Flattery

It seems that every time I see the Lawlers I find out that some other family member is following my blog... and although I am honestly surprised, I'm also quite flattered! So, this is a big "hello!" to all of the extended Lawlers keeping tabs on us here in good old Chicagoland! :) I think since I'm finding out more and more people are reading, I'm going to try and get a little "house tour" up on the blog soon. My very first post here at 9-oh-6 showed the initial pictures we took at the house before it was even officially ours, so now I think it's time to post the before and after shots to show how every room is looking after we put our own touch on it!

Since it's getting warmer (finally) and neither Dan or I is one to sit still for long, we're thinking about embarking on a major project in the coming months... replacing our terribly outdated 1-car garage with a snazzy new 2-car! I personally can't wait for Dan to have somewhere to put his poor truck that doesn't involve a good 6 inches of mud when it rains. And, for myself, I can't wait to be able to have a light in the garage, as well as a garage door opener that isn't my own 2 hands! For someone with as big a fear of alleys as I have, pulling my car out of the garage and then getting back out of it to shut the door has been a minor source of stress.

Ok extended family... here's your chance to leave a comment and share your thoughts! :) Has anyone ever done a garage remodel on their own? Any tips or suggestions or "holy crap don't do that yourselves" warnings? Dan is a pretty handy guy, and we've both spent weeks on service trips building porches, staircases, etc... (and doing demo, which is obviously much more fun), so as far as we're concerned it's a tough but manageable do-it-yourself project!

On another note, besides joining Dan at his retreat for some of the weekend, I have done absolutely NOTHING with myself in the last few days as I finally caved and decided to begin reading the Twilight series... and I am completely and totally 100% hooked. I suppose it isn't the end of the world that I am reading something besides a magazine or a blog, but I think it becomes a problem when I would rather be reading than going to bed at a decent time. I did just read The Last Lecture a few weeks ago so I suppose this isn't the only real book in my rotation lately. Either way, I'm loving Twilight and considering the movie just came out on DVD and I have a mere 50 pages left in the first book... I think I feel a movie night with Manda Banana, a lot of junk food, and comfy pjs coming on SOON!

Reducing the (GIANT) Carbon Footprint

Considering the amount of painting and demo and wood stripping and sanding and staining we did at the house... I think it's safe to say that Dan and I have created a carbon footprint so big I would be embarrassed to actually calculate it. Thanks to all the hip new "green" trends, though, we can take small steps to reduce our footprint over time.

We're great about recycling, but something new I've decided I want to try is having our own compost bin. There is a great tutorial complete with pictures for visual learners like me at This Young House. The whole project is incredibly simple and uses just a hand drill and one of the millions of empty totes laying around the basement right now. I think it's safe to say we can get this out in the yard just in time for the warmer weather!

Since this whole idea is new to me, I did some googling to find out exactly what can go in an at-home compost bin and was surprised to find out that much more than banana peels and apple cores can be kept from going in the landfill! Here's a list of 163!!! items, many of which are a little odd, but lots that we're bound to otherwise trash.

Our teeny tiny kitchen doesn't really have space for yet another trash bin, seeing as we already have our garbage can and an extra for our recycling... so I'm going to have to get creative in finding a container for our compost materials that won't take up a ton of extra space. Wouldn't it be cool if something like this laundry sorter existed for garbage?


As far as other little footprint reducers, I'm hoping to drive myself to getting into the habit of bringing reusable grocery bags to the store when we go shopping. The grocery store closest to us that we usually go to gives you 5 cents off your total bill for each of your own bags you bring in! While 5 cents isn't much, it's bound to add up to a bit of a savings over time, while also reducing the number of annoying plastic bags we have stuffed into the holder in the pantry. I've also gotten in to the habit of drinking out of a reusable water bottle that one of my favorite vendors from work gave me. Call me crazy, but I can't stand drinking water from a glass, and was therefore a sucker for bottled water.

Maybe Dan can build me a 3-bin garbage sorter? With a lid to keep out the stink? :)

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EDIT: 3-bin garbage sorters DO exist! But, they cost a small fortune. This one is $70.00 at Walmart online -


So now, obviously, I am on the hunt for something like this for a much lower cost...

Change of Heart

Yesterday, I spent a long afternoon shopping at Gurnee Mills with my mom and Manda. For a shopaholic like me, you would think I would have a long list of new clothing items for the upcoming spring weather to tell everyone about. Instead, I have 2 new shirts, a new pair of running shoes, and an 11-piece Pyrex set that I am more excited about than all of the other items combined. I guess owning a house will do that - my focus has shifted as I realize that my money is better spent on things that will make my homelife with Dan more enjoyable. For me right now, with my newfound love for cooking, the Pyrex dishes are the perfect addition to my one glass dish that I currently use for everything imaginable.


I am particularly happy about the square dish, which I think will hold the perfect amount of food for the 2 of us without having tons of leftovers. Next step? Finding some new baked dinners to try out.

Found!

I got a great email this morning - $1 shipping at Overstock.com! Although I don't specifically NEED anything, it's always fun to look, and one of the first things I saw when browsing the home goods clearance section was this -


I found this image awhile back and posted it as a bedding option, but had no idea where to actually get it from. I love that Overstock offers a duvet cover set so we can use our existing down comforter - I'm always frustrated when I find bedding I love and it's only available in "bed in a bag" type sets.

On another note, I've been itching to make this insanely simple "Layered Strawberry Cheesecake Bowl" dessert from the cover of the latest Kraft Food & Family Magazine... but had no idea where to find an affordable bowl like the one pictured -


Thanks to my Overstock browsing, I learned that this piece is called a trifle bowl - and with a little help from Google I found out they're a mere $9.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond! I'm excited to pick one up and maybe bring this dessert along for my extended family's potluck Easter brunch... which just happens to also be Dan's birthday this year! :)

Four Pounds of Bacon

We have officially successfully hosted at least one dinner party, birthday party, holiday party, and now, breakfast party in the short 4 months that we have lived in 906. My mom calls us crazy, I call myself a wannabe Martha Stewart in training (ok, maybe more like Rachael Ray). Really - what better way to practice cooking and entertaining than to do it for other people?

Last weekend we started off the celebration for my favorite day of the year - Forest Park St. Patrick's Day - with a breakfast party at the house. Thanks to the help of the greatest little 12 year old in the world, Manda Banana, Dan and I managed to offer quite a spread for our guests. Here's what was on the menu! -

- cinnamon roll bake
- english muffin egg pizzas
- stuffed strawberries
- irish soda bread
- breakfast tortilla wraps
- pancakes (some shamrock shaped, thanks to jeff!)
- bacon (true to the title of this posting - FOUR pounds of the deliciousness)
- yogurt parfaits
- fruit salad platters
- mini banana muffins


Since my mom asked and I got lots of other compliments on it, here's the recipe for the cinnamon roll bake (made for the party by Dan) -

Cinnamon Roll Bake

Ingredients
3 egg yolks
2 large eggs
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (16-oz.) package frozen cinnamon rolls
2 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1. Whisk together first 7 ingredients until blended.
2. Break apart cinnamon rolls, and chop. Place in a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish. Pour egg mixture over top; dot with butter. Cover and chill 4 to 24 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 325°. Bake casserole 55 minutes to 1 hour or until set and golden. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

A few notes about this AMAZING breakfast treat:
1. As with every other baked dish I've made that involves a lot of eggs... I would omit some of the egg if I made this again. And in this case, maybe 1/2 cup or so of the milk. The bottom was gooey and people loved it, but gooey creeps me out when eggs are involved.
2. The packages of 8 Pillsbury cinnamon rolls are not 16oz. Dan doubled the recipe, but used 3 full tubes of cinnamon rolls in total.
3. The recipe above does not mention frosting. Um, why not? We most definitely frosted this when it was cooled a bit and in the future I think I would use even more, because why not?? Some cream cheese frosting on this would have been wonderful.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for breakfast and a HUGE thanks to Manda for being such a great kitchen assistant!

Patience

Those who know me know that I am not a particularly patient person. I am not the type of person that wants to sit around and wait for much of anything - when I want something, I want it sooner rather than later. A perfect example of this impatience is the process we went through in buying this house, which some people are still surprised to hear took a grueling 5 months to close on. For anyone that was not a part of the process, I assure you I was ridiculously impatient (just ask my realtor). Seeing as this is my first home, maybe the upfront process I went about wasn't too out of the ordinary... but something tells me it was -

- Decide I don't want to live in condo anymore, half-jokingly tell Dan we should buy a house
- Look at houses online for a few weeks, narrow choices down drastically due to budget, spot a picture of 906 with little information and decide it is THE house for us
- Go on house visits to 4 houses, 2 of which we can't afford, one of which is 906 - decide (again) that it is THE house for us
- Check listings again the very next day, see massive price drop on 906, confirm that it is THE house for us
- Convince Dan that the house is perfect for us
- Put in an offer within 24 hours

Now again, this could be totally normal... but the HGTV-watching part of me is pretty positive that our situation was far from ordinary.

So it is with me - often times, I don't tend to do things the "normal" way. Maybe that's why I went away to school for a year and a half only to come home and THEN find my passion at a community college. Maybe that's why I quit an amazing job to go toy around in Hawaii for a month and "discover" myself. Maybe that's why it took me 8 months to realize Dan was perfect for me, only to then immediately become so convinced of it that there was no turning back. Maybe that's why we moved in together in such a short time... and that is certainly why we decided to buy a house together before a wedding is even in the works. Because, my friends, that is what works for us, and the un-normal part of it all is more true to my character than any cookie-cutter life would be. No matter how many times I told myself as a teenager that I would be married by 25 (ha!) or live alone in the city for a year (haha!) or run a marathon by 30 (hahah... still working on that one)... it's just not me.

So, how is any of this at all relevant? Because sometimes, choices are questioned, and the inquiring lingers, causing those horrible unnecessary "what ifs" that people like me agonize over. And because, this is the beginning of me working to move past that.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 - The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.

Could it be put any more simply?

Look what those crazy beginning 5 months brought us - we have a wonderful home that we have built together, and every day it gets better than the last. Those beginning uncertain times of our relationship have turned into amazing appreciation for each other...

...and we are nowhere near the end. Our lives together are just beginning. And to that, I plan to start being a little more patient.