Spring-ing

While we haven't gotten the raised beds ready for planting just yet, nor have we pruned back the marion berries, we do have quite a bit coming to life around the rental. We've had some COLD mornings (including 6 inches of snow on the coast!) with threats of snow again lately making this still an usual year of weather. Here's hoping we start to see some sunnier days with enough breaks to get out in the yard.

Rhubarb-coming up through the mulch/leaves

Garlic-just poking itself out of the ground

Asian Pear-buds just about to burst

Chickens-both are much broader and the 2nd started laying (I think). We developed into a regular routine now, we let them out at 7-7:30am and they burst across the yard happy to stretch their legs. They "free range" across the whole backyard and then put themselves to bed when it gets dark....and then we shut them in. They're out rain, snow, or shine---and for the most part during the last two weeks they've been doing alright. 

First spring flowers!

What's spring-ing in your part of the globe?

Where'd Last Week Go? and a To-Do List for Today

Those of you long time readers know that last week was much more typical of my usual blogging style....and honestly will probably be more typical until this summer again. How I wrote so many posts in January floors me---except obviously my brain is back to constantly going again and I have a lot on my mind. My mental check-out/hiatus time in Louisiana is apparently over. Well, and I'm sure the fact that I'm trying to be more authentic in my writing has to help also! 

So what have we been up to? Oh you know, the usual busy busy. 

--Did I mention that hub is volunteering in the vet office on his campus and he's still been acing his exams? 

-- Mondays are now an extra catch-up day (read: everything I can't do in the actual office gets done & any leftover grading/prepping). Plus house work and errands.

--Week 6 of the term---which means students are stressed. Love my jobs but Tues-Thurs is usually very draining. Last week had many more meetings and lots of isolated issues to solve. 

--Thursday evenings have continued to be his and my catch-up nights...and we're living for our weekends of downtime. We're trying to continue to be engaged with others, but I'm not going to lie, for the most part I've been feeling purposely anti-social lately.

Extra busy: 

--Friday was the Northwest Environmental Health conference. Most the information I'd already read..but networking within the environmental health scene was great. A current colleague is a friend who I don't get to see enough, and she and I were able to grab (many) drinks after the conference.

--Saturday the health dept I teach in had a volunteer afternoon at Oregon Food Bank. We were part of a larger group, and together we sorted & bagged over 9,000lbs of frozen green beans! Afterward we had a casual dept meeting.

The weather has had a few bright moments so we've started thinking of all the yard projects to tackle this spring/summer. Also need to start thinking about the garden...and hub is looking at used food dehydrators. Obviously the good weather gets us back out running/hiking too! We've been letting the chickens wander around outside more during the days we're home. Pretty funny to see them at the backdoor with the dogs, as if they think they want in too:

Hub is seriously cracking me up with this whole "one-green-change-a-month" thing, which apparently has changed into a challenge between us at being "greener." Um, hub, I hate to tell ya but I was queen of the green & simple living scene before we got together...ahem, ahem. I'm not going to lie---it's been AWESOME because he's doing many of the little things I didn't want to nag about, except on his own accord. Our Feb challenge items (biking and green cleaning) are so-so, but bigger picture wise, I'm really proud of where we're moving toward...together. Just for your entertainment,  here's a recent convo in our house:

Hub: Did I see that you've finally started following my smart green trick of using the quick wash cycle in order to save water?

Me: Yes, weirdo, for most things I am....AND I almost always use cold water to save energy....beyond the green detergent we use.

Hub: Hmmm....(wearing an expression of "damn, she's got one on me....), well I just might have to start trying that.

As mentioned we focused much weekend energy on organizing and cleaning the house. Got word this morning that the new coworker will arrive Wednesday night---his room is ready! Hub and I have been joking that it feels like we just moved in with each other honestly: first time we've shared a closet and a bathroom in two years. With how much we like change, this house overhaul has been great so far. Hub rearranged the kitchen, we moved the desk into the living room, and the entry way shelf will be used as a bar in the dining area. Much cleaning and rearranging of pictures has occurred. And I'm not going to lie, I'm actually liking being in the back bedroom:

Which leaves me to today's docket. The system delete/recovery just completed on my old laptop, so it and two bags of stuff will be taken to Goodwill for donation/recycling. Need to make a return to Freddies and get groceries. Need to buy a bale of hay for bedding for the chickens. Need to grade the online assignments. Need to finish two picture collages and finalize cleaning the guest bathroom.  There's a bag of random recycling to be donated, and about 15 items I should take care of for my other job. Plus a few other things: but we'll see what all gets done!

Hope you all have a great week ahead of you! More than likely, I'll catch ya next weekend :)

So Much Stuff

So I have to start by saying two things. One, I've known that I had a few unattended to-do items around the house that I've been wanting to get to since we moved in. Two, I seriously think that I try to be mindful about not having too much stuff around and I try to either not bring too much in or I continuously weed out stuff.

BUT let me tell all y'all, we have SO much stuff! I seriously don't even know how we've accumulated so much. I recognize the furniture came in bits and pieces til we had a full house....but I don't know how we've filled SO many nooks and crannies in the process also.

All this realization came into being today as hub and I have been tackling rearranging and reorganizing the house. Why are we doing this you might be wondering? Well because starting this coming week and then by the beginning of March, our two "extra" rooms will be used by other people. Our first housemate is to arrive sometime this coming week and then our friend will move in by March 1st.

Over the holidays hub and I had moved our couches around, so we started out today by moving back to the old lay-out which is more space conscience. Then hub and I decided to move our bedroom to the one that has a bathroom adjacent to it. This way once we're all in the house, there will be two people per bathroom rather than 3 using one and 1 using the other. Our spare bedrooms were being used as a guest room/my closet central and as hub's man cave/office/closet. So with the new lay-out, hub lost his man cave and the desk moved out to the living room, and the guest room is becoming less personalized with our things and will be used as a furnished room for my new coworker.

This has also meant that we've had to consolidate closets....and move into our own bedroom....and honestly that might be the hardest part for us. I know we've been spoiled with the extra space and honestly even in Louisiana we had separate rooms/closets at times. Since we've been in Oregon, we've created a unified master but we've really grown to enjoy being able to get dressed in other separate rooms. We're able to have more space for our stuff and also don't disturb whoever is still trying to sleep. Somehow we were able to cram all our stuff into the one closet in our new bedroom space, but there's no longer space for any of the other things we'd have in our closets now either. So the hall closets are also getting re-organized and we're going to have to tap into some new storage options (ie using one of the two closets in the room that our buddy will have and moving some stuff into the garage).

But honestly, what all this reorganization is showing me is just how much stuff we have accumulated. Honestly when it comes to the clothes and shoes, hub and I actually wear almost all of what we have throughout the year (we're both big on layering) so I don't feel like much of it is unjustified in those areas. Where I am noticing extras is with books, paper, electronics, hiking boots....and all those little things that add up and take up space overall. I'm also realizing that I really need to suck it up and find myself a two drawer file cabinet, so I can have my teaching stuff, etc all organized and easily accessible.

This evening I collected one garbage bag to take to Goodwill and a bag of paper recycling. I also have another smaller bag of cell phone cords/parts, used CDs, etc to take to the recycling center. There is still so much stuff to get rid of and I seriously just keep looking around in our closets and in cupboards asking myself over and over "Do we actually use this stuff?!"

Hub was amazing today and did a ton while I was gone for a work/volunteer session and meeting. Even the chickies have a new housing lay-out out in the shed that hub researched and created for them today. By the end of this evening, all the furniture has been moved inside. So tomorrow will be my job to keep organizing and getting the final touches in place. The catch is getting rid of enough....but ensuring I don't pass on or recycle any of the items that hub is wanting me to hold on to---always a tough one!

Woo---here's to a day of organization and cleaning tomorrow! But hopefully it'll end with a lot less STUFF and a bit more piece of mind, while creating space for two others in our home. :)

Foggy Fall Falls Fast

It's fall! Being that it's Oregon we've had quite a few days of showers already and quite a few days starting at 50 degrees with 80s reached by afternoon. The type of weather that makes dressing in layers necessary, evening fires desired, and cuddly down comforters on beds a must have.

After working 60+ hours last week between covering gaps in staffing in the center, teaching my fall classes, and handling the admin, lesson prepping, and email responses that new jobs and terms requires, I am more than looking forward to two things. The first thing that I'm looking forward to is the end of week three of the term, which is when I'll have the center staffed by students, the term will have regulated, and Fall 2011 will be much more routine. The second thing I'm looking forward to is Christmas, when Fall 2011 will be completed and there will be a week or so of vacation hopefully, beyond the usual happy celebrations of course!

Lots of good things have been happening as of late:

The House:
A few weeks back I painted two rooms in the house. I'd intended to write a whole post on how awesome it was to add color and to cover up the horrible off ivory paint in some of our rooms, but obviously I ran out of time. I actually got a good deal on paint by using our Chinook Book coupon for low-VOC paint, and the upgrades they've made to the new low-VOC paint has paid off because I didn't have any real issues with coverage and the smell was very minimal. Hub and I made a great painting team. He taped which I hate, and then I painted the whole thing, which he hates doing. We both helped clean-up and we borrowed most the painting supplies from my aunt & uncle, so all we shelled out was for the paint and a drop cloth.

The finished dining area in green.

The other big news with the house is that we got our new bed & mattress. Ironically hub kept telling me that it didn't matter what our master looked like cause we just have our eyes closed while we're in there. Well, well, now that we've got new paint and a comfortable bed and mattress....guess who is starting to spend more time lounging in there? That's right folks! We still want to add some art work and when it's all said and done I'll post pictures. (Plus I've got two more rooms and the entry I'd like to tackle with fresh coats of paint too!)

The Chicks:
So far they're continuing to grow and thrive. Hub upgraded their perch a few inches, we've swapped the heat lamp for a regular bulb and lowered it back down, they demolished the first pear placed in their home last night, and their beautiful feathers are filling in. They've gotten to wear they want an adventure each day and they enjoy the moments we put them in the raised beds to root around. The other day hub called them from the sliding glass door and they amazingly came right in to him! I've had a few concerns about potential health issues, but so far they seem to keep making it alright. Not sure these pictures will do their feathers justice, but the one is starting to look just like the original picture I'd found on the internet:

And Weddings:
My gal's wedding was yesterday and while rained forced the wedding & reception to both be held indoors, it was a beautiful affair and the venue was perfect. Everything went off fairly well--no major fiascoes. The ceremony went smoothly, food was tasty, the wine was delicious, laughter and love flowed, mingling occurred, and now two of my favorites are off enjoying a week to relax and relish in their love! I have to give two thumbs up to my gal who not only looked beautiful but who kept it simple, relaxed the week before because it was all already organized, and who rolled with the punches the day of. A more beautiful and simply elegant bride one rarely gets the chance to enjoy these days!

And then this next weekend we'll hit up one more wedding and help one of my favorite MPH gals celebrate the official joining of her love to her man!

Other News:

Hub started his official entry back into college on Monday of this last week, which means it's busy, busy for both of us around here. He's taking a legit full load of classes and seems to be enjoying most of them after week one. (In fact, I'm slightly jealous---he's taking a sign language class!) Add onto his courses the regular volunteering he started this summer (he's part of a program that matches new veterans with older and/or disabled veterans who need transportation services across town to medical and shopping appointments, etc), and he's definitely got quite a bit on his plate.

Given that both our schedules are a bit crazy and we're dealing with transportation to get places etc, we headed to Costco this last week to try to stock up on food, including things that would be quick, simple, yet still fairly healthy to make in the evenings when we get home or when we're on the go.

I've got lots of great "plans" for the yard, and I'm hopeful we'll get the bigger items done in the next month. We have the Asian pear that we need to get planted still and a few other gardening plans to help prep for next summer. The most recent gardening section of the paper, helped me develop some additional items we need to accomplish (mulching, planting, etc), but with our current schedules and rain I feel just lucky when we even get an hour out in the yard. Today we were able to do some raking up of pine needles, hub cut down the rest of the old diseased apple, and we picked the pumpkins and cleared out more of the raised beds. We stacked the wood from the tree in the shed to cure for the next year, and hub chopped and brought in the rest of our old wood for fires this week. And we'll have to hope that the rest will get done as it can. ;)

Having distracted myself enough today, I'm off to eat some pizza and finally finish my planning for class tomorrow, and to light the living room's candles and stoke the fire. Hope you each are relishing your moments and enjoying the changing season into fall! Layer up, burrow down, but let your autumn heart swell and continue to give!

House Update & Pictures

This afternoon I'm supposed to meet with another friend/colleague to go over course materials and thoughts for my new job. (It happens that two of my great gal pals from my MPH program are on staff also, and my new department head actually went through the program the year before we did....). Before meeting with my gal though, I wanted to upload some pictures of the house to share, as I've gotten a few requests on what it looks like and now that it looks a lil more put together (minus the master)....well no better time than now :)
GUEST ROOM

You can't see the other bedside shelf in this picture, nor the closet full of my clothes. We use separate rooms as our closets so we sort of have our own dressing spaces....maybe weird but it works for us. And here's a great way to organize some jewelery (I got it out of a magazine a few years back), just an old cork board and some push pins:

OFFICE

Hub's "new" desk found at Salvation Army: solid wood and metal.

This is primarily hub's space/closet and his bathroom is to the right of the slider. Still needs a lil TLC, but.....it's an office.

 LIVING ROOM

Hub's "new" Ikea chair & stool found at Salvation Army also. He made the shelves on either side of the fireplace using lumber cut at Home Depot, a can of white spray paint, and eight 50 cent brackets at Ikea. The only other new things in this room are the long drapes: Ikea. (PS It still needs a pattern area rug to mix up the sameness of the room...and you're getting to see the blue carpet. Oh yea, plus behind it we want an entry way table to put against the wall when you walk in: keys and such, but we might have to make one of these too....)

DINING AREA

New drapes and we're still on the look out for a new-to-us buffet/liquor cabinet to put under the mirror.

BACK HALF OF THE HOUSE: Kitchen and Family Room

Still on look out for an enclosed entertainment console base thing.... :)

BACKYARD

Covered patio out the family room slider. You can see the shed in the back corner. I might eventually try to put a chicken coop to the right of that, if we decide to take out the bush that is there currently. The two trees you can see in this picture are an apple and a cherry, although the cherry was let go and it probably should be cut down and a new one planted.

This is the view out the dining area window and that deck is accessible from the slider in the office. Near the fence in the left of the picture you can barely see the waist high raised beds and the fenced yard also continues the length of the house down that side too. The white wood back there has a swing and is the support for a kiwi tree.

The kitchen window is one of those that lets you have house plants/herbs in it. The beautiful camellia is in bloom and the tree you see to the left is Anna's favorite: it is home to a squirrel. ;) You can see the fence is really short in the back and we can see directly into our neighbor's and vice versa. While they are a very nice couple, there are three juniper bushes in front that are getting too large for that area so we're hoping to transplant them along the back fence.

AND yes, both the cats have all settled in rather nicely too:

A Home, A Home

So I'm a lil hesitant to post about this as it's never 100% official til we sign the rental agreement and fax it back tomorrow............BUT we're pretty sure we have a home to head toward! Many kudos to my aunt for asking for suggestions from her contacts, as it was one of her contacts who happened to have a home that needed to be rented out in the coming months. (Additional proof that it's 90% who you know rather than always what you know. Additionally, her email message may just connect and fill the need for another housing situation between two contacts--so it's sort of the inquiry that just keeps on giving!)

We feel incredibly fortunate for the flexibility being demonstrated with this rental agreement and are now able to breathe a sigh of relief and feel much more enjoyment at the upcoming return to Oregon! It feels so great to be honest about the number of pets and the upcoming financial situation and still get a positive and trusting response.

Through conversation with the home owner and pictures posted by my cousin, there are so many perks about the home that are amazingly perfect for us, even if the blue carpet may clash slightly with our red sectional. ;)
--The primary blue carpet is one they're wanting to replace so while we'll continue to be vigilant with the dogs and wipe their paws before entering on bad weather days, it is less of a headache than worrying about the dogs on brand new carpet.
--The backyard has both a covered patio and a wooden deck for entertaining.
--The square footage and space in the home will easily hold all of our furniture without having to store anything (unlike some of the other homes we'd looked into).
--Already in existence in the backyard are: raised beds (at waist level so the dogs can't get into them either!), a grape arbor, a producing kiwi tree, a compost pile, and a clothesline. Can hardly believe just how perfectly those components are for us!!!
--The home has two fireplaces to help with those cold winter months.
--A huge dog park is within easy walking distance.
--There's a cat door for Major to get into and out of the garage.
--Two aunts live within easy walking distance for those moments when I need some family involvement.
--It's a 15-20 minute drive to the campus where I'll be instructing, making for an easier commute.
--The swimming pool is within walking distance and there are a wealth of outdoor opportunities, parks, community events, and farmers markets easily accessible.
--Organics to You delivers on Thursdays.
--And the price is well within our budget!

The best part is really just the relief of having some place to head to finally, and we'll be looking forward to getting situated, reconnecting with family and friends, and hopefully getting that garden going to boot! :) Whew, a return to the community-minded, organically focused, and nature loving PNW is less than one month away!

Cleaning the Way to Free and Easy

Last night was a fabulous evening....and it all was because of cleaning. I know, what a way for a 28 year old to want to spend an evening, but I have to say the only way I don't clean the house on Friday evening and/or Saturday morning is if the hub begs me otherwise or we already have other scheduled plans. To me a clean house just sets the relaxing tone for the rest of the weekend and the ready status for the coming week. When I come home on a Friday and whip through the house organizing, dusting, clearing the junk away from the week before, and spic spanning most everything in sight then the rest of the weekend just feels free and easy. When there's no more cleaning to do, then I'm free to enjoy the restful nature and spontaneity of moments of two days ahead....and I'm still prepared for the work week to come.

Now if you're a germ-a-phob then you probably wouldn't be super thrilled at my approach to cleaning. I'm much more into the appearance of my home and leaving the house looking spic and span. I've learned how to easily get it done in about two hours but I don't focus on killing every bacteria and germ. I believe in the ol' adage that God made dirt so dirt can't hurt--I just don't want to see it!. So we spray the counters and wipe them down, I dust the shelves and chairs, we vacuum up canister after canister of dog hair, we scrub the toilet and the bathtub surfaces, and we throw the clothes and towels through the wash. If hub's work clothes are particularly grungy from the field then we'll use a bit hotter water, if we've had guests I always change the sheets, and every other week we use a bit harsher of chemicals to scrub mineral build up off the tub.....but for the most part we try to use "green" and easy cleaning methods. We don't stress out about 100% germ free nor about deep cleaning most anything.

Nightly I wipe down kitchen counters, pick up around the house, water outdoor plants, and we wash larger dishes by hand. Twice a week we pick up the yard from the animals and clean out the litter box (they use it about once a week right now since they're outside 50%). About once a week we dust, launder clothes and kitchen/bath towels, vacuum, organize, take inventory of the fridge, clean the bathroom, run the dishwasher, and take out the recycling and trash. Every other week I wash our sheets and sweep the patios. About once a month I wash the rest of the blankets on our bed and used as throws, vacuum out the car, wash the dogs (if we haven't taken them somewhere to swim). Once a season the hub mops the kitchen floor (a job I loathe, it gets vacuumed weekly), we clean up the garage, I wipe down the baseboards, and we vacuum the corners and under things.

So while I'm sure we wouldn't win any "most clean" prize, it never fails to look and be comfortable and presentable regardless of unannounced visitors. I quite enjoy the mad dash of the Friday evening cleaning spree as it makes great closure for the last week and leaves us prepared for the week to come. Free and easy for two days of enjoyment just focusing on each other, the dogs, and fun.

House Tour #4: Extra Spaces

LAUNDRY ROOM, GARAGE, AND BATHROOM

With the high heat of summer, the dogs kennels have moved from the garage into the laundry room. We stack them when they aren't used and then put them side by side to let the dogs into them. They're on tile just in case of any accidents, otherwise we could have put them in another area of the house. You can't see in the picture, large plastic bins that hold the dog and cat food. On top of the dryer is the cats' food & water bowls, and not pictured on the floor is the dog food bowl. The rug on the floor has been pretty beat up but is a hand-me-down from my parents. The washer and dryer we got for $100 from a family moving out of here last year. While not the most energy efficient, they still work fine! And there is a paper bag just inside the door for recyclables before we add it all into the recycle bin in the garage.

The garage (aka man grilling cave). Out here we have the neighbors extra futon and my old loveseat so the men can sweat together while they grill and do man stuff. ;) A side table next to the futon for drinks and two large tables for games and grilling fixings. Right in front of the garage door is the grill which gets pulled out onto the driveway when in use. Toward the right front is a large area for the hub's army stuff and for our tools, etc. And as you can see we've got our laundry hanging!

The bathroom looks exactly the same as the day the hub first set it up! Simple and functional.

Home Tour #3: Living Area

COMFORT

First picture has the original couch we purchased last summer. The red pillows are extras from the sectional. The other throw pillows I've accumulated over the years and used a technique from my mother for short-term recovering (standard pillow cases tucked in around a regular throw pillow). The near end table is an old shelf made by my dad many years ago and recently repainted brown. In that corner you can't see the tall paper lamp we purchased in the last year and a black & white photo taken by my brother. The table in the far corner is actually a carved chest from the Philippines that I love, came from my parents house, and holds extra throws & blankets.

The new and budgeted for sectional selected by the hub. The mirror above it is also new but was a fabulous steal for $99 (its pretty hard to even get glass that size for that price). The leather bench is extra storage and great for propping legs & drinks on. The lil quilt was designed-by-order/homemade from a friend's sister. Directly behind the couch where the lil lamp is sticking up is that side table I repainted and it holds controllers and drinks. The shelf barely visible in the front corner holds electronics and is below the TV.

My leather chair with throw pillows is in the corner with the neat paper latern above it. The pub table is one we love and purchased when we first got our place. Shells and driftwood are decorating the top of it. The area rug brings color to that side of the room and the extra chair in the corner holds my work tote. Under the clock we each have a basket that holds sunglasses, pens, wallets, etc. We have hooks for our keys and a clay art piece I made in high school collects spare change.

This shelf on the TV wall holds a photo of us when I first visited Louisiana, a decorative piece, a sign above that says Peace on Earth in Spanish, and two international items.

While this room has the most new purchases from building our home together, they're also items we will use for years, were well thought out, and that intermix well with the pieces we already had. Over the years we'll add more travel items and artwork, but for now it's just right for us.

House Tour #2: Kitchen Area

THE KITCHEN IS THE HEART OF THE HOME

No matter what, the kitchen always tends to be the heart of the home. Regardless of how comfortable the living room, everyone congregates within our kitchen and it's adjoining area. In this photo you can see our pantry area, fridge (with photos & items of home, recipes, and a few restaurant menus), and large counter space. The candles and African violet are actually left overs from friends that moved, as well as two other plants not pictured. Top of the fridge has some glass storage containers (thrift store finds), a large thermos for hub's work, and usually bones for the dogs. In the background is the entryway to our home.

I'm not a huge fan of cluttered counter tops, but unfortunately that's how the back corner of our kitchen survives: bamboo and glass cutting boards, knives, microwave, bread basket on top of microwave, and well, booze. Right of the stove, utensils in the holder painted 5 years ago by my nephew and an old strainer which is our fruit basket. To the left of the sink we place a towel for drying dishes washed by hand. On the stove, you see an espresso maker (Italian style) and a pan of brownies (thanks hub!).

One of my favorites things about this space is being able to look out the huge window. Two stools up to the counter, the hand-me-down desk in the corner (which will get passed on when we're back home with my old desk), the bench my dad made for an apartment (storing our breadmaker & crock pot), and the futon (via hub's friend) finish off this space and make a comfortable area for company in the kitchen. The drapery rods are some that have moved with me from two different apartments and happen to match the hardware in this house perfectly.

These last pictures demonstrate some of the dog areas. To the left of the futon, their water bowl. To the right of the futon is a large outdoor/indoor rug to catch dirty paws that we can't wipe in time, their leashes hanging on the wall, and a basket that holds their toys and old towels for said paw wiping. ;)

House Tour #1: Guest Room

I've been spending the afternoon thinking about how happy I am that we have reached a comfort level with our home. Sure there are little decor items we'd still like to do, but for the most part things are how we intend to have them and the furniture is perfect for our needs for the future. I've spent part of the afternoon rounding up pictures of the house and looking through home magazines and blogs. Our home will never be designed to a T but it's incredibly perfect for us, and still with enough blank spaces to allow us to add artwork that has meaning to us down the road. SO I thought I'd share some photos and details with all of you over the next week :)

"If you want to make a difference on the planet, this is it: Have nothing in your home or life that you do not know to be useful, believe to be beautiful or know that you will strive to keep in your life forever."

--Natalie "Alabama" Chanin

 GUEST ROOM

 Those of you that have followed this blog for years probably recognize most of everything that is in this first photo. The mattresses are slightly smaller as now we have the full that came from the neighbors in exchange for our queen. The duvet is one my mom and I made out of two old sheets and the blankets are some I've had for years. The sheets are organic cotton. The chair used as an end table is now blue and the other is an original from my grandparents-sister-me. The photo on the table is courtesy of my brother and under it is Lady's favorite sleeping spot--right between my old rabbit fur slippers from my family in Argentina! The print above the bed is my favorite painting from the father of a childhood friend. The lamp on the left was from Granny for my first apartment and the lamp on the right is part of a set picked up at a thrift store.

The chest of drawers and shelf in this photo are from my childhood. My parents had them custom made when they were stationed in the Philippines and I recently repainted them dark brown and modernized the hardware. The shelves hold a few token travel items and a part of our varied books, while the drawers have work-out gear and undergarments. The clock on the wall is from my parents house, the rug was a Granny gift for an apartment, and the curtains were a set I bought for our living room here. 

 The closet is probably the messiest part of this room but the husband and I keep separate closets and this is mine. We removed the doors about six months back for easier access. We have the spare TV (from my coworker who moved) in there so any guests can watch a movie. You can see my shoe basket and a couple other boxes I have stored as well. ;) On the wall is my cork board with a few inspirational items and then push pins which hold up necklaces and my hook earrings go into the corkboard on the top. (I got this idea from a magazine a long time ago. You can also use push pins to hang hook earrings on if you need more room.)

And this is from the guest room looking out which hopefully will bring a smile to your face as its an example of decorating compromise. My husband and I have battled over his Kramer poster since we moved in together and I finally can see the humor in having it greet our guests on the way to the spare bedroom. (Where they can be sure to be greeted by interested dogs as well.....) :)

Personal Enviro and Health Highlights

Just some wonderful environmental and healthy highlights:

1) We got our monthly electricity consumption report today. If you remember, our housing covers all of our utilities, but recently the privatized company has decided to pay up to a certain amount of usage and charge/reward for differences in the average consumption amount. (While I definitely agree with energy conservation, I don't agree with how they are calculating averages on this nor the fact that there's no true baseline amount but rather the rates of usage of some of the other homes like yours. PS Have I mentioned our homes have old, leaky alumnium windows and no insulation?!) The hub and I do a really good job of attempting to conserve energy: keeping lights off in rooms that we're not in, drawing most of the blinds during the day to keep down cooling/heating costs, hanging 60% of our wash on clothes lines to dry, washing in warm/cold, filling the dishwasher to the max before running, turning off the outside porch lights except when needed, recently flipping a power cord switch for the TV some nights, and this summer we're keeping the AC at a much more reasonable temp. While we're definitely major conservers in comparison to most of our friends here, we're still always within a few dollars of the comparison amounts---some months we're over and some we're under. Today we finally broke away from the pack and our consumption difference equalled about $20 less!!!  While I can't guarantee it'll stay low, I'm thrilled to at least finally see some proof in the pudding!

2) It dawned on me the last few weeks that very slight environmental changes have been happening at work. While there's no official recycling program on post for offices, I did drop a recycling container in the kitchen. I've never really mentioned it, but even my coworkers who aren't huge recyclers are dropping their plastic bottles (I haven't exactly lectured on this to all of them! :)) into the bin. There's still a lot of what I consider to be recyclables that end up in the trash, but it's so nice to see the contributions and attempts!  Every other week, I bring home the bag of recyclable plastics and a bag of paper from our shredder. And usage of the real plates and silverware is up too!

3) So far this week, I've ran 7 miles in three days. Not big to some, but a huge step in the right direction toward my newest goal and I'm definitely proving to myself that having a motivational goal is the ticket! I haven't exactly figured out how to approach the working out conversation with my coworkers, but I think I've realized that solo running after work is part of my individual self-care needs. I need the time to be alone, to think and process, to focus and yet meditate, to breath and pace as necessary......and its hard to do that when I'm not running (or swimming) or when I'm trying to meet the work out needs of another.  I'm sure it'll come up sooner rather than later however. ;)

Home and Life as of Late

Beyond work, the house seems to be the primary thing on my mind as of late. My mother and granny are coming to visit in August (exciting!), which has also influenced me to have the house situated before they get here.  Luckily, our financial plan was based upon getting the new bed and sectional during these summer months.  As I've mentioned before, we've had much difficulty with delivery to our current location.  Our primary couch we ordered last summer from West Elm took an unexpected extra 3-4 weeks due to our location, and while we enjoy their style we've opted to no longer do business with them due to their unwillingness to alter delivery options. Macy's will not deliver to this side of Louisiana, but allows for scheduled furniture pickup from the Houston warehouse. Penney's guaranteed delivery within 4 weeks to any continental US location, but 2 months after ordering our sectional our delivery date had yet to be determined. We have a very modern taste that is difficult to find in most stores, but we've definitely been wishing for the ability to find a store that would allow for furniture to be purchased and picked up in the same day. 

Hence one of the reasons we decided to purchase a king bed from.....Ikea. Definitely not the most environmentally friendly option, but since Ikea is 3 hours away we were able to purchase and set up our new modern style, king bed in the same day.  Add on to that the fact that we purchased a new bed set w/ two night stands, mattress, and almost all organic bedding (I've been purchasing sales for months) for about $1000, and I'm definitely happy we decided to go this route. I have no doubt that the particle board, veneers, and new mattress are off-gassing all sorts of chemicals, but in this case the cheaper, easier method won out.  Ikea did offer a natural/somewhat organic mattress but in the end we went with the regular one.  I will tell you that the enlarged sleeping space has been amazing, although the dogs aren't too happy about being relegated back to the floor! We won't always have walk-in closets so down the road I'd like to get the matching chest of drawers also.

Also at Ikea we purchased this great picture of a lime tree that is hanging in our kitchen.  I know that reproduced big box artwork isn't exactly the greatest, but it goes with our kitchen and we both love it.

Last weekend I painted my childhood chest of drawers, shelf, and night stand in the same brown spray paint I used on the end table.  It's amazing what a new coat of paint and some new hardware can do! All of these will be used in the guest room. Our neighbors have been wanting to increase a mattress size also and will swap out our queen size mattress set for one of their full size sets.  As long as this queen set is comfortable for them then they won't have to purchase a new one, and we'll make the swap official. We also will return their extra futon that we've been using as an extra bed in our spare room.

This is the current living room lay-out after rearranging due to the TV.  If you haven't noticed, we keep ourselves occupied by rearranging furniture! ;) In this room we swapped the lay-out so the table is at the back end of the room and the sitting area is near the front.  The furniture placement will change slightly next weekend when the hub picks up the Macys sectional from the Houston warehouse. At that point our futon will move into the extra kitchen area, and people will have a more comfortable place in there to sit. In the above photo, you can see the lil' quilt that my gal's sister made-to-order for me!  Eventually we do want to find a second hand buffet/bar and a better desk option, but for the most part our furniture buying is now complete! 

Feels like a lot of purchases, but I know they're budgeted for, well researched, and are items that will serve us for years to come. We still have some special touches with art work, etc, but altogether I'm so glad with our lil' home.

We didn't take any pictures of our recent trip to Houston as I forgot the camera, but one of the things we made sure to do on this trip was to drive through part of downtown.  It reminded me a lot of Portland to be honest and was very pretty.  There are a lot of things that the hub and I would love to check out in Houston, but honestly after this next trip for the sectional I'm not sure we really want to head back due to the insane traffic we always face while there.  Traffic jams galore and crazy drivers definitely decrease our desire to explore and check out the wonderful museums and the like that are there. Houston would be a great place to check out if you direct flight into it and easily transport downtown, but I have yet to meet a single person who enjoys driving in it.