Home Sweet Home

This is the home we bought!! I took these pictures a few months ago on my phone, during the home inspection. We are so happy to have a place to call our own!

Front of house

Back of house. Casey is using the skyscraper old tv antenna as a ladder to the roof. 

Big backyard... Soon to be fenced. Note: The trailer house, and boards on the window of the other blue house, are not an accurate representation of the neighborhood we live in. ;) 

This is the breezeway! I love our breezeway! It connects the back entrance to the house and the garage. That means no rainstorm or blizzard conditions while taking baby and groceries in! Yay!

The Garage

In the breezeway.. How much do you love my old garage door?! I think it's so adorable!

In the breezeway looking out to the driveway.

Now, to the basement!

Looking down from kitchen at the back entry.

In the basement, we have this wood paneled room with saloon doors. Soon to be the man cave of Casey's dreams.

Blurry basement picture (sorry) I would love to make this space a family room someday! There is a random toilet in the corner. Hopefully to be used by the men as they are visiting the man cave ;) 

Blurry basement picture showing storage. At this point in the picture taking, Josey was crying and chasing me!

Here's the kitchen! It's all brand new! I'm also excited to pick out the cabinet hardware myself!

Walk-in pantry underneath the stairs! I can now justify huge Sam's Club trips!

Sunny little laundry room off of kitchen

This is the dining area. We love the open floor plan!

Windows, windows everywhere! Yay!

Living Area

Third bedroom, we are using this as an office and guest room.

Main floor bathroom. Again, everything is brand new!

Josey's Room

She was already enjoying her two closets. I love all the old original woodwork and doors here.

Upstairs! The attic was converted to a master bedroom. One door leads to a bathroom, the other leads to a walk-in closet.

More bedroom.

Master Bathroom

There's our new home!

My family has been living in our new house almost three weeks now. We are settling in, and getting everything put away. My parents, some siblings, and extended family came to visit and help move in. We made quick work of it. Thank you everyone!

We have already done a few projects on the house! We redid the front porch, and built a folding table and shelves in the laundry room. Next we are installing a range hood, maybe a fun backsplash, building a fence, putting in a back patio, and building our own smoker! 

We'll see how soon anything happens, but Casey, Josey and I, are definitely enjoying ourselves in our home sweet home!

A Cooking Tip On Rice

                                                                                                           Image Source

Ah, rice. 

Rice is in so many dishes and a great side to many meals. But for the past few months (ok, years) I have SUCKED at cooking it. My rice is always soggy or sticking to the pan. Maybe because I too often follow package directions. I have fiddled with my rice making recipes and haven't come up with anything good. I am a little intimidated by it cause I never know how it will turn out. Rice something I definitely don't make for dinner if we have company coming over.

Want your rice to look like this!?! I do!

 

Image Source

So fluffy and nice!

Yesterday, I found out there is a such thing as the "pasta method" for cooking your rice. It's very easy! I didn't take a picture, but my rice turned out like the picture above. (If not better, ha) I am just a LITTLE excited about this!

This is what I did:

-Put a big pot of water on the stove and set to boil. I used my soup pot and filled it a little under halfway, so that's probably around 8 cups of water.

-Once the water is boiling, just pour 1/2 cup of white rice into the pot. 

-Let it cook, uncovered, for 13 minutes 

-Drain well

-(If you are anything like me) You now have the nicest looking rice you've ever made, ready to enjoy for dinner!

That's it! I know, I was freaked out to do it. I am more of a fan of brown rice than white. I don't know how long it would take to cook the brown, but I'm going to be doing some experimenting in the kitchen and let you know. 

Easter 2012

I thought I would share some verses/words about Easter. I couldn't choose just one. 

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

--Romans 6:8-11

"But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him."
-- Acts 2:24 NIV

"Now let the heavens be joyful,
Let earth her song begin:
Let the round world keep triumph,
And all that is therein;
Invisible and visible,
Their notes let all things blend,
For Christ the Lord is risen
Our joy that hath no end."
-- John of Damascus

 ( My sister in law took these pictures on Sunday. I love them! )

P.S. If you noticed..Yes, Josey will be a flower girl on 9-22-12!! We're excited!

We had a great Easter weekend. Dinner with Josey's Grandpa on Saturday night, and spending time with family in Quincy for Easter Sunday. This past weekend was full of family, laughter, and food!

Hope you and your families had a blessed Easter!

Growing Pains

As the days go by my little girl grows and grows, and grows.

The tears get bigger; the screams, louder...

The attitude changes...

Imagination is endless...

And new firsts line up all ready to be enjoyed...

Made in U.S.A.

I've been trying to be more conscious about the things I buy lately, I want to buy things made in America. I am not 100% hardcore devoted to this, but when I have a choice I really like to try to choose those items.

I'm going to make a list of great things I've found, and of products I've always loved, but haven't ever turned the box over to check if it's Made in USA. I hope to keep finding tons more!

Burt's Bees - Lovely lovely products and now you have a better excuse to spend that extra money on it!

Boudreax's Butt Paste and all Boudreax products.

Arbonne - Lovely make-up, skincare, and baby lines. I use their baby stuff.

Baby Bjorn Potty Chair - Learned this as Josey was dragging her chair all over the bathroom :)

Green Toys - Company that makes toys out of recycled materials. We have a cute kitchen set!

Saltwater Sandals - I didn't know this, until I recently got Josey some sandals for the summer

Some West Elm furniture is assembled in the USA - Hmm, good to know. I like their stuff!

CHI flat iron - VERY nice flat iron! Does a great job! Gorgeous gorgeous hair! CHI also offers other products made here at home!

Sam's Club cookie sheets - I really, really, like my cookie sheets. I also feel like Sam's Club (and Walmart) does a good job trying to keep Made in USA products in their stores.

Nordic Ware- an array of kitchen products

Pyrex- Glass bakeware

Lenox- Fine China

Hudson Jeans- These are OH so cute. I want a pair. Look them up, YOU will want a pair! Maybe this can be my excuse to splurge... maybe.

This is just a short list. Most of this is stuff I've noticed around my house. I like to try to keep my eyes open to where things are made, especially in this economy!

Man, all this wants me to shout out a big ol'

"AMERICA!!!"

I wish I could type that the way my older brother shouts it ;)

Something like "AMEEERRRICAAAAA!!" With a Texan twist...

Haha, have a good day!

Add to the list in comments, I want to keep finding stuff!!

5, 6, Pick Up Sticks

Yesterday it was so nice and warm!

So warm, that there were a few lawnmowers and weed wackers heard around the neighborhood. As my husband and I were sitting outside, we were forced to look at how our yard came through the winter. The lot our house is on has about 20 to many pine trees, and there were branches scattered all through the yard. So, we got Josey's pink John Deer wagon out and picked up sticks.

Josey joined in the fun with the most adorable shorts on. We loved to see her cute legs!

Josey loves to be outside! She spends a lot of her time kicking through the dirt and shouting "Hi" at any jogger or car that goes by.

In between loads of sticks, Josey got to ride in the wagon. She did get a little scrape on her knee, but she smiled through that whole episode.

Josey loves to be outside! Absolutely loves it. So much, that it is always really embarrassing to take her inside. It sounds like she's getting tortured! Kicking and screaming and her face is a few shades past the point of red. I calmed Josey down with her next favorite thing which is taking a bath. This summer I see a lot of hours playing outside digging around in the dirt, stroller rides, bike rides, and lots of trips to the town pool. I can't wait!

Beautiful- Phil Wickham

I really enjoy listening to this song, it's good thinking music.

So just put your feet up, relax, and listen to the words!

Here's the lyrics. I especially like the last verse :)

I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say 
You’re beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It’s all proclaiming who You are
You’re beautiful, You're beautiful

I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You’re beautiful, you're beautiful

When we arrive at eternity’s shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring 
Your bride will come together and we’ll sing
You’re beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful

I see Your face, You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see Your face, You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see Your face, I see Your face
I see Your face, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful, You’re beautiful

Scatter-Brained Thoughts

We were looking at buying a house these past few weeks. We are not anymore. It was a foreclosure, we had an offer pending on the home inspection. After the home inspection, we wrestled with the giant amount of work needed on the house, and decided it wasn't for us. Whew! That took a lot out of us.

Somewhere in those few weeks our computer charger broke. The computer went dead fast, with no way to charge it back up. AGH! So no computer for me, or for Casey's homework.

And now, after hearing weird sounds and vibrations from the truck whenever we shift, the truck will be in the shop for about 5 days. Thought it was a U-joint on the back of the truck going bad, turned out to be a transfer case issue. We caught it early, so it should be an easy fix, fingers crossed. You know, just in case you were wondering...

In the words of my Mom, "There's always something!"

Josey is just adorable, as always. :) She is full of gibberish and dancing to any music that plays. Josey carries a purse around the house with her arm straight up in the air, pretending that she's "going somewhere" and "Oh, so busy". This stage is awesome! At the same time, I see the beginnings of a little girl looking up at me, and not a baby anymore. Josey is still really big into cuddling with a bottle in the morning, so that makes me happy.

This makes me laugh. This picture is one of Josey's concerts in full swing. She's dancing and singing on the top of her lungs into her play microphone. I just love how she has her pj's on and her Daddy's hat on backwards. I think this was about 8:30 in the morning the other day haha!

Well, that's kind of what's going on out here in Illinois :) Have a good day!

Recipes from Near and Far

I made these chocolate chip cookies and they were probably the best cookies I've ever made. I don't know about you, but I always look at pictures of cookies and wish that mine turned out picture worthy. They always flatten, burn on the bottom, or I add too much chocolate chips cause I want to get rid of the bag. These cookies DID turn out just like the picture, no joke.. and they are everything a chocolate chip cookie should be and more.

This picture and recipe are from cookingontheside.com Click for recipe

We tried this casserole the other night and we really liked it. I was a bit nervous about the fennel. I've never eaten it before, and was afraid it would taste like black licorice (EW). But! The fennel tasted great! This is a recipe I am going to keep making for sure! I got a little creative with the type of sausage to put in the casserole, I used chorizo mexican sausage and it was a great spicy addition to the recipe.

Picture and recipe from Kayotic Kitchen Click for recipe

If you are ever in the mood for a salad and you're sick of the same ol' same old thing, you should try making Napa Cabbage Salad! My sister-in-law brought this to Christmas dinner and it was amazing! I need to make it myself soon, because I can't stop thinking about it! So tasty, crunchy, colorful, and delicious! Mmm Mmm!

Napa Cabbage Salad

Ingredients

1 large head Napa cabbage

1/4 - 1/2 cup sesame seeds

2 pkg. Ramen noodles, crushed

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 cup sliced almonds, browned

Dressing

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup oil

1/4 cup vinegar

2-3 Tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

Mix only cabbage (broken in pieces) and green onions. Just before serving add remaining ingredients and toss the salad with the dressing.

Playing in the Snow

Our one and only snow, that actually stuck, was a few weeks ago. It has been a really mild winter here compared to last year!

We wanted to take Josey out to play in the snow. It took longer to put all her snow gear on than she was actually outside :) But, we had fun!

Josey was so excited to see everything white!

And, as you can see she dove right in! :)

Aw! My little girl!!

Josey's little trail is so cute! She actually walked most of the way to that spot.

After rolling around for a bit trying to get up, Daddy came to the rescue!

Josey needed to be rescued again, she wasn't liking to learn how cold snow is on your fingers. She had originally started with gloves, but they came off as soon as we went outside. That's how it goes..

Josey and me!

I loved seeing her little boots next to ours after we came in. Funny little side note: I bought these baby boots right before Casey and I got married. I knew how much Casey likes hunting and thought they were appropriate. It's crazy to see them being used now :)