27 Things

1. Greg's birthday was last Thursday.
2. He turned 27.
3. I bought Greg's presents the weekend before his birthday.
4. It took everything I had for me not to give him his presents the moment after I got home and had them wrapped.
5. I did give in and had him open up 1 present 2 days before his birthday.  It was a black and grey striped tie and some sparking saki.
6. The day before Greg's birthday we went to Cellar & Loft in Kansas City for a wine tasting and to get more education on wine, scotches, and tequila. 
7. Then, we went to Johnny's to meet up with some friends for trivia.
8. On Greg's actual birthday, we decided to stay in and I cooked Greg a nice steak meal that actually turned out pretty good.
9. Greg was finally able to open up his presents!  The remaining gifts were Sports Champions 2 for our Playstation Move, and a coffee press and more coffee.
10. We were going to put a coffee press on our Christmas list because we have been wanting one for a while.  I finally saw a decent glass one at Macy's and bought it. 
11. We had to get coffee beans because the beans need to be coarsely ground and not the typical fine grade.  The coffee is just HyVee's breakfast blend, and it was delicious. 
12. Sports Champions 2 has tennis, boxing, bowling, golf, archery, and skiing.
13. Greg just couldn't put down his coffee he loved it so much.

 14. He was skiing and jumping off ramps while I was cooking.

15. On Friday evening, we went to Jeremy's for a Christmas party with our friends. 
16. He and his girlfriend, Kristen, worked all day on appetizers with a Christmas theme.  They homemade dog biscuits as party favors.

17. On Saturday the girls from work wanted to make our company christmas party a girls night, so I went to that and spent the night out in a hotel, and us girls went to see the last Twilight movie in the morning. 
18. Greg on the other hand worked like crazy getting a lot of things done around the house.  I got home on Sunday feeling guilty for how much he had accomplished all on his own.
19. He finished securing our bikes to the ceiling of our garage.  He did 2 loads of laundry, picked up the dog doo-doo from the yard, raked the pine needles, tried fixing the toilet, and cleaned up the house some. 
20. He is truly amazing because I didn't ask him to do anything, but to have fun since I was out having fun.
21. Needless to say, by 8 PM on Sunday Greg was exhausted.

22. Chase loves Greg.  Greg claims that he is warm-bodied so Chase is always wanting to lay on him. 
23. I think Chase secretly likes discipline, and that is what Greg offers him.
24. Greg is a middle child like me, and I think we have a lot of the same qualities because of that.  I'm a firm believer in the effects of birth order and how that shapes some of our characteristics.
25. Greg could spend hours on end on his computer doing almost anything from organizing photos, researching topics, watching videos, listening to music, etc. and he gets energized by this.
26. This is an introverted quality that I wish I could develop, but I can only sit on my computer uninterrupted for about an hour before I get exhausted and have to get up an do something.
27. Greg says he is a thinker and I am a doer, and that is why we work well together.

Cranberry Lime Deliciousness

Baskets filled with goodies are an easy Christmas gift when you don't quite know what to get a person.  I find that I have a lot of fun putting them together, and it's nice to arrive at a get-together bearing gifts.  I have found over the years that they are good presents for your boyfriend or girlfriend's parents, godparents, boss, or maybe that cousin, Aunt or Uncle whose name you drew for a gift exchange.  Gift baskets don't have to be personal, but you can always throw in your own touch with a homemade recipe or gift.

It's always a safe bet to center the theme of your basket around food or drink.  Who doesn't love food?  And, as we get older, it's nice to be able to throw in a bottle of wine, but that's when it gets tricky because everyone's taste is different, and I don't know what is considered good wine because I buy bottles around $9.  So, why not consider a fruity, hard alcohol drink such as homemade cranberry lime vodka?

I found this idea on Pinterest, of course.  I should probably stop saying that and just let you assume that all ideas are never mine, but I'm really good at copying others, and Pinterest has a great source of ideas.   I try to give credit as much as possible, although I would love to claim some of the ideas as my own. 

I have a hard time drinking mixed drinks when I can taste the alcohol, so I love the occasional super girly drink that covers up any sense of alcohol.  This woman's blog suggested a recipe for a crantini that was delicious.

In order to get started, all you need is a container of some sort.  If you're going to give it as a gift, then a nice looking bottle is the best choice.  I found mine at Home Goods in the clearance aisle for $2.  Home Goods is another love of mine that I could get lost in for days looking at all the household items. 
While you're out shopping for a bottle, swing by the grocery store and pick up a bag or two of cranberries, 3 limes, and a fifth or more of your favorite regular vodka.  I'm not sure if it really matters what brand of vodka you buy since you will be infusing it with the fruit.  We used the brand, Most Wanted, which is a popular, affordable vodka in Kansas.

You will start by poking a hole in each of the cranberries and placing them in the empty bottle until it's about half full.  I used a toothpick for this and poked it all the way through the cranberry so it was sticking out the other side.  I thought this was going to take forever, but it filled up pretty fast.

Once you get about half way up the length of the bottle, peel all 3 limes and place the lime rinds in the bottle.  The actual lime portion is not needed, so either throw it away or put it to good use.  Then, fill up the remaining portion of the bottle with the cranberries with the holes poked through them.

Once the bottle is full, it is suggested to add up to 2 tablespoons of sugar to the bottle.  I only added around 1 teaspoon and it was fine.  The longer you let the vodka sit in the fruit, the sweeter it will get.

Next, pour the vodka into the bottle until it's full.  Then, put on the lid and turn it upside down and right side up a few times to get the sugar mixed throughout.  The vodka should sit in the bottle for at least 2 weeks and up to 2 months before you break it open.  We waited right around 2 weeks and it was great.  While it's sitting, it is suggested to turn it upside down and right side up every couple days in order to continue to mix the sugar.  After at least 2 weeks, you can enjoy!

As the vodka sits, it is soaked into the cranberries some and the level goes down in the bottle.  I added some vodka after about a week, just so the bottle looked full.  The vodka will also start to turn red after a few days as it is infused with the cranberries.  It's not as pretty as it looked on Day 1 when the lime color was a beautiful, bright green, so it may be better to give it to someone after a day of making it and tell them to let it sit for 2 weeks, and tie the recipe for the crantini on there that they can make when it's ready.

Recipe for the Crantini's:
1 1/2 oz. cranberry-lime vodka
1/2 oz. triple sec
4 oz. cranberry juice
1 tbsp frozen limeade concentrate
Shake well and enjoy!

So, it may be a good gift to add into a basket or a good conversation piece to bring to a Christmas party.  The most important thing to remember is that it take at least 2 weeks, so plan and start early!

Decorating for Christmas

This Christmas feels almost like Greg and I's first real Christmas because we finally have a Christmas tree that was given to us by my godparents.  Last year I only put up some garland and ornaments on the mantel with our stockings, and it never felt quite like Christmas.  This year we have a tree, garland on the mantel, and more garland on the banister.  It was quite the project setting up the tree and placing decorations around the house.  That's why I will admit that we started the weekend before Thanksgiving, since putting up the tree was the last thing we wanted to do when we got home on Sunday.

The only thing I asked Greg to help me with was getting the tree up from the basement; however, he was pretty helpful in setting up the tree as well, but he left all the decorating to me. It was an entire family effort. Chase and Abby are all about new things whether it's a box from the basement or a new bag after shopping. They have to be around it and touch everything!

Since I knew we were going to get a Christmas tree last year, I was able to hit up all the Christmas sales after Christmas last year and get some ornaments and garland in order to make a blue, gold and silver themed tree.  The ornaments were really cheap, so that is why I didn't mind when Chase batted them around the house as I was tying the strings on them to hang them on the tree.  The ornaments on the tree were kind of sparse, so my Mom handed down more of her ornaments that matched the theme in order to fill in the gaps. 

The house definitely feels festive, and Greg and I turn on Christmas music every chance we get.  We suggest entering the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Holiday into a Pandora station for Christmas music.  The songs are really good and not the cheesy Christmas songs you hear on the radio that we get tired of so quickly.

The weather for this past weekend was in the 60's so it allowed Greg and I to put up some Christmas lights, and an excuse for Greg to use his ladder and his Z-wave!  The lights are hooked up to a Z-wave outlet, so Greg has them programmed to turn on and off at night.  It's very convenient.

We had a great weekend shopping for Christmas gifts and working on our projects.  I'm trying to make a couple Christmas gifts this year, so you might be one of the lucky ones who gets a homemade gift.  Ha!  I also have a couple other DIY projects that I'm going to try and write about in the next couple weeks.  Greg's birthday is on Thursday, so we are looking forward to celebrating.

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving 2012

Greg and I had such a wonderful Thanksgiving visiting our families in St. Charles.  As we grow older, spending quality time with our family and friends becomes so important to us.  We had a weekend full of events in order to make the most of our time. 

We were able to run in a 5K Thanksgiving Turkey Trot with Greg's sister, Danielle.  Abby was able to run it with us as well.  There were around 3500 participants in the race, so we had pretty decent times considering how much we had to maneuver through the crowds to pass people.

Thanksgiving was a little different this year because my family pushed their get-together off until Saturday because my parents were sick the prior weekend.  So, we went to the Turkey Trot, had lunch with my family, took a short nap, and then went over to Greg's family's house.  At Greg's family's house, it almost seems like a tradition to look through all the Black Friday ads.  We haven't gone shopping in years on Black Friday, but it's interesting to see all the items on sale.  Hopefully some of you got up early to face all the crowds and started your Christmas shopping. 

We always look forward to Greg's Mom's Thanksgiving meal because she is a dietitian and she always has a different side dish for us to try.  Last year it was an amazing pomegranate gravy, and this year there was a salad with a beet dressing and blue cheese.  It was delicious!  We didn't play many games because a lot of us kept falling asleep.  I blame it on working out that morning.  We will be ready for games during the Christmas break, and we will have to start playing earlier in the day so we don't get too tired. 

I just can't leave out the fact that Greg's brother, Alex, was growing a mustache.  He had his tonsils taken out the two weeks prior, and while he was off work he thought he would give the mustache a shot.  He looked a lot like his Dad... and a creeper.

On Friday morning, we helped Greg's Mom and Dad put up the Christmas tree and holiday decorations around the house.  Greg and I only have 2 plastic totes of decorations and Greg's family had at least 10.  It's amazing how many decorations you can accumulate over time from gifts every year from friends and family.  Decorating definitely made me ready for Christmas to come already. 

My Aunt Patty had my Mom's side of the family over.  It is always nice to see relatives when we are home and my cousins that were home from college.  Greg and I were talking the other day about how he knew Kevin when Kevin was shorter than him.  What happened!

Greg and I couldn't stay too long because we had plans with our friends.  They all came over to my parents' house for dinner and games.  The night ended very well with us all playing "Just Dance" on the Wii.  Kala and I started first, and then Greg and Derek decided to try it.  Jeremy just couldn't resist his urge to dance as well, so he joined in next.  The boys should have took pictures of us girls while they could, but they didn't get any.  The pictures below are priceless!

On Saturday, we relaxed around the house and spent time on our computers.  My Dad and I took Abby and Joey to Wapplehorse Park and allowed them to run around.  It finally got a little chillier when the weekend started off so nice.  My Dad's side of the family came over for Thanksgiving that evening.  We hung out, ate turkey again, and played some games.  The highlight of the party as usual is my cousin's daughter, Bella.  She made us some plastic cake dessert, yelled my name repeatedly and pretended to be a cat for most of the night.

I picked up the "cat" that wanted to get away from me.  She learns from Chase so well.

We wrapped up the evening back at Greg's parents' house watching football, while I browsed Pinterest for Christmas decoration ideas.  Like I said, I'm really ready for Christmas to be here.  It was a long weekend full of family activities.  Now we're back at home ready to decorate for Christmas and counting the days down to another vacation.  We're happy Christmas is on a Tuesday this year and not just over the weekend so we can have more time at home.

Early Christmas Present for Greg

Every now and then packages show up at our house with Greg's name on it.  Sometimes Greg will tell me about them before they arrive and other times I am surprised.  Typically the packages contain more light switches or outlets for the Z-Wave system, but every now and then it's a gift that both of us can enjoy. 

This time I did hear that Greg ordered the ladder that he wanted.  I was thinking to myself, "Great, we will finally have a ladder, rather than borrowing Jeremy's when we needed it."  BUT, this is no ordinary ladder, this is The Little Giant Ladder. 

The box itself was around 9'hx3'wx12"d.  And, I should have assumed that Greg would overdo it a bit because when Greg finally decides to purchase something for himself after all the research he has done, it's typically the best of the best.  This ladder can be an A-frame, extension, 90-degree ladder, and can also come apart to be set up as scaffolding. 

Greg was thinking about all the projects he could accomplish with this ladder, and I was imagining all the renovations we could now do like painting our 2 story foyer and the outside of our house, or at least just start by hanging Christmas lights on the house.

Well, Greg has proved that this ladder was a good buy when I caught him cleaning our front window from the inside and out. Chase jumps from the second floor on top of the closet and sits above this window. There's a lot of little nose prints that we've been wanting to get off the window. We can also finally dust the lights on the chandelier and on top of the closet. And maybe even decorate above there.

And I'm sure you're wondering what I'm going to buy myself for Christmas... We were at the Sears Outlet the other week, and we think we saw the drawers for our washer and dryer there on sale for around $100 each.  For those of you that have these, you know it's a great deal.  We haven't pulled the trigger on this one yet, but we may pay them a visit after Thanksgiving and make some needed changes in our laundry room.

A Means to Help Countertop Chaos

This project may not be needed by everyone, but it is certainly needed by us, and I'm hoping it is a means to helping out our countertop chaos.  This is another Pinterest project that I decided to try.  The woman with the idea had a family with 3 children who needed to designate a location for each of their cups so they would know which one was theirs that they could use throughout the day.  Greg and I need it because our countertop is simply a mess with all the dishes by the sink.  I can't imagine what it will look like when we have children.

This is our kitchen on a good day, and yes I did clean up a bit just to take the picture.

We have a routine during the work week, where we typically eat the same breakfast all week - Greg typically has peanut butter on toast, and I switch it up between cereal, oatmeal, poached eggs or my latest favorite, rice cakes with peanut butter and apple slices on top.  Mackie introduced this to me on our trip to New York.  With the same breakfast throughout the week, we are using the same dishes.  We never brought new dishes when we got married, so we have mixed sets of 6 dinner plates, 7 salad plates, and 8 bowls to use for a week before we have to do dishes.  So if you do the math, we don't have a lot of dishes divided among all the meals before we have to do dishes, and we really don't like running the dishwasher more than once a week. 

So, if you have figured it out by now, we do a lot of rinsing and reusing...  Most people are not okay with this, but it works for us and we haven't gotten sick from it yet.  However, for some reason Greg doesn't like to drink out of my cup or he gets a new cup out when he doesn't know for sure if it is his cup.  That is why this coaster tray will work for us.

The picture below is what the woman on pinterest made, and I also combined the idea with another pinterest project that used small picture frames and wine corks for coasters.

 

I started with purchasing a 1"x6" board, (3) 3"x3" frames and (2) handles, and round wooden knobs from a craft store for the feet.  Greg helped me cut down the board to 5" wide by 24" long.  Then, I beat up the board with a hammer to give it a distressed look before I stained it.  I should have drilled the holes for the knob legs first before I stained it, but it just took an extra coat of stain to cover up the wood filler.  I used the same polyurethane finish that I purchased for the nightstands that I refinished for a protective top coat.

I could have purchased longer screws to fit through to the knobs, but I didn't want them to show from the top,
so I drilled down the hole and covered it with stainable wood filler.

Then, it was the fun part with the wine corks.  I removed the back of the picture frames in order to make the frame sit flush with the board.  I used a flooring sample from work to build up the inside so the corks would sit at the face of the frame.  I cut the corks in half as well hoping that I can use the other half in another project.  My poor collection of corks were almost all used up.  I cut these with a razor blade and it was easier than I thought.

The flooring sample I used to build up the frames looked pretty similar to a cork.

Then, I used a hot glue gun to glue on the corks, and then I used the glue gun and a multi-purpose glue that works on steel, wood and glass to glue the frames to the board.  Then, I used the drill again to fasten the handles.  The handles really aren't necessary, but they add to the look.  I think the ones I chose look like wine bottle openers. 

So, there it is!  Another Pinterest project success.  It has helped up keep organized so far.  Let me know if any of you have other kitchen organization projects that don't just involve loading dishes into the dishwasher.  Please don't judge us!