We're Getting It On..

The best best best part of summer (and remember I am a teacher, or was in a former life.. so there are a lot of reasons to be thankful for summer) is the fact that cooking is SOO much easier.  The hubby is a grill-o-maniac and frankly that makes planning dinners a lot easier. We get in this rut in winter months and I feel like are in a same ol' recipe rotation.
Monday: Meatloaf
Tuesday: Pasta of some sort
Wednesday: Homemade Pizza or something easily popped in the oven
Thursday: Crock pot something, most likely roast
Friday: Not taxing meal: order in pizza, Chicken Kiev (frozen here people!), etc..(this is usually take out..)
Why do we have regular recipe rotation? Because, in my opinion, my husband is picky. He doesn't like cumin, so anything Mexican is a most likely NO.  Anything that doesn't involve a potato is negligible.  And most definitely, anything he has never tried before is OUT! He says he's not, but I have gobs of cookbooks that have recipes that have never been touched that say otherwise. 

So summer comes and WE GET IT ON PEOPLE!!! (dirty minds, need not apply) Hubby is a great lover of the grill especially because his bribe, err I mean, gift for when we moved out to the Midwest was a fancy fangled three burner plus side burner MacDaddy grill which make grilling a cinch.  As a gift my girlfriend got me a subscription to Real Simple Magazine and they had a huge layout on ribs this issue. And so I'm passing along this uber simple, uber yummy rib recipe.  We have now made them twice and a small modification the second time around. I added half as much oregano, because that isn't one of my favorite spices.  We also used our favorite store bought BBQ sauce this time which was delicious.  We wanted a more classic rib flavor and WoWsErS it was good. If I were one of those wicked cool bloggers, I would have a pic.. Lo Siento. I'm not that cool.. Just trust me they are good!

She's a Super...

Today anxiety set in.  We got our closing notice and the amount we are supposed to come to closing with was SIGNIFICANTLY more than what we were originally estimated to need.  And I FREAKED out.  Now this freak-y-deak-y-ness is legitimately compounded by the fact that I am still on the job hunt and having little success in finding one even though I had the best interview of my life two weeks ago and haven't heard ANYTHING... Sorry, I digress. I'm a little hyped up about it. 

Anywho, so as I looked over our closing statement, I forwarded it to my sister who once again saved my arse. Alright, in all legitimacy maybe our loan guy would have caught it BUT my sister caught it first.. and she caught it in like 10 minutes. She is amazing! Have I mentioned that? This is post numero dos devoted to how my sister is so fabulous. I mean the girl once again saved me big! So now they are changing things and my heart rate may revert to it's less deak-y stage.  Maybe. 

So. We were at a little over two days until the house BELONGS to us.  TWO DAYS. I am excited and happy and am wondering how soon we can get into it and out of this GOSH DARN apartment. 

Beauty in the eye of my husband..

The boxes are taking over this tiny apartment.  Before we moved here, our old apartment was a lot larger (I wish I knew how many square feet.. it feels like A LOT bigger some days!) and so when it was time to start moving, we just moved our dining room table to a corner of the dining room and then just started stacking and piling and dropping boxes into the room that we honestly didn't feel that encroached upon as the date of our move came up. I recently noticed that when we move into our house, we will have been in this apartment less than a YEAR! Oy.  Someone thankfully pointed out that we won't have to worry about moving for a LONG time after this so that means we can settle and not do this shenanigans again! That is a relief!

Anyway, in this place I feel like boxes are everywhere and despite my hubby's estimation of half done, I think we are more like 30 percent packed.  I just feel like there is so much stuff NOT packed. I don't know. Maybe I'm being Debby- Downer but I feel like we have a lot not packed but since we haven't set a move out date, we can't really pack up the stuff we do need every day. 

However, a couple decoration decisions have been made.  The kitchen will be like a french country blue (or at least that's what I'm calling it) with some white accents. I saw online a great shade that I wish I could find but hubby assures me we have plenty of time for that. Also, thanks to Target today, we are now going to have a "baseball themed" den. While strolling the aisles of Target (a favorite past time of mine), we came across a baseball picture of Carl Fiske, a baseball player from New Hampshire that the hubby INSISTED we have. I acquiesced, assuming it would go in the library, at the top of the stairs.  After the purchase however, I was informed this was going downstairs in the den where everyone can see it! Yup.. WHERE EVERYONE can see it.  We are going to now find old baseballs and bats and go with a vintage baseball theme, which I am a fan of, but trust me, NOT where my decorating schema was going when I first envisioned our den.  However marriage is about compromise, right?

Baseball is beauty to my Mister... This I feel like will be a ticket to use when I want to do something like a girly guestroom, I think!

Amazing Sisters Exclamation Point

With all of this moving, packing, housing closing business, I have not had a chance to sew at all. At night I'm packing or the hubby and I are looking and investigating the latest things we need for the house. My husband is all about the investigating. But my sister commissioned me (What was she thinking??) to make her some throw pillows for her new couch. We picked out the fabric and inserts and I'm to make them.. Well, I FINALLY finished them!! Picture attached. I appreciate my sister having so much faith in me and she is taking me to see Daughtry tonight (because she is an amazing sister and I am more than grateful for how generous she is). I hope she likes them. I'm a huge fan of the fabric and I really want to see if I can find more so that I can do something in our house with it. I even used a finishing stich on it that I really like and if I had not procrastinated like a horrible sister that I am, I would have done this stich around the whole thing... But I feel like I NEED to have them done for this impending gift she is bestowing on me. I should actually probably pay her for the fabric since I took so long. (Only since Easter, yo..)

Anyway, our apartment is now box central and we have begun the REAL countdown to home ownership! 9 DAYS! 9 DAYS! 9 DAYS! We are at single digits people! Single Digits! I can not wait. Now the big debate is when will we get out of this apartment for good and be officially solely in the house. Hubby thinks the end of the month but I don't know if I will wait that long. Like the sooner we get it painted, I'm going to want to be IN! (Did I mention my sis is taking a day off to help me paint?? I was going to title this about the moving day question mark but frankly, this should be devoted to her who does so much for me..) Dad helped us pick up our W/D and then we are painting and frankly I just want to be in!

Also, who decided to close on Memorial Day? I mean people are busy that weekend. We can't get move help or paint help or really be able to do it quickly. Should have looked at the calender when we picked that day. But to be fair, 45 days have flown by and I don't know if I could have made it 60 days. I guess we'll just use the Jeep and my car to schlep stuff back and forth until we do the big move, which is TBD.

Can I Get A ...

All right, we have the house.... Can I PLEASE get a J-O-B! My dear hubby has been so supportive and been very understanding during this year of torture, I mean, subbing. Everytime I hear these sappy ads about how we need soooo many teachers and inspire a kid's life and teach, I gag. At least here in the ol' ranch el Minnesota, there are not enough jobs for those of us who are old "reggies." Reggies, those of us who aren't special ed teachers or ESL or something along those lines which are in high demand, are seemingly a dime a dozen.

After having seven years of a successful teaching career, this subbing thing is for the birds. I know there are people who love it and love the no correcting, no conferences, etc. But I have loved teaching and I wish wish wish that I could just find a position here to be equally as fulfilling and the very least allow to girl to get some "cheeze-yo". Just kidding on that one. Sorry, I was channeling my inner rapper. Ice Ice Lamby, to go, to go...

So up goes a prayer for a job and hopefully a way to pay for a LOT of furniture we are going to need because otherwise this new house is going to have some wicked sweet milk crate chairs, cardboard box end tables, etc. We are going to double our size here people. For god's sakes, we are going to have TWO eating spaces, an eat in kitchen and a formal dining room. Here's hoping.. Oh, and a pic of of one of those dining areas.

The countdown is on..

All right, I have neglected this because its been a whorlwind! We had the house inspection, which went great. Of all the major things that could go wrong, there was nothing. Great roof, heating system, foundation, etc. There are, of course, as will any house that is 100 years old, some issues. It needs basically almost all new doors, it has a chimney that needs to be taken down because it is nonfunctional and the bricks are losing mortar, so that will be a someday project too. We did agree with the sellers to have a tree taken down because with a real good wind, it will blow right onto our brand new garage. So, that will be taken down the first part of June, after we close unfortunately but it will be done FOR us and that is great. Our closing date is May 28th, and I just can not wait. It was three weeks from Friday and it is sooo wonderful and I just can not wait. We have started packing and some of the stuff I am packing is stuff I have never even used in the less than year we have lived here. I mean, we got GREAT things for our wedding, but we haven't even taken them out of the boxes because we haven't had a reason to use them.

So now the big question is.. PAINT. The kitchen is a color I would only describe as Kokomo green.. beach boys singing, maybe a few parrots on the wall, imagine yourself in Key West, my friends. I would love to say that is my design aesthetic, but sadly, its not. I'm just a little more traditional than that. The bathroom upstairs is what Blanche on the Golden Girls would have referred to as a "lovely shade of mauve." I'm thinking blue in the kitchen. I found this GREAT kitchen that I would like to imitate but I grew up in a white house. Not THE white house, however, my mom never painted the walls because she was afraid her finicky-yness in design would lead her to paint the walls at least once a month. So now I'm looking at my own house and itching to paint but afraid I will suffer from the same desire to change and always have some new or different. We shall see. I'll see if I can post a link to what I am thinking.. Feedback welcome! :)

Update: Tried a link.. We shall see!