Taking the Reigns… A New Path

In May of this year my husband and I moved to Iowa from South Dakota for his job. Prior to that I resigned from my two years of teaching after college to marry the love of my life and move to South Dakota to be with him in our new journey.

Over the past two years of marriage I have given a lot of myself up to help support my husbands career. I have never resented him for this and I certainly don’t think about the “What if’s” because they would surely lead to resentment of some kind.

Instead I have embraced our path in being newly weds and have looked at life as… “Let’s make it work”.  (Inspiring words from non other then Tim Gunn on Project Runway)

I have down graded my pay role to HALF of what I made in Delaware… Yes, life is about doing what you love and not what you make… I had both. I left my life of Happy Hour Friday’s and turned them in for Cuddle Night Sunday’s.

Since moving to Iowa, I have had the opportunity to stay working for the University in Mitchell where we moved from, essentially working from out of the home. At first I was excited that I wouldn’t have to start from scratch again. I had put so much time into my job and to have to give that up was … exhausting to think about… Another new job, new area, new people…. all I wanted was for things to stay simple for a length of time.

May & June went by fairly fast and it wasn’t until mid-July that I started noticing myself … become … obsolete. I hadn’t made friends yet, work was work but I missed seeing colleagues and being on campus with the students, I started to feel … depressed.

I noticed that I didn’t want to do anything, I did my work of course but outside of that I didn’t want to run, get dressed up (who would see me anyway), or try and meet new people but how… where? Which made me fall deeper. Going back to the word… Obsolete…What a sad word but the perfect for my explanation. I have always been a person that strives to be something better whether on a sports field, in the classroom, or in my career. Don’t take this as a competition thing, it’s not. It’s my ability to want to ACHIEVE for myself. Those can often be misinterpreted. When I achieve things it’s like a high. It can be minor every day things like getting my check list done, going grocery shopping, or successfully trying a new dinner recipe. They aren’t necessarily things that I need a Plaque for to hang on my wall. However, at the end of the day… the end of my life even, I want to look back on my career and know… “I made a difference”.

In my current job I started thinking about, what can I achieve from here, I came up with a pretty short list.

That’s when I decided to go out on a limb and search the closest University’s HR to see what they had open, that closest University just happened to be Iowa State University. Already I was thinking, “Yeah right, that’ll never happen”. As I scrolled through the job options I saw a lot of Ag. research positions but they didn’t quite reach out to me, then I saw a position working with middle and high school students and I had to click to find out more.

After researching the position and seeing if I qualified to apply I saw that, yes indeed, I had met ALL of the qualifications!

I applied and anxiously waited 3 weeks… I started to wonder if I had been over looked. I told my husband, “I know this is the job for me… I just know it… all I need is that interview and I know I can show them what I match I would be.” Two days later I got a phone call to interview. I went into my interview confident like always and came out feeling like not only did I give it my best, but I really got to know these people in the department as well and we all seemed to mesh well.

Waiting…. waiting… filled out this form… waiting … fill out this form as well …. waiting … 3 weeks again go by and I get the call on Thursday, September 20th…

“We would love to offer the position to you!”

I still can’t believe it and 4 days have now passed! I will be an employee of Iowa State University.

It’s seriously such a honor to be selected but what I am more so excited about it getting to work within the school districts again. My role is to visit with middle and high school students to help them learn more about college options, financial aid, applying, and scholarships. To be able to work with students again is a blessing. To be able to create relationships and know that you are making a difference in someone’s life is something that cannot be measured by money.

I am so happy that I really evaluated my situation and decided to do something for ME this time…. not for my husband, not for the “title”, not to just have a paycheck… but to know that I am going to finally be doing something that fits who I am again and REALLY utilize my god given talents and those are…

To have patience, listen, mentor, and help students find success within education

I believe that god truly does give each of us talents and I was lucky to find mine my senior year of high school. To work with students in a more connected way will fill my heart with joy once again.

It Comes in Waves….

Is it me or does it just always happen that when we have “projects” we HAVE “project(S)” with a capital S?!?! We will go WEEKS with out any large projects and then BAM out of no where it’s 20 projects in a weekend. :(

Holy hell was the weekend a complete cluster of endless outdoor projects. I wish we could just do a minor project and save the rest for the next weekend but it just happens that we are on a time frame and need it done NOW.

G rented a skid loader for the weekend so that we could finally clear off the trailer of items his BF (man husband) brought back in July. They were too heavy to do by hand so we needed the forks and some HP (horse power) to help.

G driving the Skid loader… he found the obnoxious horn to be quite amusing….

Our biggest item to get off the trailer was the disc cutter, it’s HEAVY, awkward, and the center of balance is very hard to find so at any minute it could roll over.

We were able to place a chain around the center point and lift and pull it enough to get it to a position where we could attach the tractor onto it.

HORAY!!!

The next project was to remove a horse paddock that we really don’t need.

We unlatched all of the electrical rope, wrapped them up, took off the ties from the post, then had to go one by one pulling the steaks from the ground.

While my husband operated the skid loader, I had to place the chain around the pole/steak, tighten, then once removed, unlatch it, place the steak out of the way, and move onto the next… It’s TEDIOUS and was NOT fun.

We got done this paddock and moved onto two others that already had the ropes down but need the poles removed. We probably pulled out 18 on the first paddock, 10 large poles in another, and another 10-15 in the larger field.

Once we were done that, I had to stack the post on the skid steer so that we could move them to storage. My husband offered for me to drive it but honestly by then I just wanted to get it over with and knew if I was driving it would take longer because I wasn’t use to the machine.

We finally called it a day… yes just one day, got cleaned up and went to supper at our small in town restaurant in Ogden called, “The Lucky Pig”. He owed me big time.

The next day we got up earlier for another day of yard work .

While he worked on changing the oil out in the disc mower I jumped on the mower and cleaned up the two paddocks left in the yard area. Then moved onto trimming the hedges.

G bought a nice gas powered hedge trimmer… It says it’s only 10 lbs but after about 2 hedges my arms we really starting to feel it.

There were about 6 large hedges that DESPERATELY needed a good trim, I made it to the last two and couldn’t hold the trimmer up any more. My wrist hurt and my muscles in my arms were shaking. That’s when I called “Done-skis'” and said G you finish. Once he finished mowing the rest of the yard he came over and finished the two other bushes.

We took a little break and drove to Ames to pick up my first ever Craig's list buy! I found a ATV cart on there listed at $65. It looked really nice and G and I are always saying how much of a B*tch it is to carry everything back and forth for projects. I called the owner and got him to go $50 bucks on it.

We pulled up to a flipping mansion… at least a 3 mil house and there was the wagon. It was is great shape, way bigger then expected, and it was all mine! I looked at what they are brand new and they retail for $250!!!! WINNING

We got home and I hooked this puppy up to the 4-wheeler and finished loading all of our yard trash from the day.

Today it’s Monday and my arms FEEL super heavy and sore. We definitely put in a lot of hard work this weekend, but it paid off. Everything looks nice but I’m dreading the day G buys his own Skid Steer…

Summer to Autumn Garden Swap Out

Yesterday afternoon I decided to swap out my summer blooms for my new autumn mums. I get so excited seeing all the mums at the stores that I couldn’t wait any longer!

Summer

Autumn

I planted 5 orange mums in a line spread evenly to take up the empty space in the walk way to the main door. I reused the begonias that were in the green pots in the winder to below the flag.  I still want to get a few straw bales and some pumpkins to place in the empty area to the left of the window box where there are currently Black eye Susan’s I’m leaving to go to seed. The varieties of pumpkins aren’t really out yet since were still early but soon enough they will be everywhere! :)

I planted 5 smaller mums in the reused pots and was sure to make a pattern with the colors instead of holding to one like in the walk way.

I planted a butterfly bush to the right of the door. I already had a new friend visit! A little hummingbird stopped by to take a little drink, I saw him from my kitchen window!

I was very excited to dig my fall wreath out from the box in the basement! I made this wreath last year and I am still very pleased with the look of it. Save $$$ this year, however, I am going to make another unique one since we have the other door that goes to the mud room. For some reason everyone always goes to that door? Hopefully they will go to this one since it looks so Welcoming. :)

Also, did you notice there is a plaque with our name and address by the door! My parents gave this to G and I when they came to visit in July and it’s just now going up. Failed… but it’s up and I’m so happy with how it looks. What a great house warming gift!

*My rule of thumb that I learned back in my college course in “Floral design” is that you should always pair things in odd numbers. 3,5,7,9… etc This is why I bought 5 large mums and 5 smaller mums. (Plus my window box is made for 5… He knew the rule :)

Storage Wars ... Simple Fixes on a Budget

I have been meaning to organize some areas in the house for some time but as always they go on the back burner. These little issues are simple things that I use every day that could be easier to maneuver through. I am always following organizing blogs to get some great ideas for how to make life a little more simpler. Many of times though I find myself frustrated over the cost of how much it is to organizing with buying items from IKEA and the container store. Little items add up fast so my mission this week was to shop for organization items on a budget. This is how I did…

1st project: My makeup and hair supply drawers in the master bathroom

Problem: I use these drawers every day! They are so deep that my items slide all the way to the back to never be seen again.

Fix: Plastic organizing cases found at Target

I found these at Target for 5.99 & 3.99 in the “Laundry supply” section. I really wanted to spend less but it was all they had and I figure they will last and be easy to clean. They immediately made my drawers neat and organized. This morning after I showered I was able to find everything I needed without having to shuffle through the two drawers.

2nd project: Storage of the ironing table

Problem: We have the perfect closet for storing our ironing table, however with it not hanging up every time we opened the door it would block the shelves so we had to pull out the ironing table grab what we needed place it back and the cycle continues.

Easy fix: a iron/ ironing table wall hanger, found at Target

I attached this to the inside of the door making sure that it was strategically placed so that the door would indeed close. Problem fixed! Out of the way but still in arms reach from the washer and dryer.

3rd project: Mud room shoe storage

Problem: No matter how hard I try to put my shoes away in my closet it's just more convenient to take my muddy ones off in the breezeway and leave them. I just repainted the room and it looks unfinished with shoes lining the doorway.

Easy fix: Target Shoe shelf

I bought this for 12.99 at Target. I wanted something simple, we already have a bench in the breeze way so no way was I going to spend 70 bucks on a shoe organizer/sitting area. This shelf turned out great and since I saved on the shelf I spent a little money on a bin I saw... It was love at first sight and it will go with any room of our house so I bought it. I put Winston's towel and leash in it for easy hiding/access.

Final project: Drab to Fab refrigerator

I saw this on another blog and I wish I remembered which one because I would totally give them a huge shout out.

Problem: Boring refrigerator

Fix: $1.99 plastic place mats from target! Cut these to fit the shelves like a liner and BAM! now you have a cute frig that says 'aren't I adorable' every time you reach in. I easily lined the drawers by pulling them out and stenciling the outline of the drawer. LOVE <3 PS. not only are they cute they are functional… If there is a spill you can easily pull these out and wash them in the sink.

The other issue I battle with frig storage is space for jars on my door shelves… There is never enough room so items end up on the inner shelves but are a pain to reach for since they often end up in the back. I bought a round turning table (originally for spices) for $6.49 at Walmart and placed it on one of the shelves. Now I have more space on my door shelves and can just spin and grab what I need. I was able to fit 5 jars on it.

By adding small touches around the house it made me feel at ease. I really do love to organize, but only on a budget. I hope I gave you some ideas for around the house easy organizing fixes.

PS… you can obviously see that my hubby drinks Busch.. while my taste is a little more tailored to seasonal beers. :)

Open Faced Turkey Sandwiches & Football

On Thursday while I was perusing the grocery store for this weeks meals I came across some small frozen turkey's in the freezer section. I always stray away from whole birds because lets face it… this party of two can’t eat a whole 7lbs turkey.  I wouldn’t know what to do with all the leftovers… eat turkey morning, noon, and night… freeze the rest of it… sneak some scraps to the dog.

This portion was perfect, a little 3lb roaster that I was able to cook in the crock pot. It even came with gravy and get this… no bones, just meat. On Saturday morning I decided to put this little baby to use, it felt like the perfect day for it. Cool outside, college football on the TV, and I was feeling the “less is more” approach to cooking supper that night.

That evening we had open faced turkey sandwiches; bread, home made mashed potatoes (from the night before), turkey, and gravy. There were still leftovers but enough to freeze to use later this week for home made Turkey Pot Pie… YUM! Can’t wait!

My weekend in football was filled with high and lows….

ISU vs... Iowa = Iowa State Won in a battle of the fittest :)

Steelers vs... Broncos = Epic failure… Way to start the season.. PS. I hate you Manning

I guess I will have to try and boost last nights loss with a half ass attempt at rooting on the Ravens in tonight’s Monday night show down against the Bengals.

Are you Ready for some Football?!? If not, at least attempt some crock pot creations … bye bye grill, hello crock pot.

Mid West Storms give me Anxiety – Can I Adapt?

Last night at 1:28am my weather alarm went off:

"This is a weather service announcement for the surrounding areas of Ogden, Boone, Perry, and Woodward. Storm has been located to produce Severe thunderstorms with an excess of 60+ mph winds, large hail, and torrential downpours. Please  move to a sound location away from windows and moving objects. This service announcement is in place until 2am for this area.”

Here we go again, this time instead of bolting to the basement I slowly got up, took Winston out of his kennel and decided to take a little tinkle before heading to the window to see how bad it was.

Before I could even finish the winds picked up and it sounded as if bowling balls were hitting the roof! The weather service was not kidding this time. I ran and grabbed my pillow off the bed and ran to the living room where I had left the windows opened hoping to wake up to the 52 degree morning they promised me. I closed the windows and couldn't believe my eyes, it was lighting so much that there was no pulse in between each bolt. It was like watching a strobe machine at a night club.

I took Winston to the basement and grabbed a blanket to camp out for the night. I could hear the winds whipping through the trees and against the house. There was still hail coming down pounding the ground. This went on for about 3 more minutes and then like nothing had even occurred there was silence….

WTF… is all I could think in my brain. I could still see through the small cracks in the basement windows that the lighting was still flickering like crazy but there was no thunder, winds, or hail any longer. I decided that it was already almost 2am and that I might as well sleep on the sofa in the basement with Winston curled up next to me. This way if another one came through I could at least be safe and sleep through it.

Today, I have gone through 3 cups of coffee and I am still exhausted. Will I ever get use to these storms? My anxiety hits an all time high when I start to see lighting out our windows at night. You just never know if it will pass or if its going to be a long night of worrying about if I should retreat to the basement.

Last night there was no talk on the news about storms coming through. This is what gets me the most… I need to be prepared.

People always ask, “Don’t you have storms back east in Delaware?”, and I reply, “Yes, but it’s not the same.”

I really don’t know how to explain this, storms back east are just not as intense. I feel like they are more predictable and when they say tornado warning, we take that Sh”t seriously and go to our basements. The worst storms are the Hurricanes and they are slow moving so the weather teams can show the path and project how severe they will be. I was never terrified of the storms… now I am.

Here, it’s hit or miss… maybe it will be bad… most likely not. It still scares the crappola out of me ever time.

It doesn’t help that our of the two nights G is gone this week one of the nights was really bad. Even if he was here we would’ve both been up heading for cover. I think even he gets a little un-nerved… but more so he just wants a sound sleep so these storms piss him off.

The outcome of last nights storm was we had no damage, just lots of leaves left to clean up and some large puddles.

Just another Mid West night I can add to the notch of sleepless nights huddled in the basement…

Super Easy DIY Indoor Compost Bin

Ever since we moved to our acreage I have been meaning to build a compost bin. I hate throwing away fruit and scraps in the garbage when I could easily throw it in a pile and make some nutritious soil for my garden next year.

After this past weekend I was motivated to get home and make on. My BFF’s in law’s are great at recycling and composting items so it was an easy motivator.

I wanted to get something for inside though so I didn’t have to keep walking all the way across the yard to throw stuff in the compost. I came across a super simple DIY indoor compost bin made from:

• 2 gallon bucket
• drill
• felt or bristle pads
• glue

Here is what mine looks like!

I started by finding an old paint bin with lid from our Quonset barn, you definitely need to have a lid to keep of the smelliness inside the bin.  I didn’t want one that was too big so I stuck with a 3 gallon.

I started out by using a drill to create the holes in the top to let air come in and out of the container. Three rows in the center is about all you need.

From there, flip the lid over and using felt or bristle pads glue it over the holes. I used spray glue… so easy!

 

This will keep away those stupid little fruit flies that always seem to make their way into the house no matter what but will still allow for air transfer.

After this… being that I am a girl and like things to look pretty… I spray painted the containers lid and bin from white to green.

After that, I took a sharpie and decorated it up! Just make some room under the kitchen sink and WaLa indoor compost bin in less then 30 mins!

But where do I throw the stuff when it needs to be emptied?

My outdoor compost pile!

The previous… possibly previous previous owners had this old cattle wire wrapped and placed elsewhere on the property to burn trash in. I’ve had my eye on it for quite some time. I understand if you’re going to burn stuff… it’s a big thing out here in the mid west… but when I took this apart to move it I went through the pile of rubble and they were burning cans, tires, glass bottles, bolts, wire, basically EVERYTHING! You don’t do that, it’s not good for the environment and if your going to burn, try your best to recycle cans and plastics separately.

This this was a HOG to move but I rolled it a good 150yards across our land from the old burn pile to a spot near our garden. Picking a place to compost is just as important as how your are going to compost. I choose near the garden off the yard because  A) the garden is right there – easy access for spreading future compost & throwing yucky veggies into the pile and B) it’s far enough away from the house so we can’t smell it but close enough that I don’t get sick of walking out to throw my scraps from the kitchen out.

Compost and Garden

Winston Love’s to Compost as well

To start my compost pile I grabbed my stack of news papers from inside and laid them out and sprinkled water to moisten them. This will help kill the grass and weeds beneath so they don’t grow up through my pile. From there I have already thrown rotten tomatoes from the garden and plan to throw some dried up day lily leaves on it from around the house. 

G & I plan to have another larger pile near the barn for where we will compost manure from animals. I’m happy with what I’ve done for now and really need to get out and buy some containers for recycling glass & plastic.

Go Green :)

Have you seen where August went… I can’t seem to locate her

I knew that this summer was going to fly by, but I had no clue where August went. It seemed to have gone by in the blink of an eye. Not that I am complaining, Spring is my all time favorite season but Autumn is a close 2nd.

Ever since I can remember I loved the excitement that the fall season brings:

- Back to school shopping (I can’t wait for the day I have kids so I can indulged in that again)

- Cool days – COLD nights

- Football season

- Autumn brewed beers

- Bon Fires

- The SMELL of bon fires

- Harvesting

- Pumpkins, Cider, and Halloween

- The leaves changing to yellows, reds, and oranges

- Orchards

- Snuggling

- Fall Fashion! I LOVE brown, what better season is there to wear it!

It just always seems that summer comes and goes but it’s always so damned hot out I can’t enjoy it. And Winter… pssh, she’s a Bitch, someone get her a Midol. Who wants to stay inside all the time or go outside and face the numbing winds against your cheeks? Not this girl.

I get excited thinking about my favorite outfits, Jeans… some cute brown shoes/boots, and a thin long sleeve shirt with a scarf to dress it up. No Sweating… No burning… No freezing

I’m not a fan of Baseball, I can’t even say I watched one game this year. Probably the closest thing that came to it was watching “Money Ball”, what a great movie, but what I’m interested in is tailgating at college football games and watching my Steelers crush this season. I have never pretended to care about the Phillies, and from what I heard this year, they sucked anyway.

I really had to swallow my pride a few weeks ago when buying G’s 28th b-day present. You see, he is a … I can’t even say it… Raven’s Fan… YUCK. Which means our house is a little tense two days out of the football season when the Steelers and Ravens play. He has tried and tried to convert me but this girl is black and yellow… and when you mix purple with that it makes a poop brown so it just doesn’t mix. I love him though so my compromise is I will cheer for them when they don’t play the Steelers and with that said, I bought him two tickets to the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Ravens game on October 7th. KC is only a 3 hour drive and the game is at noon on a Sunday so we will drive down Saturday, explore the city, stay the night, watch the game, and head home after in time for work on Monday. I am a good wife… I can’t say that he would EVER go to a Steelers game…

Iowa State is only 30 mins away and we plan to hit a few tail gates and games this season, I CAN NOT WAIT! I really do miss all the times I partied at University of Delaware with friends and family. There are some great memories there and I didn’t even go to that University. I am just a fan of College Football and any school that will let me have some kegs and eggs in their parking lot is a Fan of mine. :)

Is anyone else as excited as I am about Autumn arriving??? What are you most looking forward to?

Airport Etiquette… is there any?

In my two years of living in the Mid-West I have had to travel many times by plane to get back east for special events. In thinking about this I have flown back … 5 times in two years. I’m not going to even count all of the connection flights but there are at least 2 per every time I flew due to flying out of small airports to larger ones.

2011-

• May - Wedding
• July – funeral
• August – Key West

2012-

• June – 60th b-day
• July- Bridal shower
• Sept – wedding

After this last round trip I got to thinking about airport etiquette and really it all came to mind when people started annoying me with not having any. Maybe many of you feel the same way that I do? Here are just a few of my thoughts on air travel etiquette.

Security Check In:

When they say have your ticket and ID ready …. have it in hand. It’s really annoying to stand in a line and have to wait for you to fish it out of your huge ass purse.

Small Gate Areas:

Chairs in waiting areas are always on top of each other… if you see that there are more people then there are chairs, move your bags from the chair next to you so someone else can sit down… they will be okay on the floor in front of you.

Talking in small areas on the phone:

I don’t want to know your business… no offense to foreigners but you guys talk SUPER loud… I think mobile phones are now equipped to handle inside voices so please talk lower, its annoying.

Oh you want a seat that you aren’t assigned to?:

Yes, if I selected a window seat, most likely I want it. “Oh… you and your boyfriend aren’t able to sit right next to each other so you would like me to move to the back of the plane to your seat… “ I THINK NOT. Sorry, that’s not my problem, however, I have given up my seat for a parent needing to sit next to their under 10 yr old on the plane.

Ding… we have landed and seat belt sign is off lets all try and get into the aisle at the same time:

This is my BIGGEST pet peeve while flying. It ALWAYS seems like people rush to get off the plane from the back. NEVER FAILS, it takes at least 3 minutes to get the plane door open but lets all stand with your butts in my face because you’re in a rush to get to your next gate. We would ALL get off the plane faster if people were patient and would let the 4 people seated in front of you get out of their seats first to exit the plane.

Arm Rest:

If you are seating in a row of 3 people the center seat gets the two arm rest to the right and left… they are in the middle! That sucks enough as it is.

Hopefully, no one I know does these things. ;) But if you do, take the time to think about how you can make traveling easier and comfortable for everyone around you.

Happy Travels