Seasonal Decor

Anyone who has been to our house knows I love, LOVE fall colors! One foot in our living room reveals that. So, it's no surprise I love, LOVE decorating for fall! Nothing extravagant, just simple additions that stay in the budget.

Below is the current centerpiece on our table. It's our usual wood bowl with coffee beans and tea lights on a colorful place mat, just spiced up a little. The tea lights are in little pumpkins and the whole arrangement is adorned with fallen leaves. Schnazzy ey?


Here's my favorite addition, the buffet, decorated with all things autumn; more candles surrounded by coffee beans, some leafy arrangements around a scarecrow in a vase from our wedding, a cute basket find at Target and some more leaves.

A close up reveals some pilgrimesque creatures that rest on our dusty shelves.

Below is our end table (notice Shawn's elbow). Yet another candle with coffee beans (and to think, we don't even drink coffee - that's Dr. Pepper in the mug), as well as a candle stand supporting another Target find, the candle; all topped off with a few more leaves.

This is the top of our entertainment center. It used to house a beautiful flower arrangement (see below) but that has since passed. It now houses a wooden pumpkin full of remotes, some glass vases from our wedding full of essential candy corn (Have you tried the new caramel candy corn?!) and it all rests on more leaves. You may notice there are some very small styrofoam pumpkins, squash and such. These used to be all over the buffet and end table as well until Norman figured out that they were not stuck to the surface and could be eaten. Terd.

Here are the amazing flowers I mentioned above. I also found them at Target and bought the lovely bouquet for myself. I had been working insane amounts of overtime and felt entitled to some colorful beauty. If only fresh flowers lasted longer!

DeBoer Men

Both Shawn and Norman have been keeping themselves entertained. Since Shawn is done with his second BA (woohoo!), he's taken up fishing again! A couple weeks ago he ventured out with our neighbor and his boat and caught quite a few sunfish. After a tutorial in filleting fish, Shawn was eager to try it on his own. On our obligatory trip to Wisconsin (see post below), he purchased a fillet knife from Cabelas and last Saturday, got to put it to use. Below is a picture of the bass he caught up the road at Lake Josephine and his knife (pre-filleting). The bass, along with a sunfish, fell victim to his trial run and I must say, he did a fine job. "We" battered, fried it up and ate it that night at the neighbors. Mighty tasty (for someone who doesn't really prefer fish).

Shawn and a fellow teacher recently started a running club at school. They've been running and training every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday for the last four weeks and last Saturday, they all ran their first 5K! Shawn, Senior Wilson and 10 students completed the course in North St. Paul, MN. It needs to be disclosed that Shawn had been suffering from a very rough cold the week prior to the run and most likely had a case of bronchitis, pneumonia, laryngitis, strep throat or SOMETHING serious enough to warrant rest. That being said, I politely but firmly instructed him to walk the race. As you can see below, he did no such walking. He completed his first 5K in about 24 minutes and was pretty excited he didn't start coughing until the end. Crazy stubbornness. The rest of his teammates did amazing as well. Senior Wilson came in first, one of his students came in 7th and finished first in his age group for boys and one of his other students finished first in her age group for girls. Pretty impressive since there were over 200 participants. Not a bad first showing for ABS!

Norman has been doing what he does best. Resting. When he's bored he plays with his food, barks, whines, claws at the door, plays with his toys and barks some more. What's so extraordinary about the picture below is the location in which he's laying. He's on his pillow, on the FLOOR. He's not on either sofa! The afternoon prior to this picture, we took him for a walk around Como Lake. At the end, we walked him out on the dock so he could take a drink. Being a wee bit top-heavy, he stretched too far over and fell in! Mind you Norman's never been fully submerged in any water, ever. Needless to say, he did not enjoy it. He went completely under, then his head slowly came up while his butt stayed down. He looked to do a little paddling with his front paws but not sure about the back paws since we couldn't see them. Shawn had to pull him to safety without using his leash or collar because we had his choke collar on. It was quite a spectacle! Immediately out he coughed, shook, sneezed and shook some more. I wish I had brought my camera for that because it was priceless. It's safe to assume he'll be sticking to dry land and comfy pillows, even if they're on the floor.

Trips, Obligatory and Otherwise

In keeping with tradition, last weekend Team DeBoer traveled the four hour trip to Gays Mills, WI with Mom, Mike, Grandpa and Grandma Santee. We got apple goods and cheese. The men got to inhabit Cabelas while the women explored The Cannery. Below is a picture of my Cannery find this year, a mug stand, which now lives on our kitchen counter top. Pretty exciting stuff ey? Below that is a picture of us in front of the infamous sign. Unfortunately we were a little early as far as fall colors go, but it was still a nice trip and good to see family.

This year we spent Labor Day weekend with Mom and Mike camping, fishing, eating and otherwise relaxing near Wabasha, MN. It was pretty serene. Since I'm not one for being on a boat, Mom, Mike and Shawn did all the fishing. I'm also not one for sleeping outside, on the ground, with insects and unidentifiable noises, but I got a few hours. My cynicism aside, it was nice and relaxing and I got some photos taken and some pages read. Below are a couple shots off the sandbar we camped on.

Couples who do housework together, stay together.

A few weekends ago, Shawn and I started couples therapy. By that I mean, we started putting up the baseboard trim in our kitchen. There is nothing better to help couples build character then to stick them in a kitchen with not a single 90 degree angle, not a single straight line and not a single flat wall.

We started out optimistic. We had our trim painted, our tools purchased, we had talked through the process with Dad (who even sketched us a picture) and had watched a how-to demo video on YouTube, several times. The first couple of walls were a huge success... after some practice cuts of course. The south wall behind the fridge and the west wall beside it were the first to be covered. This made an immediate impact because it finally covered the obvious eyesore everyone notices when you first walk in our kitchen.

Then came day two. We started early. I want to say it was about 10am? Over the course of the next eight hours we cycled through many emotions: optimism, determination, frustration, denial, anger, utter failure and then finally, complete chaos and uncontrollable laughter. It was serious entertainment. The cause of our battle was a miter saw we borrowed from one of our many great neighbors and the horrendous outside angle. It turns out the miter saw didn't actually lock in the 45 degree angle. This, along with the fun of having an old(er) house, snowballed into every cut being "off". In the end, nothing butted up nice... or even came close.

This discovery is where the laughter and another entry in to our "Things Learned" journal came from. It wasn't until the last hour that we figured out the problem, and therefore the solution; when an automatic route fails, go back to the manual. Shawn screwed our $19 manual miter saw to a 2x4 and we, together, see-saw cut every single angle from then on. I wish we had it on video because it was priceless. As was the elation we felt when we finally got an angle to fit! And by fit we mean darn-near fit!

We started out with 15 to 20 percent overage for wood and ended up with a ton of tiny little doorstops and having to make an additional trip to Menards for more trim. The best part about it all, we spent the entire day on two angles. Blogging about it really doesn't give the event justice but to make things worse, we're not even done! The new, unpainted trim is still sitting in our bedroom. Heavens to Betsy. Cross your fingers, say a little prayer and send your good thoughts and knowledge our way in the hopes of us finishing this shi**y sweat equity project soon! I didn't even bother with pictures yet but I know the anticipation will kill you!

We have not accomplished any more work on our house. Our reasons are three fold.

We are tired. Norman is tired. We have been busy. Norman has not. We have no excuses, but we do have reasons as to why we have been counter-productive on our house so far this summer. These reasons are three fold and are revealed in the posts below.

Disclaimer: Norman was not just laying around. He was actually being naughty and was in timeout.

One - Impending Weather

Let me preface this by saying we've been very fortunate and have not had near the weather worries that Butler County has had back in Iowa, but we've had some shows. And, as opposed to being indoors where we should have been, we were outside admiring the skies. Below are the scenes I caught on camera as it (quickly) moved through. How can one focus one's attention on menial house work when there's weather going on.

Two - Up Nort

How can anyone be expected to stay home and complete house projects when they get invited to head up nort to Two Harbors and spend a weekend at a place like this? Getting away for the weekend doesn't mean we didn't get anything done. To the contrary, both Shawn and I canoed for the first time, kayaked for the first time and caught some fish: Kali 1 (sunny) Shawn 8 (mostly Northern) but who's counting.

Three - Cornstuble Chitlens

This year, July 4th fell on a Friday. Meaning, no work! Prime time to get some house projects done. Not quite. Instead, we celebrated our grandparents (my mom's parents) 50th anniversary with a surprise picnic full of friends and family. Part of the family were the Cornstubles. Part of the Cornstubles were the chitlens! We had a house full of women (and Shawn and Andy) for the whole weekend and as always, the little ones caught the camera.

Here is where we watched the fireworks - on the steps of the state capitol in St. Paul.
Here is Natalie Marie in her bed for the weekend - the large tub I keep blankets in.
Norman LOVED Natalie. She must taste pretty good 'cause he licked every chance he could.
Here's a sibling sight for sore eyes - DAVID with fatty Natty (sorry Mandi).
These girls were making each other giggle in turn - it was pretty adorable.

Ainsley was really tired from a busy day traveling and playing - or she didn't like our food.
Here we were being entertained by some girls that were "supposed" to be calming down for bed. Yup - there I am, making an appearance with Miss Payton.

Here she is again with someone who's eyes look a little like my husbands - not sure about the face.

Green Thumb?

I don't know even so much as the names of these flowers, but I do know they were a successful new venture. Last fall, with the help of cousin Penny, we planted several bulbs sporadically throughout the yard and are starting to see the evidence! It's exciting... we've never planting anything before so the fact that anything came up is fantastic. Now maybe we can get some green life in the house as well.

This lovely flower is on the east side of our house along the fence in the backyard. It has a friend perking through the soil beside it but they're both waiting for some rain to really stand tall.


This group is in the northwest corner of the backyard. For the life of me I couldn't get my camera to focus my favorite tulip... but at least you can see the color!
We can take no credit for this pot. Our lovely new roommate Mel planted this. As it turns out, she actually does have a green thumb so she made nice of this huge cement pot that sits right in the front of our house. And to think, we almost threw it away.

Hola Mexico!

There are no words to describe... just captions to reveal:

We finally arrived... and started with some much-needed margaritas!
We walked the coast and and soaked in the scenery. This is before our fancy meal on the second day... like my burn?
Jordan took this. It's fabulous, timeless and going up in my house.
Ahhh... the wedding night, with some champagne!
Here's one of the pools w/bball hoops and a swim-up bar... niiiiiice.

Here's the other pool at the resort... the calm pool.
The sun, the beach and the water.
Here's a neat shell/rock/white creature we found on the beach.
Another view from our walk down the shoreline. See the sail boat?
Here we are at the Mayan ruins and here is our greeter.

This is one of the many breath-taking views at the ruins.
Yet another amazing view.
More ruins... more cool views.
This is the largest of all the ruins. Looks like a long way up.
The girls... all dressed up and a wedding to go.

Michelle... posing for one of her many amazing photos!
Another prewedding photo, they did a great job!

Michelle and her parents descend down the aisle, mid-tears.
Congratulations to the Washingtons!