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!

Mini Progress

Here at Team DeBoer's house, we are blaming the lack of house improvement progress on the winter. That's not to say we haven't done anything but yeah, we haven't done much. Here are a couple blog-worthy happenings though.

We finally bought a buffet! It stretches the length of the wall in the entry of our house. Thanks to neighbor Sara, we were in contact with a woman who refinishes pieces and resells them at a very reasonable price. This is a solid wood piece with classic lines and a traditional feel. It actually sits on wheels so it's easy to move, the middle door opens to reveal three more drawers and it's a beautiful color that matches the shelves and frames above it perfectly. Sadly there's just a lone candle decorating it for now but we'll add to it soon enough. Here's a couple different views of our favorite new find!

And here's our kitchen window frame. Unfortunately I don't have a before picture but to help you create a mental one, the previous owners had cut into the sides of the frame so as to fit the cabinets on the wall. Shawn and I ended up tearing out the old frame completely and starting from scratch. We bought some oak wood from Menards and painted it white. We also bought a miter saw from Home Depot (hallelujah for those gift cards we got at Christmas!) and got to take our first crack at angle cuts. As the saying goes, we measured twice and cut once. Well actually I measured like 16 times because I'm kind of neurotic and well, an OCD freak. We were surprised and actually quite impressed with our work. We have yet to fill the nail holes, sand the edges and touch up the paint but you can't tell all the from the picture so no one is the wiser.

Easter

This past Easter weekend was one of firsts. It was our first time driving the Camry to Iowa and it was also the first time Shawn and I got to meet Natalie Marie. In honor of these firsts, this posting will be our first to break away from Team DeBoer's house. Shawn and I took off Friday and spent the weekend grazing, celebrating my birthday, playing cards, doing the "March Madness" dance and all around having a great time with our families. Below are some of my favorite photos and yes, most of them are of the Cornstuble chitlens. They're just so darn cute!

The first is the newest, Miss Natalie Marie! She's such a good baby! I mean, I don't have anything to compare her to but she's the kind that make you want to have babies of your own... someday. Here she is as her usual happy self, smiling away!



Here's Miss Payton Rae. At six years old, she's grown up so much - literally! She'll be taller then me soon - but that doesn't take much. We haven't seen her in so long it was great to have her here with the whole family!


And here's Miss Ainsley Lee at three years old, taking on the roll as big sister! Speaking of roll, that's what she did, all weekend long! She was a somersaulting phenom and showed off a lot of her acrobatic skills.

Here Shawn's teaching Natalie how to play 500 - startin 'em young.

Okay so we weren't quite dancing in literal terms but fans of all ages were watching the tourney.

Here's all three girls in their beautiful Easter dresses, just after the big egg hunt.

Here's more girly girls in their matching outfits and matching smiles.

And here's my favorite picture because I'm a sucker for odd angles and black and white photography. Perfect.

Our New Addition

For those of you who havn't heard, our Jimmy, a.k.a. McLovin, (you must see Superbad to understand this association) has passed. The transmission finally gave way and after we couldn't even go in reverse anymore, we decided it was time to get something new. So, over New Years, we went car shopping. I shouldn't say that. I actually had the flu that weekend so Shawn went car shopping. Luckily he was off of school for break and was able to do all the research and finagling (bull-shitting) to get us a reasonable deal. The dealership even gave us money for our pretend-a-truck! So, here's our new addition, our Eleanor. It's a metallic gray, 2008 Toyota Camry LE. And, it just so happens to be MY work car. Schnazzy!