With this all of this COVID-19 going on schools have closed which means I am not working currently. This is upsetting because I love my job and miss the kids but I’m using this extra time to be productive around the house.
The first thing on my list was to refurbish the microwave cart I bought into a coffee/tea bar.
The next thing on my list was to rearrange the kitchen. I really wanted a table and chairs in the kitchen so we weren’t always eating on the couch. With how our kitchen was arranged before I couldn’t fit my small table and chairs nor would I have been able to fit the coffee/tea bar. Plus it just felt so cluttered and didn’t flow very well.
So I moved some things around and was able to not only fit the new coffee/tea bar but also the table and chairs! I love it now. We’ve had dinner at the table every night since.
We have discussed laying new flooring and fixing the walls as well but with my being out of work for an indefinite amount of time we don’t have the extra cash to do that. Plus we are wanting to move sooner rather than later (*finger’s crossed*) and so we don’t want to put too much money in to the house.
There’s a lot of annoying things about this house (nothing is square or level, previous owners didn’t do things correctly or did them cheaply, weird decals all over the kitchen, etc) but I love our little house. It’s our first home as a married couple and it’s cozy and cute. I love being creative and decorating and doing home improvement projects so I’ve really enjoyed this house. Plus it’s good practice for our next house (which will also be a fixer-upper).
The weather around here is still pretty spotty. Some days are wintery cold and others are spring-like. We try to take the boys out for a walk as much as possible. If we don’t have a lot of time or energy we will just walk around the neighbourhood but we are trying to get more into nature so we do trail walks. Sadly, we discovered that there is only one dog-friendly trail in the entire county, which really stinks.
We were really excited about this trail because it’s the closest to our house but, we discovered dogs are not allowed. So we walked around the pond in the park for a bit.
Family Photo Attempt Fail
The best of all the attempts. My eyes are closed but oh well.
This is the dog-friendly trail. It’s about a 20 minute drive from our house so it’s not the greatest for weekday evening walks. This is also where we had our Engagement photos taken!
We discovered the town reservoir. We had no idea it existed since it’s not on any map. Melissa found it on some woman’s blog when she was searching for local trails. It’s about a five minute drive from our house so we have come often after work. Plus it’s almost always free of people.
It was VERY windy!
Apparently that 1.5 mile walk around the reservoir really wore him out!
We decided to head to Fort Wayne on Saturday to visit Science Central, do a Costco run (adulting…amiright), and try out a new restaurant that a friend of mine recommended to me called Bravas.
You’re never too old to be a kid. We built things out of metal, danced, went into a tilted room (which made me nauseous), built robotic cars and raced them, pretended to be Mastodons, used a robotic arm to move moon rocks, and Melissa even went on the high rise bicycle (she’s braver than me).
Melissa and I went on quite the adventure this past two weeks. Melissa’s childhood best friend’s wedding was in FL and so we decided to make a vacation out of it and since my Grandfather lives in FL, we decided to go visit him as well.
We left on February 12th. We got up SUPER early (I think around 3:30am) to start our trip. Our plan was to drop the boys off with Melissa’s Grandmother for the few days we’d be gone, stay the night, drive to FL, and then come back to NC after the wedding to spend a few days with her before driving home.
Normally I take a family picture as we depart but since it was 4am neither one of us wanted our picture taken. So I snapped one of the boys.
We arrived in NC around dinner time. I had fallen victim to a very bad cold and so I had been loading up on medication during our trip, something I never do since I try to use natural remedies. But since we were traveling I decided this was easier. The natural medicine I wanted to buy wasn’t available so I settled on Mucinex. BIG MISTAKE. In my sickened state I didn’t think to read the labels. Mucinex (the liquid kind) has Sucralose in it. I am HIGHLY sensitive to it. So on top of feeling miserable from a bad cold, I now had severe stomach issues. So when we got to Grandma’s I ran to CVS to get the medicine I originally wanted. When I got back to Grandma’s, I barely ate a few bites of dinner before I headed to bed to sleep off the stomach issues.
We woke up super early (again), said goodbye to Grandma and the boys, and made our way to FL.
Timestamp says this photo was taken at 11:34am on Feb 13. We still had about 5-6 hours to go to my Grandfather’s.
We arrived at my Grandfather’s around 7:30pm. My cousin, Lauren, and her boyfriend were visiting at the same time so we got to spend a few days with them as well. We also had amazing weather while we were there, although, compared to Ohio in February, any temp above 65 is amazing. It was sunshiny and HOT. We loved it.
My Grandfather’s lanai. I could feel my Grandmother there. I had forgotten how beautiful it was.
We were spoiled in FL. My Grandfather is a member of a private club so we had access to their beautiful pool (and pool service). I could barely taste it due to congestion but what I could taste was delicious; my FIRST Pina Colada!
My Grandfather took us out for Valentine’s Day.
While in FL we were also able to meet up with Hannia, one of Melissa’s friends from college. She’s from Costa Rica but was visiting her Mum in Miami so she drove over to spend the day with us! We went to the zoo and the beach.
I got a little sunburned.
Goodbye’s are always hard.
We left Sunday morning to head to Tampa for Jess’s wedding. It was BEAUTIFUL.
Sadly, right before the wedding we found out Melissa’s Grandfather had passed away. So we diverted our trip slightly. Instead of heading back to NC after FL, we drove to VA instead. t was a sad time but it was nice seeing Melissa’s family again and meeting new family members. Also, I got to snuggle one of the cutest babies ever.
I’m ready to be a Mama. Like, right now.
After spending two days in VA we headed back to NC, stopping for a couple of hours in Savannah on the way.
They were happy we were back.
We took the boys to the beach (their first times). They were not fans but it was also super cold, rainy, and windy. We told them they need to get used to the beach and sand because one day (soon hopefully) we will be living near the beach.
It was nice spending a few extra days with Melissa’s Grandmother and visiting a few local places Melissa likes. She took me to her favourite pizza place in NC. It was REALLY good.
We left early in the morning on February 22nd and made it back home to Ohio at around 10:30pm. It was an amazing trip but with all the driving it was exhausting.
Bedroom colour now is now the same colour as our office (grey with hints of brown). We got it for $13/gal at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Once I get the pictures back up and finish organising I’ll show more before and after photos.
Plan for this window is to extend the rod width wise and raise it up slightly. Hopefully after adding some curtains it’ll give the illusion of a bigger (and centered) window.
Why does winter feel like the L O N G E S T season of them all? None of us like being cold (including the boys). We hate the dull greyness of winter. We are all longing for warmth and sunshine and all things green.
Hopefully we have an early spring this year though I’m not holding my breath.
Anyway, here are some random life moments from the last couple of weeks.
I joined a new CrossFit gym.I bought this at Joann. Each time Melissa and I visit a state I paint it in. Ohio is gold because that’s where we met, fell in love, and got married.
Rusty has been doing much better with his anxiety issues now that he’s been on medication. He still struggles sometimes and is still very nervous around new people but he’s improved by leaps and bounds since Melissa first adopted him in Sept 2018. We are very proud of him and his progress.
An Awfully Big Adventure 