What’s lurking in your kitchen?

 

Happy Halloween!

 

As everyone dons their costumes and begins knocking on doors, begging for candy from strangers, I thought I’d share a sweet treat we’ll be eating this weekend.

 

Painting behind a toilet…

…without having to remove the tank.

There is paint on the walls.

Did you hear me?

There is paint on the walls in our home.


THERE IS PAINT ON THE WALLS.

Pecan Caramel Glazed Bundt Cake

A few weeks ago (while shopping for Wyatt’s birthday cupcake ingredients) I picked up an extra box of cake mix.



I’ve never noticed this flavor before.  Maybe its seasonal?  Regardless—it sounded right up my alley.

{not} Beef Stroganov

Somewhere there’s a babushka rolling over in her grave.  I’m almost positive she’s shaking her fist at me for calling this dish Beef Stroganov.

For one thing, I don’t use actual beef.

And I do realize that the actual dish contains sour cream {not the cream o’ mushroom I use}. But this one doesn’t.

Progress Check.

After sharing photos of our drywall progress from this weekend, I started thinking about how much more drywall we have to complete, you know, on a whole-house-scale.

We’re building a home, not a house.

When we started building, we planned on doing almost everything ourselves. We never approached this build as “we’re building a house to live in.” We approached it as, “We’re building our family a home.” There’s a huge difference in connotation there.

We hired out the concrete pad, which is ironic because Colt’s family used to own a concrete company and he’s been around it his whole life. (Maybe that’s why we hired it out, as he knows it’s a skilled trade, not something someone just “picks up.”)

We did the framing. We did the house wrap. We did the insulation. We did the electrical, and the plumbing. (All to code, I might add.)

But one thing we had always planned on hiring out was our drywall.

Dog Days of Fall

Update: after posting this yesterday morning, Josie brought half a squirrel home with her. AND TRIED TO BRING IT IN THE HOUSE. #headsmack It was the top half, for those wondering. And disgusting.

This is Josie.
 
Josie Elizabeth Wales.
As in the outlaw. (Look it up if you don't get the reference: The Outlaw Josey Wales)

Sunday in the South

Just another Sunday...



After Wyatt's birthday stuff on Saturday, we got to work at the new house on Sunday morning.

First order of business-- adding some more drywall mud to the screw holes.

Happy 3rd Birthday, WL!

I don't think its any secret we're knee-high in a river of ...construction right now. And that mess doesn't stop at the new house, it sort of bleeds over into our current house as well; so this year for Wyatt's birthday, we weren't really prepared (and didn't want to be) for having a get-together at either of our home's.

Instead, Colt tossed out the idea of catching a local bluegrass festival we've always enjoyed going to-- 3 Sister's Bluegrass Festival in downtown Chattanooga.

It just so happens 3 Sisters takes place the first weekend of October every year-- so Wyatt's birthday party is always the same weekend it seems.

I thought it was a great idea.

I put this together using nothing but MS Paint, and a bit of creative copy and pasting within the program.

Because you're not supposed to bring food to the festival (there are vendors) and the festival is FREE, it was sort of a simple party. (I did bring cupcakes.) It was more of a reason for all the people that love Wyatt to get together and enjoy music together. :-)

Here are some photos of the day!

So. stinkin. cute.

Happy birthday to Wyatt Lee!


I finally got to do something I've always planned to do and never actually gotten around to-- I got an actual "photo shoot" with WL on his birthday.

I'm not sure why I didn't think I could do it myself his first year-- and I know last year was just crrrazy hectic with work, so I wasn't able to do it.

But this year...


So. stinkin. cute.

Farmhouse sink, on a budget.

I've wanted an apron front sink in my new kitchen since the beginning of time (read, since I was introduced to Pinterest circa 2011). But let's be honest-- farmhouse apron fronts are CUUUUUHRAZY expensive when you're trying to build a house with cash. (Yeah, people still do that. And when I say people, I actually mean just my husband and I. If you're in our boat, shout it out. I could use the knowledge that I'm not alone out here, up a creek, nailing two-bys in  myself.)

So when I saw this listing on Amazon, I was pretty stoked. 

It's important to remember.

Confession: Sometimes I just want a weekend.

...this morning I wrote a post about how nice it would be to have a weekend every once in a while. It was short, but very whiny. Concisely, it was me venting about how much time we've been working on the new house.

2 years. Almost 2.5. It seems like we've always been working on it. For. ev. er. 

But then a funny thing happened...

I went back to add some photos of the house, ones that show how much we've done on it... and then I realized..

Ohmygoodness. We built a friggin' house. By ourselves.  With CASH. And when we move into it, whether it has trim or is painted yet or not: WE BUILT A FRIGGIN HOUSE.

Needless to say, I highlighted my entire post that consisted of "wah, wah, wah!" and clicked DELETE.

Now, for a little walk down memory lane...