back at it.

My sweet Chad is back at it again after a 12:30 arrival at home last night. Going on another 5 hours of sleep and headed back out to a fire. The called me from the top of the fire tower yesterday saying "hey, I get really good cell service up here!" but I can't imagine climbing that many stairs just to make a phone call. Guess he really loves me!  Please keep praying for rain. There is none in our forecast but we all know who controls the weather and HE can do whatever he wants!

My sister is coming this morning but since I was awake before the sun, I am going to do a bit of cleaning before she gets here - somehow breaking  yesterday's rule about what was more important. At least I will not clean WHILE she is here. Instead I will eat sushi and get a pedicure.

Updated to add: I did get a lot of stuff done! Cleaned off and rearranged the front porch...moved chairs to the back patio in preparation for fall fires in the firepit, cleaned off dining room table, cleaned up kitchen, emptied and refilled dishwasher, one load of laundry down and about to shower! I've had a productive morning!

visiting!

I am sorry that I am such a bad blogger...this time of year is just not good for extracurricular activities in our family!

I am pretty excited that my sister is coming to visit me tomorrow. I am taking the entire day off just to hang out with her, get some pedicures, maybe eat some sushi (cause that cutie I live with won't eat it!), and just chat. I am thankful that she lives close enough to just come for the day when she chooses - I just really wish that our lives and schedules matched up a bit better than they do. Like I said, this time of year is nuts for our house. Chad has been out on a fire since Sunday - coming home to sleep around 5 or 6 hours a night - and then getting up and pushing the "repeat" button the next day. I am sure it is wearing on him...I know he is tired because we don't really talk when he comes home...He just crashes into bed and then is up again before the sun the next day. I worked 12 hours today in my office and I am exhausted. I can only imagine how he feels right about now with all the physical labor and heat he is dealing with these past few days.

I love my job. I know it pays the bills and I am oh-so-very thankful for employment in our current economy and even a job that I actually enjoy going to every day! However, I wish I was home more. And I REALLY wish I was home more when Chad and I could be here together. My house is a wreck right now and I feel like I never really "have it all together". I managed to sneak home and fold the giant pile of clothes last week but they are sitting there on the guest bed waiting to be put away. And now I am two loads behind again! My kitchen smells funny - which I can't seem to find the source of - took out the trash, no dirty dishes, scent checked the fridge - no luck. My dining room table is covered in...stuff. Mostly from where I cleaned off the kitchen counters. Depressing. And there are Gwendolen tumbleweeds blowing near the baseboards...from just 4 days of no vacuuming. Two lessons: you can't always have it all put together (meaning: not that I ever had it put together but for example...if I am succeeding at work, putting in lots of hours and getting my job done well, other areas of my life will fall behind). And two: I would rather spend time with the people I care about than clean my house. We went to Columbus this past weekend and saw people we loved. I went out last night to celebrate the birthday of a sweet friend with a bunch of other gals. And tomorrow - my only day off - I am choosing to spend it with my sister, ignoring the odd smell in the kitchen (ooo...maybe the chef can figure it out!). Hopefully the house cleaning will come in there somewhere but frankly, life is too short...

In other news, please pray for rain. It hasn't rained in over a month here, at least not enough to be considered the real thing. I realize there are places that are experiencing serious drought and the livelihood of entire communties are depending on that rain and I don't mean to minimize that. But we need it too. We need it to soak our land and keep the fires away. Sending people we love out to fire a forest fire is dangerous and rain is really the only thing that will stop it and keep the fires at bay.

making plans

We are in Columbus this weekend - no really - right now! Don't worry the neighbors with guns (no really - they do - its awesome!) are watching the house for us. We are here to celebrate my sweet friend J and the upcoming birth of Caleb in October. We hope to shower her with love and blessings tomorrow here at my parents house so we have lots to do in preparation! So, I'm just checking in!

However, I want to mention - I have been in Columbus for less than 12 hours and I have already seen my 3 best friends in the entire world (together! in one place!!) and eaten Ok Suns. For those of you that understand the implications of that - it is truly epic.  It has been a great day!

that cat.

In the summer, Chad gets up at 5am Monday through Thursday. He does his morning routine - dog walking, devotion reading, lunch making, feed the cat and the dog - and then he comes back to bed for a few minutes before we both get up at 6am. Wooby - our cat that can apparently tell time - gets up with him every morning. She knows he is going to feed her and she usually even hangs out with him while he lays on the couch and reads. Some mornings, however - take the weekends neither of us have to go to work as an example - we humans like to sleep a little later than 5am. Wooby does not like a change in her routine. She begins speaking loudly to us from the hallway outside our bedroom door. Chad, my dear, sweet husband can sleep through this nonsense. I cannot.

All that to say that sometimes this obnoxious early morning conversation can be helpful. Like this morning for example. Wooby started in right at 5am and I tried to ignore her for a while until I realized that Chad's alarm hadn't gone off. I woke him up around 5:20 and he was thankful for our furry alarm clock that seems to keep very good time.

romance.

Here on the celebration day of our 3rd anniversary, I can't help but feeling a little sentimental so if you don't like cheese, you might want to skip this post. You were warned...

We joke all the time that I did NOT marry a romantic. Considering his exact words were "so, you wanna get married, or what?", I think it is safe to say that my Chad - though he is many things - probably should not be called romantic. However, looking back over the years, I am starting to realize that the dude might be more romantic than I ever gave him credit for. Like many things are, I guess romance is in the eye of the beholder. I have tried in the most recent past to be more acutely aware of things that Chad does for me - trying to see them from his eyes, from his priority list, and from his heart - instead of just seeing them how I would normally see them. Every Friday when the trash gets taken out, he is blessing me. Every time he unloads the dishwasher - a job he knows I hate - he blesses me. Every time he gets up earlier than me and quietly ushers the dog out and closes the door so I can sleep for another blessed 30 minutes, he blesses me. I know these things don't really seem romantic and in the most traditional sense of the word they aren't. They are just daily necessities or small thoughtful moments that looking back are reminders of a romance that is sometimes unseen and unspoken.

Most recently though, Chad has done two things that he probably thought were not a big deal but I saw them as hugely romantic and almost tearfully recieved. First, he suggested that we take a picnic out tonight and eat at the park where we got married. And he suggested that the food be Chick-fil-a. I think that is a triple romance whammy. A picnic? In the park, at the table where our families sat when we got married? And Chick-fil-a? Guy knows how to win my heart. So that is our plan for tonight - our 3rd anniversary. I am hoping for a breezy, quickly cooling evening.

Second romantic moment...I got home from work today, changed clothes, let the dog out, and went to check the mail. My mom and my sister and Frannie somehow managed to perfectly plan the delivery of sweet anniversary notes (I can't ever get mail delivered on the right day...how did you guys buy off the mailperson?!?). There was also a postcard from our trip to the Turks and Caicos, addressed to me from my husband. He could never have known that it would arrive today and probably couldn't have planned it if he had tried; I didn't even know he sent me a postcard while we were down there. But he thought of me. And he knew I would get it weeks later when I needed a reminder of a sweet, fun, memorable trip while struggling through the busy fall season at work. And he mailed me a postcard. I know - it doesn't seem like much - but those two things were so sweet, understated, perfectly CHAD that I am quickly reminded that I married the right guy for me and I am blessed every day to be his wife.

I do have a fun addition to our picnic tonight. I went by the cupcake store today and bought two cupcakes for us to share with our dinner. One that is lemon flavored - to remind us of the cupcakes my sister lovingly baked for our wedding. And the other is chocolate with peanut butter frosting - to remind us of the cake my best friend's mom baked us for our reception at my parent's house. I am loving trolling through sweet memories today and I am excited to spend the evening with my handsome, funny, smart, strong husband.

3 years!

I can’t believe that 3 years ago we were standing on that lake shore promising to “love each other, when it seems easy and when it seems hard”. It has been some of the most incredible years of my life, filled with experiences, memories, challenges, and triumphs. I am so honored, blessed, and thrilled to be his wife; I have the most hardworking, loyal, dedicated, strong, and faithful husband – blessings beyond what I would have ever believed had I not lived it these past 3 years.


We are having a picnic at the park where we got married for dinner. His idea. (and I say I didn't marry a romantic. Ha!)
Here’s to 80 more!

i was wrong!!

As my sweet friend Dani pointed out in the last post's comments, I was wrong about the 3rd anniversary gift!  Oh NO! All my ideas are out the window.

Note to self: you rarely get comments on your blog. When you do, read them. They might be important.


So, LEATHER it is folks. Help me out!

coming right up!

Our 3rd anniversary is coming up in just over a week and I am seriously struggling with what to get/do for my sweetie! The traditional gift is cotton - which might not be so bad - and the modern gift is china - which we do NOT need or want so that's out of the question! However, a nice new set of sheets for the bed or something might be nice...

Our friends Emily and David gave each other fun gifts for their 3rd but I can't seem to come up with any great ideas! 

I need suggestions!! What have you given your spouse that they really loved (and that hopefully wasn't expensive!) for an anniversary? It doesn't have to fit the cotton/china traditions but it might be fun to throw that in there too!  I have enough time to make something if I needed to but don't know what to make or get him. He is frugal, impossible to shop for, and a minimalist. Help me out!

honey.

As I reported here we got over 31 pounds of honey this year - so much in fact that we had to go buy more jars!

The first thing you do is cut the "caps" off the frames of honey. This is the newest, freshest wax that seals up each individual space in the honeycomb; it is also the wax that you will clean and save to make candles, lip balm, etc. - which we did! Well, I mean we saved it and cleaned it. We haven't actually made anything with it yet. You then put these now-dripping frames into the extractor. The extractor basically acts like a large centrifuge that spins the honey out of the comb, allowing it to drain to the bottom.

 This is the valve at the bottom of the extractor. The honey comes out of the valve and passes through two filters, decreasing in size. This gets out any bits of wax, debris, etc. You then use the valve at the bottom of the bucket to pour the honey into jars, after waiting at least 24 hours for the air bubbles to come out of the honey.

This is our final jarred honey. The largest of the jars is going to be used for the mead. The other three sizes will be for consumption! I especially love the little squatty, flat jars which were given to us by a sweet family friend.

A sticky wonderful mess!

insanity.

Sorry it has been so quiet around here on the blog. This week at work was a bit crazy - I guess that is what taking a week off will get you - a pile of work to be done! I had at least 3 days where I worked 13+ hours and then also had to work Saturday. I do work on a flex schedule so essentially I can take the time off in the next two weeks but I am so busy with so much work to do that it might not exactly be possible.

Our vacation was amazing. The Turks and Caicos are an interesting little island chain made up of multiple smallish islands. The best part about them is the amazingly clear and colorful water. Varied shades of blue, turquoise, navy, and green - it was amazing. I am hoping that Chad's dad will share some of the pictures and videos that he took because I sort of took a camera hiatus. I borrowed my sister and Frannie's camera and I think I took a total of about 30 pictures. It was nice to not be the one behind the camera this time - and that means there are actually some pictures of me in there! It was also nice to turn off my cell phone for a week - I can't describe how amazing that was! No calls, no emails, no Facebook "dings" all week. Fabulous!

A few more super busy weeks at work, a baby shower for my sweet friend Jenna the last Saturday of this month (along with a trip to Columbus!) and if I can just get through September and October at work then things will start to settle down.

We processed honey yesterday and put it in jars today. We got at least 31 pounds of honey, spread over about 40 jars. We got enough to make a batch of mead (fermented honey, like a strong wine), keep some, give some as Christmas gifts, and even sell a little (and we have already had offers from the neighbors!!). It was a messy, sticky experience so thankfully it only happens once per year! Pictures to come...