything) that I'm starting a mental list of other "scenes" I want Darrell to turn into panoramas for out house--I'll worry about where to hang them later!

Best of luck to the Sioux Falls Saints as they attempt to qualify for their first state tournament this weekend!

Hammocks!

I *promise* that Darrell is almost finished editing our Europe pictures, including some that prove we knocked a few more items off our "101 in 1001" list. But there was one item we knocked off even before we left (the night before, in fact!): hanging the hammocks in the basement!

Now, you may be asking yourself, why, on the eve of our ten-day vacation, did we decide it would be a good idea to tackle hanging the hammocks in the basement (and--in the process--stay up way later than necessary)? Well, the answer is quite simple: stubbornness. You see, in the days prior to our departure, South Dakota was experiencing an unseasonably warm May. Daytime temperatures were pushing ninety, and lows were holding in the sixties. Great for being outside; not great for keeping our house cool. In fact, as we were preparing for bed on the eve of our departure, our house was a balmy seventy-six degrees--far too hot to comfortably sleep in. Now, we easily could have turned on our air conditioner and called it good, but we refused. For starters, we try to avoid using our air conditioner at all costs during the month of May (just like we try to avoid turning on the heat until November). Secondly, we were going to be leaving the next day, and didn't really see the necessity in spending the money to cool the house down. Besides, as is the case in most houses, our basement was significantly cooler, so sleeping down there was a legitimate option. Now, we had our choice of quite a few options: we could have blown up our air mattress, we could have re-lived our college days and gotten cozy on the twin mattress we have down there, or we could have pulled out our camping pads and sleeping bags and slept in those on the floor. But for whatever reason, Darrell was set on sleeping in his hammock (which--for the record--he did nearly every night one summer as a camp counselor). Now, I've been (politely) trying to get Darrell to hang the hammocks since last summer, so now that he finally had his mind set on doing it, I wasn't going to talk him out of it.

Securing one end of the hammock was easy since we have exposed support beams running through the middle of our basement, but the difficulty was in finding a place to tie the other end of the hammock. The only other easily accessible options that would allow us to wrap a string around them were our furnace, hot water heater, and a myriad of pipes--none of which were good ideas. Darrell attempted screwing a heavy-duty hook into a two-by-four that frames our staircase (the only basement wall that isn't insulated and plastic-covered), but found that with his body weight the hook was inclined to bend. It appeared that sleeping in the hammocks was not going to be happening that night, and as it was already quite late, I headed upstairs, convinced that I could manage one night in a stifling hot room. Not but ten minutes later, I heard the drill going in the basement, and went down to find this:

I'm sure it isn't recommended to drill holes into the two-by-fours in your house (at least it isn't a load-bearing wall), but it was certainly an effective solution. Five minutes later, we were comfortable and cool, ready for a good night's sleep.

They definitely make getting to the washer and dryer a little more difficult, but I'm seriously looking forward to spending some warm summer afternoons down there with a book. Next step--get large enough trees so that we can hang them outside!

Pretty Flowers!

Finally time to cross something off of Darrell's 101 in 1001 list!

Yay for random flowers at work!

New Decor!

So, I don't normally post twice in the same day, but Darrell and I got some new wall decor earlier this week and I'm so excited by how it looks that I couldn't wait to share.

Image taken from just inside our front door

Here's a close-up of the quote:

I'm in love! I saw this quote a few years ago and just fell in love it with, especially considering the "unexpectedness" of a North Carolinian getting transplanted to South Dakota. I've been wanting to find some way to incorporate it into our house, and when I saw it on one of those vinyl wall-quotes sites, I knew I had to have it. Darrell wasn't too thrilled at first because he doesn't want people to feel like they are in a library with all the "reading" they have to do in our house (we have another wall quote above our kitchen table: "The fondest memories are made when gathered around the table". He also limits the number of pictures I'm allowed to put up on the walls because he doesn't want people to feel like they are in a museum), but with some charm and puppy dog eyes he agreed to let me buy it. And then he even hung it for me. At ten-thirty last night. He really must love me (or, as he says "It's a good thing you're so darn cute"). Either way, I have a pretty great husband and an excellent reason to smile every time I walk in the house!

Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos (and a Wonderful Husband)

With the exception of the Margherita Pizza that I blogged about while I was eating it, I usually have a delay of about a week before posting a recipe. Most of the time it's because I have a back-log of other recipes (or books or other things) to blog about, and while that's no different today, this recipe jumped the ranks to get blogged after eating it for dinner last night. Not necessarily because it's that's super delicious (although it was quite good), but because I have to give a shout out of thanks to my husband for it. Now, he is usually very good about being helpful in the kitchen and makes dinner two or three times a week, but this recipe required him to go a little above and beyond and for that I'm very thankful.

Both of us had work or meetings last night until after eight, and although it would have been very easy for us to meet in Sioux Falls for a "fast food" dinner, we really strive to limit our eating out expenses (plus home-cooked is often so much healthier and tastier). So, our solution was to throw something in the crock-pot. Unfortunately, we've had some bad luck with crock-pot recipes in the past because usually I'm the one who puts them in when I leave in the morning (which is at 7:00), and on late nights such as last night we aren't getting home until after eight, which means the food has been cooking over twelve hours. We do have a crock-pot that automatically changes to "warm" after the prescribed number of hours, but we've still have a few recipes come out very bland and overdone from the extended cooking time. My proposed solution to that? Have Darrell drive home over his lunch to get the crock-pot started. Now, that may seem like a totally reasonable suggestion; however, it is terribly inconvenient (and long) for him to drive home from work in Sioux Falls. And while I only work a half mile from our house, I'm not really able to leave over my lunch break (and even with the short trip wouldn't have much time to since I only get a 24 minute lunch break). Thankfully, Darrell (reluctantly) agreed to make the drive, and then also proceeded to do all the prep work the night before because I was sick and unable to help him. So major props need to go out to my dear husband--I'm reminded nearly every day how lucky I am to have him in my life.

Anyway, enough of that. On to the recipe. For a crock-pot dish, we found that this chicken retained quite a bit of its flavor (but that might also have something to do with the fact that we cooked it for the specified time), and it could be a very versatile dish. We served it over tortillas last night for tacos, but it would also be delicious in a taco salad or over nachos (or even just on its own!). We also liked how easily adaptable the recipe is--different vegetables could easily be swapped in and out, as could other beans and even meats!

I apologize--I realized after the fact that I never really got a good picture of the chicken/bean mixture, but rather just one of the taco. But I'll be honest--it really isn't the most photogenic dish, just a great filler for these tacos!

Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos
(recipe adapted from here)

1/2 cup water
1 15 oz can black beans
1 jar salsa (I believe we used a 16 oz jar)
2 tbsp flour
1 packet taco seasoning mix
1 tbsp red pepper flakes (easily adaptable to your own spice-preference)
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced

Combine the water, beans, salsa, flour, and seasonings in the bottom of a crock-pot. Stir together. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and place on top. Scatter the onion, pepper, and garlic over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for eight hours (no need to stir!). Remove cooked chicken, shred, and return to the crock-pot. Stir everything together and serve!

Awww....

Can I hear a collective sigh over how cute this is? Not to brag or anything, but this sweet card showed up in the mail (with a stamp and everything!) the other day for me from my dear husband. And I'd be lying if I said that this card didn't accurately mirror our morning routine, which makes it totally perfect (and totally the reason why my current fitness "plan" hasn't been happening in the least). I feel like this habit is going to get harder and harder to break as the temperatures continue to drop....but I suppose there are worse habits to be wrapped up in.

Happy Friday! (Finally!)

In Retrospect...

Things Darrell probably wishes he knew before he married me:

• I'm secretly a girly-girl

Remember when this guy showed up in our house? 

I pretty much freaked. I was totally not okay with it, and absolutely refused to walk down the hallway until Darrell did something about it. However, chances are, four years ago I would have knocked that bugger down myself and killed him. What changed? Well, four years ago I was living in a house with four other girls. and when I'm in those situations, I tend to be more inclined to suck it up and be a man (because I refuse to let the bug sit there with no one doing something about it). But when Darrell is around... All bets are off. (Arm me with a can of Raid, however, and I have no fear against wasps.) I still do well when camping though; bugs have never really been an issue there. Maybe it's because we're outdoors and I'm not surprised when bugs turn up? Who knows.

• I have this weird thing with sheets and bedcovers

Image credit here

So apparently in the military beds have to be made so that the sheets are so tight one could bounce a quarter off of them. I secretly strive for that. I've never actually tried, but man, I sure pull those sheets as taut as I can. And that's usually how I make the decision to wash our sheets; not because they are getting gross or anything, but because they are getting too loose (and yes, I have actually pulled the corners of the bed sheet tighter when we've stayed someplace where I deemed them too loose). 

And when we're cuddling under the covers, the comforter has to be pulled up evenly. If I have my side pulled up, then Darrell's side has to be pulled up (but only when we're cuddling). And I certainly don't like when the ends of the comforter bunch up on the sides of the bed; comforters are meant to hang over the sides of the bed, and that's how they shall be in my bed. Sometimes when we're cuddling Darrell will mess the comforter up and move it all around, and it weirdly drives me crazy to the point that I have to fix it or I can't relax. I have no idea if I've always been like this or not, but it kind of drives Darrell a little crazy (so he compensates a messes with things to drive me a little crazy).

• I'm kind of like a gorilla

Photo by Hermann Vollmer

Apparently I have this knack for identifying stray items on Darrell's clothing and body. Rouge hairs, small fuzz, food in his teeth--you name it, I see it. So, my inclination is to pick it off (yes, I have picked stuff out of his teeth when he doesn't have a mirror, but no, I've never eaten any of it like a gorilla would). Well, apparently Darrell doesn't care for this, especially because he thinks that when I'm looking at him when he talks, I'm not really listening but instead looking for ways to groom him (which isn't the case, I promise). He also doesn't like when I just start reaching toward his face to grab a stray eyelash or piece of fuzz tucked behind his ear; apparently it makes him startled or something. But, if it's any consolation, I totally don't do this just to Darrell. I've actually picked a stray hair off someone in front of me at church before (don't worry, they didn't know), and my sister and I constantly pick each other for stray hairs. 

I'm sure there are plenty of other items that could go on the list, but I'll leave it at these for now (and save myself any more embarrassment). Maybe I'll make a running series out of this; I could easily rack up a list of things I wish I had known about Darrell before we got married :-)

Finished!

Do I have the most awesome husband ever or what? How sweet is our patio? I told Darrell I loved it so much that I wanted him to make it bigger, but he didn't really like that idea. Apparently it was a lot of work or something; I really wouldn't know because I had to work all morning and early afternoon. Bummer :)

For those of you who are interested, here's a short run-down of the steps:

Determine the plot of land to be used and kill the grass using an herbicide. Let sit for a few days to really kill the roots (or, in our case, three weeks)

This step could probably be omitted if you were pressed for time, but it certainly makes the next step easier.

Scalp the ground to remove the sod

Since were were having to level the patio with the cement slab that the builders put at the bottom of our deck, it was really important for us to remove the grass and the grass only (because apparently it was a good idea to build the cement slab three inches above the dirt). So having all the grass dead made this step a lot easier. If depth wasn't an issue you wouldn't necessarily have to kill the grass; you could probably just get by pulling up the whole chunk of sod. An important note: Darrell was initially considering just placing the sand and patio blocks over the dead grass, but one of our super handy neighbors pointed out that as the grass decomposed it would create air pockets and potentially shift the level of the patio. So we scratched that idea and went ahead and scalped (and by we I mean Darrell--that should pretty well be understood for this whole project)

Level the ground with sand and begin laying patio blocks

I can tell you that Darrell went through A LOT of sand for this step--and even with all the sand he used (including a second trip to Menards that morning) it still wasn't enough to level the patio completely with that stupid cement slab. So there's a little bit of a toe-catch. But, a few notes on the leveling. I know that Darrell used a leftover piece of wood from our cabinets (you can see it in the upper right hand corner of the screen) to help him level, and he was excited to find this in our basement because apparently since it was a piece to be used for interior design, it was guaranteed to be super straight and level. It's also important to make sure the patio isn't 100% level because then the water will just pool on it; it should slope ever so slightly away from the house. Oh, and make sure to pack the sand down with a tamper or something to minimize shifting.

I don't have super clear explanations for laying the patio blocks since I didn't do any of this step, but what I know from talking to Darrell and listening to our neighbor is that it is (obviously) important to make sure you are laying the patio blocks straight. I know they talked about measuring off quadrants with twine and using the pythagorean theorem and whatnot to guarantee straight lines--not sure how much of that Darrell did, but I suppose it does make sense. I think Darrell was a little lax on this step mostly because it wasn't a super precise area that we were putting the patio into; if the blocks got off ever so slightly it wasn't like we were going to be running into an issue of having to cut a block down or something. And, just for fun, here's a picture of Darrell laying the last block (but don't be fooled, our steps aren't done yet!)

"Lock" the blocks in place by filling the gaps with sand

See, I did contribute a little bit! Darrell bought a special sand for this step; it's got a weed-blocker in it and it's specially formulated to be adhesive once it gets wet. We just used a broom to push the sand around the patio and let it fall into the cracks; we also walked on all the stones and tried to make the jiggle so that we could push more sand that fell into any gaps that formed. Then just spray it with water, let it dry at least overnight and you're ready for the last step.

Enjoy!

This step works best with a beer in hand and fire in the pit...

And of course plenty of s'more fixings ready to go!

We truthfully couldn't have picked a better weekend to do this project; highs over the weekend were in the seventies, but once the sun went down the temps dropped to the forties/fifties which made it perfect weather for gathering around a fire! We're supposed to have more of the same weather this weekend (and this week!), so I fully expect the patio to get some good use!

And oh yeah--another item off the list! Only a year and a half left to get through it--eek!

Happy Monday!

Yes, I know that today is Tuesday. And yes, I know that "happy" is usually not a word that goes with "Monday". And up until I came home from work last night at 8:30, I certainly would not have classified my Monday as happy. But it's hard for my mood not to change when I come home to this!

Yay for a dozen roses! Darrell had to run to the store yesterday after work because we had forgotten an ingredient for dinner, and when he was there he saw that they were having a sale on roses. So he bought me some! I think I need to start sending him to the store more often....

We also cracked open a bottle of wine with dinner, which is another surefire way to improve my mood.

Sadly, this wine wasn't anything spectacular. It's label as a "Tenacious Red", which translates into a generic red table wine. And that's about all it was. It went down easily enough, it didn't have any unpleasant or lingering aftertaste.....but it also didn't have much flavor in the first place. Drinkable? Yes. Memorable? Nope. We picked this up because it was reasonably priced ($10) plus came with a rebate, but I don't think we'll go back. We've got two more wines from the same distributor in our pantry.... Hopefully those are a little more remarkable than this one was.

New Toy!

Look what the greatest husband in the world bought me!

Super excited! Although I might take it back and downsize--it's a six quart bowl, which means it has the capacity to make 8 loaves of bread and 13 dozen cookies. And I just don't know if I'll ever need something quite that big. But Darrell thought the other ones looked small, and he didn't want to get the wrong one, so he just got the big one :-)

And, to be even cuter, this was how I "found" my new toy:

A series of crossword puzzles randomly hidden throughout the house, with certain squares highlighted to guide me to the location of my next clue. Super fun--except when I couldn't unscramble the letters to figure out the location of the next clue. The hardest one? RATPIES, which unscrambles to the word Pirates. Which is only my favorite movie ever.

Does anyone with a mixer have any input on the sizing? Am I wrong in thinking six quarts is too big for household use?

Bring on the Cool!

And no, I'm not talking about the weather--although it is being a little bipolar this week. We started the week with record breaking temps near one hundred, and today's high is supposed to be in the sixties. Whatever.

Rather, I'm talking about installing fans in our house to help keep our cooling costs down! When we built the house, our builder put in fan boxes and all the necessary wiring for fans, but we opted to just put in light fixtures to start since it would save us a few hundred bucks. Well, we finally we able to justify the cost of getting some fans, which meant Darrell had the wonderful pleasure of installing them. And let me tell you, it was quite the process.

Taking down the old fixture--which was a little bit more challenging that it would seem

One blade down, four to go!

Building fans is messy business

Putting on the finishing touches!

Unfortunately, the photos don't quite document the entire headache that we had with this fan. After I snapped that last picture, Darrell flipped the fuse back on and we gave it a test run. The light worked fine, but only if you used the remote, and the fan blades didn't really do anything. After a brief consultation of some information online, Darrell decided that he need to re-wire the fan so that it would operate off of the light switches and not the remote. So we had to take the fan back down, which is a two person process--I have to hold the fan up while Darrell readjusts the wires. And that's one heavy fan. But, we got it done, and he had the wires figured out because the light switches now worked to operate the light and fan. However, the blades wouldn't spin very quickly, and wouldn't spin at all on high speed. So, he decides we need to look at the wires again and make sure the connections are good and everything. Cue round two of my holding up the entire fan. And for naught, because it still wouldn't spin. So, Darrell consulted the Internet, and discovered that when the fan works at low speeds but can't get up to high speeds it means that the capacitor is shot (how this is possible on a new fan is beyond me, but whatever). Darrell gave the company an earful on the phone, and they sent us a new one free of charge. But of course, we then at to install it. And it didn't come with any directions. So off came the fan--again (round three of my holding it up). When we got it back up--still no dice. Darrell is pretty much at his wits end with this fan, but thankfully the fans in our two bedrooms went up much easier and without any issues. So he didn't feel like a total DIY-failure.

I'm not entirely sure what we are going to end up doing with the one in our living room, though. We really like the fan, and I really really really don't want to take it down again (it's so heavy and hard to hold above my head!), but it's just not effective right now. I imagine that once things slow down at the office for Darrell he'll be back on the phone with the company, and let's just say I wouldn't want to be the person at the other end of that phone call!

Home Improvements: Part One

That's right, our house needs so much improvement that I can't fit it all in one post. Actually, that's probably true about any new house. We learned quickly that homes are pretty substantial investments--and we're not just talking about the mortgage. There is always one project or another to work on, and with each project comes a new set of tools or supplies. I'd like to think that we'll be set for any house that we own after this one, but that's probably a pipe dream.

Anyway, the project that we tackled this past weekend was our garage. We moved into this house in the beginning of November 2009, and haven't done a thing in the garage since (besides put stuff into it). And considering that we didn't have a lawn besides dirt and weeds (and, well, snow) for the first six months that we lived here, that garage got pretty dirty pretty quickly. Apparently it hadn't been bothering Darrell, but it was driving me crazy. Especially since anything that we kept in our garage had to live on the ground since we didn't have any sort of shelving, which meant that it was just more inclined to get gross and dirty (which makes me inclined to never use it). I didn't get a before picture (and I'd be embarrassed to share it even if I did), but here's what the finished project looked like:

Sooo much better. Darrell even admitted that it seemed like the garage smelled cleaner, even though all we did was sweep it out and move stuff around. And yes, we have a kitchen table in our garage (we have four matching chairs in the basement--interested?). Just another item that we haven't gotten around to donating.

My favorite piece of the whole clean-up is that massive (and massively organized) orange cord on the back wall. That's our obnoxiously long extension cord that was twisted up in a million knots from sitting on our garage floor (we need it to use our weed whacker). My solution? Get one of those garden hose hangers and attach it to that. Darrell thought it was brilliant--and I love when he gets excited about my nerdy ideas. Oh, and another plus? Check it off the 101 in 1001 list! Bam!

Stay tuned for a few more projects--we're working on another item on the list and on making our house cooler!