Thanksgiving

This year was our first Thanksgiving in the new house. Brian and I were pretty excited to be hosting it as well! We used our dining room for the first time and had Brian’s family over. Brian made most of the meal and it turned out just perfect with no hiccups. It was our first time using the turkey oven bag, and it was great. We also made sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping, green bean casserole, stuffing with apples, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, and the cranberry sauce staple.

The day before, we took the day off and visited 5 daycares. We were finally able to decide on one, based primarily on gut feel and location and teacher to child ratio. All of them were around the same price, even with a corporate discount I received from a lot of them in the area. Then I got my hair cut, and spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a table runner and place mats. (That was all me — Brian worked on the shed)

The shed is getting it’s finishing touches over the next couple weekends as Brian has friends coming to help put in the siding. Then all it needs is a proper ramp, which is planned for spring! I can’t believe it actually is getting done, and just in time as the snow is starting to come down here and it’s staying cold.

I spent Thanksgiving day cleaning downstairs and putting finishing touches on Christmas decorations. We didn’t have our Christmas tree yet but all other decorations were out and inviting. This year, I got some inspiration from work where the corporate headquarters entryway had some big bulb ornaments hanging from ribbon down the glass panes. I did something similar, purchasing the bulbs of course during double discount, and hanging them from the railings on the second floor so they hang down into the entry way. They look great, I am very happy with how they turned out!

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Life Outside the Wedding

A short post on the other stuff I’ve been doing…

In early April, I went to the Ohio Genealogical Society conference and I had a blast! I was so impressed with myself, I normally don’t like doing a lot of things by myself that involve a lot of people, but this was great. I was certainly the youngest person there but no one said it haha. Someday I’m going to get certified… I bought so many books!!

Other than that, we’ve been doing a lot of house stuff. Brian had new basement windows put in just yesterday and he’s been transplanting all our hostas and some other plants out to the back or side of the house since the ones that were in the front will be totally bulldozed when we got the front yard done. Not sure what the timeline is on that.

We painted the kitchen the other day, that was a pain. We still have to paint back behind the fridge and stove and touch up a few spots, but for the most part one coat did it. We still have our old table, I think we’ll be getting rid of that in a few weeks. Brian and his friend JP are putting in new countertop laminate today. Between that and finishing the paint, the kitchen will be pretty much done! OH! And we also got a half size dishwasher last week, Brian found a good deal on craigslist. I’m so excited about it!

This past week I’ve been doing crazy amounts of laundry that I had neglected, and did a pass around the rooms with my new vacuum mom got me. It sucks so good! lol. I’m hoping the new carpet will go in next week, but it depends on Tony (Brian’s sister’s boyfriend) and what time he has available. We’re going to start hanging things on the wall again soon, we haven’t hung any since the living room was painted.

So what’s left? The front yard, a thorough cleaning of the basement, painting the “accent” color of the outside of the house to get rid of the bright green, painting the peeling paint outside the house, fixing the flowerbeds out front after the yard is done, re-cementing the outside porch area, and just maintaining an adequate level of cleanliness to make it easier on us next spring… I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting. Oh, a new garage door Brian wants to do, and maybe new front or back doors. Combining our offices into one in Sir Chewy’s, though that won’t be for a while because will strictly be when we put the house up so we can turn the one room back into a bedroom…

It’ll all be worth it 🙂 The house is becoming more and more pleasant to live in. That’s all for now, because I need to do some cleaning… ciao!

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