Being a Mom means tons of things. Some of these things I have already experienced, some I have yet to experience. We got one of these experiences on video a few weeks ago that is just too funny not to share. We were having a great time playing with Lucy, but she had just a little too much fun...too much fun that resulted in a lovely new hair treatment for me consisting of regurgitated breast milk. Yummy. :)
Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ovxxW33SVs
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Thursday, September 19, 2013
2013 = Change
This year has been the year of change for Ross and me:
I think we are now done with the big changes like what's mentioned above. Now we are experiencing little changes, sometimes on a daily basis and these all revolve around Lucy. For example:
- We had a baby and became parents and a family of three.
- We sold Ross' house.
- I quit my job to become a stay-at-home-mom.
- We sold my house.
I think we are now done with the big changes like what's mentioned above. Now we are experiencing little changes, sometimes on a daily basis and these all revolve around Lucy. For example:
- She's starting to roll over from her back to her stomach and can keep rolling until she rolls into something that stops her. We have to be more aware of her surroundings now, making sure she can't get into anything that could hurt her.
- We're starting to feed her baby food and boy does this ever change things! For the past month we've kind of just been dabbling with the food, feeding her once a day, sometimes skipping a day or two. Last weekend my Dad asked how the feeding was going. I told him that we hadn't fed her the cereal in a few days (I'm still nursing her) because we just didn't have time one night and the other night didn't feel like going through the cereal process. He kind of laughed and said something about when that's all she eats is "real" food, what are we going to do when we don't feel like feeding her. This kind of hit home with me, making me realize that some day soon we will have to feed her, no matter how we feel and will have to make time for it.
- Lucy has found her voice and is really into squealing now. It's very cute and funny to us, but we are both well aware of the fact that it's not so cute to the couple out at a restaurant for a dinner date who gets seated next to the booth with a loud, squealing baby. :) We're kind of having to rethink some of the places we eat and the times we go out to eat to not disturb too many people with her squealing. Her squealing (which we really do love) changes church, too. Up until now she's been in church with us, but now we'll need to put her in the nursery or one of us will need to sit in the lobby with her, so as to not distract people during church.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
1227 East Linwood
Eight years ago on Friday, August 19, 2005, I closed on my very first house. I was so proud of my house and took great care in fixing it up and making it "mine."
While in college I lived in the dorms and my senior year I moved into an apartment with a friend for one year. After that I moved into a house with three girlfriends for one year and then another apartment by myself for three years before buying my house. I remember in April 2005 I decided I wanted to buy a house. I was 26 at that time and had always figured I'd be married by then and have bought a house with my husband. There was no prince charming in sight at that time, so I decided why not go ahead and buy a house.
I knew I wanted an older house that had character and charm to it, and I wanted it in a certain area in Springfield. I contact a realtor friend of my parents, Sandy Schmidly, and we started working together to find the perfect house for me. I gathered all the paperwork to submit for loan preapproval and once that went through, we were good to go! Sandy took me around looking at houses and I actually put an offer on a house before finding the house I ended up buying. The seller did not accept my offer and I am so thankful that they didn't! This house seemed like it would be perfect, but in the end my house was the absolute best for me!
I remember the night we looked at my house for the first time. It was a Wednesday night and there were actually 3-4 other people looking at it at the same time we were. It was perfect! It was in a great location and neighborhood, had one bedroom and an office, had a basement, hardwood floors, built in 1940, had a nice backyard, a carport and detached one-car garage, a fireplace...lots of things I wanted and lots of things that were like perks to me. I think the main things I wanted were this particular area in Springfield, hardwood floors, and a garage.
I loved it so much that I called my parents to come over and look at it. They were at church that night so came over when they were done, maybe around 8 or so. They liked it, too, so I decided to make an offer on the house.
Sandy wrote up the paperwork that night and brought it to me to sign at work the next day. She submitted it around 9 that morning and I just had to sit and wait for the call from her to tell me if they'd accepted my offer or not. That was the longest day of waiting! I didn't hear from her until 5pm that afternoon and was so super excited to hear that the seller had accepted my offer! I was on my way to officially being a homeowner!
We went through the buying/selling process and finally closed on the house on August 19. I remember signing and signing and signing my name and then going over to my very own house that evening after closing. Oh it was fun! My parents came over and we had pizza in my family room. I didn't actually move in until the next weekend because I had the hardwood floors refinished that week and it just worked better to wait.
I lived in my house from August 27, 2005-April 17, 2010, when I moved into Ross' house after getting married. So many memories were made in that house! Good times with friends and family, parties, sitting in my office having "the talk" with Ross that officially began our dating relationship....oh so, so many memories in that little house! And, I certainly can't forget all the work I did or had done to it: refinished the hardwood floors, my dad put in an automatic garage door opener, ceiling fans, tearing down all the wallpaper and repainting each room in the house, painting the outside of the house (all by myself), getting grass to grow in the backyard and updating the landscaping in the front, putting in a flowerbed along the garage with my mom, a new roof, a new HVAC system, new windows, and so many things I haven't listed. I should mention, though, that a lot of the upgrades would not have been possible without my Dad! I should really think of it as much of his house as mine for all the work he did to it over the years!
After Ross and I got married I moved into his house and we rented my house out. The market wasn't very good at the time and we knew we wouldn't make anything if we tried to sell it, so we rented it for three years. We had a good renter who took care of the house like he owned it.
Those three years of renting the house were good for me - it gave me time to "break up," so to say, with my house! I think it would have been hard to sell it right away after getting married. I just put so much love into that house that I needed time to get over it!
It's funny how time can help you get over things and also change your perspective. When I lived there the house was perfect for me. Sure it was small and things were old, but I loved it. Earlier this summer after our renter moved out, we went over to make sure everything was left in good condition. I remember thinking how small and old the house was! The bathroom was so super small to me, as was the kitchen and kitchen sink! I'm just so used to the space we have in our house now that my little house just seemed so small!
We put my house up for sale in July and had a contract on it after about 4 weeks. We had to do some work to get it ready to sell, but everything paid off. It sold for more than I bought it for eight years ago, and we made a little money off of it. We didn't make anything near what I put into it, but that's okay. The guy who bought it was looking for an older house like this and will hopefully love it as much as I have.
Good-bye little 1227 East Linwood house. You were so good to me and I will miss you!
Here's a link to the house pictures I have posted on Facebook.
While in college I lived in the dorms and my senior year I moved into an apartment with a friend for one year. After that I moved into a house with three girlfriends for one year and then another apartment by myself for three years before buying my house. I remember in April 2005 I decided I wanted to buy a house. I was 26 at that time and had always figured I'd be married by then and have bought a house with my husband. There was no prince charming in sight at that time, so I decided why not go ahead and buy a house.
I knew I wanted an older house that had character and charm to it, and I wanted it in a certain area in Springfield. I contact a realtor friend of my parents, Sandy Schmidly, and we started working together to find the perfect house for me. I gathered all the paperwork to submit for loan preapproval and once that went through, we were good to go! Sandy took me around looking at houses and I actually put an offer on a house before finding the house I ended up buying. The seller did not accept my offer and I am so thankful that they didn't! This house seemed like it would be perfect, but in the end my house was the absolute best for me!
I remember the night we looked at my house for the first time. It was a Wednesday night and there were actually 3-4 other people looking at it at the same time we were. It was perfect! It was in a great location and neighborhood, had one bedroom and an office, had a basement, hardwood floors, built in 1940, had a nice backyard, a carport and detached one-car garage, a fireplace...lots of things I wanted and lots of things that were like perks to me. I think the main things I wanted were this particular area in Springfield, hardwood floors, and a garage.
I loved it so much that I called my parents to come over and look at it. They were at church that night so came over when they were done, maybe around 8 or so. They liked it, too, so I decided to make an offer on the house.
Sandy wrote up the paperwork that night and brought it to me to sign at work the next day. She submitted it around 9 that morning and I just had to sit and wait for the call from her to tell me if they'd accepted my offer or not. That was the longest day of waiting! I didn't hear from her until 5pm that afternoon and was so super excited to hear that the seller had accepted my offer! I was on my way to officially being a homeowner!
We went through the buying/selling process and finally closed on the house on August 19. I remember signing and signing and signing my name and then going over to my very own house that evening after closing. Oh it was fun! My parents came over and we had pizza in my family room. I didn't actually move in until the next weekend because I had the hardwood floors refinished that week and it just worked better to wait.
I lived in my house from August 27, 2005-April 17, 2010, when I moved into Ross' house after getting married. So many memories were made in that house! Good times with friends and family, parties, sitting in my office having "the talk" with Ross that officially began our dating relationship....oh so, so many memories in that little house! And, I certainly can't forget all the work I did or had done to it: refinished the hardwood floors, my dad put in an automatic garage door opener, ceiling fans, tearing down all the wallpaper and repainting each room in the house, painting the outside of the house (all by myself), getting grass to grow in the backyard and updating the landscaping in the front, putting in a flowerbed along the garage with my mom, a new roof, a new HVAC system, new windows, and so many things I haven't listed. I should mention, though, that a lot of the upgrades would not have been possible without my Dad! I should really think of it as much of his house as mine for all the work he did to it over the years!
After Ross and I got married I moved into his house and we rented my house out. The market wasn't very good at the time and we knew we wouldn't make anything if we tried to sell it, so we rented it for three years. We had a good renter who took care of the house like he owned it.
Those three years of renting the house were good for me - it gave me time to "break up," so to say, with my house! I think it would have been hard to sell it right away after getting married. I just put so much love into that house that I needed time to get over it!
It's funny how time can help you get over things and also change your perspective. When I lived there the house was perfect for me. Sure it was small and things were old, but I loved it. Earlier this summer after our renter moved out, we went over to make sure everything was left in good condition. I remember thinking how small and old the house was! The bathroom was so super small to me, as was the kitchen and kitchen sink! I'm just so used to the space we have in our house now that my little house just seemed so small!
We put my house up for sale in July and had a contract on it after about 4 weeks. We had to do some work to get it ready to sell, but everything paid off. It sold for more than I bought it for eight years ago, and we made a little money off of it. We didn't make anything near what I put into it, but that's okay. The guy who bought it was looking for an older house like this and will hopefully love it as much as I have.
Good-bye little 1227 East Linwood house. You were so good to me and I will miss you!
Here's a link to the house pictures I have posted on Facebook.
 |
| The new home owner! Friday, August 19, 2005 |
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| My house after painting it, September 2006. |
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| My house after moving out in April 2010. |
Friday, September 6, 2013
Cinnamon Rolls
I love cinnamon rolls and have found a very good and easy recipe for them, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman. I made some yesterday and they turned out to be my best batch yet. I wish I could share some with you!
Here's a link to the recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/
The link above is great because it has step-by-step instructions with pictures showing you what everything should look like. But if you just want the recipe, I've copied it below from the link above. I usually half the recipe and can get about 20 cinnamon rolls. They are so yummy!
Here's a link to the recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/
The link above is great because it has step-by-step instructions with pictures showing you what everything should look like. But if you just want the recipe, I've copied it below from the link above. I usually half the recipe and can get about 20 cinnamon rolls. They are so yummy!
Ingredients
- 1 quart Whole Milk
- 1 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 packages Active Dry Yeast, 0.25 Ounce Packets
- 8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Reserved) All-purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
- 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
- Plenty Of Melted Butter
- 2 cups Sugar
- Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon
- _____
- MAPLE FROSTING:
- 1 bag Powdered Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 1/4 cup Melted Butter
- 1/4 cup Brewed Coffee
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt
Preparation Instructions
For the dough, heat the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat to just below a boil. Set aside and cool to warm. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit on the milk for 1 minute.
Add 8 cups of the flour. Stir until just combined, then cover with a clean kitchen towel, and set aside in a relatively warm place for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove the towel and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the remaining 1 cup flour. Stir thoroughly to combine. Use the dough right away, or place in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for up to 3 days, punching down the dough if it rises to the top of the bowl. (Note: dough is easier to work with if it’s been chilled for at least an hour or so beforehand.)
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
To assemble the rolls, remove half the dough from the pan/bowl. On a floured baking surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 30 x 10 inches. The dough should be rolled very thin.
To make the filling, pour 3/4 cup to 1 cup of the melted butter over the surface of the dough. Use your fingers to spread the butter evenly. Generously sprinkle half of the ground cinnamon and 1 cup of the sugar over the butter. Don’t be afraid to drizzle on more butter or more sugar! Gooey is the goal.
Now, beginning at the end farthest from you, roll the rectangle tightly towards you. Use both hands and work slowly, being careful to keep the roll tight. Don’t worry if the filling oozes as you work; that just means the rolls are going to be divine. When you reach the end, pinch the seam together and flip the roll so that the seam is face down. When you’re finished, you’ll wind up with one long buttery, cinnamony, sugary, gooey log.
Slip a cutting board underneath the roll and with a sharp knife, make 1/2-inch slices. One “log “will produce 20 to 25 rolls. Pour a couple of teaspoons of melted butter into disposable foil cake pans and swirl to coat. Place the sliced rolls in the pans, being careful not to overcrowd. (Each pan will hold 7 to 9 rolls.)
Repeat the rolling/sugar/butter process with the other half of the dough and more pans. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cover all the pans with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise on the countertop for at least 20 minutes before baking. Remove the towel and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown. Don’t allow the rolls to become overly brown.
While the rolls are baking, make the maple icing: In a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, butter, coffee, and salt. Splash in the maple flavoring. Whisk until very smooth. Taste and add in more maple, sugar, butter, or other ingredients as needed until the icing reaches the desired consistency. The icing should be somewhat thick but still very pourable.
Remove pans from the oven. Immediately drizzle icing over the top. Be sure to get it all around the edges and over the top. As they sit, the rolls will absorb some of the icing’s moisture and flavor. They only get better with time… not that they last for more than a few seconds. Make them for a friend today! It’ll seal the relationship for life. I promise.
Add 8 cups of the flour. Stir until just combined, then cover with a clean kitchen towel, and set aside in a relatively warm place for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove the towel and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the remaining 1 cup flour. Stir thoroughly to combine. Use the dough right away, or place in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for up to 3 days, punching down the dough if it rises to the top of the bowl. (Note: dough is easier to work with if it’s been chilled for at least an hour or so beforehand.)
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
To assemble the rolls, remove half the dough from the pan/bowl. On a floured baking surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 30 x 10 inches. The dough should be rolled very thin.
To make the filling, pour 3/4 cup to 1 cup of the melted butter over the surface of the dough. Use your fingers to spread the butter evenly. Generously sprinkle half of the ground cinnamon and 1 cup of the sugar over the butter. Don’t be afraid to drizzle on more butter or more sugar! Gooey is the goal.
Now, beginning at the end farthest from you, roll the rectangle tightly towards you. Use both hands and work slowly, being careful to keep the roll tight. Don’t worry if the filling oozes as you work; that just means the rolls are going to be divine. When you reach the end, pinch the seam together and flip the roll so that the seam is face down. When you’re finished, you’ll wind up with one long buttery, cinnamony, sugary, gooey log.
Slip a cutting board underneath the roll and with a sharp knife, make 1/2-inch slices. One “log “will produce 20 to 25 rolls. Pour a couple of teaspoons of melted butter into disposable foil cake pans and swirl to coat. Place the sliced rolls in the pans, being careful not to overcrowd. (Each pan will hold 7 to 9 rolls.)
Repeat the rolling/sugar/butter process with the other half of the dough and more pans. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cover all the pans with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise on the countertop for at least 20 minutes before baking. Remove the towel and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown. Don’t allow the rolls to become overly brown.
While the rolls are baking, make the maple icing: In a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, butter, coffee, and salt. Splash in the maple flavoring. Whisk until very smooth. Taste and add in more maple, sugar, butter, or other ingredients as needed until the icing reaches the desired consistency. The icing should be somewhat thick but still very pourable.
Remove pans from the oven. Immediately drizzle icing over the top. Be sure to get it all around the edges and over the top. As they sit, the rolls will absorb some of the icing’s moisture and flavor. They only get better with time… not that they last for more than a few seconds. Make them for a friend today! It’ll seal the relationship for life. I promise.
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