Well, it's finished..

There are more than a few things that are finished, as this post will attest. First, I finished my first quilt. It's only a lap quilt, but I'm really proud of myself for finishing it and being pretty pleased with it, and even MORE SO, starting another! So maybe my "noncrafty" days are finished too. I am book hunting this weekend for project books to use and create with. I would like to make a wall hanging of some point to put in my kitchen and would like to finish (is this theme getting a little much?) putting some decoration to these plain white walls which belong to someone else. I hope that comes to an end someday soon as well..

I have started a small list of must haves for our house hunt, which I am hoping will start this spring. If you have any house hunting tips, I would be more than appreciative. Also! If you have tips for finding the right realtor for us, I would take that advice to. How do you know if you get the right person who will be a good fit? Can you "interview" realtors? How? Advice welcome!
So, My list, thus far..
1. At least three bedrooms, but I would rather have 4. I want this to be a house we live in for a while. I'm so not a moving lover.
2. Two bathrooms, at least. (can you have too many?)
3. Curb appeal. I have to drive up the drive way and be proud that this is my house.
4. Attached garage. I've never had one in all my places until this one and I LOVE IT. There is nothing better than to not go outside to hop in the car on a miserable MN day.
5. Some updating needed. Mike and I are not looking for an overhaul product. BUT we are interested in working on a house doing some updating in a kitchen, bathroom, some paint, fixtures, etc. I know Mike would love to put on a deck, but I am NOT interested in a complete renovation. I don't know if I could live through a complete remodel. Not quite what I have in mind for our first house.


Anyway, also I am FINISHED (last time, I promise) with this DARN TRASH CAN. I am extremely grateful that my husband helps around the house a lot. He is very good about things and I am appreciative. The trash is one of the things that he takes care of all the time, but sometimes I need to take it out, especially when I get into a baking frenzy. When we got married, one of the things we got was a new trash can because our old one was also scuzzy. So we get this expensive round trash can which is going to change our lives, right? WELL, it has caused more aggravation than anything else. It rips the bag when I take it out because it catches on the hinge. Argh.. So I'm hoping I can convince him to get a new one. However, he says, "I'll take it out, don't worry about it. It's not a big deal, Stace." So.. Does this deserve to be written about? Probably not. BUT it has been aggrevating me to no end so maybe by writing about it, I'll feel better about it.

Thanks for any advice out there for the few people who read this. Much love..

Dear Martha (not THAT Martha, the other one)

Okay, you know when girls get together and "scrap" or "crop" or whatever they call it? I'm sorry out there to all of ya'll, but I just shake my head. I don't get, I can't get into it, and despite the numerous efforts by many friends over the years I just don't do it. I have been GIVEN multiple sticker sets, pages, pens, cutters, etc, all with the hope that I would get into making cards or scrapbooks and such. People spend thousands of dollars for these things and they have just been handed to me yet I don't get into it. I'll be a good sport and go to their parties and create a card or two, but that is where it ends for me.
So.. this will come as a shock to those of you out there who have tried to make Stacey "crafty". I have begun a quilt, and I love it. ** I am going to pause to let that sink in..**

So since we have moved, I have been telling people the most difficult part of the move is the fact that I haven't invested myself in something yet here. I used to be invested in my job, but since I'm just subbing now, I can't invest in that. So recently my favorite/closest cousin told me she is expecting a baby, and it got me thinking about the quilts my Grandma Martha made whenever a new grand baby was born, and that got me thinking about my grandma's sewing machine which was sitting at my parent's old house. So, I picked it up and my husband took to getting her oiled and working, even then I wasn't sure if I could make it. I often in life will not try something out of fear of failure or stop before I MIGHT fail because I am afraid.
So that's when my hubby says, "Stacey, it is your first time. It isn't going to be like the ones your grandmother or godmother has made. It will be just yours." And that was what I needed. My husband gave me the support and encouragement to try without feeling like I had to make one that was INCREDIBLE.

So, in the tradition of the many quilters in my life, including Grandma Martha whose machine is inspiring me, I have completed the top of my first quilt. Now the extremely intimidating part of basting and binding my quilt is left but I am so excited. And may have found, dare I say it, a crafty hobby. If I can figure out how to upload pics, I'll include those. I guess you just never know what the future can hold, or what the support of a loving husband can do.

Why snow days make you a bad person

So the snow is falling in Minnesota and no work for me today. So what do I do? Indulge in BAD BAD habits..
Number one: I made homemade Chex Mix, and am chowing down on it for my lunch (!) and should really be leaving some for the hubby who loves it. (side note: I put it away to write this post however the bowl is calling me)
Number two: its almost one... not dressed/showered/etc
Number three: Facebook. I will confess I love to snoop. I am so interested in other peoples lives and sometimes think I should have been a sociologist because I find it so fascinating...... Or maybe I'm just nosey.. Feel free to judge. So heres what happens next: I get this message from this girl who wants to know how I know these two friends that we apparently have in common. She claims we grew up together and I have NOOO memory of her. But fine.. whatever I add her and begin snooping to see if I can remember who she is, see if anything jogs the ol' brain, etc.. Well, I see some guy who's post is " back after our wedding weekend, pictures posted." Now, I dont' know this guy from Adam but hell, I'm bored so I click on him because I love weddings (secretly, I would like to be a wedding planner.. its an addiction. People said it was just because I was getting married but I love them.. I LOVE them still) So this is, honest to goodness, the most tacky wedding.

So here are the details to this secretly spyed on wedding by me:
1. Fake flowers. thats right, straight from Michael's Craft section fake red roses and white carnations. And THEY LOOKED FAKE. Now I know some people say there are spendy ones that look real, (I for one have not seen them) but these WERE NOT THOSE!
2. The groom is in the military as were all his groomsman so they wore their dress blues. Awesome. So why then are the bridesmaids wearing tacky light green pastel dresses??
3. The bride wore a headpiece that looks like one of those child's play tiaras that you get at a Renaissance Fair with white fake flowers on it. Enough said
4. Flower girl-- in BRIGHT RED
5. The cake looked like they picked it up at the grocery store that morning. It was a sheet cake that said congrats Sean and Melissa **(names have been changed to protect the innocent)
6. I couldn't tell what the venue was but there were clown masks hanging on the wall and those creepy crying clown pictures??

Now, I should not judge. It is terrible. Who am I to say? I am not perfect nor am I claiming my wedding was the epitome of weddings. However I want to know.. What was the bride thinking? How did it come together as it did? To all of you in blog space, I'm sorry if I have offended but CLOWNS?? REALLY?

bed vacancy

So for the first time since we've moved to Minnesota, Mike and I are spending two nights apart. In fact, this may be the most nights in a row we have spent apart since we got married.

Thus, I'm writing this post from my vacant (nearly) bed. No kitty, which we left in New Hampshire and I miss desperately. (Small plug: Adopt from your local humane society.. best animals who need forever homes.) No Mike who does hog the bed and serve as my own personal space heater. Funny, but lying here I remember when I was single and how I would lay in the middle of the bed, this bed in fact, and spread out and think how BIG my bed was. These days Mike and I have begun the debate of whether or not to get a king size or queen size bed because this full size is just not cutting it, according to Mike. You add one person to your life and wham! suddenly things that were perfectly sized are tiny, a pain or something you wish you could supersize.

The thing that keeps me thinking about this bed is this: It was my first "big girl" purchase after I got my first job. When I moved to my first place I slept on a blow up mattress for two months before I purchased it and spent many store hours looking for the right one. And I love it! It's exactly the kind of bed for me.. pillow top, firm but not rock hard, all my bed linens fit it, and it has fit in every apartment since. So letting it go is necessary I suppose, and I imagine we'll keep it just to have in our guest room but it won't be my bed anymore.

So tonight's question? Can I have visitation rights with it? Can I go for maybe a weekend visit? Probably a silly thing to be attached to but.. This is the thing I've slept with for seven years! Its cradled me when I was sick, was the location of a few, uhhh parties (aka sleepovers) and its the right one for me. I don't know if I'm ready to break it off even though rationally I know it's the right thing to do.

Dear Bed,
Mike made me do it.
Love,
Stacey

Surprise?

So my birthday is coming up this weekend, and it's a biggie..... Three Oh. Wow. But I'm embracing it, or at least thinking about embracing it.

Anyhow, this weekend my husband bought me our first "married" birthday present. The first gift giving occasion since we've gotten married and ergo, combined bank accounts. So the question was, how is a gift going to be a surprise if it comes from our account which he and I monitor pretty religiously. Not crazy with a penny by penny accounting but if a hundred bucks was gone, we'd notice.

So my husband's decision was to buy the gift with me present because in his opinion it was coming out of our account anyway and so why not just get it with me there? It was exactly what I wanted and it was on sale (romance?) and we were there, so... Now what? When you first dating, the gifts are amazing. My first birthday with my husband when we were dating he swept me away to an amazing hotel in Maine with champagne and shopping. It was wonderful. This year he got me TWO Le Creuset pots, which if you cook you know those are amazing and top of the line and I will never need them replaced. But.. surprise? No. I feel amazingly lucky that Mike thought to get me these and wanted to get me such a wonderful gift.

So we are left with the question, is a surprise that important or is it just great to have him remember your birthday? As a new to marriage lady, I'm just wondering how do you surprise your spouse with a gift anyway?

His other love

So Mike and I got engaged at a Sara Evans concert. He loves her and often refers to her as his "girlfriend". She hasn't called yet or even blinked his way, so I think I'm okay. He declared since he knew Sara would never be his girl... Okay that isn't what he said it was all more mushy than that, but we joked about that afterwords. Its one of my favorite things about being married. The inside jokes.

Anyway, besides Sara (and trust me, when Mike says Sara, I know who he refers to), Mike is also in love with his Jeep. He has the great memories of riding in the back of his dad's old Jeep Willie and so when he decided to get a new vehicle it had to be a jeep. So we search hither and yon and find "THE ONE". It was love at first sight. Tan Top, Patriot Blue paint, a soft top which would allow for rides in the summer around the lake with no barriers. It had to be his, and it was.

So Mike brings her home, and to my amazement the Jeep has wanted for nothing since coming to our little family. A new engine, a new top, radio, floor mats, tires, the list goes on. Yes, I know vehicles need matienence but when the Jeep became the honorary groomsman at our wedding, it was more than that. People laughed, didn't believe me until they saw it in the program. There was even a time when we were going to ride in it to the reception but there was no way I was hoisting myself into it in my dress.

Yesterday he called me from work. Something was wrong with the Jeep! (cue horror music) Not only did Mike leave work early, call around to multiple car shops (since we are new to the area, we don't have a go-to guy), and find a place to tow the Jeep, but I saw there was a GENUINE worry about the fact that an unknown person would have the Jeep in their posession. There were no tears, but real worry.. One would think they were taking Mike's first born away.

However, to quote a good friend, "Stace, it could be worse. Drugs, other women, NASCAR." Amen. It could be NASCAR.

Here Goes

So daily I am checking a friend's blog about her new baby-to-be, and then I started reading blogs that hers was linked to and thanks to her proding, I've begun my own.. Or so I will try..

So.. Love and Marriage. As someone who was single for what felt like an eternity, when Mike and I finally got together I felt like finally. Here I AM! and I felt so old... I was 27 when we met and I felt like there was some large clock ticking, ticking, ticking. Waiting for this magical moment when I would "hook my wagon" (to cheesy considering the title?) to someone else and then be complete. And now, six months later, I am extremely intrigued to find that it isn't what I thought it was, it's more and it's less.

It's more.. it's more calming than I thought, it's more comforting than I thought and it's more challenging than I thought. It's just a ring, right? Mike and I had been together for two and a half years when we got married so how much of a difference could it make? I mean, we lived together and after the ceremony it didn't feel so different.

But now, I notice it in small ways, those differences. How people regard us. We aren't just boyfriend/girlfriend. We are a FAMILY. It's not just talking about yeah, someday we'll.... or maybe someday we'll... We are there! We are looking at houses (more to come) and looking at where our kids might go to school, and we are talking about it with our friends. Those seem like small things and yet here I am.

And the question remains - I am happy and feel so awesome and Mike and I figure out our way down our trail (still? Cheesey?). But do all those goals that I now feel like I have to have because the clock is ticking tick ticking are they really going to be what I think they are going to be? Maybe in big ways, maybe in small ways.