Have you ever seen the VH1 show, "Best Week Ever!"? It talks about different celebrities and those that have had especially good or bad weeks. Aaron and I thought we were in the running last week (it was a great week), but they didn't include us on the show. Weird!!
This week, however, seems like it's just dragging on and on!! Maybe it's because everyone is just anxiously anticipating the three-day weekend, making the days leading up to it seem never ending. I'm not sure.
I do know that the weekend needs to be here soon, because people are starting to get very irritable...myself included.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Roarke's first day of Kindergarten was "AWESOME!!"
We have watermelons!!
There were 4 watermelons last time we checked (on Sunday). There are two the size of the one in the picture (with a tennis ball next to it for comparison) and two that are about the size of the tennis ball. As long as we can keep the boys from trampling the vine, which has way outgrown the garden, then we should have tons of watermelon soon!!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Pepto Bismol Pink Patio
Iowa State Fair...the pictures say it all!!
We started off the day with a Pork Chop on a Stick and immediately headed for the shade, because we were there on the hottest day of the year.
My husband the farmer, my mother the corndog and me as a cardinal. Who thought up this cutout?!?
We started off the day with a Pork Chop on a Stick and immediately headed for the shade, because we were there on the hottest day of the year.
I love babies!! We saw newborn (some only 1 day old!!) pigs, cows, sheep, goats and chickens. They had staff members holding some of the babies, but they even let me hold the chick!!
My husband the farmer, my mother the corndog and me as a cardinal. Who thought up this cutout?!?
Elated to be riding "Ye Olde Mill." My parents were right behind us, so we behaved on this romantic boatride!!
We're upside down. We were also sideways and backwards and every other which way.
Yummy!! We got a large bucket of hot cookies right before we sat down to listen to the Bee-Gees cover band. It was a great day!!
Dust Bunnies
Even as few as 4 years ago, I never would have thought that my mom and I would become friends. I was that teenager who thought she had no need for parents... But we are friends now and it's wonderful!!
On Tuesday we went to the fair together. We had a great time despite the heat!!
This is us at Prairie Meadows on Friday night. We watched the horse races all night long.
On Tuesday we went to the fair together. We had a great time despite the heat!!Monday, August 13, 2007
State Fair Tomorrow!!
Have I mentioned how much I love our garden?? For the last 5 weeks or so, we've been able to harvest at least a gallon size Ziploc bag full, which we've frozen, plus a meal or two. All that, from a $0.59 bag of seeds!!
We've also been able to get about a meals worth of broccoli every week. This week, we've had over a dozen tomatoes ready to pick. And the good news is, we have about another two dozen tomatoes still to come - all from one plant!!
Anyone who has known me for more than a couple years knows that I didn't used to eat any vegetables, so it's a huge change for me to be this excited about veggies!!
We've also been able to get about a meals worth of broccoli every week. This week, we've had over a dozen tomatoes ready to pick. And the good news is, we have about another two dozen tomatoes still to come - all from one plant!!
Anyone who has known me for more than a couple years knows that I didn't used to eat any vegetables, so it's a huge change for me to be this excited about veggies!!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
My name is Blakely, and I'm addicted to Chocolate Covered Peanuts.
Slowly, but surely, we're getting the house done. In recent weeks we've painted the exterior, put a coat on the trim and started painting the basement. But that's nothing compared to what the next couple days hold!! I'm excited to report that starting tomorrow we'll be tiling our kitchen and mudroom floors and kitchen countertops. Aaron took a couple vacation days, that paired with his days off for the week, give him 4 days to work on the house.
I love my hardworking, handsome husband!!
I love my hardworking, handsome husband!!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Magnum P.I.
What a great weekend!! Aaron and I went on a date on Friday night. We didn't do anything too horribly exciting, (dinner and a movie), but it was definitely a much needed date!! The only thing that would have made it better is if I hadn't worked 11 hours and Aaron 13 hours before the start of our date...
But, we got to sleep in on Saturday morning, which was nice. We woke up around 9:30, threw on some "going out in public"clothes, brushed our teeth, and headed up to Cold Stone to wait in line**. After an hour, we got our free ice cream for a year and were on our way back home. After we got home, we ate lunch and then took a nap. Yup. A nap. It was great. Aaron had to close that night, but it gave me an opportunity to get some cleaning done. When he got home, we watched a movie, ate popcorn (with parmesan cheese...yum!!), and snuggled.
Sunday morning we started prepping our house to be painted. The back of our house has the most windows, pipes, meters, etc... that needed to be covered and taped before we could start, so we did that together. Then Aaron started painting. We were able to borrow an airless sprayer from his dad, but unfortunately the last person to borrow it had left the tip on, which had caused it to rust, so we had to go up to Ames to buy a new tip at Lowe's. We made the best out of our trip though and stopped at Panchero's to grab some lunch. Once we got home with the new tip, it only took us 3 hours to paint the entire house!! We had a great little system down - while Aaron painted the west side, I covered the windows and scraped on the north side; as he painted the north side, I prepped the east side... We were soooo happy to be done with our project for the day by 3:30. It left us with our entire evening to just relax and spend some time together.
We harvested a bunch of broccoli and beans from our garden. We've already frozen a couple gallon sized Ziploc bags worth of beans and had 5 or 6 meals, but our plants just keep producing, so we gave about half of what we picked last night to a neighbor, whose bean plants aren't doing so well this year. While we were over there, my job search came up and our neighbor said she would give my name to a friend of hers who has tons of contacts in the area and has gotten several people their jobs, including both of our neighbor's daughters. Hopefully that will open up some new doors for me!! In other garden news, we have over 2 dozen tomatoes on our one tomato plant right now. Only 1 is turning red so far, but we should have plenty of tomatoes in the near future!! We also have a few peppers growing, lots of carrots-although none are anywhere near ready to pick- and our watermelon vine is getting huge!! We bought some insect spray yesterday, so hopefully the bugs won't get to the tomatoes and other plants before we do!!
** As a side story- Aaron and I learned quite a lesson while waiting in line at Cold Stone. There was a girl directly in front of us in line who was waiting all by herself. To pass the time, she decided to make a bunch of phone calls to catch up with some people. After listening to her talk for 1/2 hour, I know more about this girl than I do some of my friends. For instance, she was telling someone in her family all about how her little sister had lost her virginity. I'm guessing that is something that was not meant to be shared with the family. Aaron and I were very uncomfortable, to say the least, to overhear her conversations. The lesson learned: Do not have private conversations in public!!
But, we got to sleep in on Saturday morning, which was nice. We woke up around 9:30, threw on some "going out in public"clothes, brushed our teeth, and headed up to Cold Stone to wait in line**. After an hour, we got our free ice cream for a year and were on our way back home. After we got home, we ate lunch and then took a nap. Yup. A nap. It was great. Aaron had to close that night, but it gave me an opportunity to get some cleaning done. When he got home, we watched a movie, ate popcorn (with parmesan cheese...yum!!), and snuggled.
Sunday morning we started prepping our house to be painted. The back of our house has the most windows, pipes, meters, etc... that needed to be covered and taped before we could start, so we did that together. Then Aaron started painting. We were able to borrow an airless sprayer from his dad, but unfortunately the last person to borrow it had left the tip on, which had caused it to rust, so we had to go up to Ames to buy a new tip at Lowe's. We made the best out of our trip though and stopped at Panchero's to grab some lunch. Once we got home with the new tip, it only took us 3 hours to paint the entire house!! We had a great little system down - while Aaron painted the west side, I covered the windows and scraped on the north side; as he painted the north side, I prepped the east side... We were soooo happy to be done with our project for the day by 3:30. It left us with our entire evening to just relax and spend some time together.
We harvested a bunch of broccoli and beans from our garden. We've already frozen a couple gallon sized Ziploc bags worth of beans and had 5 or 6 meals, but our plants just keep producing, so we gave about half of what we picked last night to a neighbor, whose bean plants aren't doing so well this year. While we were over there, my job search came up and our neighbor said she would give my name to a friend of hers who has tons of contacts in the area and has gotten several people their jobs, including both of our neighbor's daughters. Hopefully that will open up some new doors for me!! In other garden news, we have over 2 dozen tomatoes on our one tomato plant right now. Only 1 is turning red so far, but we should have plenty of tomatoes in the near future!! We also have a few peppers growing, lots of carrots-although none are anywhere near ready to pick- and our watermelon vine is getting huge!! We bought some insect spray yesterday, so hopefully the bugs won't get to the tomatoes and other plants before we do!!
** As a side story- Aaron and I learned quite a lesson while waiting in line at Cold Stone. There was a girl directly in front of us in line who was waiting all by herself. To pass the time, she decided to make a bunch of phone calls to catch up with some people. After listening to her talk for 1/2 hour, I know more about this girl than I do some of my friends. For instance, she was telling someone in her family all about how her little sister had lost her virginity. I'm guessing that is something that was not meant to be shared with the family. Aaron and I were very uncomfortable, to say the least, to overhear her conversations. The lesson learned: Do not have private conversations in public!!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Shrek the Third
How did you spend your Saturday morning?? Aaron and I spent our morning sitting in a line in front of Cold Stone Creamery in Ames. The result: We got free ice cream for a year!! In celebration of the 1 year anniversary in Ames, the first 50 people there this morning drew for free Love It sized ice creams, Smoothies or Shakes or Grab 'N Go Quarts for a year. We got there an hour before they opened and we were about # 30 and # 31 in line. Aaron got the Love It sized ice cream and I chose the Smoothies and Shakes. We're very excited that we can make a monthly trip to Cold Stone at no expense to us!!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Chewy Sweet Tarts
We are horrible dog parents. We have neglected to brush Steve so much lately that tonight it was just sad when we did brush him.* Aaron and I "dual brushed" for 20 minutes and got a serious amount of hair off of Steve. However, there's probably at least that much left on him in random tufts of hair. He started to get antsy towards the end, so we'll just have to brush again tomorrow night. Here are a couple (one slightly disgusting) pictures of the ordeal.
Steve seems to enjoy getting brushed, until we hit the 15 minute mark that is...
This is the slightly disgusting picture. This is a big pile of hair that we brushed off of Steve. Notice the tennis ball as a reference. And the pile was probably twice as tall as the ball.It'll be interesting to see what tomorrow night brings. Hopefully Nick will play outside, alone, peacefully again. If he's inside, he thinks he should be brushed too, because it "seems a lot like petting!!" At least, that's what we imagine him saying if he could talk...
*Brushing did occur after the cookie baking.
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