A Glutten for punishment

With several small (and a few large) projects piling up all over the house, we decided to throw our hands in the air, say who cares, and have a PARTY!

We are very excited that our first party in the new house is less than 1 week away! Chelle made up these awesome invitations and the party-planning is in full swing! (There are rumors that some cupcakes may make an appearance as well--stay tuned)

Photo of the weekend--simple, yet fulfilling

Chelle is at home sick today-ugh :(

None-the-less, she wanted to share this photo of the weekend: Kevin mowing the back-yard. A very basic act, yet just really fulfilling to watch....we have our OWN yard to mow.  :)

Chelle also took this weekend to weed all the landscaping, and got to get well-acquainted with this "Creeping Charlie"everyone is always talking about. You'll notice in the picture above that this guy is really loving to live amongst the landsacping rocks and border, so Chelle spent quite a bit of time fixing that!


(As seen thru the window-screen) Ha-ha!

Chelle also got Kevin's closet all put away and organized. She just HAD to share this picture because she's sure we'll never see it this clean again!

Chelle's green thumb

Today was one of the first days that being a real homeowner set in for us. Our good friend Paul came over to build a washer/dryer pedestal for us so that we can FINALLY have our new washer/dryer delivered. Thank god for Kevin's Gram who has been doing all of our laundry for us.

The pedestals are almost complete, so be looking for a post coming soon on our DIY.

While the boys were busy getting sawdust all over our basement and garage, Chelle decided to plant her first flower at the new house. This doesnt sound like too big of a feat, however, Chelle is NO green thumb. With some help and guidance from her mom at the plant store yesterday, she was able to begin today armed with all the tools she needed, along with a SWEET new flowerpot.

After a few minutes of slinging dirt and some staring from the neighbors as Chelle sat in our driveway in her purple pajama pants, we got an AWESOME finished product:

Rain day

Well, the rain today put a damper on Chelle's spraypainting party today....

That at least gave us time to spend the day with Chelle's parents.

First cooking adventure in the new house!

Food days are pretty universal in work-settings, and when you're the "new guy", you really have to aim to please. With all of Chelle's cupcake garb not fully unpacked, she opted for a previously popular food-day staple: Marshmallow Peanut Butter Truffles--formerly known as "Boker Balls" (Aparently Chelle felt compelled to class up the name a bit). The recipe is simple:

Mix 1 cup PB with 1 (7oz) jar of Marshmallow fluff.

Stir in 1/4-1/2 cups of any flavor "chips"--I did two batches, one with butterscotch, one with chocolate PB.

Add to that, 1/2 cup of Rice crispies.

Roll into little truffle balls, like so:

Chill in the fridge for 10-15 minutes, and melt white and/or chocolate almond bark. Once chilled, dip in the melted chocolate!

While Chelle waited for the balls to chill, we discovered that perhaps we need to cool it on the peanut butter for a while... <3



Thanks!!! Happy Fooding!

Meet my Stick family!!! STICKSTICKSTICKSTICK!

A soap-box from Chelle

I've held my tongue about this for a long time, but I just cant anymore. Why do people add those stick figure family decals to their car windows? I dont REALLY need to know about your pet dog, 2 cats(1 living, 1 gone up to heaven), 1 bird. It's sort've becoming like a weird "keeping up with the jones's" to see how many psuedo "family members" you can rack up on your rear window and I dont like it one little bit. I dont usually like to soapbox, but for some reason, those crazy little sticks just get under my skin...!

Kudos

Chelle is loving things in her new building at work, and although she DOES miss being able to carpool with Kevin every morning, she also enjoys being that person in the car beside you at a red light having a concert with herself.

Chelle was recognized this month as one of her company's 2010 Diversity Champions. This came as great news to Chelle and she is very proud of herself and the article published about her(just ask her, she'll tell you all about it).

 :)

Spray Painting 101

Spray-painting party @ the house with the big orange door this weekend!!! As part of Chelle's DIY & Upcycling (Thank you "E" for introducing this to Chelle) quest, no item should be considered "safe" at our house this weekend. There are picture frames, doors being turned into headboards (more on that later), cans, shutters, and much more undergoing massive rehab.

Typically, Kev does most of our spray painting. He's just more patient than Chelle in that aspect; dont you just love that about him! Chelle has decided to go this one alone, though, and Kev has done a great job of arming her with dropcloths and all the other tools needed to make our projects flow smoothly and our house/yard remain "graffiti free".

Chelle has been sanding like a mad-woman, and even recently got some help from Little Sis! (probably against her will, but we cant be sure)

Looks like everything is close to being ready, so spraypainting will commence first thing Saturday morning! Cross your fingers for us!

**Chelle used this very helpful "Tips and Tricks" PDF from Becky at http://www.beckyhiggins.com/. Check it out if you have similar ventures upcoming!**

Spray Painting 101

Wedding Updates

Wedding colors: Pink and green, CHECK!
Wedding venue: Des Moines Community Center, CHECK!
Wedding date: 05.12.12, CHECK!
Bridal party: 5 groomsmen, 5 bridesmaids, CHECK!
Chelle's wedding shoes: bright pink princess pumps, CHECK!

Kev & Chelle are now fully immersed in creating our save the date's, be watching your mailboxes!

Cupcakes

What does a new house mean for Chelle's cupcaking venture? New creations! Chelle is very excited to start cupcaking again to share all of the cupcake "art" flowing from the new kitchen! Check out Chelle's cupcake blog, devoted 100% to her cupcaking hobby! From now on, all new cupcake creations will be housed HERE, tagged "cupcakes" for easy sorting!

Cupcakes 4.0!!

First Thing's First

Meet "Bear".



{sorry, cant figure out how to turn this pic. TACO NECK}



Bear is our newest furry friend, and Herky's new brother dog.



 Kev gave Herky to Chelle for Christmas '09.

Herky is a Boston Terrier, who, at times seems more TERRIOR than Boston. However, he loves his humans and his bones and toys. After a while though, it seemed like something was missing, and Herky grew bored of stuffed puppies.....

Kev & Chelle met Bear in the midst of preparing for our new home, & we instantly knew that this fellow "smoosh-face" would be a great little brother for Herky. Bear is a 10 month old French Bulldog. Although we werent looking, we thought that the best time to introduce Herky to a brother would be when we moved to our new home. This way, he would never know his new home without his brother dog. We were initially hesitant, thinking "is this really the right time?"; but they do also say that, "no time is the right time".

For us, things have worked out for the best.

The dogs love each other and their new yard, and Herky finally has his "Brother Bear".

WELCOME HOME

New home, new blog, new job, new "furry friend".....

I am supremely excited to get going on this blog, stay tuned!