One year down.... a LIFETIME to go!

This past weekend Josh and I took a little trip to Branson so celebrate our FIRST anniversary! Three very important things were established on this trip:

1. We now have hotel standards!
2. Go Karts and mini-golf can entertain you many nights!
3. Branson is a once in a lifetime trip, meaning we won't be back!

Ok, I will elaborate on the items listed above. Hotel Standards! I booked the Super 8 and from the outside it didn't seem too bad, however once we got into our room it was a whole different story! The shower head had to be installed by a midget or for a midget, one or the other. I seriously had to do a squat to wash my hair! The room wasn't exactly what you want to stay in when it is your anniversary. Which leads me to the phrase- you get what you pay for. At some point in our relationship Josh and I have hotel standards and the Super 8 did not make the cut so we moved to the Hampton Inn the next morning! Aww... the Hampton Inn.... rocked! It was so much nicer, and I didn't have to exercise to get my hair washed! Highly recommend the Hampton Inn.


Go Karts and miniature golf... This was our evening activity every night! Yes every night. We got to Branson Friday evening dropped our bags and headed to the Wild Woody! From the Wild Woody we played a round of miniature golf. We played a different course every night. Currently we are tired up on wins, 2 and 2. Until next time husband!

Branson is a once in a lifetime trip.... I am just saying that we did really enjoy ourselves and loved that we got to spend time with each other, but once you have been to Branson once there truly is no need to go back. For us two full days was enough. We kinda ran out of things to do. If you are not a show junkie, there really is only so much you can do. But I had never been and Josh was young when he went so hey we got to experience it together!


The beginning of our trip! Packed up and ready to hit the road!



Of course we had to stop and taste the cheese!


Josh excited about his cheese and beef stick!

Duck Ride around Branson!

Instead of being patient, we thought it would be a better to take the two mile hike to the entrance! Wrong!

Go KARTS!

Mini-Golf!

Water and Fire show at the Branson Landing!

Our Anniversary dinner!

Mini-Golf again after dinner!

Bass Pro has these Nascar simulators. Josh and I competed against each other. Josh came in 11th and I came in 7th! I kicked his butt!

Oh, and here is a story for you all.... For the past month I have been saying we need to see what kind of filter our AC unit takes and check if it needs to be changed. Well yesterday evening our thermostat's change filter indicator came on. I told Josh to go a check what size we needed so we can pick some up at Wal-Mart this evening. He did and we were off to Wal-Mart. Do you know how many flippin' filters there are. I WIDE range! Ok, so anyways we get back home and I start unpacking groceries as Josh brings them up (this is our system- Josh brings up and I unpack everything except meat. I can't stand the smell and texture of meat. It seriously grosses me out. No I am not a vegetarian, but I can't stand raw meat. So Josh handles putting away the meat) Alright, so while I am putting up the groceries Josh goes down to our sub-basement and puts the new filter in. He comes up stairs and begins putting way the meat. I starts getting hot and the conversation goes like this:

Me: Is it hot in here?

Josh: Yeah.

Me: (I walked over to the thermostat in the hall) Holy crap it is 77 degrees in here.

Josh: Hmm... (typical man answer)

I walk back to the kitchen and finish putting groceries away. It keeps getting warmer and warmer. I walk back to the thermostat.

Me: Josh it is 78 degrees in here. Are you sure you put the filter in right?

Josh: Yeah... It just slides in there Melissa

Me: Go check it! It should not be 78 degrees in here. The AC isn't even kicking on. Something is wrong and it is flippin' hot!

Josh goes down stairs and comes back up with a smile, you know that smile that says something is up.

Me: What did you do?

Josh: Is it working?

Me: Yeah it kicked on. What did you do?

Josh: I just got the touch baby!

Me: Whatever! What did you do?

Josh: I told you I just touched it. (as he rubs his hand on my leg)

Me: You're full of crap! Tell me.

Josh: I did touch it... I touched the light switch and turned it back on. When I changed the filter I must have hit it off.

So the lesson we learned was that our unit has a switch that shuts down the system. Be sure not to hit it unless you want to sweat your ass off putting groceries away! Oh, how we love all the new experiences with home ownership!

A FENDER BENDER and an OPEN HOUSE all in one day!

Brace yourself...

This past Saturday Josh and I had an Open House... and this is how it played out! (seriously hope in 20 years we will laugh at this one!) Friday evening Josh's dad, step-mom, and uncle came up and stayed with us. Josh, his dad, and Jason (Josh's friend) had a 6:30 am tee time Saturday morning for Gary's birthday. So they were up and gone at 5:30 am. I got up and took our dogs to Safe Harbor to be kenneled and then began doing those last minute cleaning details before the Open House began at noon. The guys got back from the golf course around 10:30 am and Josh and Jason headed to his house to grab another grill and tent. Gary, Josh's dad, and uncle headed to Sonic to get a bag of ice and something to drink. Josh and I had talked about moving our cars out of the garage and driveway and down the street so there was room for everyone to park. So I thought it would be a great time to do this. As I was backing out of the garage concentrating on not hitting the house , I ended up sliding my rear side down Josh's skirt on his truck! (skirt, hips, whatever you want to call them, but it is the part that sticks farther out on a dually truck. See picture below)



Ok, so instantly when I realized what was going on I hit the brakes and though SHIT! Do I just keep going? Do I pull back up? Crap! I decided it was probably best to pull forward. I got out and ran inside to grab my phone and call Josh. So the conversation went like this:

Me: So do you want the good news or the bad news

Josh: Good news

Me: Well I didn't put a hole in it

Josh: What!?

Me: Bad news is I backed into your truck pulling out of the garage

Josh: What!? You are DONE parking in the garage!

Me: It isn't as bad as you are thinking. Stop freaking out.

Josh: Melissa I told you that the first time you hit my truck you were done parking in the garage.

Me: Whatever. Bye

Click....

Needless to say he was pissed and of course that pissed me off! I went ahead and moved my car around the corner and waited for him to get back and look at the damage that was done. Ok so onto the damage part. Josh's dad got back and looked at it. He said it will all buff out. Josh got back and walked up the stairs with attitude! Of course I followed him to the bedroom so we could discuss the whole thing. Of course Josh being a man... he was a flat out jerk about the whole thing (BTW he later apologized for this). In the end Josh said his piece and I said mine and then we agreed to disagree and put on our happy faces for the Open House. Sunday is when we finally got to talk things over. The Open House was great and we had many more people show up than I expected and we ran out of food! It was a great time even if it was flippin' hot! My poor AC unit just could not keep up with all the people going in and out!

Oh, and in exactly FIVE days Josh and I will have been married for ONE YEAR! Like I wrote on my mom's wall calender... "Holy Shit We Made It A Year!" ;) No seriously though.... We will be spending our one year anniversary in Branson, Mo! A nice little three day get away! Check out next weeks blog for details of our mini-vacation!

Its not HANDY MANNY....its HANDY JOSHEY!

I am always amazed at the things my husband comes up with or does. Sometimes it is a great amazement and other times, well, its just not that great. But this weekend was one of those times I was truly amazed at what my husband did/accomplished.

Saturday morning I woke up ready to go! I had an agenda I wanted to get done and wasn't going to let anything stop me. My agenda was to deep clean the house with the help of my husband. I wake up around 6:15 am on the weekends thanks to our two four legged diva dogs! Josh usually wakes up around 8:00 am if not a little earlier on the weekends. So I began picking up the house and ate breakfast. Once Josh got up we finished hanging the last couple of decorative items. Josh still need to go through a couple of boxes so he began doing this while I got this bright idea to clean our windows. Ok so we have the windows that fold out so you can clean the outside. I am not going to lie our windows are so CONTRACTOR GRADE! This means they are crap they buy in bulk, but they still look nice. I somehow managed to completely detach one side of the window from the frame and leave the other side connected. Josh had left the room to clean the ceiling fan in the living room so I tried, I mean really tried to fix it myself, but there was no hope. So I yelled "A little help please!" Josh came in the bedroom and all he could say is how the hell did you manage this? After an hour of fighting with the dang window with the sun beating down on him, Josh looked at me and said in the pissiest voice ever "Now what did we learn from this.... We are not cleaning or messing with the windows." Did I mention that I am sure our neighbors thought we were crazy! We were hanging out the window trying to line it back up to fix the damn thing! I am sure it was a sight! Oh, so my comment back to him in a very stern voice was "I am cleaning the other window in this bedroom and the ones downstairs in the living room. So you can help me or we can have this disaster again!" I finished cleaning my windows, knocked out the two bathrooms and dusted. Mean while Josh vacuumed. Ok so on to the part where I am truly amazed by him, well I am amazed and grateful he is the type of husband that will dust, vacuum, mop, whatever in order to help me out. Not too many men are like this.

Alright the amazed part...
Josh has wanted to build a work bench for the garage since day 1. So once the house cleaning was tackled we were off to Home Depot. Damn do I hate this store. For the past two months we have spent more time and money at this place! Ok so we were off to get lumber so Josh could build his bench. The scary part is that his plans and measurement were all in his head. All I could think was shit! We grab 2x4s, and 4x4s, and plywood and some screws and $77.00 later we were out of there! Home bound with one detour to my mom and dad's house of course. Seriously we are young and haven't accumulated the massive amount of tools that my dad has. So we picked up the hand saw, jig saw, and some other random items to build Josh's ultimate work bench! Now we were off. Josh spent the rest of the evening measuring, cutting, and nailing. Well at least until our neighbors came over to bull shit and drink. Once this started the work bench was no longer high priority. We ended up not going to bed until 2:00 am. Sunday morning rolled around and at 7:00 am (an extra hour of sleep!) my dogs wanted feed and let out. Sunday morning we didn't move to fast even though Josh need to finish the work bench and rearrange the garage to make it a new home for it. Once completed and put into place we ended up with some additional space! Yay! Ok finally the amazement part.... Josh built a very strong and functional work bench! No plans or drawings. It was all in his head! This was the first real project I had ever seen him do and do VERY well! You know something he built his self and it turned out really great and we didn't have to run to Home Depot fifty million times. I must say for his first project it turned out GREAT! He was so proud of it and himself! Below our some pictures of his fabulous handy work! Watch out Handy Manny… Josh is on a roll!

Our purchase...

Hard at work...

Slowly coming together....

Handy Joshey...

Working into the night...

Sunday!...

Tah DAh!

The PROUD Builder!

As PROMISED.... our MASCOT

For those of you who do not know, Josh is a HUGE Texas fan. He is a big sports buff to begin with, but when it comes to his Longhorns well he is VERY passionate about them. So what better way to show your team spirit and TEXAS LONGHORN pride then by painting a huge longhorn on your garage wall. Here are the pictures showing off his masterpiece!

The final work of art!

Oh, and you really have not had a dip-free update in some time so I thought I would share that Josh is still tobacco free! He says he still gets cravings from time to time, but he is going strong!

The dreaded first Electric bill came Saturday morning. I was headed to my aunts to hang out by the pool before the baby shower and wasn't sure I even wanted to open the dang thing. I didn't want my day ruined, but curiosity got the best of me and I opened. First thing I looked out was the dates. The bill was from 6/12/09 to 7/7/09. OK that is good five days shy of a month. This will give me a good idea of what it will run a month. Then I moved my eyes over to the right and there it was the AMOUNT DUE! A big sigh of relief came over me.... only a $114.00. I can handle this! It was less than what I budgeted! Rock On! No day ruined here! Oh the thrills of being a new homeowner!

I hope everyone is staying cool!

What we have DONE

So I thought I would share what we have done in the past month since buying a home, instead of what we have learned!

1. We have painted 5 out of 12 rooms in our house. Oh, and one garage and two hallways! BUT, we paid to have all but two rooms and the garage to be painted. Josh hates to paint! He did too much growing up!
2. I have only cooked twice, YES twice! Which means Josh has pretty much kept us from starving to death! I love my husband!
3. Josh has mowed the yard twice and it currently needs to be mowed right now!
4. We have NOT made our first house payment, but we have paid for sewer, trash, cable/Internet, gas, and I am currently waiting or better yet dreading our electric bill.
5. I have officially broke in our washer and dryer! I have done countless loads of laundry!
6. We have met all our neighbors and really like them! They are all very nice and seem like a lot of fun!
7. I have gotten off my exercise and running schedule!
8. Josh has put us up a Mascot! (details to follow in a later blog)
9. We have mailed out our open house invites!
10. We have ALMOST missed the trash man! A little back ground/detail: Trash day is Friday for us. Last Thursday I asked Josh if he wanted to go ahead and take the trash out to the curb since tomorrow was July 3rd and neither of us had to work. This way we could sleep in and not worry about getting up and taking the trash out. Josh's response was no, because last Friday they didn't show up until like 3:30 PM. I said fine it is all you then. Friday morning about 8:00 AM (way to sleep in, huh!) I am sitting in the chair and Josh is relaxing on the couch. I hear something like a loud truck and I look out the window to find the BIG Green Stinky Trash Truck rolling down our street. I looked at Josh and say trash man is here! And of course Josh jumps up and hauls balls down to the garage to get the trash to the curb. Mean while I am running to the backyard to get the doggy poop bag so it can go with the trash. Lesson of the story... Listen to your wife!

Pre Fourth of July FUN!

The Wednesday before the 4th of July we got to spend some time with friends from Chicago, Colby and Kim Scheidt and there daughter little Ms. Kaitlynn! Below are some pictures from the evening.

We got to make some yummy brownies!


Kaitlynn even got to like the spoon and bowl!



She helped me water the trees and flowers!


Her dad went and got her fireworks to set off with the neighborhood kids.



Then Josh decided he wanted to play ladder ball so he got ours out and started putting it together. Well all the neighborhood kids thought they should help out too!

By the end of the night Josh, Jason, and Colby ended up doing what they do best.... Bull shitting and drinking beer!

BEFORE.... AFTER.....

Below are some before and after pictures of our living room. We ended up using three different colors. The main color is a khaki brown. The accent colors are spice/maroon color for the triangle piece, and at deep green. The green is the same color we used in our kitchen. I wanted to make the two rooms flow together since the area is open so we carried the green down into our living. I love green and LOVE how it all turned out! Oh, and my favorite quote from out painter " You got mad accents pieces going on in here!" Thanks for doing such a great job painting Ben!

Before....













After....

Before....

After....
We did use a darker tan. I know it is hard to tell in the pictures, but the original color that was through out the entire house was a very pale yellow/tan color.