One year in review, sappy, and only slightly house related

Somehow, Alex and I have lived in Wisconsin for one year. One year ago, as of the 28th, we first got into our teeny, tiny little apartment above the shop. Don't get me wrong, it was a lovely little apartment, but it wasn't great if two people wanted to... Oh I don't know, walk through the kitchen at the same time.

Oh, I feel claustrophobic just looking at it...

Within this year, a lot of good changes have taken place. We both started jobs where we are so happy, and well supported. Epic may be super-awesome, but Weebleworld has more slides and random dance parties, so I clearly win.

Fibonacci stairs are not cooler than awesome dance parties 

Of course, we all remember the biggest thrill of this summer. When I grew my own watermelon on the balcony of our apartment. 

Turned out surprisingly sweet and juicy!

Oh, and I got married.

Also very sweet, but considerably less juicy.

 I've got to admit, that was a very fun day. In fact, it's been a very fun three and a half years. If it weren't for Alex, I literally wouldn't be where I am today. He never fails to make me smile, has inspired me to start getting healthy, and is a generally wonderful person that I am so happy to call my husband.

 Since then, we've left the tiny apartment for the reason I started this blog, our very own house! It has it's odd quirks, but it's cozy and charming, and all ours.

Thank you again, Rebekah!

We've spent a birthday and Christmas in the house, and tonight will be our very first New Years as husband and wife. It will no longer be the year in which we got married, or bought a house, and we will be in our second year of living in Wisconsin.

Posey would prefer to never ever have to move again ever

Here's hoping the next year is just as joyful, but maybe a little less stressful.

Baking all the cookies!

This week was the last week of work before Christmas, and we were given an early present with a day off on Friday. When I say "given an early present" what I actually mean is that there was freezing rain Thursday night and the roads and sidewalks were very, very slippery. Walking home from the Pour House on Thursday night was... interesting... I used the day to finish crocheting a couple presents, and then celebrated being done making presents by making many, many cookies. I started by trying to make these but half of them burned to a crisp, and the other half spread out and are more square than circular. A couple dozen of these beauties later and my confidence was restored. They are surprisingly minty, and I can't wait to eat them. (I didn't sample any of these, I swear!) It wouldn't be Christmas without these and I honestly lost count of how many dozens we made. Finally, we whipped up two batches of these this evening and they made the whole house smell like brown sugar and raspberries. I am so glad the Rosenberg family is a large one, because there are so many cookies that need to be eaten.

Honestly, there is very little to report house-wise. The pictures still aren't up, and things are mostly as they were one month ago. (Apparently we have now lived here for two months!) We've discovered how long it takes to shovel our driveway, which really isn't very long, and we got a new drier that thankfully gets everything dry after only one cycle. (The drier that came with the house would dry clothes in about three cycles...)

Within the next couple weeks, we will have lived in Wisconsin for a whole year. It has been a very good year. This will be my first Christmas as a wife, and in my very own home. The Christmas season gets me very sentimental. There are so many good feelings and childhood memories tied up with Christmas. It makes me so happy to think that this year is going to be a source of more very good memories.

And on Earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

Home for Christmas

For the past two years, Alex and I have lived in apartments that have not allowed live Christmas trees. This might not be a big deal for some people, but I've grown up with live trees, and I really missed them. Yesterday, Alex and I finally cut down our first Christmas tree. We found a nice tree farm in town called Sunset Acres Tree Farm and we found a beautiful tree for only 25 dollars. Thankfully the weather cooperated and it was a balmy 5 degrees outside, so it was a good time had by all. The really fun part was fitting the 8 foot tree into Alex's ten foot car, and then getting me in to! We made it home safely, and I really couldn't be happier with the result.

Tree decorated, stockings hung with care, and the lights on the porch glow merrily. While there are plenty of things I wish I had to decorate with, I think I'll just try to build up my collection over the next couple years.

People have been asking what we want for Christmas, and honestly, we're fairly stumped. Having just gotten married this year, we're really set on good appliances and such. All of the things we *needed* for the house we bought right away. Alex set up an amazon wish list here and we've still got a few things left over on our registry. Gift cards are also very welcome, especially from Menards, Pier One, Amazon, or Ikea.

Sunday Post

I promised I'd write about my birthday, so I guess I'd ought to. When I got home from work, there was a big bag waiting for me on the coffee table. Alex told me it had something that would be obvious, and something that would make me feel better. After being completely confused, I pulled out the first bundle. Having picked it up, it started to jingle. The perfect kind of jingle. The kind of jingle that (for me at least) evokes images of horse drawn sleighs, bells on bob-horses, mugs of wassail, and Santa. Growing up (and even to this day) my parents would hang sleigh bells on the front door during the holiday season. They would jingle every time someone opened or shut the door, and my parents would always ring them Christmas morning to signify that Santa had been there, and that it was finally time to come see the tree. It is genuinely one of my favorite sounds, and there it was. Alex had found antique sleigh bells for me to hang from our door. That was the present he called obvious. The present to make me feel better was an electric blanket. (I'd been shivering when I came home.) It is a truly glorious thing, and no one should ever have to live in Wisconsin without one. That evening, we ate Alex's homemade moo shu and we watched Mulan and sang along to all of the songs. It was a very, very good birthday.

Today I felt weirdly productive, so we found some homes for some new friends,

 finally hung some art, installed a light fixture,

changed two dimmer switched to flip-switches, and I hung up seven strands of Christmas lights on the porch. They are very pretty, but it is still before Thanksgiving, so I will wait another week before having them on regularly. I will happily post pictures of the lights when it is not quite so bone-achingly cold.

Well that was fun

I had every intention of writing a blog post about how wonderful it was to have my birthday in House, and I still plan on doing so, but this deserves it's own post.

I got home, and walked in the back door. I'd noticed that the garage lights had turned on and off as I was pulling in. My assumption had been that Alex had turned the lights on for me, realized I was pulling in the driveway, and turned them back off. As I walked in the back door, I saw the little fishing net that the previous owners had left us on the floor of the stairs. Alex was in the basement. Apparently, he was looking for gloves so that he could try to catch the bat that was carefully avoiding Posey on the first floor.

So... bat. 

I'd heard before that laundry baskets are a good way to catch bats, and we just bought two new ones, and as I reminded Alex of that, the bat flew behind me and down the stairs to the basement. I followed it down, and Alex and I both grabbed a laundry basket. Luckily, the bat had flown into the "naughty child room" with only one exit, so it quickly flew back out again. And into my laundry basket.

So... the bat was in the laundry basket, on the floor of the basement.

Now, the laundry baskets that we bought have these really great handles on all four sides of it so that you can carry it any way that is convenient. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the bat to find the handle, and it was just about to crawl out. As I watched it crawl to the hole, I tried to guess how likely it was that we would be able to easily catch it again, versus how likely it was that a small bat would be able to bite through my new leather gloves, which were conveniently still on. I went with the gloves.

So I picked up the bat, walked up the stairs, went outside, walked away from the house, and let the little guy go.

Bat: 0 Kristin: 1

The house entertains!

Sunday evenings in Stoughton, it is tradition to go to Aunt Kristi and Uncle Bill's house for dinner, along with all of the cousins. As soon as we moved out here from Ohio, they invited us to be a part of this tradition, and it's really been a great way for us to get settled out here. This week, we offered to host Sunday dinner, and (if I may say so) it was a huge success. We managed to get the house cleaned, put up a (WORKING) light fixture in the dining room, and make super tasty food. Alex made his chicken pot pie and I made some crazy tasty caramel brownies.

Part of the way through the evening, I turned to Alex and said, "Where in our old apartment would we have been able to put this many ten adults, a three year old, and a baby?"

Moral: House is wonderful. Family is wonderful. Food is wonderful. Have a good week.

The house itself

 It was brought to my attention that, while I've uploaded many pictures of the inside of the house, I haven't really uploaded pictures of the exterior of the house and the property. The picture above is the front of the house, taken from across the street. I now realize that it's difficult to take pictures of the front of the house without it being blocked by a tree, or just not being able to get the whole front of the house in the picture.

 This is the view from our back door. The back yard goes all the way to the yellow tree and red bushes. We will probably add some plants (see: trees, bushes, shrubs) back there to add a bit of privacy between us and the giant peach house.

And here is the back of the house and garage, taken from just under the yellow tree in the previous picture. It is a very pretty house, and even though it doesn't have the most interesting yard, it's got a lot of potential.

Biscuits and Gravy

I slept all the way until 7:10 this morning. This was the latest I have slept in in ages, and it felt lovely. So lovely, in fact, that I got up and made biscuits and gravy. My dad's recipe is so good that not even Alex is tempted to mess with it. (If he is tempted to mess with it, he is a good enough husband to know that he should not.) It was absolutely delicious, and gave us the energy and fortitude to work on unpacking and organizing. I mainly tackled the dining room, while Alex worked on the office. We both worked on the living room and master bedroom. The kitchen has been coming together through the week, though it got a lovely addition this afternoon.

These are all the boxes that were either emptied, or were already empty and brought downstairs.

 This is the left side of the office/craft room.

This is the right side of the office/craft room. 

This is the corner of the office/craft room, where the left and right side meet. 

 The master bedroom, plus one kitty.

The living room!

The hallway looks so much nicer with the new shelf over the oven. 

The dining room looks so much nicer without the boxes covering everything. 

The bookshelves are filled, and Shelob is guarding the wine. 

My pretty planters :)

Good looking shelf, island, and husband. 

A shelf over the sink, and a beautiful baker's cabinet! 

We picked this beauty up at our favorite antique store in town. It's the perfect addition to our kitchen!

And our pretty fiesta fits so well in our cabinet! 

It was a very productive day, and I am thoroughly exhausted, and looking forward to some tasty spaghetti and meatballs.



My Father's Recipe for Biscuits and Gravy:
1 stick butter or margarine
4 tablespoons flour
4 cups milk
1/2 lb cooked sausage, can do full pound if ya want extra sausage goodness
salt and pepper

In a medium sauce pan, melt the stick of butter 

Add flour, you can substitute 1 tablespoon corn starch for 1 tablespoon flour if you have it

Combine and cook over low heat for a minute or so... says to let it brown a bit, stir a lot
 
Slowly combine milk, stirring a lot
 
Use low to medium heat as you don't want to burn and stick stuff to bottom of pan
 
The longer you simmer it, the thicker it should get, stir often and don't let stuff stick to bottom.
 
If it does not thicken as much as you want, combine another tablespoon of cornstarch in 1/2 cup milk and add to sauce
 
Add cooked sausage, cook a bit longer to blend flavors
 
Salt and pepper to taste

I'm home

It's Thursday night. That means it's Pour House night. I was worried that House would be too far to comfortably walk from. We just got back after drinks and a good meal. (Not to mention after passing out candy to trick-or-treaters, braving the storm.) Now we're home. And it's not just that we're within the four walls and under roof. We're home.

I like this feeling :)

Good morning, house

Yesterday I slept all the way until six in the morning. This was a big deal for me, because all this last week I've been up at two, or three, or four instead. I took a load over before eight, and we got doughnuts for us, John, and Suzanne. I took another load after that, and waited for the internet guy to show up. After my car was empty, I didn't really have a lot to do, so I decided to rake the yard. I will probably never again be so happy to rake my yard, but I was happy, because it was my yard. While raking, a car pulled up to the house and I heard, "I told you this was my route!" It was Beth, a friend from work. I liked standing in my yard, with a rake in hand, talking to a coworker. It made me feel very adult, which hopefully I will someday come to terms with.

Alex, John, and Suzanne showed up before internet guy did, so I helped them unload some things from their car, and then they went to work on making a cover for the cistern in the basement. The finished cistern cover is a thing of beauty, but I heard it was a real pain at times to install, so I was happy to be on team Move Heavy Stuff rather than team Drill Into Concrete.

Alex got the U-Haul to the apartment by about 12:30, and that's where we met Kristi, Bill, Doug, and Liz. Without them, I literally don't think we would have been able to move out of there. After two loads with the U-Haul, all of our worldly possessions were transferred to the house. That includes a couch, a recliner, a hall tree, a dining room table and four chairs, three bookshelves, the mattress, the box-spring, the bed frame, two dresses (drawers out,) a vanity, a rocking chair, a TV and TV stand, a computer desk, a trunk, and several end tables.

Po was the last thing to move. I went and got her while Alex dropped of the U-Haul. We'd locked her in the bathroom with her food, water, and litter during the move. It was hard to hear her meowing and scratching at the door as we walked by, but better than letting her escape. Moving her was probably the hardest thing for me, and that includes when the recliner got stuck in the front door. I got her in her carrier easily enough, but as soon as I closed the wire door she started crying. I don't know how Alex moved her from Ohio to Wisconsin, because I was a wreck just moving her a few blocks away. I put her food and her litter box in place, and then I let her out. She's been varying degrees of brave so far, and I don't know if she's actually eaten any food yet, but she's found pretty much the whole house and is exploring right now.

Alex is in the recliner, I've got my feet up on the couch, and the sun has just risen enough now that the light is coming in the dining room windows. I am very sore, very tired, and very very happy.

Accidental Retirement Party Crashers

Every Thursday night, Alex and I go to the Pour House. It's hardly a block from our apartment, and the owner and bartender both know us by name. The food is delicious, and the drinks are tasty, and the atmosphere is pleasant. We went tonight after we'd moved two car-loads of stuff, and were stunned by the number of people there. It at first appeared to be standing room only, but we found the one empty table and sat. Apparently there was a retirement party for a physician's assistant who has worked at the Dean Clinic for at least 22 years, and has only taken two half sick days off in her whole career there. She filled the clinic with laughter, and patients as well as coworkers loved her. We didn't know her, neither of us had ever met her, but there were heart-felt speeches from relatives and coworkers, and finally the PA herself, and that was enough to give me a very clear picture of what a pleasure this woman took in her job. There was a lot of love for this one person tonight, and I was genuinely glad to have been there. I only hope to have as many good stories told about me one day, and with even just half as many people who showed up tonight.

So far we've moved: Almost all of the kitchen, all of the clothes on hangers, the little bookshelves, all of the books, all of my crocheting gear, Alex's laptop, the camping equipment, some - but not all - decorations and posters, floor lamps, a side table, our window unit ACs, most of our fans, blankets, towels, the blow-up bed, all DVDs and their shelf, my planters, the video game consoles... And... I'm not sure. It has been eight solid car loads, and you can tell a big difference in the apartment, but it just doesn't sound like all that much. Oh well, I'm very tired, very full, and very pleased with how the day has turned out.

House!

Today we closed.

I feel this bears repeating:

On July 29th, my big sister said: "My advice: Find the perfect house for you. Don't settle on something that doesn't feel right. And when you DO find the right house, don't get your hopes up because BUYING A HOUSE IS THE WORST. It'll take for ******* ever and you'll be really frustrated and pissed off." 

Our house is beautiful and... so dirty. I spent two hours scrubbing the kitchen cabinet and walls. Thankfully, it made a noticeable difference. Alex installed a shower head, and put up shower curtains. Almost the entire kitchen has been moved over, though it's still just in boxes. Honestly, we both did a little less and a little more than I thought we would. The number of boxes we moved highly exceeded my expectations, but then again, so did the time required for scrubbing. This house is going to provide us with some good stories, like the spot you shouldn't step on in the kitchen, and when the pipe Alex installed exploded. (It didn't technically explode... it just... well... separated forcefully...)

Meanwhile, it's long past dinner time, and neither of us slept well last night, so it's time to eat, sleep, and go back to it tomorrow.

Walk Through

Tonight was our walk through of the house. When we got in, we saw a note from the sellers. They are leaving us the dining room table and four chairs, a rug, a nice side table, the lawn mower, a weed whacker, several ladders, and various gardening implements. There's a great old metal desk in the basement, and the blue phone is still there too. They replaced the sink in the basement with a brand new one, which was so sweet considering we did not ask them to replace it. The fridge was plugged in and seemed to be running well, and all of the burners lit successfully on the stove. The walls in the kitchen and in the bathroom clearly need a good scrubbing, but the wallpaper looks like it's in pretty good shape. The carpet in the kitchen was tacked down too well for us to tell what was under it, but it honestly looks like it's in good condition too. The bedrooms are at least as big as we remember them, and the living room and dining room surprised me with how huge they are. There's so much beautiful space to work with, and it becomes ours tomorrow. I'm not sure I really believe it yet. October 22nd seemed so long ago back in September, and now it's tomorrow.

Yay house :)

Little things

The apartment we currently live in is above a small, cute shop. The thermostat for the apartment that we live is in the small, cute shop. That means that the landlord gets to, essentially, decide when our heat turns on and off. While they have been very good about keeping us warm enough, I've been extremely thankful for my two big, fluffy, red blankets. The other morning, long before I'd had my first cup of coffee, I sleepily wondered when the heat would turn on at the house. Then I realized that the heat would turn on when I (we) told it to. I (we) would be in charge of the heat. I will curl up next the radiators, probably still wrapped in a giant red blanket, and laugh manically. Oh the power.

I submitted a change of address to the post office, and got utilities transferred over. The wonderfully nice lady at the utilities office called buying a first house a very good kind of stress, and wished us luck on the closing.

My boss texted me to tell me that I have a beautiful burning bush outside my house. She called it my house. I did a very small happy dance. It was very small because the apartment is filled with boxes, and if my happy dances get too large I am in danger of knocking something over.

We close in a week. In one week and one hour. We will have a house.

I looked up the house online. It is now listed as, "Not for sale." That's right. 'Cause it's my house.

I don't blog.

I don't blog.

I had a blog. I think it started back in middle school. I had it all the way up until Alex and I started dating. After rereading some of my older posts, I realized that was a part of me that really didn't need to be kept alive online. Since then, I've never had the urge to blog - other than the occasional guest posts for Cogito Ergo.

So what am I doing here? Well, Alex and I are buying a house. I was never the little girl who dreamed of her wedding. I was the little girl who dreamed of her house. Well here we are, closing on a house exactly four months after our wedding (awwwww.) I thought it would be fun to start this so we (see: I) can document our progress. It is a very old house, built in 1900, and the most recent interior updates may well have been in the 60s. (Just a guess, by looking at the wallpaper.) Being so far away from Ohio now, I also thought this might be fun for friends and family to see. So here we go.

Our little apartment was made much more little yesterday when we packed the majority of the dining room, all of our books, and the vast majority of the kitchen. There were a great many little conversations over found items and, where do you think this will go in the house? I've only been in the house once, and Alex only has me beat because he's been in twice. The next time we get to go will be the 21st, once the electric has been updated and the radon mitigated. I took all the unframed posters off the walls and put them in tubes, and Alex boxed up all of our DVDs and video games. We were both amazed at the amount of difference it has made just having those things boxed up.

We'll start moving things on Tuesday the 22nd, the day we close. Just little things, stuff we can fit into our cars. The real move won't happen until Saturday the 26th, when we're getting a U-Haul. Last time we moved, we vowed to never move again without the help of paid professionals... Well... We'll see how we do on our own.

Figuring out what needs to be fixed first has been a personal favorite topic of conversation. The only bathroom currently doesn't have a shower, so that's a priority. The cistern in the basement doesn't have a proper cover, so that's another. The kitchen has - literally - no counter space, so that will be interesting for a little while. We'd like to add a second bathroom and fence off the yard, but those are projects for down the line.

I'm really just stupidly excited. Our little apartment has taken very good care of us, but we've yet to feel comfortable with inviting more than two people over at a time. I can't wait to actually have room where people can come, relax, and visit. It will be a while before the house looks nice enough for guests, but the possibility of having people over is a little thrilling. Having a destination for Rakases, Hildrethes, Rosenbergs, Kerrs and Pattersons sounds really, really nice.

So. I guess I blog now.