Simply Adapting – Losing life & Mending Fences

I hate writing about times like these but sometimes we need an outlet to what we are feeling inside.

On Monday, my sister called me with news that her best friends brother had taken his life, the brother happened to be a classmate I grew up with in high school. He, who was a high school sweet heart to one of my best friends. I find that no matter how old you get, a lose does not become easier to with stand. I am saddened that once again I am faced with a loss of someone who made a difference in this world. I am more saddened at the thought of him being so sad that he came to the decision to be with god instead of his family here on earth.

Now I don’t care what the bible says about taken life… I have had a long drawn out conversation between myself and god back through high school and college when I lost a even closer friend to the same demons. It took me a long time to get to a place of peace between me and the lord and when it comes down to it I know that those lives are at rest and I no longer care to hear others interpretations on heaven and hell and who gets the privilege of going to either.

I hope the he is at peace now and that all his pain and burden that he held through being in the war has been washed away. I pray for his family and hope that this loss will be healed over time. I can not imagine how I would feel to lose someone to grave.

Throughout learning about this loss, I immediately contacted the girl that I was once good friends with to tell her of the event. I knew that she had cared deeply for this person and would want to know and come to peace with it herself. We too have had a falling out about 2 years ago that put an end to our 8 year friendship. Over the past two years I have thought often about what had happened and placed blame in the wrong places. People are not perfect and I certainly am not. I have made some choices that I have come to regret such as the loss of this friendship. Sometimes it takes time to grow up and re-evaluate life and choices that may not have been the best.

I am hopeful that we have opened a door to begin to mend a friendship that may still be there. I think that true friendships are hard to come by and that there has always been something special between us. I have seen friendships mend through watching my mom and a friendship she herself mended after 15+ years… I think there is hope.  

On a better note, I will be driving the 5 hours to Ames, Iowa this evening to complete “Round Two of – Hunter Hunters Rigdon Edition. {G} really liked one of the homes he saw yesterday. It just so happened to be the one with the four legged friends I had hinted at. I am still not going to say too much, I don’t want to jinx anything. All I will say is that this may be the one! We are going to look at {G}’s number 1 & 2 tomorrow and possibly hopefully make an offer?!?

Our home had the inspection completed on Monday, we still have not heard anything as of yet. The purchasers have until tomorrow to re-counter or accept the offer they gave. The next two days are vital in our Home Search!

Psalm 48:14
For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

Tips for Tuesday – Trends to Avoid

January Jones Eats Own Placenta: Healthy or Ick?

Wowie wowie WOW! I just could not believe my eyes when I read this article from Yahoo.com yesterday! Actually, I heard it first on the way to work when I was driving. All I heard was  “people eating the afterbirth for nutritional value”… I listened but didn’t know why they brought it up… now I know why. Click here for article.

January… you are one crazy South Dakotan Native gone Hollywood! But in all honesty…how crazy is she? I mean think about it… if eating placenta capsules magically made you lose 10 lbs…. or it cleared skin acne… or it helped to heal cancer or HIV… wouldn’t we all eat it? These are all things that people want and need and that is a very powerful thing. However, since eating placentas has not been found to advance a new mommy’s health in anyway since we are already healthy I think I am going to PASS on this one.

If you are down with new trends by all means gorge yourself to death… I’ll even help you with a website on “Placenta Recipes”… they have Roasted Placenta, Placenta Cocktails, Placenta Spaghetti, or you can dehydrate it to save for later on.

Subway Tile Back Splash

                    

I have noticed during my OCD of the “HGTV channel that subway tile is the new decor trend in homes for 2012. I’m not really sold on this yet. Currently I think it looks ok, yea I could like it, but then I think to 10-15 years from now and think, “Man… people are going to think this was UGLY”! I know, I know… live in the NOW. I’m just not quite sold though. I do LOVE tile back splash, just not in the subway tile. What are you thoughts?

Missoni Fashion Trend Sells out in Minutes at Target

 

Remember these looks shown not too long ago on TV commercials for Target?

I remember seeing some of the first commercials and thinking to myself “ Cute shoes… not so cute lamp shades, blankets, and rugs. Flash back to the 60’s”. I am glad I did not rush to target to buy some of these items, they sold out in the matter of a day! Funny thing is that even with target selling out of these items I don’t really remember seeing too many people wearing these items. Do you? I work on a college campus so I would thinking that of all the people who would wear this trend it would’ve been the college students. Did you partake in the Missoni craze, if so what did you buy and would you wear it next fall?

Hair Feather Extensions

Seriously… not trying to offend anyone here but I never did understand this trend. Who started it? It’s really no different then when I was little and we did “Hair wraps.” Remember those… You were even cooler if you had the beads at the ends that clank together. I begged my mom at Disney World to let me have one.

        

I do think that they are really cute… that is for anyone who is not in a professional job. Once you hit 24 you really need to LET go of some of these trends… They may be cute but I guarantee you are getting the wrong types of looks.

What trends did you pass up so far in 2012?

What trends do you see emerging as we hit spring/summer?

Am I wrong in thinking to pass on all of the above?

I’d love to hear your comments!

Weekend Wrap Up - Appetite Fulfilled

Yesterday we went and saw The Hunger Games !!! I thought they did a great job with keeping the movie in line with the book. There were a few little changes but nothing that was too far fetch from the story line of the book. I’ve been hearing a lot about parents not wanting their kids to watch this movie because “it’s a bunch of teenagers killing themselves”. I’m just kind of confused. I myself am not a parent yet but I just don’t see myself saying “No” to a movie like this down the road. I believe that The Hunger Games is very much the same as Lord of the Flies which we read in middle school as a mandatory assignment set by the state of education.  They are both about survival, instinct, and in some ways government corruption. The production company did great with the rating of the movie as well. There was no cursing, other then the word “Hell” which was a breath of fresh air. The killing scenes were some what bloody but they didn’t focus on the actually slaughter of the teenagers, and I’ve seen much worse on TV. I will say the book is amazing and that when it comes time for me to say “No” to my kids I will make sure to read the book for myself before hand but that’s just me and we all have our own parenting values.

This weekend went fast once again, as it always does. Even with the longer days I just feel like the time flies. It may have to do with the fact that {G} has left again for Ames, IA as of this morning. It really stinks to see him go, I’m starting to resent it a little more each week. I know this will get better once we move and are living in the same house during the week again. It can’t come soon enough!

{G} finished “Project Pedal Tractor” on Sunday! Yay! 

{ Before & During Restoration }

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{ Complete Restoration of 1970’s Ford 8000 pedal tractor }

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{G} was so cute when he finished. I kept catching him admiring the work that he did. Right now we have it in a corner at the top on the landing of the stairs. It’s a great corner to have it in so that it is out of they way, but also so that he can see it. I tried riding it but that medal seat hurts my bum way too much!  Not to mention my legs are just too long.

{Home Updates}

The inspector is at our house right now completing his check list of items. They are checking for any issues in the Septic, electrical, and foundation. I am hoping everything will go well, this entire inspection holds weight on if the people who placed the offer will go forth in buying our house. {G} and I are starting to sweat here. If this does go through we will officially be homeless as of April 27th. We need to find a home ASAP!

There may be one that surprised us over the weekend. It’s not something we were looking for but it may just be what is meant to be. {G} is going to look at it early this week. If he likes it, I am headed down to Ames to take a look for myself and give the okay to put down an offer. I don’t want to say too much about the home but lets just say I’ve always considered myself a “anti-horse” person. Cows, pigs, and chickens are far more practical in my eyes… this home is definitely a place for these hay eating 4 legers.

I will tell you more about it later this week… hope you are curious. ;)

Hungry for the Hunger Games!

I am stoked that the hunger games has now officially come out in theaters as of last night! I envy you young college kids that had to energy to see the late night screenings and I myself would’ve if I didn’t have such a busy day at work today. Ha… who am I kidding, that’s a lie! I love my sleep too much, it can certainly wait until Saturday. For the next two days I will be avoiding Face Book, any blogs mentioning the hunger games, TV recaps, and anyone who has already seen the movie. I do not want any preconceived ideas of how the showings went, whether good or bad. I haven’t been this excited since… well … Twilight, but even that was different. I wasn’t on board until later after the books had been out for awhile.

 

 

     

 

                                 

 

This week has been pretty low key at home. {G} is gone again this week in Iowa and I am left here in Mitchell. I did have fun on Tuesday though, I went to my friend Teri’s house and we made pizza with her boys and then played soccer. The rest of the week its been a little rainy. My knee is acting up again so I haven’t run all week either. All of those years of soccer certainly was hard on my knees and now it’s scary that I already feel the impact of it at 26 years old. :(

We are at a stand still with our home here in Mitchell. We did get a bid and accepted but now have to wait. On Monday an inspector will come through the house and check it for bugs, structural defects, and the septic tank. Then, by Thursday of next week the purchasers either have to accept, counter, or drop their offer. I believe that they will purchase the home no matter what, but if they counter we don’t think were going to drop too far off of the bid they already gave. Who knows… prayers would be great so if you have any to spare on Monday send them our way. :)

{G} is working in Iowa but is also looking at houses. I’m super jealous that he gets to go through all these homes! All I can do is sit here and look on the internet at the houses and then ask him a million and one questions. “So in the pictures it looks like the bathroom is at the end of the hall? Is there a bed room on the first floor? What about the cellar, what shape is it in? Do appliance come with? what about… yada yada yada.” It is exhausting! I want to be able to be there and walk through with him. Which will happen again eventually. If he finds a home that he thinks we need to jump on then I’ll be on my way to Iowa for a day to look only to turn around and come back the next day. Some of the homes we were at the top of our list are now off our list due to “re-walk through’s” that {G} has done.

I trust my husband very much with , we have talked about what we really want in a home and I think he is just really trying to find the best house for us. Once he finds one worth a second look I will of course go down to Iowa as well and take a look-see. Hopefully sooner than later.

Happy Hunger Games everyone!

Thoughtful Thursdays - Pinterest Link Up

Happy Thursday Everyone! We're almost to the weekend! This week I was thinking about my normal link up and I wanted to make it pop a little more.

{ My Pins this week }

Wow, I am in total house decor mode right now. I really really wish we had a house picked out to move into in Iowa so that I could really start brain storming. I wanted to start getting ideas though.

{RUGS!}

{Pillows}



       

{Home Organization}

    



{ SHARE YOUR PINS! }

{ What to Link up }

Please link up your favorite Pin of the week! I want to see what fun stuff everyone else is finding on Pinterest.

{ How to link up }

Go to your pinterest account and click on the picture you would like to link up. On the "add link" at the botton here add the URL for that Pin.

{ Get new followers }

In the comment section leave your Blog URL if you would like new followers.

{ Have fun pinning! }

Simply Adapting – Megan’s Story

Today I am excited to have Megan sharing her Simply Adapting Story! I have known Megan for about 5 years now. Megan is married to my husbands cousin… so we are both married into the Rigdon Family. We first met on one of the many trips to the “Home Farm” where Megan’s husband grew up. {G} is very close to his aunt, uncle, and cousins so we were there for lots of family gatherings. It was nice to have Megan around since we are about the same age and she was also dating a Rigdon… which believe it or not is was a challenge at times. :)

{ Megan’s Story }

My name is Megan! I was born in a small town in Maryland and lived there my entire life until I was 25 years old. I even lived at home most of my college years and commuted to school. I have never been away from my family and friends until I moved states in 2009. My husband and I are high school sweethearts. We began dating when I was 16 years old. After a long distance college relationship (he went to UNC Chapel Hill) he returned to Maryland where he accepted a job. We bought a house together, I accepted a teaching job at the elementary school only 3 minutes away, and then we got engaged! While engaged, my fiancé applied and was accepted to UVA Darden Business School. So two weeks after we got married in July 2009 we packed our bags and headed for Charlottesville, Virginia.

{ What are some of the things that you felt you had to adapt to in your new community or life situations }(Marriage, culture, distance, food, customs, etc)

There were MANY adaption's. One major change was not being around my family and friends. Family is everything to me and it was so hard not to see them. I accepted a teaching job at a local private school which was vastly different from my kindergarten teaching job back home (which I missed immensely). Even though we were newlyweds, our relationship did not change much since we lived with each other 3 years prior to getting married. We were so surprised to find out we were pregnant 8 months after we moved to Charlottesville! My husband and I talk about our move to Charlottesville all the time and how it was the BEST two years of our lives! After he graduated from business school, we moved back home to Maryland. We will never forget the lasting friendships we made and the fun times we had there!

{ What advice would you give to readers to help in simply adapting to their new home? }

My advice to help you adapt to a new town is to not be afraid to become part of the community. While my husband was busy studying and going to school most hours of the day, I was hoping to make friends! I signed up for the partner association through my husband’s school where I met some awesome gals. We would get together a few nights a week while our husbands went to their night classes and we all hung out pretty much every weekend for two years! Now we are living all over the East Coast, but we consider each other our C’ville Family and keep in touch through weekly emails and even get together a few times a year. I also found that keeping a blog was a great way to journal what we were up to. My family loved reading it and seeing pictures of our weekly adventures! I signed up for a 365 Photo Challenge online which I felt helped me to find out more about my town and also kept me quite busy too!

 

{ What are some fun tips and tricks that you have learned from living in is your new Hometown? }

My tip would be to explore your new home town as much as possible!! Take lots of pictures! My husband and I had so much fun spending weekends checking out new places- the local farmer’s market, Downtown Mall, Montilcello, Carters Mountain, Veritas Vineyards, The Lawn, the Corner (lots of college bars and restaurants)…  

 

I have always considered myself a crafty gal, but when I moved to Charlottesville I began making lots of things! The private school that I had worked for there was all about handmade EVERYTHING! I remember having my beginning of the year welcome post cards all written out and ready to send to my students. When I showed them to my coworkers they seemed a little thrown off that I did not make the postcards myself! I had just stopped by the local teacher store and bought a pack. Needless to say after that moment, even though I felt pretty silly at the time and wanted to crawl in a hole, I fell in love with everything handmade!

{ Post a local recipe from the most recent area you moved to that you didn't know about before: }

I don’t really have a recipe to share, but most Charlottesville restaurants always had a Mac and Cheese dish… it was a big thing there! My favorite restaurant in Charlottesville was The Local (http://www.thelocal-cville.com/). Their food was so yummy and all made from fresh local ingredients.

 

{ What I love about Megan’s Story }

I love that Megan moved to support her husbands education and future career goals. I think by making this move it brought them even closer together since you don’t have current friends and family to fall back on when living in a new state. Going back to my post a few days ago I had said, “I believe things happen for a reason…”. Megan has become a fantastic mom and through living in Charlottesville she was able to expand her love for photography. Now Megan runs a fabulous photography business through her home and is able to stay at home with her adorable son Weston full time! If you are moving to a new area take her tip by “exploring as much as possible”! You can really find some neat places and people along the way! I myself will certainly be trying this local Mac n Cheese recipe… It looks delicious!

Thank you to Megan for taking the time to share her Simply Adapting Story! Please stop by all of her sites to learn a little more about her and see her amazing photography skills!

Tips for Tuesday – Starting Seeds Indoors!

Happy 1st Day of Spring! I am just so excited to say it’s SPRING! Still in the back of my mind I think this may be a cruel joke at the hands of mother nature but my morning weather guy –Brian Karstens or as {G} and I call him “Bubba Karstens” – has assured me as of yesterday morning that he really doubts March will dip back below the 50’s for highs during the day. Which means SPRING is here…. along with tornados in the mid west but that my friends is another day.

Before I get started with today’s tip I want to remind you to stop in tomorrow for a NEW Simply Adapting Story! Megan from {Sharing our Shenanigans} will be telling her story about starting a family in a state away from home.

On this FABULOUS Tuesday I wanted to share some Green Thumb techniques I love when planning ahead to my summer garden. If you haven’t thought about starting your seeds you really should! By taking advantage of the warm season you could plant an early garden with a longer growing season which in return will give you even more produce over the summer time! YAY!

I’m kind of bummed but this year since my priority is not getting a garden started until after our move… I am hopeful we don't move too late into the spring/summer so that I can still plant a garden. Last years garden was okay… but spring came late and the growing season was a HOT one. We didn’t get much yield until August and by then it was too late. 

Here are some great ideas to start seedlings indoors!

First thing you need to do is go to a garden store and pick out which veggies you want to grow this summer. Here are the typical ones

• Cherry Tomatoes
• Big Boy or Rutgers Slicing Tomatoes
• Green Peppers
• Jalapenos
• Yellow Squash
• Cucumbers
• Sweet Corn
• Peas

You can certainly start any seed indoors, those are just a few of my favorite. * Caution – If using Jalapeno seeds be careful to wash your hands before touching your face. Residue from seeds will burn your eyes.
Once you have chosen what you would like to plant you really need to think about how many to plant. Lots of times people who plant gardens are just going to have a little plot in their back yard that is maybe 12 x 12 feet. For that you are NOT going to use an entire packet of seeds. Maybe plan with a friend and split the cost of the packages or store them in a cool dry place and use them next year.
Usually I will plant – 6 tomato Large plants, 3 cherries, 6 green peppers, 1 jalapeño, 2 rows of 10 sweet corn seeds, 3 peas, and 3 squash.

It’s just my husband and I so are garden is small. Also, if you have a good long growing season you can become QUICKLY over whelmed with endless squash and tomatoes.

{How to start seedlings indoors}

There are a few way to make little seed starting kits. Here are some of my favorites that don’t cost a thing and you are recycling!

{The toilet paper roll}

This is a great one for families! I bet you go through TP like crazy in your house! If you do start saving the rolls to use in starting your seeds.

How? Cute the TP rolls in halves or thirds. At one end cut 1/2 inch slits and fold to create a flat bottom surface. To Secure use masking tape.

* Rule of Thumb – ALWAYS LABEL and DATE.

{ News Paper Cups }

Don’t have time to stock up on TP rolls? That’s okay here is another alternative.

How? Fold a piece of news paper until it is the width of a soda can. Using the soda can roll the news paper around it then fold one end underneath and secure with masking tape.

TA-DA!

And my Favorite!

{The Egg Carton Technique}

They just look so cute!

How? It doesn’t matter whether you want a large garden or small one, this technique is great because you can get egg cartons in a small 6pk like above or in a mammoth size in which your family will suffer with EGGs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (super) for 2 weeks. Holy eggies that’s a lot!

It’s the easiest though since you can just fill them with soil and start planting!
Here are some helpful tips I used to teach to my plant science students:

1. It’s called SOIL not dirt… dirt is found on the bottom of your shoe and is made up of skin particles, dust, and non-organic material. SOIL is rich in nutrients and fertilizers which your plants need to live a healthy and happy life. Don’t call it dirt.
2. When planting a seed you want to fill the container up until there is about a quarter inch left before the top. I always say use your finger tip as a marker, from the last knuckle on your pointer finger  to the nail is just enough. You need a little room at the top of the soil line so that when you water it does not “Run-ith over” :)
3. Your seed needs to be covered with the soil but remember seeds need light to grow so if you plant your seed too far into the container it won’t be able to collect that light and begin to grow. Using the tip of a pencil is easy, go about 3/4 inch into the soil then fill and pack lightly.
4. Watering – Make sure that you do not DROWN your seeds or in lots of cases forget to water. You want to water the soil enough to saturate the seed but if you over water you could kill it. I usually count to 3 ( 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi , 3 Mississippi- Done)  when sprinkling water over the containers.
5. Warmth and Sunlight. Make sure to find a window ceil that gets lots of sunlight and very little draft. Warm is good!
6. If all else fails when listening to me refer to the seed packet. I always make sure to read the packet to see depth of seed and growth time. Make a little calendar to mark when Germination (Growth) should start to occur in which plants. Then mark when its a good time to start preparing your garden and moving your seedlings to the outdoors.

I hope that you found this these Tips helpful!

I HEART SPRING!

As per Megan's request here is a diagram that I drew up of how we planted out garden last year.

Weekend Wrap up - Luck of the Irish

Well this weekend was just filled with excitement once again and this time I may just credit the Luck of the Irish…

This weekend seemed to FLY by. It was 82 on Saturday and Sunday was 85! We opened all the windows in the house and let the air naturally flow through into the house.

Saturday morning {G} and I went to get paint and other items for his new project. I’ll call it “Project Pedal Tractor”. Long story short… If you don’t know my husband he is a die hard FORD lover and works for New Holland (CNH) which was Ford/New Holland until Ford got out of the tractor business to focus more on vehicles. Our home is decked out in Ford and New Holland collectables which led to “Project Pedal Tractor”, the restoration of a 70’s ford pedal tractor that he bought on eBay.

 

That morning I also received a call from a realtor that has shown our home quite a bit asking to stop in at 2pm that day. We joked a little back and forth about how well he knows our home and I told him I really hope he can sell it for us! :)

It was my cleaning day so while {G} was out working on “Project Pedal Tractor” I spent the entire morning changing sheets and putting spring ones on, vacuuming, cleaning wood floors, I also gave the bathroom a good thorough wipe down. I also reorganized the guestroom closet. This is where I currently store all of our linens and sheets. It is a complete mess and needed to be compacted so I bought the air tight storage bags.

{Closet Before Pictures}

{During}

  

{After}

 

After this little project, I moved the patio furniture from the basement to the outdoor side patio where we grill. By the time I got all this done it was 1:40! YIKES! I grabbed {G} and we went to run some errands and also stop into a local joint called “Zestos” to grab some milkshakes. Around 2:30 we headed back to the house and to our surprise the realtor was still there with the lookers. So we kept on driving, came back 15 minutes later and they were still looking… drove a little longer… came back another 15 minutes later and they were gone. I was so excited! {G} and I were talking and we just knew that no one looks at a house for an hour if they are just browsing or aren’t interested. This was a really good sign.

We went on with our day and later that evening we went to “Blarney’s Sports Bar and Grill” to watch the ISU vs. Kentucky game and have a few drinks. As we were eating our realtor called and said the people who came by earlier wanted to make an offer! A REAL OFFER! YAY! I don’t want to say too much more since this is still a long process but this is a really good sign! 

We were so excited that we couldn't even sleep Saturday night. My brain kept me up all night wondering about the possibilities. I know this is only the beginning of my tossing and turning, now we really need to get serious on purchasing a home in Iowa. There are a few {G} is going to look at 3 more homes this week. I have a feeling I am going to be doing some major running after work this week … it always helps me combat stress and helps me clear my head.

Another great thing that happened Saturday was my Best Friend Missy found her wedding dress which is super exciting! It just so happened on St. Patty’s day as well! I am so happy for her and just know that she is going to make such a beautiful bride. It makes me sad as well because these are the moments that I miss out on living so far away. I really wish I was there to watch her try on her first dress and of course see that moment of finding “the Dress”. I can not wait to see pictures. I’ll probably get all teary eyed. 

Overall looking back at my “staging the home” post I really think that this nice weather has helped us show the house better. Winters in South Dakota are pretty drab and they do NOT do our home justice. Even our realtor said that in the past 2 weeks our home has just really popped with character!