He Is Faithful

The last part of this year has been challenging for me. It's in those challenging times that I am reminded continuously of the Lord's faithfulness and the promise to never leave nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6) no matter what we are going through. He works all things for good and His glory, even the difficult things of life. May these passages remind you of His faithfulness and love today and always.

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of death,
I will fear no evil,
For you are with me;
Your rod and your staff,
They comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all of these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rosie (12.28.1977-12.27.2011) - You will forever be in my heart and will be missed dearly.

Merry Christmas

Merry Bright Greeting Holiday

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Ladder Project

In the past year, we have learned that there will always be projects to do and that it takes time and patience to make a house into a home. One of this month's projects involved hanging an old ladder purchased at a consignment shop last spring.

With one trip to Lowe's, we were set to accomplish the task. I used boiled linseed oil to restore the dry wood to a more natural, weathered state. Then, my co-worker Tim, attached rope to the ladder to stabilize it. Thanks also to my husband and friend, Tyler for drilling the rings into the ceiling studs and hanging the ladder from the ceiling!

Eventually, I would love to hang lanterns, mason jars, or other seasonal items, but for now, I'm just glad that the empty space between the dining room table and high ceiling has disappeared.

Work In Progress

In September, we painted the entire master bedroom and walk-in closet.  Then it sat empty for two months or so, but we've FINALLY moved into the master bedroom. It's still a work in progress, but it is coming along little by little.

I had been patiently searching for a new bed - everything from using an old door as a headboard to having a bedframe built from old barn wood.  Then, thanks to the blog Baby Food Scoops (follow them if you aren't already), I stumbed upon a place called Urban Evolutions in Menasha, WI.  Urban Evolutions uses reclaimed wood to construct furniture and flooring, and their products get picked up by companies such as Sundance and Anthropologie.  As you can imagine, these high quality items can be expensive.  However, Urban Evolutions has an outlet where they sell some of their products at a discounted price compared to what they would normally retail for at Sundance or Anthro. 

To make a long story short, after a few conversations and emails, we bought a queen size bed made from recycled pickle barrels.  I was a little nervous purchasing something that I hadn't seen in person (only from pictures), but we love it.  It is very sturdy and has lots of character.  Special thanks to my mom who not only picked up the bed from the outlet, but delivered it across the border!
 

Pickle Barrel Bed from Urban Evolutions
(usually sold by Sundance)

Vera Wang Beyond Nature mattress

  

Hirschfield's Paints
Accent Wall - Remaining Embers
Main Color - Apple Crisp
Closet - Caramel Cloud



Now with any large projects or purchases, we always set a budget and try to stick to it.  We would recommend saving for these purchases a little at a time until it is fully funded.

Christmas Trees

Oh yes, Christmas trees.  Plural.  My husband thinks I'm crazy, but deep down I know he loves it just as much as I do.  The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we took a break from painting to visit the Wolcyn Tree Farm.  We love any excuse to escape the city and take a drive in the country. 

  
On the way back, we stopped at Goodwill to pick up some extra tree stands.  $2.99/stand sounds like a good deal in theory, but not when you stop to ask yourself why Kmart couldn't sell them in the first place.  It was a complete disaster!  The screws were too large for the holes, so Matt ended up drilling new holes which seemed to work temporarily.  The only problem - the screws didn't have anything to thread into.  The next evening, the tree started to fall over.  Thankfully, it wasn't decorated yet!

We currently have three trees at our house; one in the living room, one in the bedroom, and one on the porch.  Throw in a balsam fir candle from Bath and Body works, and it smells Christmasy. 

The one thing my husband isn't too keen on is the new tree topper for Tree #2. His comment, "The wise men didn't follow the hooting of an owl to find Jesus." 

If you haven't bought your Christmas tree, we recommend Wolcyn's. If you don't have time to take the trip up north, they also have two tree lots in Woodbury and St. Paul.  Just avoid the tree stands at Goodwill.

Merry Christmas!

Three Deer, Three Shots

We awoke early Thanksgiving morning to the sounds of, "three deer, three shots!"  Dad got an entire family of deer in our woods.  Mom sent me out to document the occasion.  Unfortunately, my camera died right away, but I had an old backup camera to capture it all.  

Two families of three.

We are very proud of you Dad! 

Karissa - maybe this will motivate you to get up early next year.  :) 

As for me, I'll never be joining the hunt but will still enjoy the venison when it's all said and done.

Omaha Reunion

The one thing we really miss about college is seeing our friends every day.  The times we do see each other now are too few and far between.  This year's reunion brought us to Omaha, Nebraska where our good friends Jen and Jeff Bishop live.  We spent the weekend catching up, playing games, and the boys talked budgets, investment properties, credit reports, taxes, and anything related.  Sometimes I find myself thinking that we aren't "normal" 23-24 year olds. :)  It sure is amazing to see the transformation in our conversations over the years.  Sports still dominate the boys' conversations, but mixed in between are things like IRAs, tax credits, and business ideas.

Jen and Jeff - Thank you so much for your hospitality and a wonderful weekend. It was SO much fun to see your life and home in Nebraska.

To ALL of you - We love you guys and are looking forward to the next reunion!

The boys and their awkward family photo.

Thanks for the group pic Jen!

How to Move a Settlers Game: teamwork, focus, patience, and a little bit of creativity.

Catching Up

Blogging has taken a backseat to all of the other things that have been going on so to catch you up here's what's been going on lately...

I have strong immune system, but for some reason I manage to get sick once a year. This year's sickness finally hit the last half of October. It was so uncomfortable that I actually went to the doctor, and several days later, ended up filling the prescription for antibiotics. I REALLY dislike taking medication, so I usually have to be pretty sick to succumb to my anti-medication philosophy. Needless to say, I'm glad to be feeling better and to have energy again (not to mention training again - 82 days until the Birkie!).

Halloween came and went. We enjoyed $2 Chipotle burritos, and Matt had fun tracking the trick or treaters via Excel spreadsheet. And yes, we were the people who did NOT hand out candy. Instead, the kids who visited received either a juice box (100% juice), fruit snacks, or chips. They seemed pretty pleased, and we even had a few "thank yous" from some parents.

 

We spent a week watching one of our favorite dogs, Ivy and housesitting for a family we know while they were out of town.  Ivy is a sweet golden retriever who loves attention and gets exhausted after going on runs with us.  She always gives us a good laugh.

Along with our friends Peter and Nick, we spent a weekend in Omaha, Nebraska visiting Jen and Jeff Bishop.  More on that next post.

We traveled to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, ate a lot, and drove the mile between our two houses multiple times a day.  Between eating, running, resting, Black Friday shopping, family pictures, Christmas cookies, this short trip home went WAY too quick.

Fall yard cleaning and house projects have kept us busy.  We had our first renter (our friend Sam) move out last weekend which gave us 2-3 days to paint the basement rental and managed to get it all done before our next set of renters (friends Kevin and Tyler) moved in!  Needless to say, it's not only been a long week of work with multiple events, but a week of late nights and paint fumes.  The white walls have been replaced with colors called Snug Harbor, October Harvest, and Dusty Path, and we are pleased with the end result.

That's enough catching up for now!  Other posts to come very soon.

A Matt Kramer Savings Strategy

A while back, I mentioned our search for dining room chairs in a post.  To make a long story short, nothing compared to the dream Pottery Barn ladderback chairs that matched the planked PB table.  So leave it to my husband to be creative and figure out how to purchase these chairs while staying within budget.

The solution - Ebay.  When he mentioned, Ebay, my response was, "I already looked, and they are just as expensive."  His response, "Amanda, you need to think outside the box."

His idea - buy PB gift cards at a lower value than they actually are worth (i.e. paying $115 for a $200 gift card).  Genious really!  So Matt went on a gift card bidding frenzy for a week or so, and we became really intentional about checking the mailbox every day.

Research other possibilities - Beforehand, he did research to learn that not only does PB accept PB gift cards, but they also accept PB Kids, Williams Sonoma, and West Elm gift cards.  This enabled us to expand our search options and save a lot of money too.  Also, you can purchase coupons on Ebay too (i.e. 10% off cards) which is another way to get to the price you want to pay for an item(s).

Disclaimer - For those of you who don't know, Matt once had an Ebay business but that has since taken a backseat in recent years to his other entrepeneaur ventures (i.e. collecting satellite dishes, stripping copper from TVs), although he is still Ebay savy.

The End Result - We purchased the dream chairs about two months ago (using the gift cards pictured below) and love them.

The cashier asked me if we had been saving up for a while when I handed her these.
Haha.  If only she knew...

Not only does this Matt Kramer savings strategy work for Pottery Barn purchases, but it also works for places such as Best Buy and Kohls (he actually bought his laptop for college this way).  If you have the time and patience, this strategy can really come in handy when making a large purchase. Unfortunately, for some places (i.e. Target and Walmart) this strategy doesn't work as well since those cards usually sell really close to face value.  But you never know, unless you check!

Happy saving, searching, and bidding! :)

Fall

Fall is our favorite season.   We are loving it and have been incredibly blessed with an Indian summer.  I'm a little distracted by Sunday night football right now, so this post will be short and sweet.  We can't get enough of ...

Fall drinks - chai tea lattes, pumpkin steamers, apple cider, and coffee for my coffee-loving husband.  Yum! 




Apple orchards - We visited the orchard where we were engaged two years ago on September 19.  The owner still remembers us. Following the apple orchard excursion, we spent several evenings making and canning homemade applesauce.  Helpful hint:  1 bushel of apples = ~20 pints of applesauce.  Go and visit your local apple orchard; you won't be disappointed!



The exact spot where "Marry Me?" was written in apples.

Being outdoors - Fall runs have been so relaxing, and I love hearing the leaves crunch stride after stride. We've also been doing some yard work too - oh the joy of being homeowners.
 

Evening kayak rides

Football, fall candles, cornstalks, pumpkins, homemade soups, fall candles, harvest time, homemade breads, flannel sheets, oranges, browns, golds, reading, bonfires, boots, sweaters, the list could go on and on and on... Although, I must admit, the days could be a little longer. 

Stay tuned for the next post.  I'll be sharing one of my husband's creative savings tips.  Until then, GO Pack GO! :)

Reggae, Running, and Relaxing

Last weekend, our fall travels brought us to Cincinnati, Ohio.  There are so many things we love about Cincy (too many to name really) including (but not limited to):  family time, visiting our friend Adam, Skyline Chili, Graeter's ice cream, and the warmer temperatures (usually). 

We now have one more fav to add to the list - the Reggae Run.  It's basically an all uphill 5K.  They aren't little hills either, more like 1/2 mile or longer.  There wasn't a flat part on the course, and we will definitely be doing more hill workouts in the future.  It was so good to hear Bob Marley singing "Every little thing is going to be alright" as we crossed the finish line, breathing heavy but having fun at the same time.  Oh yes, one other thing you may not know about us; we love reggae music.  It truly bums us out that there isn't a reggae station in the Twin Cities, but once in a while Cities 97 will give us our reggae fix. After the race, there was a huge after party with lots of food and of course a reggae band.  We stayed long enough to visit most of the tents (and gain back the calories just burned) before rushing away to watch the Badger Game.  Oh yes, I failed to mention that it was a great weekend for Wisconsin sports, and we were thrilled to be able to follow each of our teams (both real and fantasy)! :) 

Special thanks to my family and Adam for such a wonderful weekend.  We look forward to running the Reggae Run in 2012 as well as another visit between now and then.  According to cousin Nina, "we need to check our winter calendars."  Love you guys and miss you already!

The Reggae Runners before the race - Mimi, me, Matt, Adam, Mom, and Dad

So great to see Adam! It had been way too long.

Sisters - Mom and Mimi

Getting ready for bedtime with the twins.

Elle was too focused on the game to notice her big cousin.

Kindergarteners are pretty smart.  They came up with this one all by themselves.  :)