After graduating college, there are very few reasons for writing anything longer than four sentences at a time. This is actually pretty sad because I actually do like to write. So now I will give my phalanges a long overdue work out.
Top 4 Noteworthy Things Worth Mentioning of Summer 2014
1. Settling In: Once Patrick got a job, we realized we would be living in our apartment for a long time. Suddenly all the little things that I didn't really notice because I thought we would be moving soon, became items to improve. We started with our kitchen knobs. We originally thought about buying new knobs, but they are SO EXPENSIVE! So we decided to spray paint what we already had. Our knobs were a variety of dull brass hues-- UGLY. We researched how to refinish knobs and we did it. Patrick sanded them down by screwing the knob to his drill (thanks Greg and Janis) and spinning the knob while holding the sandpaper in his hand, pressing it against the rotating knob. Ingenious idea, Patrick! It worked like a dream and under the dull brass we found beautiful shiny metal. I did all the spray painting. We painted them black. When we were all done, the knobs came out uniform and clean. My thumb, however, did not. Meet my finger puppet, Stripes The Zebra. Next time I'll wear gloves.
Once our knobs were black, I decided that our table should be black too. I found a table on Craigslist. Since we live in a college town, buying a table in early June, was not hard at all. The table was listed for $100. I went into the negotiations with five twenty dollar bills in my wallet. I wanted to barter for the table, but I could only barter in twenty dollar increments. When we saw the table, it had quite a few superficial scratches. I was super nervous, but I just asked, "would you take $80?" He said "sure," like he didn't care at all and we started loading up the truck. We knew we needed to refinish the top of it, so we took one of the legs to Home Depot and had the "paint expert" match the color and sheen. She did a great job with the color matching and a TERRIBLE JOB at selling us the right paint. We didn't do our research before doing this job, only after it was too late. Turns out wall paint is all wrong for furniture. The table was eternally sticky. Sooooooooo we sprayed the top with a clear enamel and now it is smooth like furniture should be.
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| Our "new" kitchen. |
We also got curtain in our home. I love them. They really change the look of the room, especially when you can't paint the walls.
On the to do list:
- Fix the crack in the door
- Install new toilet paper holder
2. Family Vacation (AKA the Tour De Waterparks): We took a road trip to Utah and stayed with Patrick's sister and family. They just moved into a new house; new to them, that is. It is actually a really big old house that they are fixing up. It was nice to hang out with our niece and nephews there.
On the way to Utah we stayed in Boise and went to the Temple for a morning session and then went to the water park. Water slides are just pure joy. Patrick's favorite part was going down this capsule release slide.That night we left for Utah. After only 45 minutes on the road, we were corralled off the freeway to a truck stop. Apparently there was a fire very near the interstate. Due to some road construction, we literally had no where to go, we couldn't even go back to Boise if we wanted to. We just had to wait in our car with the hundreds of other cars that were stuck. After about 3 hours of waiting, they got the fire under control and let the cars through. We were so tired by then.
While in Utah, we got to go to Chris and Liz's wedding. Chris is one of Patrick's high school friends. It was nice to meet them and Patrick's other friends that attended. It's funny going to Utah with Patrick though, because everyone there calls him Pat. Sometimes I call him Pat just to see if I can, but it always feels strange.
Later in our vacation we went to Seven Peaks with the Thomas'. It was the absolute best day to go to the park because there were threats of thunderstorms. Our tickets came with a warning saying Seven Peaks could shut down the park at any time for inclement weather and we would get no refund. Risky risky. This bad weather warning deterred most everyone. The longest we had to wait for a ride was maybe 10 minutes, but most of the time, there was no wait time at all. This turned out to be exhausting because we'd climb up the 4 or 5 story tower, slide down, and then immediately do it all over again. When there is no reason to stop or wait- you don't. At 5:30pm it started pouring rain and we were forced to remove our lazy bums from the lazy river. After some time, they closed the park and everyone had to leave. Before we could even return our tube and locker key, the sun came out and the sky cleared. Kind of a bummer, but we definitely got more than our money's worth that day.
3. Sand Castle Contest: In August, Patrick's mom invited us to go watch a sand castle building contest in Lincoln City. We were interested in going, but when I looked into it I found out the contest was open to the public to enter. So we decided to enter!
Since this was our first time entering, we knew nothing about it. On the drive over to the coast, we decided to build a train coming out of a tunnel. Turns out there are categories and you have to enter into one of them. So we signed up for the Pairs category. It was the only one where we could build whatever you wanted. Jerome and Sally were there with us, along with Tulia and Weston (niece and nephew). Jerome picked a real nice plot of land for us and we started building. Here's the thing though, since we were in the pairs category, we couldn't have any help from our family. This is a problem when you have two active little kids who want to do what you're doing and a Jerome Beesley who can't help but help. :)
As we built, spectators would walk along and comment on the sand sculptures. It was really entertaining to hear what people would say about our piece. Mostly they would take stabs at what we were making. We got all sorts of guesses: A mummy, a giant, a chihuahua, a train. It was a real break through when people started guessing a train coming out of a tunnel. It was a huge compliment when people would say stuff like "you're gonna win for sure."
When we finished our sand sculpture, we took a stroll to look at the other works of art... and piles of sand. There were some pretty impressive ones.Turns out, there were only 2 other entries in our category. At the end of the day, they announced the winners for each category. Guess what-- WE WON! We won $100 and a ribbon (we didn't get to keep the ribbon though).
Things to remember for next year:
- Bring another flat head scraper tool
- Bring 2 spray bottles
- Make sure the kids and Jerome enter the contest
4. Debt Free: Our major goal/new years resolution this year was to pay off all of Patrick's student loans. Fortunately, my parents paid for my schooling, so I didn't have any student loans. Thank you mom and dad. In September, we made our last payment and became free from debt! Yippy!
We wanted to celebrate our victory, but it just seemed too ironic to celebrate by spending a bunch of money to do so. We decided to buy two balloons, go on a hike with them, and at the top, release them. It's all symbolic and stuff.
We first went to Chip Ross, but it was closed due to the recent fire. So we went to Mary's Peak instead. Neither of us had been there during the daytime so it turned into quite the little adventure. It was a bit of a drive, but the views were worth it. While hiking up, Patrick popped his balloon on a thistle. He was very sad boy. But we still had my balloon, so we hiked on. We made it to the top, had a little photo shoot, and released our balloon. It was a fun way to celebrate for us.
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| POP! |
Happy Fall
The other day my friend, Stephanie, made these delicious Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies. They taste like Autumn. Here is the recipe:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondie Bars
Yield: 12 small; 9 large bars
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8x8 square dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Stir in egg, vanilla and pumpkin. Pour in all dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread dough evenly into prepared baking dish. Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean after being inserted. {My oven is hotter than the sun, so mine was done at 15 minutes. Keep an eye on yours!} Remove from oven, cool 5-10 minutes, cut into bars and serve warm. Or wait and serve at room temperature. But of course I can never wait.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Stir in egg, vanilla and pumpkin. Pour in all dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread dough evenly into prepared baking dish. Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean after being inserted. {My oven is hotter than the sun, so mine was done at 15 minutes. Keep an eye on yours!} Remove from oven, cool 5-10 minutes, cut into bars and serve warm. Or wait and serve at room temperature. But of course I can never wait.
